The Language Teacher
August 1999
Establishing Decorum in the EFL Classroom
Yukiko S. Jolly
Aichi Shukutoku University
It has been my impression over the many years that I have been teaching English at the university level in Japan that there is a direct correlation between the decorum of the classroom and the participation and achievement of the students. When I talk about classroom decorum here, I mean the general level of attentiveness of students to the lesson being presented and mannerly conduct which aids the orderly flow of the lesson rather than distracting from or disrupting it. I would like to report some of the observations I have made over the years and suggest practical applications that have proven to be most effective for me in establishing and maintaining good decorum in the classroom. These revolve around establishing from Day 1 a rapport with the students based on mutual respect and trust and nurturing it throughout the course.
Establishing Rapport
To establish the kind of rapport that you want, it is vital to the establish early on a personal connection between teacher and student. To establish such personal relationship, there needs to be an exchange of basic information about each other, an understanding of the ground rules, and fair and consistent treatment of the personal relationship and of the rules. Permit me to recommend three very useful tools to achieve this: personal data cards, a course preview session, and seating charts.
Personal Data Cards
For the first day of the class, prepare a printed card form to be handed out to each student. Make sure it is a convenient size (e.g., 5cm x 7cm index card) and durable enough to handle every day. On the card provide spaces for the basic information about the student that you want to elicit. Have the students fill out the form as an initial class exercise. Retain and use the completed cards for constant reference.
The filling-out process can provide valuable language lessons in itself. Conduct the preparation session so that the students will think, act, and contribute to the class in a learner-centered environment. In skill-acquiring courses, the less the instructor talks, the better it is, since the learners then have more time to express themselves actively. I would suggest the following items as being appropriate information entries.
Photo: Have the student provide and attach a small identification poto. This is not the imposition you might think it, since students often have to provide such for club or other group activities, or they will have extras from passport or other ID card purposes. I suggest, however, that the popular and inexpensive purikura (print club) photos not be accepted since they lack clarity, and students' features are often distorted. The idea here is to have a clear visual connection between the face and the personal data.
Name: Explain the proper order of given name and family name when writing in English. Let them provide the kanji forms of their names for your future reference. Also ask them to write a preferred nickname or short form of their given name to be used in the classroom.
Current address and home address: Teach them the rules of specific-to-general manner of writing an address customarily used in Western countries and in Japanese romaji addresses, with proper pronunciation and spelling: house number, street or block number, ward, city or county, and prefecture .
High School: This information may give the instructor an idea of the student's background. These will be regular public schools or more exclusive private schools or specialized (commerce, mechanical or sports-oriented) schools. As you may find a tendency for schools of the latter group to have had less instruction in English, you can account for differences in language skill levels in this manner.
Major and minor subjects: This is a timely opportunity to learn not only students' study interests, but also provide a means of helping them get acquainted among themselves. If they have not declared their major or minor, let them write "not yet decided" and use for future reference. Teach them not to leave such spaces blank, since this often defeats the purpose of such forms and leaves a vague, questionable impression on other readers of the form.
Hobbies: Filling in this blank is a very good chance to teach either infinitive or gerund forms to express activities and interests. You can take a broad definition of "hobby" here to include sports and other leisure-time activities.
Message to the instructor: Let them express themselves about any special needs or desires, such as a physical handicap (for example, visual or hearing impairments which may require special seating arrangements) or a particular thing they would like to study.
Course preview
Often students will not have their textbooks and be prepared to start a textbook-based lesson on the first day of class. Therefore the time can well be devoted to orienting the students toward the course schedules and ground rules. This time is vital to establish your relationship of trust with your students and encouraging the rapport which is the basis for the decorum that you want.
Even if it is your practice to provide a printed course syllabus or lesson schedule for your students, on the first day of class I recommend that you go over the following items, writing on the board or using an OHP to mark your points with emphasis. Covering these points orally helps insure that they don't overlook any course instruction and provides fair warning of your expectations of them. This is your major opportunity to establish your authority and a reputation for fairness and being objective at the outset.
Objectives of the course: Give your students a firm idea up front of what is to be expected of them during the course and what the terminal behavior at the end of each school term.
Textbooks and references: Show copies of the text and any reference sources recommended for the course along with giving the bibliographical details (authors, titles, publishers and the like) and where they may be obtained. Such makes identification of the books easier for students and precludes excuses on not being able to find their copy.
Course notebook: I highly recommend that you have your students obtain a special notebook for the course and take carefully written notes on each day of instruction. Enforce this requirement with periodic checks thereafter if necessary, for it makes a big difference in prompting serious attention during classes. Additionally, the students could prove their presence if later in the term a question is raised about attendance, especially if you teach at a university which disqualifies students from taking the final exam if they have failed to meet minimum class attendance requirements. Besides, the note-taking habit that you nurture by this means will be a useful skill for future employment and social life.
Reports, testing and grades: Give fair warning of the major points of the course that will influence the final grade, including any quizzes, midterm or final exam, project, report, or special homework assignments. If possible give the percentage weight of each toward the determination of the final course grade.
Speed of lessons: If you have a published class schedule, the expected class preparation should be evident, but it still is important to clearly point out your expectations in this regard and be firm in upholding your stated requirements. Particularly if your progress does not match chapters or lesson divisions of the text, students need to understand how your coverage will differ.
Class rules and regulations: This particular topic should not be viewed in terms of authoritarian or liberal teaching methods, but rather as fairness and objectivity.
Punctuality: The safest and easiest to enforce rule is that attendance is taken as soon as the class hour begins, at the bell or chime. Whether to allow a grace period or make distinction for tardiness depends on instructor's personal preferences, but once the criteria are set, they should be announced and followed by both students and teacher. No matter what subject you teach, you can always teach the good (and polite) habit of never being late for appointments.
No napping: For class morale as well as making sure the individual does not miss out on the lesson content, napping in class is strongly discouraged for practical reasons if not by most university teaching policies. You may call on the student next to the sleepy-heads to give the latter due warning that they may be called upon soon.
No chatting: Personal conversations (not a part of assigned practice drills) between class members distract others from the lesson content and disrupt the flow of lesson presentation. Encourage those prone to seek assistance from others to direct questions to the instructor rather than burden their neighbors. Do remember that Japanese tend to be more collective rather than individual, so a student may consult his peers before he ventures his response. Teach and encourage your students the importance in language learning of forming their own responses, regardless of their accuracy or "correctness."
Daily Preparation Tips
Data Card Review: Before each class, go through your students' data cards and briefly review information on the students of the class, looking for points for personal comment (birthday, news or sports items about their hometown, tying events to their stated interests, etc.). Take opportunities during class to mention or comment as appropriate so that each student realizes that you care to know him or her personally. Indeed, this will benefit you, too, as it speeds your recollection of names and faces, and it makes the whole class atmosphere more lively.
Set the example for punctuality. Go to the classroom five or ten minutes before the starting chime. Prepare your audio, visual or computer equipment before class. If there is time, try to make light conversation with the students who arrive early to encourage such and to set a positive tone. Try to talk with a variety of students rather than those seated in the front all the time.
Seating Chart
A class seating chart is recommended for better classroom management. However, if you feel fixed order of seating is not ideally suited to your objectives of learning, another technique is to prepare name tags for students to pick up and pin on the shirt as they enter class. If you prefer to conduct the class in a Western atmosphere, you may write only the nickname or shortened first name on the card, rather than the Japanese family name, often used on tags in Japanese schools.
There are several advantages to having a seating chart. First of all, it permits faster recognition of the individual students by tying a name to the appropriate face. It also establishes an interpersonal relationship developed by using names in an English-speaking manner, that is nicknames or shortened names, in reverse of Japanese order (e.g., Yoshi Yamanaka). This practice offers a didactic approach to general rules in name-calling or forms of address in general. They learn how to introduce themselves phonetically.
Secondly, a seating chart gives a growing sense of responsibility, students' awareness of their identity as individuals among their classmates. Without a seating chart, students can gain anonymity and evade attention by shifting seats every time, risking lack of preparation because of the reduced chance of recognition.
A seating chart is also often an aid, especially in conversation skill courses, to allow (if not force) students to get to know new persons and learn to converse with strangers. If left to themselves, students tend to collect in their established cliques and converse (even during drill or practice times) in their native (rather than the target) language. It produces a more egalitarian attitude with peer recognition as individuals bound by a common endeavor.
A final advantage of seating charts for the instructor is the ability to instantly connect a name with a face and establish immediate eye contact. Rather than having to run your gaze around the sea of faces trying to decide whom to call on, you can formulate your question to the audience as a whole and then personally call upon an individual, with eye contact, to respond. Of course if it is not apparent until the last second whom you intend to call on, your get everyone thinking about the question you pose, not just the one selected to answer it. It adds an element of efficiency to the conduct of class activities.
During the class
Encouraging full student participation: In calling on students for response in class, it is better to use a random selection order rather than following a set or predictable pattern, such as the class list or alphabetical order of names. Also try to direct the questions or conversation to different parts of the room. Of course, you have to keep track of whom you call upon to avoid missing persons or calling upon the same ones too often. The impartiality of your selection process enforces your reputation for fairness. The randomness also keeps everyone alert and attentive to what is going on.
If you feel their attention span is too short for a 90-minute class period, however, you may break the lesson into parts, such as chapters section, text exercises or the like, with small break periods between. This practice gives them a fresher start for the rest of the period.
Language teaching is intertwined with teaching of the related target culture, and you often need to view your own culture in retrospect for comparative purposes. Therefore, whenever the chance arises, do not be afraid to make use of the opportunity to interject a real-life experience, which may not normally be expressed in the textbook. If one student sneezes, for instance, immediately say, "Bless you!" Then explain the cultural background of "May God bless you!" from European historical and religious backgrounds. It is also an opportunity to point out expected manners and public hygiene practices of the other culture.
If a student's answer is correct, give ample and appropriate verbal and nonverbal reaction to it. Everyone enjoys being praised in the presence of his peers. Therefore depending upon the degree of correctness, differentiate your response:
| to the perfect answer: | "Excellent, Taro. That's it! |
| to the acceptable answer: | "That's right, Taro. You did well." |
| to the answer which needs amending: | "O.K. (avoid name calling). Let's think once again. The question is . . ." |
| to no response (silence): | (Rephrase the question, if possible, to give another opportunity) |
So far we have looked into preparation and in-class activities from the point of classroom management and decorum. It is the my conviction that the more personal attention one gives to the individual student in one form or another, the more the student will be psychologically motivated to study English. Students enjoys their names being remembered, and their existence and identity acknowledged in class. The instructor must maintain the same attitude and attention to the students outside the class once such relationship and rapport are established.
In cases where the desired mutual trust and closeness cannot be established between the student and the instructor, I recommend that you invite the student to your office, or better yet, set a more casual encounter such as a chat during lunch period in the corridor or on the campus ground. At such a meeting discuss possible ways to improve the student's study habits or give advice on whatever the learning difficulties he or she may be struggling with. Therefore let me offer a few points of advice for amending interpersonal relations:
Set up an individual conference in your office to find out in confidence the exact problems or difficulties the student is facing and give appropriate advice to meet the need of the learner.
Give special instruction or a tutorial session to pinpoint the difficulty. At this time, help the learner feel it is not embarrassing to have "difficulties" in learning, but rather a normal process in learning the foreign language. Relating your own failure or episode of making mistakes may help the student realize that even the instructor of English (who seems so remotely high in English language skills and knowledge) shared a similar experience.
As you proceed in your daily teaching duties among other professional activities, try to notice your students either in the building or outside with appropriate greeting, "Hello, Taro." or "Hi. How are things going with you, Taro?" and so on. Try to let him know that you always care about the welfare of the students.
Again, in order to treat each as an individual not as a faceless mass, make an effort to memorize their first names at least, but hopefully the whole name, so that the student will realize that he has an important identity in your professional life. Once you win their confidence, there will be a pleasant exchanges for both of you either in or outside the classroom.
Conclusion
Ability and confidence in classroom management and decorum are not something
that comes to an instructor on the first day of teaching. The important
thing is that we instructors ourselves are learning how to teach our subjects.
Every day we ourselves are gaining competence in English language as well
as improving performance in teaching skills. In order to do so, I feel that
there are many rules and facts that need to acquire, because we lack them
initially. But through years of teaching we are also learning English and
teaching methods as a part of humanity. Such an accumulation of experience
in and out of class is what makes us well-experienced, knowledgeable instructors,
scholars and researchers.
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