"When we use any teaching approach, we need to be clear exactly what it’s intended to achieve. This clarity should be apparent not just to us but also to students" (Brookfield, 2015).

In teaching, I find a meaningful vocation that encourages the growth of both teachers and students. The continuous learning of teachers brings broader opportunities to learners as teaching is inherently a two-way process. It’s been more than six years since I started my professional career as a language teacher and during this time I have been gathering numerous profound experiences that have been instrumental in shaping my personal and professional self. The Language Teaching Studies (LTS) program has been one of the transformative experiences of my career that nurtured the learner in me, as an educator. Through a diverse range of courses, this program equipped me with advanced pedagogical skills and nourished my sense of curiosity and passion for language teaching. Above all, the program encouraged me to think critically about my teaching beliefs and strive continuously for the most comprehensive teaching philosophy. I came to this program with a “teaching objectives statement” which I then revised in the LT 548 course in the form of another “statement of beliefs.” As I complete this program today, I am revising my philosophy further to adapt to the needs of this time and address the challenges of the future. My teaching philosophy centers on the principles of continuous learning for teachers, learners’ agency and democracy, Communicative Language Teaching (Dos Santos, 2020), metacognitive strategies, a culturally responsive teaching (Gay, 2018), and language justice (Mowbray, 2012).

Statement of Beliefs A1.docx

Teaching Philosophy

In my philosophy, I stress the continuous learning of teachers in the form of professional development opportunities because it is a myth to say that some of us are born teachers. Instead, teaching is a skill learned and refined like any other skill. Furthermore, I advocate for an experimental approach to teaching and learning. With time, I have come to question rigid adherence to supposedly “best” and “static” models and approaches in teaching. Different methods can be used in a variety of contexts and it is the contextual intelligence teachers need to have. Instead of “What is the best?”, teachers need to know “What works the best at this point?”.

With contextual understanding, I also stress the importance of clarity and intentionality in educational practices, which was missing in my own initial experiences as well. As emphasized by Brookfield (2015),

When we use any teaching approach, we need to be clear exactly what it’s intended to achieve. This clarity should be apparent not just to us but also to students. So a lecture should begin with the lecturer explaining its purpose, its relevance to course goals and the syllabus, and its connection to earlier class sessions or assignments. (p. 79)

On the other hand, my teaching philosophy emphasizes the importance of learners’ agency through metacognition. It is possible that their question of “what to do?” is not always answered by someone like a language teacher, so they must be able to answer this question themselves without any assistance, when needed, and replace this question with, “I know what to do…” Further reflecting on teaching experiences, I decided to share my Tutoring Practice Report from LT 539, Design for Language Learning Pronunciation and Teaching Reflection Report from LT 537, Second-Language Teaching Practice (aka, Talking with Ducks). Both experiences are set in the context of teaching English as a second language. This is the context that I can relate to the most since I have the experience teaching English in Pakistan. However, teaching English in a different context like during the LTS program helped me to not only reflect on my past teaching practices but develop pedagogical techniques that are constructive and student-centered.

LT 539 - Design Language Learning Pronunciation

Tutoring Practice and Reflection Report

As part of the LT 539 course, I co-tutored with my peer, Grace Saxton and together we worked closely with a visiting scholar at the University of Oregon, Alexander Chernouso, to apply strategies-based instruction to our tutoring practice. We had three sessions with him, each 30 minutes long. Starting with the diagnostic test, we designed our session in a way that introduced him to a set of skills and strategies to continue practicing and achieve strategic autonomy. After thorough reflection on diagnostic test, it was determined that strategic instruction will enable him “learn how to learn,”. Therefore, our lessons with him were not limited to explicit instructions of segmental and suprasegmental features but extended to introducing skills through metacognitive strategies. As Brown and Lee (2015) state, “every complex set of skills… is acquired through a combination of observing, focusing, practicing, monitoring, correcting, and redirecting” (p. 51). Similarly, our activities included reading aloud, practicing tongue twisters, noticing specific features, and explaining.

Tutoring Practice Report.docx

Final Reflection 1-3.docx

LT 537 - Talking with Ducks

Teaching Reflection Report

During the LT 537 course, I had the opportunity to immerse myself in communicative language teaching (CLT) and specifically the task-based approach by teaching to exchange students at the American English Institute, University of Oregon. As a part of team-teaching experience, I participated with a team of 11 teachers and we designed and presented lessons and further divided our responsibilities for each class. This collaborative teaching approach proved to be beneficial as it enhanced the learning experience of learners and increased the creativity for teachers. Brown and Lee (2015) also highlight the role of team-teaching in language education that allows teachers to bring their expertise and create a more dynamic learning environment. For my lesson, I worked with two of my peers, Amira Ghazy and Britany Stagnoli; after thorough reflection and discussion, we designed a board game titled Jumanji, which included the group task of creating a board and interacting with other groups. This task-based language teaching (TBLT) within the framework of CLT helps learners see the relevance of their classroom learning to outside the world.

Ellis (2003), an advocate of TBLT, emphasizes learning through the completion of meaningful tasks and places it at the heart of CLT. Further throughout this teaching practicum, we stressed meaning instead of forms and encouraged learners to use language as a tool to communicate their needs and thoughts. The emphasis on Communicative Language teaching approach resonates with my language teaching beliefs as well, Which stresses learning language to communicate. As Katz (2022) in a podcast at We Teach Languages states, “The language is not the end goal, the language is the means”.

References

Brown, H.D. & Lee, H. (2015). Teaching by principles: An integrative approach to language pedagogy (4th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc.

Brookfield, S. D. (2015). The skillful teacher: On technique, trust, and responsiveness in the classroom. John Wiley & Sons.

Dos Santos, L. M. (2020). The Discussion of Communicative Language Teaching Approach in Language Classrooms. Journal of Education and e-Learning Research, 7(2), 104-109.

Ellis, R. (2003). Task-based language learning and teaching. Oxford University Press.

Gay, G. (2018). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice. teachers college press.

Johnson, S.M. (Producer/Interviewer). (2022, November 9). Teaching Teachers, Language Learning Myths, and Metacognition with Doran Katz (No. 152) [Audio podcast episode]. In We Teach Languages. https://weteachlang.com/2022/10/07/151

Mowbray, J. (2012). Linguistic justice: International law and language policy. Oxford University Press.

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