In this issue of Teaching Assistance, we follow-up the progress made by an international student who graduated from Akita International University’s Graduate School of Global Communication and Language. Due to the COVID pandemic she took all her classes off-campus and learned how to teach and completed her practicum training entirely online. Her essay details the trials and tribulations of conducting face-to-face classes for the first time as a lecturer employed at a university in Japan. She concludes by sharing her new goals for next semester along with a strategic plan of how to improve her teaching approach based on what she learned in her first academic year of teaching.
Working in higher education has always been my goal, and I am more than grateful to have the opportunity to work in an English language institute at a university here in Japan. Even though the journey has just begun, I would like to share what worked and did not work during my first classes in April of 2023. I began teaching as a lecturer of the Writing and Media English courses. I teach four classes of sophomores, with each class consisting of around 20 students. It is noteworthy that these two courses have distinct pedagogical approaches: Writing, with a more teacher-centered orientation, and Media English, employing a student-centered paradigm. This essay will delve into the general aspects that worked and did not work in those courses.
Things That Worked Well
One remarkable success was the amount of English that students used during class time. Building an English-speaking classroom is a step-by-step process, acknowledging that students recognize the importance of English in various aspects but may lack determination, perseverance, or clear goals. My role included guiding them to better understand why they needed to speak in English during class. In other words, I provided them with a purpose to use English. I encouraged them to speak as much English as they could, suggesting that their English fluency would improve with practice. One effective approach was to encourage students to envision the individuals they aspire to emulate or the proficiency level they aim to achieve in English by graduation.
Another successful aspect was the student-teacher relationship. Cultivating positive connections with students is a key element that can impact their future academic achievements (Cook et al., 2018). The willingness of students to actively seek assistance with writing, both during and after class, was higher than I anticipated. One-on-one consultations, having a total of three times per semester in each writing class proved indispensable. These sessions provided a valuable opportunity for face-to-face, positive, and helpful feedback, enhancing communicative effectiveness between students and the teacher. In particular, students who received positive feedback tended to be more focused on following lessons and were more willing to participate in discussions.
Things That did not Work Well
In the beginning, getting ready for the courses was hard, but it got better as time passed. Because I had trouble knowing where to begin and whether my preparations were enough, I often worried that I was missing something important and causing problems during the lesson. The first few weeks were chaotic and stressful. Thankfully, a senior colleague helped me with technical matters and assisted me with useful teaching-related materials, which made things a lot easier. Even though it improved, sometimes I still had to work on course preparation at home after my regular work hours.
Instruction was also sometimes challenging. Several students tended to ask their peers about the task after my explanation, which occasionally made me wonder whether my instructions lacked clarity or if they were not paying attention. However, teachers who observed one of my lessons pointed out that my instructions could have been clearer and suggested that I provide more scaffolded activities and demonstrations if possible. Merely providing oral examples proved insufficient; visual aids, such as writing on the board or creating a slideshow, were necessary for clear explanations (see Figure 1). Despite repeated activities, certain instructions could not be omitted, and modifications might have been needed to accommodate the different levels of the students.
How I Plan to Improve My Teaching Style in the Next Academic Year
Reflecting on this past academic year, I have come up with several goals to improve my teaching approach for the incoming academic year. Engaging silent or unmotivated students during discussions or group work remains a challenge in my teaching experience. Despite my efforts, I have found that relying only on verbal encouragement does not produce the intended or desired outcomes. In my first year, I did not see much improvement among some students who failed to engage in classroom activities. Therefore, I will try to improve the situation by giving each student a role by assigning a leader in each group, which could be either in a rotation form or not. Moreover, I will group students according to their motivation to speak in English. For example, active learners will be grouped with other active learners and passive learners with other passive learners. Therefore, I must still constantly find alternative methods to foster involvement among the low-engaged students. To enhance the process of encouraging future cohorts to come up with their own reasons for speaking English in class, I plan to distribute journals next year for students to track their English-speaking progression throughout the year, aiming to have a sense of accomplishment by the end of the semester. Modifying materials and giving instructions in different ways to suit students’ levels is also one of the main things I have been working on throughout the year so far, and I will continue doing it next semester until a balance is reached. Even though there are still many aspects of teaching to explore, maintaining a reflective teaching diary will be my future way of keeping track of my progress and refining effective teaching methods. According to Hale et al. (2018), “conversation analysis can serve as a powerful tool for teacher reflective practice” (p. 70). Therefore, analysis of my verbal conversations and non-verbal conduct during social interactions might be one way that I will keep track of my development as a teacher. I might also look for help by seeking insights from experienced teachers, exploring innovative teaching techniques, and most importantly, reflecting on the approach and strategies I am actively employing to tackle this ongoing challenge.
Conclusion
The aforementioned points in this essay were significant episodes that happened during my first year of full-time teaching in a university. After reflecting upon my first year of teaching I admit that there are still many things to learn through interacting with my students and colleagues. Moreover, teaching encompasses various factors, from pedagogy to classroom management, to assessment, which is a never-ending journey. Teaching is an art, and I am committed to continually evolving as an artist in this field.
References
Cook, C. R., Coco, S., Zhang, Y., Fiat, A. E., Duong, M. T., Renshaw, T. L., Long, A. C., & Frank, S. (2018). Cultivating positive teacher–student relationships: Preliminary evaluation of the establish–maintain–restore (EMR) method. School Psychology Review, 47(3), 226–243. https://doi.org/10.17105/spr-2017-0025.v47-3
Hale, C. C., Nanni, A., & Hooper, D. (2018). Conversation analysis in language teacher education: An approach for reflection through action research. Hacettepe University Journal of Education, 33, 54–71. https://doi.org/10.16986/huje.2018038796