Jeasel D. G.

Moloboco

TESL 621

REFLECTION PAPER

When a person imparts information or skills to another, it is common to describe the

action as "teaching." Imparting may mean sharing experiences or communicating information.

Teaching is regarded as both an art and a science. As an art, it places stress on the

imaginative and artistic abilities of the teacher in creating a worthwhile situation in the classroom

to enable students to learn. As a science, it sheds light on the logical, mechanical, or procedural

steps to be followed to attain an effective achievement of goals. As a language teacher, these two

ideas are my guiding principles in teaching, for they also reflect my personality. But other than

these two concepts, there are also learning theories that guide me as a teacher.

These theories hold different ideas regarding the concept of teaching and learning. As

such, these learning theories are Watson, Pavlov and Skinner’s Behaviorism, Krashen’s Monitor

Model, Piaget’s Cognitivism, and Pask’s Conversation.

Behaviorism focuses on the idea that learning can be explained by a succession of trials,

errors, and rewards for success. Therefore, children learned by simple imitation, listening to and

repeating what adults said. This theory is very useful for me as a language teacher. Especially

for young learners, such as the kindergarten students who I tutor. When I teach them the

sounds of the alphabet, I make them imitate the sound that I utter.

Likewise, behaviorism helps me understand how I motivate my students and help them

learn, like the stickers that I use to boost their morale once they finish the assigned

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tasks for the session and the praises or good remarks that I make when they answer a question

correctly.

But other than motivation and positive reinforcement, behaviorism also promotes

repetition. This idea is to make the learners have a routine, which I usually apply when I teach. I

first do some drills like flashcard reading, then the writing part, or when my student starts to

answer his or her module, then the activity or game that I usually make from printouts and other

materials like glue, strings, and small toys.

Another theory is Krashen’s Monitor Model, which states that acquiring a language is

universal. Perhaps it is, as there are many ways to learn something. That is why I also use

different media, tools, and methods when I teach. I use videos or short clips, audio, and even

make interactive PowerPoint presentations or do some paper folding to create captivating visual

aids.

The model also suggests that students should be allowed to speak and given a chance for

their brains to "scan" for correctness. I apply this by asking my student to answer a question and

not telling him/her the correct answer if he/she ever gets it incorrectly; instead, I lead him/her to

the answer by giving hints until he/she gets it.

Additionally, this theory hypothesizes that there is a natural order to learning. It means

that teachers should start by introducing concepts that are relatively easy for learners to acquire

and then use scaffolding to introduce more difficult concepts. That is why it is important to

assess the students and know their previous learning before presenting a lesson to them. When

teaching literature, for example, I will let the students know the vocabulary words related to the

story before reading it. And also, they should know the elements of the story beforehand.

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 The theory also states that there is an affective filter, which is viewed as an

acquisition device. Affective filters are described as the learner’s mood, feelings, and attitude

that affect his or her learning process. Teachers should be sensitive to this issue. Being an

educator does not imply that we should only be concerned with the learner's academic

standing; we should also consider how they feel about certain issues from time to time. This idea

led me to believe that there are things that can help a learner be more interested in learning, like

the place where I teach my students. And since I only tutor, I have no classroom to design or

clean. But that doesn’t mean that I should just be content with our teaching setting. Before I

teach, I make sure that the surroundings can uplift my student’s mood. It needs to be clean, well-

lighted, and well ventilated. I also assess my student’s attitude before starting. Usually,

younger students are easily distracted and don’t want to study immediately. And so, we do

some stretching first, or singing and dancing. For my older students, who are high schoolers, I

also do this, but there are some differences, like I casually talk to them first. I ask them how they

are doing and then have a short conversation about what is currently happening to their lives. I

ask them what they did yesterday or over the weekend and about their experiences and thoughts

on a matter.

One more theory that I have anchored into my commitment as a language teacher is

cognitivism. This theory focuses on the internal processes surrounding information and memory.

Thus, it suggests that educators must understand how students learn.

Understanding how my students learn helps me develop lesson plans. Since my students

have different ways of learning, I also adjust my way of teaching them. I have students who are

easily distracted, so I prepare activities that are more interactive and fun to get them more

interested in learning the lesson. I also have students who love

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reading, so I prepare more reading materials for them. On the other hand, I have students who

love to write, and so I prepare lessons that suit them.

In addition to the theories mentioned above, I also apply the Conversation Theory, which

explains how learning occurs through conversations. And one critical method of learning is

"teachback", where one person teaches another what they have learned.

After every discussion, generalization is a must. This helps me assess the students'

learning of the lesson. The teachback method is when I ask my student to summarize and give

his or her reflection on the lesson. This concept gives me an idea of how much my student has

learned from our lesson or if he or she is still confused on any matter.

Each language teacher may have different views on teaching. They may differ in teaching

methods and tools. But there is one thing on which I am sure everyone will agree: as teachers, we

all want to be competent enough to teach our students any language. Hence, we should be guided

by different learning theories or studies and not be limited to only what we know or what we

think is right and appropriate in teaching.