DOI: 10.12731/wsd-2014-11-11 UDC 378.147.227
TEAM TEACHING WITH NATIVE SPEAKERS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSES AT HIGHER SCHOOL
Aikina T.Yu., Sumtsova O.V.
This paper is devoted to the problem of teaching English as a foreign language by a native speaker and a non-native speaking teacher working as partners in the same classroom. At the present day team teaching is considered to be one of the most beneficial approaches applied by modern ESL teachers in Russia and other non-English-speaking countries. Tips for effective functioning together are provided including approaches to planning and managing the class. The article is based on the experience of team teaching with an assistant from the USA at National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University. The assistant taught English in collaboration with Russian speaking teachers within class work and extracurricular activities.
Keywords: english as a foreign language, team teaching, cooperative teaching, native speaker, non-native speaking teacher, target language, linguistic competence, communicative competence.
ПРЕПОДАВАНИЕ АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА
В ВЫСШЕЙ ШКОЛЕ В ТАНДЕМЕ С АНГЛОГОВОРЯЩИМ АССИСТЕНТОМ
Айкина Т.Ю., Сумцова О.В.
Данная статья посвящена современной форме преподавания английского языка в тандеме русскоговорящего преподавателя с ассистентом - носителем английского языка. На сегодняшний день подобная форма работы считается одним из самых эффективных подходов, используемых современными преподавателями английского языка в России и других странах, где английский язык не является родным. В статье рассматриваются способы организации совместной деятельности двух преподавателей, планирования и успешного управления учебным процессом. Данная информация необходима для преподавателей, планирующих совместную деятельность подобного рода. Статья основана на опыте совместного преподавания английского языка с ассистентом из США в Национальном Исследовательском Томском Политехническом Университете. Совместное преподавание реализовывалось как во время аудиторных занятий, так и при организации внеаудиторных мероприятий.
Ключевые слова: английский язык как иностранный, совместное преподавание, носитель английского языка, русскоговорящий преподаватель, целевой язык, языковая компетенция, коммуникативная компетенция.
Teaching English as a foreign language in non-English-speaking countries is becoming more and more widespread as a result of economic and cultural globalization nowadays. The Russian Federation is not an exception: the country is moving up to the absolutely new level of international collaboration in all spheres of social life, science and technology. Consequently, there are some obligatory requirements for modern University graduates and young specialists. High level of proficiency in English and ability to apply the obtained knowledge and skills in practice are among them and they are becoming more and more crucial. It is a matter of common observation that it is almost impossible to succeed in any career without possessing at least one foreign language and English is in priority.
It should be mentioned that there are a lot of new approaches and techniques in English language teaching. But, without doubt, creating an English speaking environment by means of constant communicating with native speakers is one of the best ways of acquiring the English language in quite a short period of time. That is why recruitment of native language speakers to teach English is implemented.
Meanwhile, it is not so easy for native speakers to work with Russian speaking students without any help and support on the part of Russian speaking teachers. It could be explained by cultural differences, language barrier and state of mind difference. So, it is much more productive to work in team where one is a native speaking assistant of the target language, whereas the main teacher is not a native speaker of the target language. Some obvious benefits of such a model of team teaching should be considered. First of all, a native speaker, being engaged into the teaching process, creates a multicultural academic environment. He/she helps learners overcome cultural and linguistic
barriers, so they get positive experience of intercultural communication.
However, effective team performance is affected by many factors. The integration of the foreign instructors' teaching faces some difficulties. To begin with, some teachers are not ready to work in a team situation with a native speaker because it is absolutely new experience for them. Besides there are some fears that prevent some educators from cooperative teaching, for example, they are afraid of losing control of the class. Overload of work, interdependence and cross-cultural misunderstanding also affect team teaching negatively. And of course one of the drawbacks of team teaching is that it requires planning together, which can be time-consuming.
Although, being aware of potential problems is a step towards productive cooperative teaching. And it is necessary to mention that such collaboration may lead to teachers' professional growth through mutual teaching and this fact, without doubt, can be crucial for teachers' professional success. Sharing the results of teaching methods and techniques with other teachers through seminars, workshops, publishing manuals or recourse packs might improve organization process of English language teaching at higher schools.
Efficient planning in team work includes:
■ Simultaneous analyzing individual strengths and abilities and determination of how they can be used within the team context. That is considering what skills each of the partners bring to the classroom depending on who is better at presentation, timekeeping, giving feedback, drawing, handwriting on the board, giving instructions, monitoring, etc.
■ Deciding how co-workers can help each other improve on less developed skills.
■ Defining balanced roles and contribution to the team.
■ Setting goals and content for the term/year/event/class.
■ Making sure that both partners are aware of the long and short range agenda and follow the timetable of classes, achievement tests, homework, etc.
■ Clearing up any potential misunderstandings in teaching methods or cultural peculiarities, approving teaching approaches and materials.
■ Establishing comfortable working conditions (working place, classroom layout, providing necessary equipment, etc.).
■ In case when a native speaker is not a certified teacher in his/ her (their) own country, a methodology preparation is required.
One of the common models in teachers' collaboration is the main teacher giving instructions to the native speaking assistant and not being totally involved into the classroom management. Simultaneous managing the class is much more beneficial. So, the difficulties that might occur will be easily overcome.
It should be mentioned that team teaching provides better control, coordination and organization since teammates set objectives, prepare lesson plans, teach and evaluate the results together, and they also share their professional observations. They divide functions and each one is responsible for a definite activity or a fragment of the class. It is often necessary to determine the leader who will decide on changes in lesson procedure. Teammates give students the opportunity to see different teaching approaches as well as an example of international busi-
ness communication in English, ensures each student twice as much contact time. Moreover, teammates serve as an example of teamwork for students. By no means, team-working skills are important for future specialists nowadays.
When the instructors' team teaches the same group of students at the same time, there are a number of different roles they might perform, for example:
Teacher A Teacher B
Giving instructions Handing out printed materials, making sure everyone understands what to do
Presenting information Making sure students take notes
Talking to students Taking notes for further assessment and feedback
Monitoring one group Monitoring another group
Explaining vocabulary/grammar Writing on the board/providing visual aids
Leading the activity Helping students with possible enquiries/providing control/ making sure the assignment is clear
But teammates must be ready to exchange or expand roles depending on various situations, which can occur in the learning process.
Contribution that is likely to be made by native speaking assistants and non native speaking teachers are different. The primary advantage attributed to native English speakers lies in their superior English language competence and comparatively rich stock of colloquial expressions, idioms and phrasal verbs. Authentic communication with a native speaker is due to the fact that he/she provides accurate pro-
nunciation models for learners, uses colloquial expressions, slang and informal language correctly which usually encourages students to use new vocabulary in oral and written speech. Meanwhile, non native speaking teachers can predict and prevent student's possible problems with the language, they can talk to students in their first language, they know the educational system better, they can teach language learning strategies more successfully.
In order to improve students' communicative competence, English teachers of Tomsk Polytechnic University annually arrange extracurricular activities of different levels (groups, faculties, university, and interuniversity). They include Olympiads, conferences, business games, workshops, debates, drama festivals, English speaking clubs, events devoted to cultures of English-speaking countries. Team teaching is implemented within these activities to create effective learning environment. This experience needs to be shared and enriched through collaboration with colleagues engaged into similar work. Extracurricular activities led by two and more teachers are less formal, often involve students with di
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