Running Head: Update knowledge to ensure learning in students.

Out Of Date Teachers, Causes Stagnation In Learning In Students.

Mauro David Villacrs Benalczar
Escuela Superior Politcnica del Litoral

A Paper Presented in Partial Fulfillment

Od the Requirements for the Master in TEFL
Julie Faye Anderson-Manrique, PhD, Professor & Mentor

Update knowledge to ensure learning in students.

Abstract
During the last years, English has become a subject that had gain field in education. This is
why methodology has changed due to the needs of the students. Nowadays, we are able to
find plenty of information about methodology used to teach a language so students acquire a
language easier and properly. Teachers play an important role in successful students language
acquirement. This case study tries to understand why students get frustrated and get reluctant
to learn English showing a bad attitude toward the language. The reasons can be varied but I
focus this research to the lack of training of teachers. For obvious reasons, students dont find
the motivation to get interested in learning English. The lack of interest in updating
knowledge from teachers has become a concern in the place where I work because is carrying
some bad consequences not only in English Teachers practice but also in students desire in
acquiring a language. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the importance of the
updating in knowledge of English teachers through constant training.

Key words: English, importance, update, training, teacher.

Update knowledge to ensure learning in students.

Introduction
Most of the time teachers dont adapt or chose the correct way to make students learn
or/and the most of the time English Teachers do not know what to do or how to treat the
students, due to this, students increase their affective filter, becoming a stagnation in the
teaching learning process. The study of this problem will allow us to understand the reasons
why students seem to be reluctant to learn English. In 2013, I worked in a private school
where English Teachers were encouraged to take upgrading courses. Teachers were intended
to improve their knowledge to enhance students learning and motivate them to learn English.
This does not happen in my current work place, teachers are not well trained in the new trends
in teaching English so they do not encourage students to acquire a new language due to their
lack of updating.
Case Study
An opportunity to study abroad came thanks to a government scholarship and once I
returned to Ecuador I had to give back what I received from the government by teaching in a
public school. I had never worked in any public school so this was going to be a huge
challenge. Once I started to teach in this public High School, I had to deal with the students
scarceness of interest in learning English because of the bad experiences that they had with
other English Teachers. Each teacher has its own way to manage a group of students, and the
chosen way has to be carefully adapted to the needs of the students and not to the ease of the
teacher. This commonly happens in teachers that do not take into consideration the objectives
of the class.
At that time, I had to adapt myself to my new work field and take this challenge as an
opportunity to learn and take advantage of my creativity and knowledge learned while I
studied at a North American University. The methodology to teach a language has been
changing with the time. And with it, materials have been created to make students easier to

Update knowledge to ensure learning in students.

learn and at the same time makes teachers be more involved according the new trends in the
educational field. If the conditions to teach are not the adequate, the teacher is the one that has
the ability to create the perfect conditions to change students attitude towards the subject.
Target Population
I started to work at a public high school located in Ibarra with a population of about
600 students (I am still working there) in which I was assigned 2 courses of about 20 students
in each class. The principal problem that I had to overcome was the lack of interest and bad
attitude towards English thanks to the scarceness of training and updating of previous
teachers. This High School offers a Touristic specialty, students from this section are intended
to learn more English for touristic purposes and concomitantly they receive more English
hours. It is contradictory that the students that receive the more hours are the ones that more
struggle in this subject.
Course A. This group of students showed to be not interested in learning English, in
fact, they were reluctant to perform activities like role plays, games, speaking activities and
other skills activities that commonly help students to learn and internalize the language. It was
clear that this class was not used to do this kind of activities and so they were not interested.
This was mainly because teachers from previous years did not use the correct methodology to
encourage them to learn, in fact, some teachers refused to look for extra activities to enhance
learning.
Course B. Pretty much the same happens in this course because both shared the same
teachers in the last two scholar years. These two courses that were under my responsibility to
teach were supposed to have the biggest domain in The English language since they were the
ones that received more English hours than any other courses. I used my creativity to have a
good class configuration and more importantly use my charisma to get to know my students
in a better way and control the behavior in class because that was also a problem.

Update knowledge to ensure learning in students.

Settings
Since the book provided by the government did not contain activities good enough to
make the class be more interested in the subject, the planning of extra activities was essential.
I started to use some of the handouts that I was provided from a previous training course that
focused in knowing the student first as a human being and not only as a number in a role. I
can tell that the strategies that I applied are giving me good results so far.

Update knowledge to ensure learning in students.

Literature Review
This case of study tries to understand why students are so reluctant to learn English
and takes into consideration the teachers as the main problem. The problem in this case study
is really common in educational institutions becoming an issue that needs to be studied to find
a solution. So the study of the following articles will help us to meet our goal.
Methodology commonly used by teachers.
According to Haar, Hall, Schoepp and Smith (2002), methods to learn English have
been changing and the communicative approach is not enough to acquire a language. In the
past, teachers have been using varied methodologies like Grammar Translation, Direct
Method, Audio-Lingualism, and Communicative Approach among other methods but they
never took into consideration their learning styles. Nowadays is really important to know our
students learning style to fit the methods that best work for each one of them. What these
authors mention is directly connected to this case study since the methodology used by
teachers in this High school was not the adequate.
Teachers training
Just like society changes every day, education has been changing as well. When we
mention society we address to our students, they are not the same as the students of four or
five years ago. Their way of thinking is different and obviously the way they like to be treated
is also different, and not mentioning that the way that they learn is not the same either. So
teachers must be constantly learning from their students in order to understand how they learn
better. According to Fraser & Watson (2013), they wrote, Despite decades of reform,
outcomes for students of color, English language learners, and low-income students show that
we still need to do far more to give these students the excellent education they deserve(p,29).
What these authors said fits perfectly in the way that teachers should take into account not

Update knowledge to ensure learning in students.

only the content but also some other factors that probably affect our students when they need
to learn.
Another aspect to consider is that in the teaching-learning process it is necessary to
asses our students to check their understanding and enhance the weaknesses so that they
overcome the difficulties that may appear. But, when assessing them the instrument to check
what they understood needs to be carefully prepared and made so that the students dont
create a barrier against testing. Almost any language-instruction program requires the
preparation and administration of tests, and it is only to the extent that certain common testing
mistakes have been avoided that such tests can be said to be worthwhile selection, diagnostic,
or evaluation instruments. (Henning, 2012, p. 23).
Include technology in teaching
This is very important to consider when catching the attention of our students is
necessary. Now we live in a technological era where almost every student has access to a
computer and even to an internet connection. The applicability of computer technology in the
class has become an important tool for teachers since we have too many digital materials that
will help us to enhance understanding. Kim (2008) said, The advance of computer
technology has increased the attention and expectation given to the integration of computer
technology in English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL)
classes (p. 28). Then, we as teachers have to take advantage of the technology that we have
in our hands to motivate students and light the interest on them.
Communication among teachers
Teachers sometimes feel proud of the training that they have gained through the time
but the most of the time they are not so compromised to share what they know. Commonly
institutions have not only one English teacher but a group of teachers to impart the same
subject. So, sharing is essential in a group where the goal is the same. Explicit knowledge

Update knowledge to ensure learning in students.

needs an academic understanding that is achieved through formal education. Knowledge

sharing and knowledge creation are interlinked. Knowledge sharing and its implementation
provide solutions of many problems faced by organizations. This process is called knowledge
creation. The process of knowledge sharing, knowledge creation and knowledge use is
obstructed at the individual level and at the organizational level at the same time (Shahzad,
Zainab, Akram, Younas, 2012, p. 20).
Implications
This study has help me to understand why my students have not been learning and
more importantly why they were so reluctant to learn due to bad praxis of teachers from
previous years. Thanks to the literature review of this problem, I have found some factors that
I consider important because some of this must be used in class by the teacher. One of the
most important aspect that have to outstand is that teachers need also to be motivated to create
a state of mind in them to look for opportunities to gain and updated their knowledge.
When teachers use the appropriate tools to teach, students get interested in learning
and even they become an active part of the class by volunteering in activities, active
participation and creating the perfect environment to convey and internalize knowledge. It is
important to stand out that when a teacher uses a strategy or methodology that worked
perfectly with students or efficiently met the goal that he or she established this strategy or
methodology needs to be shared to peers so that more students get beneficed. All of the
aspects considered in this literature review are directly related to the problem of this case
study.

Update knowledge to ensure learning in students.

Conclusions
This study clearly demonstrates the importance in considering constant training of
English teachers. When teachers are updated they can include some other aspects to their
teaching that for sure will contribute to the learning of each student creating a great impact on
them. If consider all the aspects mentioned in the case study, students will learn faster and
more effectively. Students wont get frustrated when learning the language and obviously they
will change their attitude toward the language. Teachers have to take advantage of the
diversity of the group because each one of them can contribute in different ways to the class.
One important aspect to consider is that teachers need to understand that we are not just
giving knowledge to approve a level but also we are giving tools to succeed in future scholar
preparation that they could have. If we as teachers take this into account, we will always try to
find endless ways to teach them actively.

Update knowledge to ensure learning in students.

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References
Jean Haar, J., Hall, G., Schoepp, P., & Smith, D. (2002). How teachers teach to students with
different learning styles. Learning styles Journal, 1. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/30189723
Asim, S., Fazeela, Z., Khadija, A., & Muhammad, Y. (2012). An Evidence from Pakistani
Educational Organizations. Factors Impiding Knowledge Sharing, Knowledge Creation
and Knowledge Use Among English Language Teachers, 6(1), 20-24. Retrieved July 1,
2015, from http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosrjhss/papers/Vol6-issue1/C0612024.pdf
Henning, G. (2012). Twenty Common Testing Mistakes for EFL Teachers to Avoid. EFL
Teachers in the Classroom, 20(3), 23.
Kim, H. (2008). ESL/EFL Teachers Perceptions of the Role of Computers. Beyond
Motivation, 8(2), 28-30.
Watson, A., & Fraser, J. (2013). Tomorrows Teachers Will Need Skills, Experiences, and
Mentors in Ways They Didnt in the Past If We Are to Close Wide Learning Gaps
Among Groups of Children. Bring Students Teaching into the 21st Century, 94(7), 2930.