TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

Aldo U. Resndiz
Language is not only an instrument of communication but also the means through which
we ascribe meaning to our life experiences and engage with the larger world. Language learning,
then, should go beyond deciphering the intricacies of a target language to being a transformative
process in and of itself. Parting from this notion, I am drawn in my teaching to elements of the
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach and Critical Language Pedagogy (CLP) to
inform my stance as a critical language educator.
At the core of my teaching philosophy is my belief in learner-centered instruction with a
focus on students individual needs and goals and aimed at students taking charge of their own
learning. Akin to this concept is the principle of autonomy. Students who develop autonomy
possess a sense of ownership of their learning reflected in their active participation and
engagement inside the classroom and well beyond the classroom walls. Some concrete ways in
which I promote learner autonomy in the classroom is by having students proofread and identify
ungrammatical sentences and/or pronunciation errors that emerge in the course of class
discussions or activities. I record the errors and design class activities that require students to
identify and correct them either in groups or individually in this way making students take an
active role in their learning.
Most communicative techniques I employ in the classroom involve some level of
cooperative work in pairs or groups and through participation in peer feedback. Cooperative
learning is important because it foregrounds social interaction, which is fundamental to
completing communicative tasks. Moreover, creating a supportive learning community among
students through collaboration and interpersonal communication can go a long way to creating a
classroom environment conducive to learning. The goal in that is to support students who are
involved with the social process in which they are immersed and of which they are both products
and producers.
In my own teaching, I promote collaboration across proficiency levels through group
work and by implementing semi-controlled and free techniques such as information exchange,
role plays, problem solving, drama, simulation, interviews, and discussions. As a teacher, I also
advocate for building community among fellow teachers by creating spaces where cooperation

can thrive not only through peer observation but through the free exchange of ideas during all
phases of the teaching process from designing curricula to implementing individual lesson plans
in the language classroom.
Cooperation is essential for world-mediated learning. Meaningful learning is the
byproduct of a genuine language process centered on real-life context and language input. It
enables students to be simultaneously immersed and prepared to use authentic language,
productively and receptively, in real-life situations. I see as my role as a teacher to link language
with the local socio-cultural, political, and linguistic environment of students.
As a critical language educator, I often introduce social justice and political issues for
classroom debates and discussions on topics ranging from womens and immigration rights to
environmental issues. In presenting these topics, I first consider students cultural, religious and
personal beliefs particularly when working with students of diverse linguistic and cultural
backgrounds. Critical lessons demand reading and reflection on the part of teachers and students.
The type of meaningful learning that can be achieved in the language classroom through
opinion exchange and other aforementioned techniques lends itself to a particular approach to
classroom investigation, namely the use of journaling. As a teacher I maintain a class journal
where I write accounts of what transpired in my lessons, particularly in the facilitation of group
discussions, and which I use later used for reflection. I use journals in a similar way with my
students. I ask students to read a text related to the theme of a critical lesson and write a brief
one-page journal entry for class. During group discussion and other collaborative activities,
students have the opportunity to further problematize their opinions and then are invited to share
their reflections with the whole class
Teaching, and particularly language teaching, is not a value-free act. To the extent that
we recognize the critical role we have as language educators, we can seize on the opportunity to
ground our teaching practices in the promotion of social justice. Autonomy, cooperation, and
meaningful learning are three main components of language pedagogy that I have incorporated
into my personal teaching philosophy and classroom practices. It is my belief that it is possible to
facilitate students learning by employing an array of techniques that enable the development of
students communicative competence while also providing them with the necessary tools to face
the complex social challenges they encounter as they develop themselves in their new language.