Summary of the Chapter 3 of the book “teaching practice for English language teachers”

Summarized by: Amirhossein Asefi

Chapter 3: Classroom Discipline

This chapter deals with strategies that help teachers manage student behavior and maintain classroom
discipline. This can be achieved when teachers recognize and accept their power and hence establish their
authority.

Teachers can establish their authority in four ways:

1.Conveying one’s status: A teacher’s status is something that should be conveyed to students so that
they will take it for granted that the teacher is in charge and full authority. This will be conveyed to
students when a teacher appears self-assured and self-confident as indicated by his or her tone of voice,
facial expression, and eye contact. A firm tone of voice conveys the message that the teacher seriously
expects something to be done. A teacher’s status is also conveyed to students through the actions that
s/he can only do in the class.

2.Teaching competently: All students respect teachers who are knowledgeable, well-prepared, and
competent; this will certainly confirm the teacher’s authority to manage student’s behavior.

3.Excercising managerial control: one effective way teachers can solve such potential problems and
hence establish their authority is to create a number of classroom rules or a code of conduct to be
observed by all students. According to Walters and Frei (2007), teachers should choose rules that: a) they
can enforce, b) are age-appropriate, c) encompass many actions, and d) reinforce school regulations.

It is also a good idea to remind students of the classroom rules from time to time and discuss them again
so that they will have a clear understanding of acceptable and unacceptable behavior.

4.Dealing with student misbehavior effectively: Teachers can evaluate their qualities in dealing with
student misbehavior by placing themselves on a continuum from bold to timid on the one hand and caring
to selfish on the other (Olsen and Cooper (2001)). Bold-caring teachers seem to be the most competent
teachers in dealing with misbehavior in that they are both resourceful and responsible people who are
ready to try new things. Timid-selfish teachers are ineffective, unresourceful, and unassertive teachers
who fail to act, as they are expected, at the time of crisis. The other two categories in between bold-selfish
and timid-caring teachers who are both incompetent due to the rigidity and meekness that derives from
the selfish and timid traces in their personality.
Characteristics of a Well-Disciplined Classroom: According to Ur (2012), discipline is said to
exist in a class when the teacher and students unanimously accept and constantly observe a set of rules
relating to classroom behavior for the sake of achieving smooth and efficient teaching and learning.

1.Learning is taking place: A discipline class obviously offers a more optimal learning environment than
one in which most of the class time is spent on solving disruptive behavior. We can argue that discipline
is an important factor, without which learning is seriously, yet it does not per se guarantee learning.

2.It is quiet: Again, like previous case, we can argue that a well-disciplined class in normally quiet, but it
is also possible for a class to be both noisy and disciplined, particularly when students are engaged in doing
pair or small group work. According to Denscombe (1985), there are four types of classroom noise:
allowable, unavoidable, acceptable occasional, and unacceptable.

3.The teacher is in control: A disciplined class is definitely one in which the teacher is in full control. One
of the factors that helps teachers gain control of the class is the concept of with-it-ness, which is defined
as the teacher’s general awareness of what is going on in the classroom (Kyriacou, 1991). Teachers should
be able to recognize signals that indicate misbehavior is about to occur. A quick downward glance, a
mischievous smile, or a furtive look should all be picked up by a teacher a signaling the beginning of
disruptive behavior.

Causes of Student Misbehavior

1.Boredom: Boredom is a primary cause of misbehavior. If teachers cannot sustain students’ interest, they
will easily get bored. Students often get bored when an activity lasts long or fails to keep them engaged.
Therefore, teachers are advised to change the activity every 20 minutes to bring about variety. An
interesting class in one in which the teacher has planned a number of settling (calm down) and stirring
(lively) activities which are introduce at intervals. In addition, teachers can reduce students’ boredom by
introducing various activities in terms of different modalities, namely auditory, visual, and kinesthetic.

2.Need for Attention: The desire for attention is a basic human need which teachers cannot and should
not ignore. Teachers are often advised to pay attention to quiet students. This will show often how they
can gain the teacher’s positive attention. As for students who want to be in the spotlight, teachers can
plan activities in which they will come to the front of the class and begin to talk to the rest of the students.

3.Desire for power: In these cases, students may wish to control what goes on around them in the
classroom. Many of these students are used to hearing people argue with them. Another strategy to use
with these students is to have them help the teacher by assigning them some responsibility.

4.Low Academic Self-Esteem: Students who have a low image of themselves because of frequent failures
usually tend to misbehave. They are reluctant to do the assignments and participate in class activities for
fear of further failure. The best advice to give these students is that if they cannot do something well, they
should try a different thing. The other thing to do is to break a task into smaller steps and have them do
it little by little. And the best strategy is to pair them with others who can offer occasional help in win-win
situations, if possible.
Dealing with Misbehavior: This part of chapter offers a number of tips for overcoming student’s
misbehavior. However, before introducing them, it is necessary to draw a distinction between poor
behavior and unacceptable behavior.

Strategies to Deal with Poor Behavior

1.Scan the classroom: Teachers are advised to periodically look around the class to see if students have
difficulties or need assistance. This will help the teacher detect poor behavior problems such as students
who are secretly sending texts using their cell phones.

2.Make eye contact: When addressing the class as a whole, teachers ought to make frequent eye contact.
However, they should be aware of not looking at a student too long unless they suspect s/he may be
misbehaving.

3.Use proximity: Teachers can use proximity as an effective tool for classroom management. Teachers
who usually walk around the classroom and monitor students maintain much better classroom discipline
than those who remain in one spot. According to Jones (2000), there are three zones that teachers should
be aware of: the red zone (which is the nearby zone where the students are actively listening and
involved), the yellow zone (which is usually 10 to 15 feet from the teacher, is where the students may be
involved when they think the teacher is watching) and the green zone (the back of the room, where the
students are playing around or daydreaming because they don’t feel engaged). When the teacher walks
around, these boundaries changed, and therefore the students in the green zone who are about to disturb
others are more likely to be picked up by the teacher.

4.Move students: Teachers should not hesitate to separate a student from other students due to his or
her consistent disruptive pattern of behavior. The teacher can have this student sit at the front where
s/he can monitor the student more closely. In doing so, the teacher should be cautious to use positive and
encouraging words so that the movement will not be taken as a punishment.

Strategies to Deal with Unacceptable Behavior:

1.” Explode” yourself: On some occasions, a quick, loud, angry shout from the teacher will do the trick
provided the teacher does not lose his or her control. Teachers should remember that they cannot do this
very often because it will lose its effect.

2.Give in: This strategy can be used when students refuse to do something. In such cases, like not wanting
to do homework, the teacher can quickly and decisively say, “All right, don’t. Instead, let’s…”.
3.Talk to the student in private: This happens when the general atmosphere of the class is calm, but there
are a couple of students who tend to disturb it.

4.Seek assistance from a higher authority: Although many teachers argue that this strategy weakens their
authority, it seems to be the last solution when the problems is heightened. The obvious advantage of
this strategy is that it prevents any sort of confrontation between the teacher and students.

Typical Mistakes in Dealing with Student Misbehavior

1.Using sarcasm: This is not recommended at all because it not only fosters resentment and conflict but
also makes students even more uncooperative. Sarcasm triggers retaliation and should be avoided.

2.Delay in dealing with the problem: Problems should be dealt with very quickly with as few words as
possible.

3.Using double standards: An important point that teachers should note is that if there is a regulation, it
should be observed by every one without an exception. Sometimes teachers or certain students can do
things that other students can’t do. This is what all students hate!

4.Criticizing the students instead of the behavior: The typical mistake of many teachers is that they
criticize the student instead of the wrong action s/he is doing. Thus, when a student is not doing his or her
work, it is better to say, “You had better concentrate on your work and spend less time chatting with
others” than “You are a lazy student”.

5.Making empty threats: teachers are strongly recommended not to make threats they will not or cannot
carry out. If teachers repeatedly make empty threats they will not carry out, they will gradually lose their
credibility and their authority will be lessened, as a result.