Classroom Inquiry – Bringing Positive Change to Our Classrooms

Classroom Inquiry – Bringing Positive Change to Our Classrooms

Christopher Stern

“All life is an experiment.  The more experiments you make, the better.”  - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Good teaching means knowing what you are doing.  I think that is incontestable.  And knowing what you are doing means knowing the basis upon which you are doing it.  This requires an understanding of multiple factors, including teaching methodologies, classroom techniques and activities, teacher and learner beliefs and expectations, group dynamics and leadership styles, a teacher’s roles, learners’ differing styles and strategies, multiple aspects of communication, and the dynamics of motivation and consciousness.  So knowing how to change one’s teaching for the better involves recognizing where one’s teaching is not effective because either a. one’s practice and one’s understanding, or bases, do not match up, or b. one’s theoretical standpoint is faulty.  As Williams & Burden state, “If teacher improvement projects are ever to be successful, they should always begin with the question ‘How does this change relate to these teachers’ understandings of their work?’” ( 1997: 52)  In this paper, I will attempt to address all of the abovementioned factors.  But what is equally essential is an understanding of a practice for recognizing what is not effective, the roots of the problem, the array of possible changes one can make to improve the situation, and the means of evaluating the effectiveness of changes made.  These are the means by which reflective teaching can bring positive change to the learning experience.

Classroom techniques & activities

                Richards & Lockhart express that no matter what methodology a teacher chooses to use, there are a limited number of actual activities in which a teacher engages in class. These include: presentation, practice, memorization, comprehension, application, strategy, affective, feedback and assessment activities. ( 1994: 163-5)  It is useful for a teacher to have an awareness of the variety of activities he or she, as well as learners, engage in during a class period, and over the course of numerous classes.  This will help ensure that lessons contain sufficient variety of activity and interaction patterns, and address learner engagement in multiple cognitive as well as affective levels. 

Beliefs

The types and balance of activities a teacher provides, among other elements, are likely to be influenced by the teacher’s beliefs about their teaching and what they feel is good for their students.  However, learners may often have different ideas.  “Differences between teachers’ and learners’ beliefs can sometimes lead to mismatch between their assumptions about what is useful to focus on in a language lesson.”  (Richards & Lockhart, 1994: 53)  For this reason it is important to be attuned to your students – not just to listen, but to give real attention to the way they experience different learning activities.  This can be achieved through a number of ways.  In my experience, I can usually gain an understanding of what my students value and enjoy in their learning experience by questioning them directly, asking them to discuss their values, needs, interests and expectations in small groups or as a class, through questionnaires, or simply by observing their affective engagement with an activity. 

Richards & Lockhart also mention the element of the learner’s culture and its impact on attitudes towards both language learning in general, and the target language and its culture.  (1994: 52)  In this regard, having an awareness of the learners’ culture can be a double-edged sword.  While a little understanding can often help to provide insight on learners’ behavior, it is important that a teacher’s familiarity with their students’ culture doesn’t lead to sloppy thinking given to generalizations and assumptions.  Ideally, a teacher who is aware of his or her own beliefs, and responsive to his or her students’ beliefs, will be better able to match learners’ expectations, and to offer a convincing explanation and demonstration of the value of activities when they differ from what learners believe they need.

Groups & leadership

Each class, that is to say, each amalgamation of individual learners which come together as a class, engenders a new dynamic.  In my experience, classes usually develop a sense of cohesion, and this can happen very quickly: new friendships are formed, people get to know and become comfortable and open with one another, and generally treat each other kindly and considerately.  But there are some exceptions.  Some classes simply never ‘gel’, or one or two learners have a hard time not feeling ‘sidelined’ by others.  Dörnyei comments that “There are several factors that promote group cohesiveness ...and most of these can be consciously ‘manipulated’ to good effect.”  Among these are:  time together, group history and ‘legends’, interaction, cooperation, hardship, intergroup competition, and the “active presence of a leader” (2001: 122)  The choice of what type of leader a teacher becomes must be made reflectively with regard to the dynamics of each particular class (Dörnyei & Murphey, 2003: 95)  And, as the leader of the class, the teacher should be cognizant of his or her instrumental role in assuring that the class does ‘gel’, that learners understand and agree upon expectations for themselves and the teacher – best achieved through group construction, and that the class runs smoothly.  Irvin Yalom (1995) has stated:  “’Wittingly or unwittingly, the leader always shapes the norms of the group and must be aware of this function.  The leader cannot not influence norms; virtually all of his or her early group behaviour is influential.  Moreover, what one does not do is often as important as what one does do.’”  (from Dörnyei & Murphey, 2003; 42)  This is to say, the teacher leads by example.  When a teacher has a clear understanding of these dynamics, as well as a tool kit of strategies to employ, the resulting classroom cohesion is palpable, and leads to a far more rewarding learning experience for all, one which is highly motivating and in which distractions such as the need for discipline hardly ever occur.

Salmon (1988) goes even further in her constructivist approach to teaching, saying: “we ourselves represent and even embody the curriculum.  We convey not just what we know, but our position towards it, the personal ramifications and implications which it has for us.” (from Williams & Burden, 1997: 53)  This comes through in our presentation, in our attitude towards the curriculum we present.  And so, a teacher who strives to be truly authentic and effective must choose their teaching materials carefully, with the goal of always being able to present materials about which they are enthusiastic, whether this means throwing out, modifying or creating new material entirely.  And when the teacher hasn’t the time for this, it is best to be honest about how one feels about the materials, because learners will know anyhow.  A genuine approach not only towards learners, but also toward learning materials, displays a sense of integrity and congruence which undoubtedly impresses positively upon learners. 

Congruence is one of the three qualities of an “effective facilitator” as mentioned by Rogers, the other two being empathy and acceptance.  Empathy, as I understand it, is one’s ability to view one’s students as people, to be curious about and sensitive and respectful towards them.  Acceptance is defined as “a non-judgemental, positive attitude.”  (Dörnyei & Murphey, 2003: 93)  These qualities relate to what Daniel Goleman has called “emotional intelligence.”  While they might not be found in a job description, they cannot be written off as fluff.  Teaching is not only a job in which one deals with people, such as service-industry jobs.  It is a job in which one informs and forms people, and becoming emotionally intelligent is not just about becoming a better person, it is part of becoming a far more effective teacher.

Teachers’ roles

It seems natural that teachers will form their roles based on the type of school in which they teach, their methodology, personality and cultural background.  (Richards & Lockhart, 1994: 98)  This may occur without very much examination or introspection.  What is more useful is have an understanding of the different types of roles teachers typically take on in the classroom.  Richards & Lockhart summarize these as being : planner, manager, quality controller, group organizer, facilitator, motivator, empowerer and team member .(ibid, 105-6)   The important point is that teachers decide their role through an informed rather than default choice process.  In being able to do so, they may be able to better attune their activity towards the needs of their learners at any point in time.

Individual learners:  strategies  & styles

Individual learners will be interpreting each classroom experience differently, based on their personal background, learning styles and the strategies they can make use of.  As astute teacher, aware of learner’s individual preferences, will be able to provide a more effective learning experience for each individual and for the class as a whole.  Furthermore, with an understanding of specific learning and communication strategies, an informed teacher can coach learners in using strategies in relation to tasks in order to lead learners towards both greater success and autonomy.  (Carter & Nunan, 2001: 171 and Oxford & Lee, in Cohen & Macaro, Eds., 2007: 136)

Motivation:  competence and control

Motivation is a huge topic, and I can only touch briefly upon it here.  In summary, there are a wide number of strategies a teacher can employ to motivate learners, some listed above in Dörnyei’s discussion on group formation.  But the features mentioned most frequently as leading to motivation can be boiled down to competence and autonomy.  (Williams & Burden, 1997: 50)  Two peripheral factors which come into play are control (which can be subsumed by competence) and goal-directedness (which can be subsumed by autonomy – an autonomous learner has his or her own goals).  (Carter & Nunan, 2001: 166)  This is corroborated by work in other fields.  Clay Shirky, in Cognitive Surplus, cites a study by a research psychologist, Edward Deci, in which he defines autonomy as “to determine what we do and how we do it” and competence as “to be good at what we do.” ( Shirky, 2010: 70-75).   When a teacher can provide opportunities for his or her learner to exercise both competence and autonomy, by careful design and through scaffolding activity, the classroom becomes a thoroughly engaging environment in which learning really takes place.

Dörnyei adds a further dimension to the question of motivation in addressing ‘action’ versus ‘state’ orientation, or longitudinal motivation.  These two orientations are antithetical psychological constructs in which the first helps, while the second hinders goal achievement.   (Dörnyei, 2001: 44)  These two different states and the continuum in between are often evident to a teacher, based on a learner’s behavior and the things he or she may say regarding their learning.  If a teacher can be sensitive to these psychological constructs, helping a learner to ‘reframe’ their experience and develop a new experience of learning, it can be one of the most helpful things a teacher can do.

Multiple aspects of communication

Crookes summarizes the multiple aspects of a teacher’s communication as including: framing lessons, pacing, proxemics, non-verbal communication (voice tone, eye contact, body language), and teacher talk.  (Crookes, 2003)  He goes even further, to quote Hodge’s description of ‘teacherese’ (1993: 118) as a specific type of talk which draws learners in by making use of the components of theme and rheme.  (from Crookes, 2003: 78)  An astute teacher fashions communication thoughtfully, and by being thoughtful to the greatest degree, becomes communicative to the greatest degree.  Having a solid awareness not only of language, but also of non-linguistic elements of communication, as well as the overall framework of communication (in a complete lesson or course) helps to clarify matters for students, as well as to heighten the experience of congruence required for peak understanding.  Richards and Lockhart summarize this notion rather more simply: “The ability to monitor one’s own instruction and evaluate it in terms of its appropriateness within a specific and immediate context is central to interactive decision making.” (1994: 84)

Emotions are equally an aspect of communication.  In speaking of the primacy of emotion, Young states “emotions can monopolize the brain’s system, or circuitry, to the extent that it can override conscious brain activity, or cognition.” (1999: 18)  It is to the teacher’s benefit to be able to control and employ this feature in both themselves and in students for the benefit of learning.  This is another aspect of emotional intelligence, which, if harnessed effectively, helps the teacher to create a supportive and motivating positive learning environment for learners.

Consciousness

Schmidt’s model of consciousness “posits that consciousness consists of four major parts: attention, awareness, control, and intention.” (Oxford & Lee, in Cohen & Macaro, Eds., 2007: 125)  The practice, in every sense of the word ‘practice’, of all four of these components is crucially beneficial for our classroom experience.  The first two involve one’s experience of the external impacting on the internal world.  But the latter two involve projecting one’s internal experience outward.  While all of these components are important, it is the last one, intention, which may be the most elusive, and which serves as the glue holding all the others together.  I would even say that intention subsumes control.  I have also said that competence subsumes control.  Thus, intention and competence are inextricably entwined.  Jane McGonigal, in her recent opus on games, Reality is Broken, speaks of shared intentionality. “Shared intentionality, according to Tomasello, is defined as “the ability to participate with others in collaborative activities with shared goals and intentions.”  When we have shared intentionality, we actively identify as part of a group, we deliberately and explicitly agree on a goal, and we can understand what others expect us to do in order to work toward the goal.” (McGonigal, 2011:270) 

From the perspective of an experienced stage hypnotist, intentionality is paramount.  It is the utmost responsibility of the hypnotist, without which nothing happens.  But it is also the responsibility of the audience to partake in a shared intention, under supervision or direction if you will.  As a teacher, I feel there are many similarities in the classroom experience.  It is during the times of genuine ‘flow’ in teaching that we as a class have a shared intentionality.  And correspondingly we have a shared experience.  I like to think that to some degree we even have shared brainwaves and perhaps shared thoughts.  And it is primarily the position of the teacher to shape this experience.  This is my interpretation of what Dörnyei refers to as “active presence of a leader.”  (Dörnyei, 2001: 122)  

Practice 
                This leads finally to the practice of reflective teaching.  Freeman remarks “No amount of good procedure will compensate for being blinded by your own preconceptions.” (1998: 55)  Thus, practicing reflective teaching means learning not only the dynamics of the teaching/learning process and awareness of learners’ classroom experience, but also how to be self-observant, including being observant of one’s own preconceptions.  Bailey makes two statements, which at first glance, appear contradictory.  The first:  “Self-observation implies a professional curiosity – watching, listening, and thinking without necessarily judging.” (Bailey et.al., 2001: 27)  And then:  “reflective teaching goes beyond the level of acquiring new techniques....Such change demands that we look critically at ourselves” (Bailey et. al., 2001: 44)  How can we not judge and simultaneously “look critically.”  I think the best way to explain this dichotomy is by understanding the word “critically” not as it relates to criticism, but to critique.  As teachers, we do ourselves the greatest favor when we treat our mistakes as errors to be examined, and treat errors as instances which can be remediated, without blame, just as we would treat a learner’s classroom mistakes or errors, not in a punitive manner, but as an opportunity for improvement. 

                There are many specific things to learn about the practice of reflective teaching, the first of which is self-monitoring:  “Self-monitoring or self-observation refers to a systematic approach to the observation, evaluation, and management of one’s own behavior in order to achieve a better understanding and control over the behavior” (Richards & Farrell, 2005: 34)  Techniques for self-monitoring include keeping a journal or a teaching log, as well as the use of surveys, questionnaires, recording, lesson reports, observation, and action research (Richards & Lockhart, 1994: 7-12)  Through these methods a teacher can collect data about their teaching.  However, as Freeman remarks, “it is important to go beyond the data themselves to the level of findings, to examine what you know, how you have come to know it, and why you believe it is so.”  (Freeman, 1998: 118)  There are two reasons for this: first, explicitness adds strength to an argument; secondly, it raises further questions, propelling further research.  (ibid)  These steps require a teacher to become familiar not only with what they do, but with the underlying reasons for doing so, what I referred to as their ‘basis’ at the beginning of this paper.  In this way a teacher can determine the nature of a teaching problem:  does it arise from the behavior only, or from faulty thinking on which the behavior was based?

But, just as Salmon presents a constructivist approach towards curriculum, Freeman presents a constructivist approach towards inquiry.  He states:  “Inquiries, regardless of their nature, do not spring out of thin air; they are rooted both directly and indirectly in who we are, what we believe, and the questions we are socially positioned to ask.” (Freeman, 1998: 54)  So, inquiries are rooted in us.  It would likely follow that analyses and solutions are rooted in us as well.  But this is a tricky issue, as it would seem that the best solutions, the one’s that actually get at the heart of a rooted problem, must come from outside.  Freeman remarks that “teacher-research may involve challenging what is “normal” or “usual” in the classroom or school in order to better understand or perhaps reshape it.” (Freeman, 1998: 59)  This is well and very true, and returns to the point of experimentation.  But to extrapolate, classroom inquiry, in identifying points of inquiry, analyses, and solutions, should challenge what is “normal” or “usual” not just for the classroom, but for the teacher, and for his or her way of thinking.  This is where lies the value of extensive reading, time spent in discussion with colleagues, and time spent thinking.

Louden (1991) offers “the notion of teachers’ horizons of understanding which are constantly in the process of formation but which are constructed within traditions, larger frames of reference which provide shared ways of making sense.” (from Williams & Burden, 1997: 52) To sum up, through classroom inquiry, a teacher can be constantly expanding their ‘horizons of understanding.’  And in doing so, we, as individuals, are collectively expanding our traditions, creating a larger framework of references in which to improve our work, that work being our learners’ learning experience.

                Your primary job in World of Warcraft is self-improvement – a kind of work that nearly all of us find naturally compelling.  You have an avatar, and your job is to make that avatar better, stronger, and richer in as many different ways as possible:  more experience, more abilities, stronger armor, more skills, more talent, and a bigger reputation.

                Each of these improvable traits is displayed in your avatar profile, alongside a point value.  You improve yourself by earning more points, which requires managing a constant work flow of quests, battles, and professional training.  The more points you earn, the higher your level, and the higher your level, the more challenging work you unlock.  This process is called “leveling up.”  The more challenging the work, the more motivated you are to do it, and the more points you earn . . . It’s a virtuous circle of productivity.  (McGonigal, 2011: 53)

May we all, continuously, level up.

References

¨  Bailey et al.  (2001).  Pursuing Professional Development:  The Self as Source.  Heinle & Heinle.

¨  Bailey & Nunan (Eds.)  (1996).  Voices from the Language Classroom.  Cambridge:  CUP.

¨  Crookes, E. (2003).  A Practicum in TESOL.  Cambridge:  CUP.

¨  Dörnyei, Z. (2001).  Teaching and Researching Motivation.  Essex:  Pearson.

¨  Dörnyei, Z. & T. Murphey (2003).  Group Dynamics in the Language Classroom.  Cambridge: CUP.

¨  Freeman, D.  (1998).  Doing Teacher Research.  Heinle & Heinle. 

¨  Freeman, D. (1996). ‘Redefining the relationship between research and what teachers know.  in Bailey & Nunan (Eds.)  (1996).  Voices from the Language Classroom.  Cambridge:  CUP.

¨  Goleman, D. (2005). Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Books.

¨  McGonigal, J. (2011).  Reality is Broken.  New York:  Penguin Group.

¨  Oxford, R.L. (2001). ‘Language learning strategies’ in Carter, R. & D. Nunan (Eds.) The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.  Cambridge: CUP.

¨  Oxford, R.L. & K.R.  Lee (2007). ‘L2 grammar strategies: the Second Cinderella and beyond’ in Cohen, A.D. & E. Macaro (Eds.) Language Learner Strategies. Oxford: OUP.

¨  Richards & Farrell.  (2005).  Professional Development for Language Teachers.  Cambridge:  CUP.

¨  Richards & Lockhart.  (1994).  Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classrooms.  Cambridge:  CUP.

¨  Shirkey, C. (2010).  Cognitive Surplus.  New York:  Penguin Group.

¨  Williams, M. & R.L. Burden. (1997). Psychology for Language Teachers.  Cambridge: CUP.

¨  Young, D. (Ed.) (1999).  Affect in Foreign Language and Second Language Learning.  McGraw Hill.