Teaching Philosophy

Although I am inexperienced in teaching English inside a classroom, I have read theories on teaching philosophies. Firstly, I am very interested in using the Natural Approach method, under second language acquisition theory, when teaching English as a second language. It improves the student's language acquisition and also improves the relationship between student and teacher.

Firstly, classroom practice should involve activities that are interesting and relevant. Tasks that involve telling the class something personal about themselves will create an intimate group feeling. This level of comfort with one another will enable communication practice to flow more freely and thus improve the communication ability of the whole class.

The next goal of the Natural Approach is to reduce the anxiety levels of students individually. Students do not need to communicate in English until they are ready themselves. Error correction is saved for after class or eliminated completely. Topics should remain interesting to the individual, thus lowering any protection a student has unintentionally created, through anxiety, and enabling a better acquisition of the new language.

Students should be expected to identify their errors at home, when they have time, when they are focused on form, and when they know, or are learning, a rule. This enables them to be comfortable during communication-based activities in the classroom.

On the idea of error correction during communication practice, correcting a student’s error constantly has a negative effect on a student’s morale, their ability to acquire the language either stops, or slows down, and also the student becomes more intimidated by the teacher. The best method is to eliminate error correction entirely in communicative-type activities. Later, the student can understand their error and correct themselves for the future, thus gaining knowledge on their error plus acquiring a greater understanding of the language on a whole as they change their mental perception of the theory, or rule, behind their initial error. When it comes to manipulative grammar practice more attention must be given to error correction as there is less room for error in writing than in communicative practice and being comfortable while expressing oneself is more important in language acquisition. But yet, the method of error correction must be constructive and positive.