ELT News Think Tank

This Month's Think Tank Panel

Marc Helgesen

Peter Viney

Chuck Sandy

Panelists: Marc | Peter | Chuck
Date: January 2002

Topic: "What are some ways to increase language output inside and outside the classroom?"

(The flip side to December's article on input, our authors and teachers discuss output. -ed.)

Chuck Sandy

Years ago when I was working as a program coordinator for a vocational language college in Tokyo I wrote a manifesto for their teachers' manual which Ted Rodgers rather dismissively called "The Nice Approach." At its core was a philosophy encouraging teachers to treat students as whole people with valid and various needs, motivations, and desires rather than as language acquisition devices or charges to test, grade, and control. I went on to encourage teachers to create warm friendly classrooms and to try to be open and approachable. I even went so far as to suggest that a good teacher is no different in the classroom than he or she is out of it. This was during the hey-day of the humanistic movement in language teaching and I was infatuated by those ideas as well as by the ideas of whole-language theorists. Theirs was a message I thought others needed to hear, and as I was a young person in charge of a group of young teachers who often thought that being a good teacher meant filling up an hour with newly learned clever techniques while struggling to maintain control I made sure that everyone heard it.

Of course, I was no better than anyone else, and as is almost always the case I was preaching a lesson I myself needed to learn. I'm no doubt writing about this again because it's a lesson I need to remind myself of again and again: teaching a language means much more than imparting linguistic knowledge, providing input and designing practice opportunities. What it centrally involves is helping others cross boundaries and build bridges so that they can become themselves in another language.

Pedagogically there was a lot missing from that manifesto I once wrote, namely a well-organized series of language objectives, yet I think the spirit of it was not only right for that time but also still right for this time. I believed then and I believe now that the best way to increase learning and therefore output is to create classrooms in which people feel comfortable enough to be themselves and take risks, and to be teachers who are comfortable enough with themselves to be not only approachable but also be people who are not afraid to be spontaneous, reach out to make real human contact and thereby take risks of their own.

Too often I think language teachers tend to see themselves as practitioners of a craft, people armed with activities and tasks, exercises and games, yet too often these things become a wall between teacher and students, blocking real communication and output even more than fostering it. In a recent study conducted by Anne Burns it was shown that output actually increased when students were off task and communicating freely with the teacher.

This is not to suggest in any way that teachers should dispense with activities, games, and tasks, but to point out that it's often the less structured moments of a class which prove to be the most fruitful and that teachers should be aware of them and ready to follow such moment to where they lead. It's also to say that a good language teacher is no different than a good teacher of any other subject, for as any good teacher does, a good language teacher creates a comfortable classroom with positive group dynamics where spontaneity is valued and everyone has a chance to be heard.

In addition, like all effective teachers, the effective language teacher uses relevant, intriguing materials as a springboard and not as a means to a particular end. Such materials allow for digressions and leave room for spontaneity and allow both teacher and students to ask real questions of value which go as far as possible beyond the simple comprehension questions most of us rely upon. Therefore, the effective language teacher, like all effective teachers, thinks about the types of questions he or she asks and realizes that it's not the teacher's voice in the classroom that's central, but the voices of students. Moreover, the effective language teacher understands that though some people may need more encouragement and support than others that everyone should have at least the chance at a turn.

Finally, like all the best teachers, the good language teacher is approachable outside of class as well as in. This is something that's often difficult on one's less than best days, but I've found one of the most effective ways to increase output outside of the classroom in my particular context has been to leave my office door open.

Though the humanists and whole-language theorists have fallen out of fashion and reference to them can now cause some people among us to literally cringe and sigh out loud, their message is still one worth reminding ourselves of and the nice approach remains central to increasing language output and learning in and out of the classroom.

Panelists: Marc | Peter | Chuck

Chuck Sandy, Chubu University

Co-author of two series from CUP, Passages and Connect

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