24th August 2004
Staff Development
Classroom Language:
What it is and what it can
achieve.
Gary James Harfitt
Hong Kong University
Can ‘excellence’ be achieved in
the classroom?
What are the problems or obstacles in the way
of excellence in the classroom?
Students
Expectations
Exams
Pressure
Syllabus constraints
LPAT
Reforms
Textbooks
BUT…… to what extent are we
obstacles???

‘We want our students to change
and improve but as teachers we often
don’t do this ourselves’ (local teacher)

‘If we always do what we’ve always
done, we will always get what we’ve
always got’ (local NET teacher)
Do we really know how to
teach English?
Task Based Learning
Communicative Language Teaching
Chalk and Talk – transmission mode
Group and Pair Work
But what do we really know?
 We know that students are not
the same.
 We know that teachers are not
the same.
 We know that our classes run
more smoothly when the
students are engaged in the
lesson.
Our own perceptions…… (taken from TP
observation sheets
‘My students are passive….’
‘My students can’t speak in English …’
‘They lack confidence’
‘My students like to be spoon-fed’
From local teachers (Tsui, 1995)
‘Students were eager to learn and yet they
seemed unable to bring themselves to
participate actively in class.’
‘Students are too passive in my class. They
seldom answer my questions voluntarily. What
I can do is just assign one or two of them to
give me response or reaction. Worst of all,
most of them simply sit there doing nothing but
listening or sometimes day dreaming.’
Who should take responsibility?
Episode 1.1
55. T:
Picture 5. Can you see Bobo?
57. Ss: He takes the MTR.
57. T:
Yes, he takes the MTR every day
to go to school. Good. Do you know what
MTR is? Mass Transit Railway. OK? MTR.
(source of data: G. Harfitt December 2002)
Episode 1.2
21. T: OK, I’d like to ask you.. Do you listen to music every
day?
22. Ss:
Yes.
23. T:
Do you have dinner every day?
24. Ss:
Yes.
25. T:
Do you go to bed every day?
26. Ss:
Yes
27. S1:
(No) Other students laugh)
28: T:
No? (teacher looks up) Who said ‘no’?
From Good and Brophy (1987)
‘Unfortunately, in too many classrooms,
discussions are parrot-like sessions, with
teachers asking a question, receiving a student
response, asking a question of a new student
and so forth. Such ‘discussions’ typically are
boring and accomplish little other than the
assessment of students’ factual knowledge.
Such assessment is important but if that is all
that is done in discussion, students may come to
perceive that the teacher is interested only in
finding out who knows the answers.’
Another case
An English teacher recently transcribed
her lesson in full as part of a HKU
assignment. She found that there were
5074 words used in the lesson.
Total from teacher?
……4781
Another example…
T: Now can you make another sentence with
another verb ‘swim’, Eva?
S: I am swimming
T: I don’t want ‘swimming’. I want swim.
(taken from Classroom Interaction by A.B.M Tsui)
Another …
T: Does anyone know what an editorial is?
T: Come on! Editorial. What is it? Pencil, do you know what
an editorial is?
S: Um ……… I think … I don’t know.
T: What is the root of the word? Editor? Where do you find
an editor?
S1: I don’t know (L2)
T: Does anyone know?
(data source : G.Harfitt, 03/03)
One more …
• T: OK: I want you in groups. Groupwork. Yes, in groups.
Then you will get this piece of paper. It’s coming around
now. Read it and look at the bottom part as that is the
question you have to discuss in your groups. The
secretary has to report the findings in the discussion so
you need some paper as well. Don’t write yet as you
haven’t got the paper. Your groups will speak for 10 mins
and then give presentation to the class for 2 minutes. It’s
only 2 minutes .. you can do it. I have a timer. Get into
groups. Get into groups and start reading. Go! Go! Go!
Understand?
• Ss: Yes
(data source : G.Harfitt, 2003)
What do these examples show?
• Teachers play a very significant role in
making students ‘active’ or ‘passive’
through their own input in the classroom.
• Students’ answers and contributions are
often pre-determined. Consider the
following exchange:
T:
S:
T:
What is the capital of America?
Washington.
Good. Well done.
Questioning
• Display/Closed questions
T : What time is it now?
[I]
S: 2:15
[R]
T:Good. That’s right
[F]
• Referential / Open questions
T: Why do you think the man did that?
T: How did this happen?
What can make students ‘passive’?
Learner anxiety – learning a language is
‘psychologically unsettling’ (Horwitz, 1991).
Consider other types of anxiety in our lives:
 Stage fright or fear of speaking in public
 Debilitating anxiety / Facilitating anxiety
 Fear of exams / fear of failure
 Social anxiety
The Chinese learner
Wong (1984) conducted research into the cultural factors
governing students’ use of English in the ELT classroom
(secondary level). He found that students have the
following ‘rules’,
 Do not demonstrate verbal success in English in front of
peers
 Hesitate and show difficulty when arriving at an answer
 Do not answer the teacher voluntarily or enthusiastically
in English
 Don’t speak in fluent English
Other reasons for students being
reluctant to speak in class
Lack of achievement
 Pressure and expectations upon them
 They are not ‘trained’
 They are often bored by the textbook, the
heavy focus on grammar and writing, tests
and the mechanical nature of English
teaching

What factors involve the teacher?







Awareness of students’ proficiency levels
Awareness of students’ learning strategies
Awareness of students’ fear of making mistakes
and receiving negative comments
Teachers’ intolerance of silence
Teachers’ decision making
Uneven allocation of turns in the class.
Incomprehensible input
What is ‘observable’ and what is
‘unobservable’ in the classroom?
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
Teachers’ decisions and beliefs
Teachers’ questions
Turn allocation
Wait time
Student participation
Students’ fears and anxiety
What strategies can we employ to
help overcome these difficulties?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Lengthen wait time in class
Improve questioning technique
Accept a wide variety of answers
Focus on content as well as form
Encourage peer and group work in class
Establish good rapport in class
Conclusions
• Classroom language provides
opportunities for students to learn
• It provides negotiation of meaning
• It provides a model for language use
• It influences the interaction that takes
place in the classroom
• It can be encouraged through staff
development / panel collaboration
Professional development
• Observations – focusing on the language used
in class, not the methodology.
• Transcription of lessons – sharing of different
episodes at panel meetings / personal reflection
• If teachers are teaching the same subject
content (e.g past tense, maths problems etc),
the lessons could be recorded and compared to
see how different language used by the teacher
influenced the teaching and learning.
Contact details
Gary James Harfitt
Room 123, Hui Oi Chow Building
Faculty of Education, HKU.
2241 5729
gharfitt@hkucc.hku.hk