ABSTRACTION: TESL: CURRENT PROBLEMS AND CLASSROOM PRACTICES

ATTITUDINAL ASPECTS OF SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING

What is Attitude?

According to Brown, he believes that attitudes “develop in early childhood and are the result of
parent's and peers' attitudes, of contact with people who are different in any number of ways, and of
interacting different factors in the human experience.”

However, Wenden presented a more inclusive definition of the term "attitudes". According to
him, "attitudes" encompasses three components: cognitive, affective, and behavioral.

These three attitudinal aspects below are based on the three theoretical approaches of
behaviorism, cognitivism and humanism respectively. In the following, the three aspects of attitude
concept i.e., behavioral, cognitive, and emotional aspects are briefly described.

I. Behavioral Aspect of Attitude

The behavioral aspect of attitude deals with the way one behaves and reacts in particular situations. In
fact, the successful language learning enhances the learners to identify themselves with the native
speakers of that language and acquire or adopt various aspects of behaviors which characterize the
members of the target language community. Kara (2009) stated that, “Positive attitudes lead to the
exhibition of positive behaviors toward courses of study, with participants absorbing themselves in
courses and striving to learn more. Such students are also observed to be more eager to solve problems, to
acquire the information and skills useful for daily life and to engage themselves emotionally.”

II. Cognitive Aspect of Attitude

This aspect of attitude involves the beliefs of the language learners about the knowledge that they receive
and their understanding in the process of language learning. The cognitive attitude can be classified into
four steps of connecting the previous knowledge and the new one, creating new knowledge, checking new
knowledge, and applying the new knowledge in many situations.

III. Emotional Aspect of Attitude

Feng and Chen (2009) stated that, “Learning process is an emotional process. It is affected by different
emotional factors. The teacher and his students engage in various emotional activities in it and varied
fruits of emotions are yield.” Attitude can help the learners to express whether they like or dislike the
objects or surrounding situations. It is agreed that the inner feelings and emotions of FL learners influence
their perspectives and their attitudes towards the target language (Choy & Troudi, 2006).

Create Situations in Which Students Will Feel a Sense of Accomplishment

A sense of accomplishment is a great factor in motivating students. Be sure to give positive feedback and
reinforcement. Doing so can increase students' satisfaction and encourage positive self-evaluation. A
student who feels a sense of accomplishment will have a better attitude to direct his or her own studies
and learning outcomes. Positive as well as negative comments influence motivation and attitude, but
research consistently indicates that students are more affected by positive feedback and success. Praise
builds students' self-confidence, competence, and self-esteem. However, giving positive feedback should
not be mistaken for correcting mistakes without giving explanations. Some teachers correct students'
mistakes without really explaining the reason for doing so. It is very important for teachers to point out
the good aspects of a student's work and to provide a clear explanation of his or her mistakes. Students
value the teacher's ideas when they feel that their good work is appreciated, and this encourages them to
start evaluating themselves for further studies.

Encourage Students to Set Their Own Short-Term Goals Language learners can achieve success by
setting their own goals and by directing their studies toward their own expectations. Students can help
themselves achieve their goals by determining their own language needs and by defining why they want
to learn the language. Having goals and expectations leads to increased motivation, which in turn, leads to
a higher level of language competence. We as teachers should encourage students to have specific short-
term goals such as communicating with English speakers or reading books in English. No matter what
these goals are, we should help students set and pursue them.

Students learn by doing, making, writing, designing, creating, and solving. Passivity decreases students'
motivation and curiosity and leads to low attitude toward language learning. Students' enthusiasm,
involvement, and willingness to participate affect the quality of class discussion as an opportunity for
learning. Small-group activities and pair work boost students' self-confidence and are excellent sources of
motivation. Group work can give quiet students a chance to express their ideas and feelings on a topic
because they find it easier to speak to groups of three or four than to an entire class. Once students have
spoken in small groups, they usually become less reluctant to speak to the class as a whole. Group
activities allow students not only to express their ideas but also to work cooperatively, which increases
class cohesion and thus motivation.

Connect Language Learning to Students' Interests Outside of Class

In today’s high-tech learning environment, it would be unfair to limit students to traditional methods.
Encouraging students to relate their classroom experience to outside interests and activities makes
developing language skills more relevant. For example, computer-assisted language learning could be
linked to playing computer games, or to computer programs that the students are interested in using.
Listening to English language songs, watching English language films or videos, and reading English
language Web sites can lead students to broaden their perspective on their language acquisition process.
Motivational teaching strategies such as these can easily increase positive attitude and language learners'
motivation levels. The idea that student motivation is a personality trait and that students are either
motivated or unmotivated is incorrect. Without sufficient motivation, even individuals with the most
remarkable abilities cannot achieve their long-term goals. As instructors, we may be the most important
factor in influencing our students' motivation, which is a key element in the language acquisition process.

Here are the problems, their reasons and my solutions.

Problem

Often when her class are about to embark on an activity it occurs to her that all the whispers and puzzled
faces mean that they haven't a clue what to do. 

Possible reasons

a) instructions weren’t clear for students;

b) instructions were too complicated;

c) classroom management wasn’t on a proper level;

d) pre-task activity was omitted;

e) task is not appropriate for the students’ knowledge.

f) few auditory learners in the class.

Solutions

a -b) make clear, short and slow instructions again; use visual help; use body language, gestures, eye
contact, facial expressions; don’t speak low monotone or a high-pitched voice , it can be difficult to
understand or grating to the ears; speak on the right volume, don’t speak too fast..

c) solve problems with discipline, insist on attention during the lesson(even if you must dedicate to it the
whole lesson ), explain your students that their poor knowledge is the result of their disorganization.

c) work in groups, monitor and help weak pairs. Call the strongest pair to the blackboard to present their
work to the class.

d) do the pre-task activity with the class, translate or explain in English the new vocabulary.

e) check if students are ready for the task according to their previous knowledge.
f) use a lot of visual support and flash cards. 

Problem

One group of students has no interest in learning English and she wonders why she is wasting her time. 

Possible reasons

a) this group of students have fallen behind their study;

b) the activity doesn’t cover their learning style;

c) the group was formed from one learning style students or students all with the same low learning skills.

Solutions

a) uninterested group of students needs extra work to cope with their educational problems;

b) a teacher has to adopt the activity to her ‘uninterested group’ learning style;

c) correctly reform the group.

Move properly

Sitting behind a desk or standing on a dais creates a "distance" between the teacher and the students. Try
to have an aisle and enough space between the rows so that you can easily reach those at the back. This
way you can talk to individual students, allow the shy ones to ask questions quietly without the fear of
embarrassment, as well as check their work and help them .

Some movement on your side is essential, because it allows the students to focus on you. 

Stepping forward to emphasise a point, small steps towards different sides of the class lets the student feel
that the teacher is taking genuine interest in what he or she is saying 

Problem

Every time she puts the students in groups but they just talk in their L1 and usually about topics unrelated
to the class 

Possible reasons

a) the topic is not interested to the students;

b) students have little vocabulary to speak the topic;

c) bad group formation, no leader;

d) low motivation and little control from the teacher.

Solutions

a) find the topic challenging the age group of your students;

b) practice the new vocabulary, use different aids to support all types of learners;

c) change group members to balance their group work, avoid close friends in the group.

d) Monitor, advise and motivate the students with brilliant marks and praise.

Problem
The course book she is using is terrible. It is too easy for the students and they get bored easily. She
doesn’t want to spend hours planning as they don’t seem interested anyway

Possible reasons

a) low motivation;

b) boring lessons;

c) the course book is not relevant to the students’ abilities and knowledge.

Solutions

a-b-c) It's important to keep to the program, not to the course book, change the book when possible; if
not, add some readers and grammar books; prepare songs, chants and games on the topic you need; do
projects, involve students in self-study, encourage to go to the library and use the Internet; use a lot of
different visual, auditorial and kinesthetic materials; look through your classroom management, correct it,
make your lessons lively.