MY RESEARCH

Hi everyone! In this post, I want to mention about my research. My topic is ''attending to the learner''. It includes how the teacher deals with him students'. I observed real classroom. I learned lots of thing about attending to the learner.
My research includes introduction, act, observation, reflection and references.

1.Introduction

In this study observation how the teachers’ attending behaviors affect the students’ learning was examined in an actual classroom that I attended in Tarsus Fatih Anatolian High School, Tarsus, in total 5 times on every Wednesday between November and December in 2017. The class that I attended was 10G. The lesson was English and the students’ level was generally pre-intermediate;however, there were some students whose level was between pre-intermediate and elementary. The teacher’s name was Özgür Şanlısoy who was very helpful to the students and cheerful in the classroom. He was also very friendly to me when I requested to join and observe the classroom for my Project. The class he suggested was perfectly suitable so that he invited me to attend on every Wednesday. The number of learners was 20 and 13 of them were girls and also 7 of them were boys. Their ages were between 15-16. The length of lesson was 40 minute. The lesson took place on Wednesday morning at 08:55am till 09: 35am and after 10 minute break the class went on at 09:45am till 10:25am.

In total 5 attendance the subjects of the class were mostly grammar including relative clause, conditions, general tenses, review and the students took a test for their following exam. Mr. Şanlısoy did not use so many different materials for the subject; however, he used his course book for the primary source and additional secondary sources for his students to improve their grammar skills on the subject. He also provided the test sheets for each student in the class. The technique that he used in the class was mostly on grammar translation method. The learners were mostly passive listeners instead of performing any other methods such as role play, direct method and communicative language teaching.

 Additionaly, each student was called by their first names. Mr. Şanlısoy was very good at recalling their first names when adressed to individually. However, the students were reluctant to speak English. Rather, they tended to speak their mother tongue, Turkish, more often although Mr. Şanlısoy encouraged them to speak more in English, at least in answering the questions. When answering the questions, the teacher chose the volunteers first; however, he did not ignore the passive students who were too shy to answer the question. In addition, he pointed them kindly by calling them with their names. Apart from calling them by their names, the teacher made eye contact with every one of them during the class so that the learners could follow him in the class and did not get distracted by another object.

His motivational approach was not only in the class; but, also in the break. He did not ignore any student who had some questions. Also, he did not start the class without warm-up speech before the class by asking how they were and how they felt in that day. He even asked them about their weekend and the weekend plans for the following weekend. In this aspect, the teacher and the learners created a warm bound between them which avoided the teacher to silence the students in the class and raise his voice them to stop talking. They were very friendly with one another. This approach made the students more participating in the class for the subject. Also, in this manner, sex of the students did not matter although the girl students were little bit more talkative than the boy students. They were all combined in the class.

The test the students took was on relative clauses to see whether the students did understand the subject completely or not. The test took place in December before the actual exam. Although the test was mainly on relative clauses, there were questions about other subjects too. It was not a strict test instead it created a relaxed atmosphere for the students so that they could see if they could manage to understand the subject. The teacher was very understanding in their mistakes and helped them solve their misunderstanding and repeat relative clauses on the board after the exam.

2.Act

The aim of this study observation is to observe the teacher’s attending behaviors in the class by focusing on attending strategies such as eye contact, calling the students by their first names, pointing the students, approaching them and also teaching methods such as role-play, direct method, communicative language teaching. What I have also observed at the high school and read on my course book, Classroom Observation Tasks by Ruth Wajnryb, the teacher prepared himself in three procedures: before the lesson, during the lesson and after the lesson. My focus was on how the teacher dealt with the learners and managed the class and how he got prepared himself to the class relatively and accordingly. I mostly concentrated on teacher’s behaviors in approaching students with techniques and skills and how the students reacted to him and to the class whether positively or negatively. In this paper, I will examine what the attending behaviors of a teacher in the class are and their results and how the teachers’ attending behaviors affect students’ learning process with a chart that I prepared for this paper after observing the class with the help of Mr. Şanlısoy and the students attendance to the class. 

3.Observation

An English teacher, Rodrigo Rouco on his paper on, ‘Attending to the Learner’[1], mentions attending behaviors of a teacher like this:

‘• Naming students

•Eye contact

•Reprimanding look 

•Touch (she patted a student who was chatting with the neighbor behind her)

•Pointing students / signaling them to come to the front

•Approaching students / leaning by their side

•Waving hand up and down to ask for silence

•Standing in front of the class and making silence herself (along with arms folded and grave look)

•Shushing

•Making it explicit that they make silence

•Making it explicit that they use English

• Nodding and apologizing (She said: ‘Sorry, C, yes, you’re right’, when she made a mistake that a student pointed out.)’ (Rouco, 4)

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[1] Rouco, Rodrigo. Class Observation # 2:Attending to the Learner, LCB Teachers Training College, 2009

Mr. Şanlısoy met most of the behaviors that Rouce mentions on his paper. The most striking one was he recalled all of the names individually. He was not an ignorant teacher. Rather, he was very friendly to his students in the class. The way he approached the students was very helpful.

The teachers’ attending behaviors affect the students’ learning process positively and very effectively in the class. ‘If used effectively, attending behavior can be used to encourage students to speak more and vice versa. It could serve as a great classroom management tool.’ (Pietroianu[2], 2011) In the class, the teacher used most of the behaviors very effectively and gained so many positive responses from the learners. The class also went on very cheerful and enjoyable. Although the class level was not really high, the teacher’s behavior relieved them with these methods. Additionally, he managed the classroom very good and got the students’ respect during the class. Even after class, he continued his positive behaviors by being very polite and nice to the students’ problems. He also warmed up the students before the lesson with a smiling and friendly approach to them. All in all, Mr. Şanlısoy really improved the students’ participation to the class. The weaker students did not get lost thanks to his techniques.

THE TEACHERS’ BEHAVIORS	THE STUDENTS’ RESPONSE	COMMENTS

Table 1: the teacher’s behaviors and the students’ response

[2]  Christina Pietroianu –  TESOL Diploma Graduate 

4.Reflection

This study observation helped me gain a lot of new information and new perspective on teaching skills such as teacher’s approach to the students and recalling their names individually. Before this topic, I chose ‘Learner Level’ to examine; however, after going to the observation in the actual class, I changed my mind and wanted to focus on teacher’s attending behaviors to the learner. As an ELT student, these sort of behaviors should be observed and put into implementation when one becomes a teacher. Most of the techniques I have studied theoretically in my own class were already used by Mr. Şanlısoy.

Mr. Şanlısoy was a great example for the observation. He experienced himself in approaching the students by knowing their attitude towards the class. He helped them gain self confidence in speaking English by following the strategies. He created a warm bound between them. Additionally, the students paid a huge respect to him as he was the control of the classroom. He also motivated shy students to speak more confidently and without any hesitation. He was very helpful to his students in explaining the subject with clear examples and translation method. This helped students learn the subjects effectively. The students did not hesitate to ask questions to Mr. Şanlısoy, even at the break and the teacher did not turn them down. He was also very generous to accept my offer to join the class and observe the class as an invisible attendee. That was really kind of him and showed that he was really confident in his teaching style. 

As an ELT student, it was a very informative experience for me to attend this study observation at Tarsus Fatih Anatolian High School, Tarsus, with the help of Mr. Şanlısoy. What I learnt there is to use my memory on memorizing the students’ name individually and point them when to ask questions. The way of approaching the students physically is also a great helper to create a good connection with them. That means I should use my body language in the class effectively so that I would not just sit and read what I bring for the class during that day. This will definitely help me gain the warm responses from my students-to-be.

The stronger bound between the learners and the teacher, the more improvement in students participation to the class. I saw that the students do not lose their attention when the teacher uses teaching attending behaviors. They do not become a shy, reluctant student during the class; but, even the weaker ones become very keen on speaking English more confidently.

Another advantage of having a strong bound between the learners and the teacher is that the teacher does not lose his time to silence the students because they have a huge respect to their teacher. He manages the class without any effort to warn the students to speak less or focus on the subject. Instead, most of the students do not get distracted by any other object such as phones or outsiders. They follow the teacher with an enthusiasm. The sincere act of teacher is what I should get when I become a teacher in the future.

The behaviors that Mr. Şanlısoy used or did not use in his class will be guidelines in my teaching experience in the future and I will implement and also improve more behaviors to feel more confident and encourage my students to speak more confidently during my classes. What I observed that if Mr. Şanlısoy used or improved more behaviors in the class, he would definitely get more and more positive feedbacks from his class and make the class more and more enjoyable. All in all, it was a great experience for me to join this study observation.

5.References

       Pietroianu, Christina. ‘Attending Behavior: Small Classes vs. Big Classes’. Blog on ontesol.com. 2001. Last reached on 20/12/17

       Rouco, Rodrigo. ‘Class Observation # 2:Attending to the Learner’,        LCB Teachers Training College, 2009