Several readers have written the Taipei Times to say that one of the ubiquitous problems in the nation's education system is incompetent English teachers (Letters, Aug. 16, page 8).
But what makes a "good" English teacher? Can teachers with a competent level of English skills be considered good English teachers?
A list of attributes of a good teacher of English as a second language (ESL) would be very subjective. With that in mind, I would like to discuss the characteristics of a good English teacher based on my own research and experience.
There are two common misconceptions about English teaching. First, a professor with a doctorate is not necessarily a good English teacher.
Second, a native speaker of English is not automatically an effective teacher. If fluency were the most important variable in language instruction, a native-speaker -- especially one with a doctorate -- would undoubtedly be superior to those who are not native-speakers.
I have found this logic questionable. I have been taught English by native as well as non-native speakers, with doctorates in literature, linguistics or ESL, who were disappointingly ineffective and unprofessional.
On the other hand, I have been taught in a private language school by an English teacher who comes from Bangladesh, only has a bachelor's degree and speaks with a heavy foreign accent. Students from all walks of life are eager to study under him because they enjoy his fun, down-to-earth and interactive teaching style.
I've noticed that even shy students are motivated to speak up in his class. Many students obviously consider this Bangladeshi teacher a "good" English teacher.
Personally I think that obtaining a degree in ESL and having a good command of English are necessary and crucial qualifications for being a good English teacher. However, these qualifications are not enough.
For example, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Yuko Goto Butler, conducted research on Japanese and Korean students studying English in their native land and found that the most important traits of ESL teachers are a friendly personality, English fluency, cultural knowledge in the English-speaking world, a good command of students' native language and the ability use technological aids to teach.
Another study showed that students in Taiwan expect their English teachers to be welcoming, professional, humanistic and enthusiastic -- characteristics unrelated to nationality and English proficiency.
Douglas Brown, a distinguished ESL expert, provided a fairly comprehensive list of characteristics of good English teachers, which can be classified into four categories: technical knowledge, pedagogical skills, interpersonal skills and personal qualities. Good technical knowledge means understanding the mechanics of the language, such as phonology and grammar.
Pedagogical skills include a contextualized approach to language instruction, the ability to stimulate interaction, presentation skills and so on.
To be an effective English teacher requires interpersonal skills to engage students through enthusiasm and humor, valuing the opinions and abilities of students, and seeking opportunities to share ideas with students and colleagues.
As for personal qualities, good English teachers are flexible when classroom activities go wrong, maintain an inquisitive mind in trying new teaching methods and have goals for professional development. Language teaching is a very complicated art.
What language teachers should do is be lifelong learners and strive to meet the characteristics mentioned.
As a teacher, I have discovered that I almost always learn something every time I walk into my classroom because new issues always come up. This journey of discovery will go on for a lifetime. Therefore, the beauty of the teaching profession is that good teachers never stop learning.
Kao Shih-fan is an assistant professor at Jinwen University of Science and Technology.
They did it again. For the whole world to see: an image of a Taiwan flag crushed by an industrial press, and the horrifying warning that “it’s closer than you think.” All with the seal of authenticity that only a reputable international media outlet can give. The Economist turned what looks like a pastiche of a poster for a grim horror movie into a truth everyone can digest, accept, and use to support exactly the opinion China wants you to have: It is over and done, Taiwan is doomed. Four years after inaccurately naming Taiwan the most dangerous place on
Wherever one looks, the United States is ceding ground to China. From foreign aid to foreign trade, and from reorganizations to organizational guidance, the Trump administration has embarked on a stunning effort to hobble itself in grappling with what his own secretary of state calls “the most potent and dangerous near-peer adversary this nation has ever confronted.” The problems start at the Department of State. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has asserted that “it’s not normal for the world to simply have a unipolar power” and that the world has returned to multipolarity, with “multi-great powers in different parts of the
President William Lai (賴清德) recently attended an event in Taipei marking the end of World War II in Europe, emphasizing in his speech: “Using force to invade another country is an unjust act and will ultimately fail.” In just a few words, he captured the core values of the postwar international order and reminded us again: History is not just for reflection, but serves as a warning for the present. From a broad historical perspective, his statement carries weight. For centuries, international relations operated under the law of the jungle — where the strong dominated and the weak were constrained. That
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
RSS