Toward the New Power Relationships between Teachers and Students: Students Empowerment on IT-based Instruction

Janpha Thadphoothon

(Ed. D. candidate in Education, School of Languages and International

Education, University of Canberra)

Abstract

This paper discusses new power relationships between teachers and students as IT-based instruction has emerged as teaching aids mediated teachers, students, and subject matters. First I briefly explore history of the teacher-student relationship in general. Next, I present the main features of the IT-based instruction that have influenced the relationship. Then, I discuss the notion of empowerment. Finally, based on the proposed theoretical framework, I discuss ways in which IT-based instruction can be designed to empower the learners.

Traditional Relationship

EFL/ESL professions emerged at the beginning of the 20th century with Daniel Jones (1881-1967) and Harold Palmer (1877-1947) perceived as the early founders. During that time, teachers were native speakers and students were foreigners, and the method used appeared to be the Direct method which emphasizes question-answer techniques using English as a medium of instruction (Howatt, 1984). Like other fields, teacher-student relationship as one might expect was asymmetrical, with teachers as tellers or controllers and learners as followers. Rousseau’s satire can best picture such power relationship:

Master:       You must not do that.

Child:                   Why not?

Master:       Because it is wrong.

Child:                   Wrong! What is wrong?

Master:       What is forbidden you.

Child:                   Why is it wrong to do what is forbidden?

Master:       You will be punished for disobedience.

Child:                   I will do it when no one is looking.

Master:       We shall watch you.

Child:                   I will hide.

Master:       We shall ask you what you were doing.

Child:                   I shall tell a lie.

Master:       You must not tell lies.

Child:                   Why must not I tell lies?

Master:       Because it is wrong, etc.

(Rousseau’s Emile, p. 54)

Teachers’ power has its root in the ancient societies when priests and prophets enjoyed their high prestige and privilege. Today such power has changed. Students have more says. Teacher-student power relationship, nevertheless, in whichever way it is viewed from, is never truly symmetrical. It is a matter of degree. Apart from teaching and organizing the subject matter of lessons, Sinclaire and Brazil (1982) point out that teachers’ role in the disciplinary area is also significant. Such role relates to every aspect of the teaching and learning environment.

Nowadays in many parts of the world, capital punishment has been adopted as a means to control people. In educational institutions, corporal punishment is still being implemented. In many places teachers can physically harm the students if they disobey e.g. they do not do homework or do not answer correctly. Moreover they can verbally or psychologically harm the students, for instance, when they misbehave in class or simply happen to be noisy. The teacher subtly can influence the students’ attitudes and behavior.

What legitimizes such power? I think it is unavoidable to look at the issue beyond teacher-student spheres. I refer to, of course, the society which directly and indirectly governs the schooling system as its sub-set, including teachers and students. Unlike the past, today’s teachers find it harder to impose power upon students, and in many places corporal punishment is no longer accepted, and has been invalidated. Teachers who physically punish students will be sanctioned by the society. Old agreement is not valid; new power relationship has been agreed upon. J-J Rousseau has put it in Chapter IV of his Social Contract that, ‘ Since no man has natural authority over his fellows, and since Might can produce no right, the only foundation left for legitimate authority in human societies is Agreement.’ Nevertheless, teachers still hold two forms of power: to reward or punish by means of grading and to influence students’ opinions by means of lecturing. Such power has almost always been legitimized by the society, and it can be imposed in subtly manners, which relies on teachers’ benevolence (see, for example, Rousseau’s Emile).

After briefly exploring the development of teacher-student relationship, one will come to realize that teachers still have more power than students, though its degree has been shifted. Several forces have contributed to this change such as democratic and humanistic movements. Technology in general and information technology in particular has influenced ways people do things and think and talk about them, and the field of ELT is no exception. In my next discussion I point out some salient features of the IT-based instruction that influence teacher-student relationship.

Features of IT-Based Instruction that Influence Teacher-Student Relationship

Let look at WebCT, a collection of WWW based course tools which facilitates teaching and learning on the Internet, which has been used as the main online learning environment at the University of Canberra.

WebCT enables students to:

-         access lecture notes and subject content;

-         communicate with their lecture, tutor, and other students enrolled in the subject by email, discussion and chat;

-         complete online quizzes and self-assessment activities;

-         submit assignments;

-         prepare individual and group online presentation;

-         conduct searches and use glossaries; and

-         view scheduled events using a subject calendar.

(Students Guide to Using WebCT at the University of Canberra)

WebCT offers users both synchronous and asynchronous modes of communication. It also allows users to communicate in different ways: one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many, in text-based, graphic-based, audio, and video modes.

In ELT context, if what teachers do is to impart knowledge of grammar and vocabulary to students, and if what students do is to memorize such things.

I have discussed that IT-based instruction has mediated the teacher-learner power relationship, reasoning it gives students access to knowledge worldwide. Teachers nowadays find themselves in situations where knowledge as they know can be found everywhere. The power they have regarding this seems to be vague. In the next part I discuss ways in which IT-based instruction can be designed to empower the students.

Students Empowerment

What do we mean when we say students have been empowered? Does it mean that they can do things as they wish? The notions of empowerment can be varied: ‘ Empowerment is individual and collective; it is power and freedom; it is external and internal, political and personal, a means to an end or its own reward’ (Robinson, 1994, p. 12).  Robinson (Ibid) has listed nine implicit meanings of empowerment as follows:

1.     a route to enhancing the teaching profession: the ‘ authority to teach with the professional standards that pertain to their work’       (Mertens and Yarger, 1988: 35);

2.     a more active and critical approach towards teaching (Goodman, 1987);

3.     the right to make decisions and to have a voice: ‘ There is a narrow line between empowerment and adopting a laissez-faire leadership style’ (Foster, 1990:19; see also Sickler, 1988; Kampol, 1990; Gitlin and Price, 1992);

4.     ‘ a positive force and literacy is the medium’ --- almost a synonym for learning, or for the practical real-world benefits of schooling, which teachers must help children to obtain (Fagan, 1989: 572);

5.     letting go of feelings of victimization and recalcitrancy (Swart, 1990);

6.     when teachers ‘ begin to perceive themselves as the experts --- intellectuals capable of shaping their professional lives and the profession itself’ (Houser, 1990: 58);

7.     internal control and individually divergent practices, solving problems independently (Glickman, 1989);

8.     releasing positive reciprocal processes (Cochran, 1988);

9.     a process of supporting people to construct new meanings and exercise their freedom to choose (Weissglass, 1990).

(Robinson, 1994, pp. 11-12)

According to A. Lian (personal communication, November 30, 2001), empowerment is “ a function of the conditions around you reinforcing in you that you can contribute.” For her, to empower students means more than simply giving them access to computer or the Internet, but it means to provide them means in which they can use to solve problems. Empowerment in this sense has a direction, which means teachers can either withhold or let go that power.  

The above notions suggest that empowered students are autonomous learners who can regulate their own learning without restrictions from traditional educational practices.  Autonomous students are empowered because they can:

-         determine their own objectives

-         define the content and progression

-         select methods and techniques to be used

-         monitor the procedures of acquisition

-         evaluate what they have acquired.

(Holec, 1981 cited in Yang, 1984, p. 7)

Technology is a means in which teachers can create the conditions that would allow students to make senses of the world i.e. by engaging reality. Empowered students are those who not only feel that they have such and such power but also those who can actually manipulate things.

Summary

I have discussed that new power relationship between teachers and students, among other factors, has been mediated by the rapid emergence of IT-based instruction. Features of the IT-based instruction, for example WebCT, have offered students accesses to various sources of information. However, students’ empowerment requires that teachers rethink their ways of looking and going about doing things.

The heart of the matter lies not in the technologies being used but in the teachers’ competency and benevolence.

References

Howatt, A. P. R. (1984). A History of English Language Teaching. Oxford; Oxford University press.

http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/s/sophists.htm Accessed 10/09/2001 8:59:23 AM.

This is the WWW site of the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. It gives the readers ability to search for different sources of philosophies.

http://www.sh.com/culture/legend/confu.htm. Accessed 10/09/2001 10:31:18 AM.

This WWW site gives the users a brief story about Confucius and his ways teaching. After reading, one can realize that Confucius used different teaching techniques for different types of his students, for example:

"Ran You always hesitates when making a decision," the sage said. "Therefore he should be encouraged to be bolder. Zi Lu tends to make hasty decisions. Therefore he should be reminded to be cautious.

It's only natural that different people should get different answers, said Confucius.

Wright, Tony (1987). Roles of Teachers and Learners. OUP.

Yang, Ling (1984). Increasing Students Autonomy in the Learning of English as a Foreign language at University Level in China. M.A. Thesis, University of Canberra, ACT, Australia.

 McCarthy, Michael (2001) Issues in Applied Linguistics. CUP.

In terms of teachers-students relationships, McCathy cited Sinclair and Coulthard (1975) who had done the research on discourse analysis. They found recurring patterns of interaction between teachers and students.

http://www.dictionary.com. Accessed 10/09/2001 11:53:38 AM.