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Running Head: TEACHING PHILOSOPHY 1

Teaching Philosophy

Monchi Liu

Colorado State University


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As a foreign (English) language teacher, my primary goal is to develop learners’

communicative competence in order to communicate with English speakers fluently,

appropriately, and accurately. In other words, knowing when, how, and why to say what to

whom. It is my belief that language should be taught with equal emphasis on all four skills

(Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing). To neglect any one of the four skills would be

detrimental to learners’ future application of the language, no matter for what purposes they

would like to use language. In light of my goals and beliefs about language teaching, my

theoretical foundations are based on Content-Based Instruction (CBI) and Task-Based Language

Teaching (TBLT) (Larsen-Freeman, & Anderson, 2011). They are the most meaningful

approaches and methods to help me as a facilitator of English language learning.

The purpose of learning English should be learning how to use it precisely, appropriately,

and fluently rather than rote memorization. Chinese learners, including high school and college

learners, mainly need to learn English for exams so they barely open their mouths to speak

English. However, they learn reading, writing, and listening pretty well. This situation causes

learners to only remember what the sentence means in Chinese and ignore the most essential fact

– application.

Language is a tool that is used for communication not for exams. To support my

perspective, it is significantly important to learn how native speakers present content in

conventional ways. Using authentic materials and organizing speaking activities can give

learners a solid foundation of communicative competence. Under this circumstance, CBI

supports learners by using language that is embedded in relevant discourse rather than isolated

fragments, and TBLT focuses on using authentic language content and on requiring learners to do

meaningful tasks in the target language. Motivation and interest are two important features in
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supporting students’ success with challenging activities and helping them learn complex skills

(Grabe & Stoller, 1997). These two crucial elements also underlie CBI and TBLT. One way for

teachers to keep learners motivated and interested is to build respectful relationships with them

(Wlodkowski, 2008). I respect all different cultures and ethnicities in my class. Additionally, I try

to maintain a common classroom culture that all learners can accept. This atmosphere is more

likely to elicit learners’ intrinsic motivation because all voices are valued (Wlodkowski, 2008).

So, CBI and TBLT, methods which focus on real-world content and tasks, would perfectly match

my teaching goal.

As a teacher, I believe that the language classroom should be student-centered. I get

learners to participate by involving them in making decisions, group work, facing challenges,

generating questions, and the like. These are all effective ways to create an inclusive

environment. In addition, some ways in which I try to engage learners in the classroom are to use

exciting games and activities which connect with the teaching principles and to use multimedia

resources for my teaching purposes and to maximize the connection of instruction with learners,

and to let them conduct peer assessment after activities. Also, a teacher's timely and encouraging

formative assessments in the teaching process will have a positive effect on attracting the

attention of learners. Further, I will encourage learners to use their favorite

approaches/techniques to learn English and cultivate their active participation.

I consider my role as a facilitator to not only convey knowledge but also to respect my

learners, enable learning, and provide support to learners. I believe that it is important to

establish a relationship with learners, in order to provide an inclusive environment that is

conducive to learning. A good relationship between teachers and learners can help them to learn

more, and even help teachers to manage the class effectively because learners will rely on the
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teacher and trust them.

In conclusion, I want to be a facilitator who is able to develop the communicative

competence and meet the fundamental needs of learners and is willing to change the classroom

environment to fit the learners' cultures, ethnicities, and abilities. Moreover, I believe that

teaching and learning are both important in the long run of my future career as a teacher.

Therefore, through continuous learning and practice professional development, I can improve my

teaching methods in my classroom and help learners study efficiently.

References

Grabe, W., & Stoller, F. L. (1997). Content-based instruction: Research foundations. In M. A.

Snow, & D. M. Brinton (Eds.), The content-based classroom: Perspectives on integrating

language and content (pp. 5–21). NY: Longman.

Larsen-Freeman, D., & Anderson, M. (2011). Techniques and principles in language teaching.

Oxford: OUP.

Wlodkowski, R. J. (2008). Enhancing adult motivation to learn: A comprehensive guide for

teaching all adults (pp. 126-127). San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons.

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