Developing rapport and social-emotional competencies in English

language teaching.

Maria Vitoria Carvalho

Denise Ismenia Bossa Grassano Ortenzi

Introduction

There has always been a concern in language teaching education to prepare

knowledgeable and skillful teachers. As a part of English teachers’ education in Brazil,
student teachers study many aspects of the English language, approaches, and
methodology. In subjects such as applied linguistics, preservice teachers are provoked
to take part in discussions in interdisciplinary areas like psychology and philosophy that
can collaborate to teacher education. At the same time that they study and reflect upon
their careers, they also start their practicum in a challenge of learning how to become
confident and gain experience to deal with the reality of Brazilian schools. One of the
greatest challenges of the practicum is the relationship teachers have to develop with
their students, classroom management and school environment. A very important aspect
of these abilities that are to be developed in the practicum is establishing rapport. How
can teachers connect with their students, engage them and create a safe environment to
enable learning?

The need to take a more affective approach to education has risen in recent
years. Not only in Brazil, but also in other countries, educators have been studying and
analysing emotional factors to learners’ educational experience. Our emotions and
feelings influence the way we learn and due to the increase early diagnosis of anxiety
and depression in students, the learning of emotional competencies have also caught
interest of educators and governments. In 2017, the National Education Committee in
Brazil published a National Curricular Common Base (BNCC in Portuguese), which
covers many different subjects and concerns in basic education, including ones related
to empathy, collaborative work and perception of one’s emotions and identity.

In this article, I show how literature has dealt with social constructivist concepts
in language teaching and relate them to the guidelines of the BNCC. What contributions
can be taken from a social constructivist approach in ELT to develop students’ social-
emotional competencies? I also highlight the current trend of studying and analyzing
Social Emotional Learning in different countries. Through classroom research, this
study investigates the development of social emotional competencies in a high school
classroom in Londrina, Brazil through the analysis of tasks, teachers’ mediation and
students’ activities. Thirty students from the first year of high school participated in
tasks designed to develop three categories of the ten general competencies in the
BNCC: empathy, cooperation, and self-knowledge.

These categories were analyzed and expanded to social-emotional competencies,

which are connected to the development of rapport and emotions to theory. Besides
observing and evaluating lesson plans and students’ tasks, a final questionnaire was
answered by students aiming to capture their perceptions of how they felt these
competencies were developed in their English lessons. Both students’ production in
designed tasks and their answers to the questionnaire were analyzed in order to identify
if interventions made in this period were effective in developing their social-emotional
competencies, if they have developed empathy, self-knowledge, and cooperation
through this process.

Literature Review

Social Emotional Learning

In 1994, the term “social emotional learning”(SEL) was created by a group

entitled The Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) in
the United States. This group formed by researchers and educators have the goal to
define, discuss and promote ways to design programs focusing on positive development
in children. They define SEL as: “Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process
through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve
positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive
relationships, and make responsible decisions.” (CASEL, 2019).
 Picture 1.1 – CASEL’s definition of social emotional Learning < https://casel.org/core-
competencies/>

Elias et al. (1997) defined SEL as the process of acquiring core competencies to
recognize and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, appreciate the
perspectives of others, establish and maintain positive relationships, make responsible
decisions, and handle interpersonal situations constructively. Humphrey (2013) in
Social and emotional learning: A critical appraisal states that SEL applies emotional
intelligence theory and research to education (Hoffman, 2009), and it focuses on a
developmental approach to social and emotional abilities (Denham and Brown, 2010):
“We may consider for whom such approaches may be most needed and/or beneficial,
why, and under what circumstances (Durlak et al., 2011; Weisz et al., 2005). Given this,
SEL may be best viewed as a potentially very effective means through which to effect
positive change for children and young people, but one that schools may need to
consider in terms of their individual contexts”.

In The Impact of Enhancing Students’ Social and Emotional Learning Durlak et

al.(2011), researchers analyzed findings from a meta-analysis of 213 school-based,
universal social and emotional learning (SEL) programs involving 270,034 kindergarten
through high school students. Their goal was to advance theories in emotional
intelligence developed by Salovey and Mayer (1990) by testing programs, guidelines
and interventions. They concluded that since the beginning of human history we try to
find ways to understand and better control our emotions. For Durlak et al, SEL and
moral and character education offer a way to achieve such goal. By dealing with
students emotional states in the classroom and helping them to prepare to recognize,
deal and address their feelings and emotions, learners become more sympathetic to
others, learn to work collaboratively and have better chances to be socially successful.
 Our social-emotional skills are seen by literature as an outcome of the
interaction we have with our family, school and society in general. Learning happens
through the development of these skills and achievement of intrinsically related set of
goals. Learners who have the social-emotional skills developed since early education
can have long-lasting effects not only in school, but also in their relationships
throughout life.

Emotions in EFL

Learning a language can be even a more sensitive process due to the frustrations
involved on the way. Although Stephen Krashen might have been highly criticized by
his SLA (Second Language Acquisition) hypothesis, the Affective Filter hypothesis
may contribute to a connection between SEL and English language teaching. Krashen’s
Affective Filter hypothesis states that a number of 'affective variables' play a crucial role
in second language acquisition. They are motivation, self-confidence and anxiety.
Krashen (1988) says that learners with high motivation, self-confidence, a good self-
image, and a low level of anxiety are more likely to succeed in learning a language.
Low motivation, low self-esteem and anxiety can combine to 'raise' the affective filter
and form a 'mental block' that prevents comprehensible input from being used for
acquisition. In other words, when the filter is 'up' it impedes language acquisition.
Positive affect is necessary, but not sufficient on its own, for acquisition to take place.
Taking into consideration that SEL theory and research, emotions affect learning and
Krashen’s theory can make the connection to English Language learning.

Rapport

The topics of establishing rapport and development of learners’ social-emotional

competencies have been highly debated in English language teaching. Behaviorist and
constructivist approaches considered the importance of emotions in language teaching
even though they were more concerned about how language acquisition happened
cognitively. Humanist and social interactionist approaches have contributed even more
in the development of methods and practices that considered individuals’ thoughts,
feelings, and emotions as vitally important to human learning and development.
(Williams and Burden, 1997). Humanistic approaches contributed to a more holistic
view of learners, in which learners’ social-emotional aspects are highly valued and the
individual’s search for personal meaning is considered relevant and powerful to human
education. Such approaches are connected to social interactionism, for them we are born
into a social world, therefore learning happens through interaction with other people.

Although the topic of developing social emotional competencies in education

has not been debated by authors like Vygotsky and Feuerstein’s, their contribution
towards such construct is the concept of mediation. For them, mediation enhances and
enables effective learning experiences through someone who plays the role of mediator,
a significant other, often a parent, teacher or peer. This significant other can be anyone,
but according to an affective approach to language teaching, we could infer that it
would be someone with a good rapport to this learner. A bond is essential for
establishing a safe and nurturing environment, where mistakes and development could
be easily perceived. According to Burden (1997), mediation overlaps and complements
scaffolding in many ways; the mediator plays an important role in learners’ lives,
finding ways of helping them to learn. Not only the Vygotskian view of mediation for
effective learning is essential for this paper, but also his view on how language is a key
element in a meaningful learning process and how collaborative work provides
opportunities for it to happen.

Brazilian Public Education

Considering previous research, it is also important to highlight that social-

emotional competencies have been recently addressed in the latest official document for
Brazilian education: the National Curricular Common Base in 2017. The NCCB (BNCC
in Portuguese) is a normative document for public and private educational institutions, a
mandatory reference for the elaboration of school curricula and pedagogical proposals
for the teaching of children and elementary education. Among other topics, the
document comprises ten general competencies that have to be developed from
kindergarten through high school. It is a guiding material based on the most relevant
recently published research on the areas of learning science, pedagogy and
psychological development, prepared by a committee appointed by the Brazilian
Ministry of Education and by a study conducted by Michaela Horvathova, a researcher
Center for Curriculum Redesign. Among the ten general competencies presented in the
document, we have chosen two of them to analyze and categorize as social-emotional
competencies.
 Picture 1.2 – BNCC’s ten general competencies infographic.

We can see in the picture 1.2 all the competencies proposed in the BNCC, they
reflect the goals of the country to enable learning in many areas. The ones focused in
this study are numbers 8 and 9. Number 8 is self-knowledge and self-care and number 9
is empathy and cooperation. In comparison to SEL competencies proposed in the United
States, in general terms we can say that the Brazilian government’s concern to promote
a standard to high-quality education considered emotions and social-emotional skills to
be important and relevant for educators to take into account. In the text, both
competencies are defined and had their goals explained. Number 8, which encompasses
self-knowledge and self-care, is defined as “get to know oneself, understand and
appreciate oneself in human diversity”. Its goal is to promote care in physical and
emotional health. Recognizing one’s own emotions and the others, with self-analysis
and ability to deal with them. Number 9 is defined as “exercise empathy,
communication, resolution of conflicts and cooperation.” Its goal is to have people
respect you and promote respect to others and human rights, welcoming and valuing
diversity, not having prejudice of any kind.

Experiences in developing in social emotional competencies

The topic of the development of emotional competencies has been had increased
interest in recent years. Such interest has not only appeared in Brazilian normative
documents, but also in other countries, such as the United States and England. In an
attempt to promote success in students’ school lives, they have created guidance
documents such as SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) in England and
SEL (Social and Emotional Learning) in the United States. Coelho et al. (2016) have
done a review on the proposals brought by these documents and we are also going to
address some of them, in comparison to the guidelines presented in the Brazilian
document, the BNCC, which is a broader document but also addresses the topic of
emotional competencies.

An article published in 2014 called “The development of socioemotional skills

as path to learning and school success for basic education students” by Anita Abed also
discusses the role of mediation in Reuven Feuerstein, and synthesizes a study
commissioned by the “Conselho Nacional de Educação - CNE” (MEC) in Brazil, 2013
on UNESCO about an intentional insertion of educational practices aimed to develop
socio-emotional skills as a path to academic success in basic education. A lot has been
discussed about this topic worldwide and locally. Brazilian educational system poses a
challenge for teachers to transform the guidelines of the BNCC into practice through
classroom activities and real-life interaction with their students.

Methodology

This research happened through a program called Teaching Internship Program

(Residência Pedagógica). It took place in a public school in Londrina, a Brazilian city in
the state of Parana with a group of thirty students in the first year of high school, they
are all fifteen years old. The aim of this classroom qualitative research is to investigate
the development of social emotional competencies through the analysis of students’
tasks, teachers’ mediation and students’ activities. The activities proposed to students
aimed at having them share and define their emotions, work collaboratively in different
groups and to establish a good rapport - relationship- with the teacher. Data collection
comprised 40 classes, conducted during six months in 2019. Students had 50-minute
English classes twice a week. in an attempt to interpret students’ emotions and their
effects to their learning processes: the choice of activities, the students’ productions and
field notes from classroom diaries. Field notes were written both in situations and away
from them. They contain the results of observations. Some documents, particularly if
they are very personal (e.g. letters and diaries) may catch personal details and feeling
(‘confessions’: Bailey 1994: 296), just as logs or diaries of field experiences (similar to
field notes though usually written some time after the observations have been made) can
also reflect the unintentional outcome of the intervention.

The final questionnaire was taken at the end of these 40 classes, with only 20
students, the ones who were willing to do so. Data was analyzed in comparison to the
BNCC guidelines and previously mentioned literature. The research questions were
answered analyzing the language used by the teacher and students in their productions
and field notes written by the teacher. The activities were also analyzed with the goal of
measuring effectiveness in promoting the development of their social-emotional skills.
The questions asked in the final stage of the research in the questionnaire for some of
the students had the goal to measure if they realized those skills were being dealt in their
English lessons and if they thought the bond created with the teacher helped in any
ways to develop them.

There were categories used in this analysis of different student outcomes: social
and emotional skills, attitudes toward self and others, positive classroom behaviors,
students’ performance and perception of students towards the intervention. All of which
derived from data collection and contributed to the reliability of this research.

In this particular context of a public school, teachers rely on textbooks and the
syllabus as very important tools to their teaching. It is also relevant to consider in this
process, the school’s and the students’ expectations of studying the subject of English,
with a content to be covered and grade to be given every trimester. At the beginning of
the year, after discussing with the Teaching Internship Program teacher preceptor and
orientador, I found out she does not normally use the textbook sent by the ministry of
education, the material chosen for her subject and school. She can change it if she
chooses to, every three years, but she prefers to use her own material, since it can be
easily adapted to her students’ needs. I analyzed the textbook and realized the topics
brought by it could be highly valuable for this research. The textbooks’ topics in its
units were Identity, Love, Diversity, Nutrition and Gender Equality. Taking an even
closer look at them, I noticed that the different genres and vocabulary could benefit and
promote interaction and collaboration among students, so I decided to use it and adapt it
for the activities proposed.

The first two units that referred to Identity and Love offered a very good
opportunity for students to share their emotions, attempt to define themselves and
establish a bond with the teacher and classmates.

Maria Vitoria Carvalho

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