Philosophy of Teaching Statement

Philosophy of Teaching Statement

Andrew Cheong
UCR Extension: TESOL Portfolio
February 23, 2017
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My philosophy of teaching stems from my experiences in school as well as my beliefs

and ideals as a social being. I have had a few teachers whom I drew inspirations from. Many of

these teachers had common qualities that made them an inspiration for me to become a teacher.

Aside from the inspiring qualities displayed by my teachers, I also have some of my own ideal

qualities that would I believe would make an ideal teacher. These qualities include:

Motivating, inspiring
Open-minded
Patience
Encouraging and resourceful

Many of these ideal qualities are based on my experiences with my teachers and concepts I have

learned from the TESOL Program. Aside from these qualities, however, there are a few beliefs

and ideals that are based on my experiences with interacting with international students. From

these experiences, I believe that my teaching style should revolve around being:

More focused on conversational fluency than grammar accuracy

More focused on the Communicative Language Teaching method
More focused on developing Communicative Competence

I have been in school for as long as I can remember. While in school, I have met all kinds

of teachers and had a variety of learning experiences. I have met teachers who were motivated

and would go out of their way to help their students. These kinds of teachers are what I aspire to

be. The way they motivate their students by creating a comfortable learning environment helps

make a class interesting and enjoyable. When I had a motivated teacher, I felt inspired and

motivated to try my utmost best, to the point where I would take the time to study more of the

subject on my own. Brown states that there are two types of motivation. The first is extrinsic

motivation which is fueled by the anticipation of a reward from the outside and beyond the
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self. (Brown, 2014, p.160) Extrinsic motivations are the result of external factors, such as

parents wishes, money, prizes, etc. The second is intrinsic motivation. Intrinsically motivated

behaviors are driven by internally rewarding consequences, namely, feelings of competence and

self-determination, and are like, Skinners (1957) emitted response, willingly engaged in through

ones own volition. (Brown, 2014, p.160) Unlike extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation is

developed in the self, where the reward is the activity itself. Intrinsic motivation is widely

believed to be the more superior of the two types of motivations, with studies to support the

claim. When I had motivated teachers, I usually did well in the class. Unlike other times where I

solely cared for my grades, with these teachers I sincerely tried hard in the class, going beyond

expectations because to me studying that subject under that teacher was a reward in itself. Like

those teachers, I hope to one day inspire and motivate my students the same way.

Ive always thought of myself as an open-minded person, always able to consider what

another person may be thinking or feeling during an interaction. I also understand that there are

factors to be considered such as politics, culture, and religion. Possessing these qualities of being

open and understanding as a teacher would without a doubt prove invaluable when teaching ESL

students. These are important qualities to have as a teacher because communication with the

students is very important. I believe that establishing comfortable relationships with the students

through communication would allow me to help encourage and motivate them to learn more

efficiently.

Another important quality to possess as a teacher is having patience. In a typical

classroom, there is usually wide array of skills and abilities among the students. Some are faster

learners; others are not as fast. Furthermore, every class will always be different than the one
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before and after it. Therefore, in situations where the students learning is not progressing as

expected should be accounted for. In such cases, patience is very important.

Being encouraging and resourceful are also very important qualities as a teacher. When

students are learning a new language, they tend to be very self-conscious of themselves and

afraid of making mistakes. This, as a result, impairs their learning progress and serves as a

massive detriment. During this critical period, encouraging the students to not shy away from

making mistakes is very important. Being resourceful is also very important in the language

development of a speaker. Being able to refer students to different source materials from which

they could learn more from would inevitably help towards their success. However, these qualities

are both important in and out of the classroom. Even when the students are no longer in the

teachers class, I believe it is important for the teacher to still be encouraging and resourceful. It

is especially important to encourage the students to continue studying the subject. It also

important to be resourceful outside of the classroom. A few ESL students may have dreams or

desires to study or work outside of their country. Being able to refer ESL students to study

abroad and job programs would not only aid them but also encourage them to study English even

more as it gives them further incentives.

Throughout my years of interacting with foreign students, Ive come to realize that while

many of them are more than proficient in English grammar, many lack conversational fluency.

As a result, I have noticed that many foreign students tend to shy away from talking to native

English students and instead, opt to remain in their social groups where they would speak their

first language or have around the same understanding and level of English. I have often observed

how little they interacted with native English students, usually ending conversations abruptly

with a few words. As a Sociology major, I have noticed that many factors contributed to the lack
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of motivation that foreign students when talking to native English speakers. These foreign

students could have made friends, made international connections, and developed a better

understanding of the English language, but instead, many interactions end in lost opportunities.

The biggest factor that I have observed is their confidence in the language. Many lack the

confidence in their conversational abilities and are often afraid to make mistakes. Because of

this, I prefer to focus more on encouraging the students to speak and developing their

communicative abilities rather than following the traditional approach of focusing on

grammar. A few methods that Id employ to encourage students to speak more include utilizing

engaging speaking activities that requires the class to participate such as role playing and mini

skits. Whole class discussions would also play a role in my teaching methods as I believe that

they lower affective filters, which are negative emotional and motivational factors that may

inhibit learning efficiency. Employing these methods would not only encourage them to speak

but also raise their self-esteem and confidence in their speaking abilities.

Social interaction is very important in learning a language. Therefore, focusing on the

development of conversational skills in my lesson plans is essential. I believe that developing

conversational skills would in turn lead to students becoming less shy and uncomfortable when

interacting with other English speakers. A method that I would incorporate in my teaching

approach is Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). Communicative Language Teaching is

an approach that emphasizes interaction and the ability to communicate with more focus on its

meaning than grammatical perfection. The goal of CLT is to enable students to communicate in

the target language. (Freeman & Anderson, 2011, p.122) CLT is mainly student-centered and

simulates real-world situations. Therefore, I believe it would help students to develop strategies
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for understanding the English language and raise confidence when they are faced with an

unfamiliar situation.

In addition to Communicative Language Teaching, I believe that focusing on

communicative competence is also important. Communicative competence is the aspect of our

competence that enables us to convey and interpret messages and to negotiate meanings

interpersonally within specific contexts. (Brown, 2014, p.206) Four different subcategories

make up communicative competence: grammatical competence, discourse competence,

sociolinguistic competence, and strategic competence. As a Sociology major, I believe that

sociolinguistic competence is one of the most important, if not the most important, competence

to have in communication. Sociolinguistic competence is defined by the ability to follow

sociocultural rules of language. (Brown, 2014, p.208) This type of competence requires the

communicator to be able to understand the social context in which the language is used. That

said, I also believe that being strategically competent is also highly favorable. Strategic

competence is the ability to use verbal and nonverbal communicative techniques to compensate

for breakdowns in communication or insufficient competence. (Brown, 2014, p.208) I believe

that being able to correct oneself seamlessly and sustain communication is important. Ultimately,

developing both sociolinguistic and strategic competence in the students would help increase

their confidence and self-esteem in the usage of language.

Language is an important factor for understanding another individuals culture and

beliefs. However, it is because of language barriers and our individual self-consciousness that it

can become so difficult to understand one another. As part of my philosophy, I aim to develop the

full potential of my students in learning the English language so that my students would be able
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to overcome social obstacles and develop connections as well as pursue any international dreams

that they may have.

Works Cited

Brown, H. D. (2014). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (6th ed.). White Plains, NY:
Pearson Education, Inc.

Freeman, D. L., Anderson, M. (2011). Techniques & Principles in Language Teaching (3rd ed.).
Oxford: Oxford University Press.