tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396360.post6536694272383895539..comments2023-07-22T23:33:58.038+09:00Comments on EFL in Japan: Positive Impact of Positive Comments by Anyone5330http://www.blogger.com/profile/11752690938113124517noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396360.post-1757581283475131052009-06-18T16:04:47.251+09:002009-06-18T16:04:47.251+09:00Alex,
A teacher who pushes boundaries and all the ...Alex,<br />A teacher who pushes boundaries and all the other things you mention can be doing that in a positive way. By working with students to make effective English presentations and taking IELTS tests and showing them how they improve over time, that would be a positive influence. I'm not talking baseless compliments. <br /><br />On the other hand, the current state of English education in Japan, and as you suggest in East Asia, is hardly positive. I asked my son today if he would characterize his English classes at the high school he attends as positive. There is nothing positive or developmental about it. It is test based, with tests as phony as the day is long, and then they are judged as people by their grades. <br /><br />It is the education system's ethical obligation to do what it promises, and it cannot do that with the negative approach it now employs.5330https://www.blogger.com/profile/11752690938113124517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396360.post-27270208601500189922009-06-18T15:51:33.851+09:002009-06-18T15:51:33.851+09:00Clarissa,
I agree with you; the positive language ...Clarissa,<br />I agree with you; the positive language she suggests is great. You mentioned how impressive it is that multilingual co-workers are operating in more than one language. In addition they are probably doing so because the company saw a need for those people's language skills which their monolingual co-workers so obviously lack, so who is the one who is more valuable to the company. Of course I have no idea, but I would like to think that it is the multilingual employee.5330https://www.blogger.com/profile/11752690938113124517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396360.post-74049737538304152182009-06-17T16:15:52.706+09:002009-06-17T16:15:52.706+09:00I saw that article too. It was very interesting, a...I saw that article too. It was very interesting, although not particularly evidence based. Obviously most of our students, especially for people like you and me in East Asia, need their confidence boosted and gain in fluency and motivation from that. The question for me, and hence a more interesting comparison for a study, would be a teacher who chose everything to boost confidence and another teacher who pushed the boundaries of their safe zone a little by correcting them, forcing them to use more ambitious language, getting them to replicate the stress of real communication etc with presentations and mock IELTS speaking tests. Then I'd like to see if the confidence built up by the first teacher withstood a couple of days abroad or quickly crumbled and meant that they needed testing more in the classroom. I have no idea what the results would be.Alex Casehttp://www.tefl.net/alexcasenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396360.post-83797276582616444042009-06-17T12:47:03.213+09:002009-06-17T12:47:03.213+09:00Thanks for the link to the Ovient post--I like the...Thanks for the link to the Ovient post--I like the language she suggested to try to get language learners' co-workers to use. It's great if you can try to help people adopt an attitude change and realize how impressive it is that their multilingual co-workers are operating in more than one language. (It's unfortunate that relatively few American businesspeople, at least, have had the experience of needing to communicate in another language, so they're pretty lacking in awareness and empathy on this point. I wish we encouraged more school and work exchanges.)Clarissahttp://www.talktotheclouds.com/noreply@blogger.com