I believe a good teacher is one who
teaches the subject adequately and a great teacher is one who motivates
their students to want to continue learning outside of the classroom.
While there are different factors that can potentially stimulate
motivation for a student, I find that enthusiasm, encouragement, and
confidence in the student tend to be paramount in helping students
stretch beyond their own capacity. These principles provide teachers
with tools for increasing student motivation by enhancing the “learner’s
vision of their future self image” (Dornyei, 2013, p. 6) in their L2
language learning journey.
For me, I believe the subjects that I
bring the most enthusiasm to are reading and writing. My love of reading
came from a number of influential people who inspired me not to “stop
reading when reading class is over” (Anderson, 2013, p. 37), which is a
principle I wish to inspire in my future students. Also, my love of
writing is interconnected and stems from my love of reading. Therefore, I
feel it is important to help students develop a love of reading so that
they can, in turn, improve their writing. Besides, reading and writing
can be fun. In demonstrating my enthusiasm for reading and writing in a
way that is enjoyable for the students, I hope to show my students how
to transform a task they might find monotonous into something they can
find pleasure in doing.
Additionally, there are several methods
that can help develop students’ language skills and can encourage
students on their learning journey. I feel that using a variety of
teaching methods that appeal not only to visual-kinesthetic learners,
like myself, but also to auditory and other learners will be beneficial
in helping my students learn and remember the material. I believe that
activities that require student interaction can help inspire students to
acquire language skills. And I also feel that certain principles, such
as active listening, can help improve students’ progress as they learn
to similarly evaluate their progress in reading, writing, and speaking.
I aspire to bolster confidence in my
students in the classroom. I can only do that when I have confidence in
myself, which I feel I have when I have clarity in lesson planning and
evaluation. Another method to help inspire confidence in students is to
have a plan for constructive feedback that correlates with the language
level of the student and emphasizes principles that we have previously
learned in the classroom. Feedback given to students may help strengthen
and substantiate their own vision of themselves and can certainly
increase the self-confidence of the learner as well as increase learner
satisfaction (Dornyei, 2013). Thus acknowledging what students do well
helps students realize and reevaluate their progress in their short-term
and long-term goals and motivate them to stay on track and keep working
towards attaining those goals.
I believe that teaching effectively requires balancing the why of doing things with the how.
Demonstrating to students why material is important to helping them
develop their interests can speak louder than simply stating what
students should do. Dornyei (2013) claims that “individuals will be
motivated to do a task if they expect to do well on it and if they value
the task outcome” (p. 5; Wigfield & Eccles, 2000). Furthermore,
Dornyei (2013) acknowledges that motivation is “a process that is
constant flux, going through ebbs and flows” (p.3), and recognizing this
pattern can help teachers adapt to the fluctuation of student
motivation in the classroom.
Ultimately, teachers in my life who have
had the greatest influence on me have shown that they cared about my
personal growth in the classroom and thereby inspired autonomy. This
idea is promoted by Dornyei (2013) as well: “after all, even Olympic
athletes need coaches and training plans besides their vivid vision of
achieving excellence” (p. 10). Therefore, I feel that when students feel
that their teachers are supporting them in their pursuits, they can
feel encouraged and motivated to cultivate a love of learning.
References
Anderson, N. J. (2013). Teaching pronunciation. In M. Celce-Murcia, D. M. Brinton, & M. A. Snow
(Eds.), Teaching English as a second or foreign language (4th ed., pp. xx-xx). Boston, MA:
National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning.
Dörnyei, Z. C. (2013). Motivation in second language learning. In M. Celce-Murcia, D.M. Brinton, &
M.A. Snow (Eds.), Teaching English as a second or foreign language (4th ed., pp. xx-xxx).
Boston, MA: National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning.
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