Buckland Weekly #30 - Differences in Chinese and Western Techniques Part 3

Quite some time ago I started a series of articles about various topics that had come up in conversation with a Chinese colleague – all linked by the fact that his opinions and mine on effective teaching techniques were frequently vastly at odds. He’s a good friend and a good teacher and he was only repeating what most teachers here do and believe but the essence of it all was totally different to the way we see language teaching in the west.

Other things interrupted me and I never completed the series so I’ll do so now. 

First let me list the things I intended to discuss in the articles.

Learning long word lists is an effective strategy for vocabulary acquisition.

Reading a dictionary is an effective strategy for vocabulary acquisition.

Reading aloud is a useful tool in learning a language.

Rote memorisation of text passages is a useful tool in language learning

Students who do not wish to learn should be ignored as long as they are not disruptive.

Punishment is an effective way to correct mistakes.

Solitary learning is preferable to group activity.

Some students cannot or will not learn.

Passing an Exam means your English is good.

If your English is good you will pass your exam.

In a fast paced lesson students will be forced to learn.

I had covered the first four so now let’s take a look at the next one

Students who do not wish to learn should be ignored as long as they are not disruptive.

This was possibly the one where we had the most fundamental disagreement. My friend has a fondness for idioms and he said “let sleeping students lie”. I’ve heard the same idea from both Chinese and foreign teachers expressed either in those words or others. The principle is that you should teach the ones who show an interest in learning and as for the others – as long as they cause no trouble in class – let them be. I couldn’t disagree more. I have two problems with it – an ideological one and a practical one. Ideologically it goes against everything I believe. I am in the classroom to try to teach everybody. Writing a student off without trying feels lazy, disrespectful and wrong. I can’t bring myself to do it. Off course I know that I won’t always be successful. There will sometimes be students that I can’t reach no matter how I try. The difference is that I don’t believe that it gives me a license not to try. Also, I have had many occasions where a student that other teachers consider difficult has started out with a bad attitude in my class but finished up by joining in and progressing. I’m not pretending this is always true. I have a student this year who has spent ninety per cent of every lesson asleep. When I wake him, he scowls at me and immediately puts his head down again. The other teachers tell me he is like this in every lesson and that they confidently expect him to fail everything. He won’t, they tell me, be bothered. He is in school because he has to be and will, as soon as he can, leave to go work on his family farm. He doesn’t think he needs to learn anything so no one has been able to motivate him to try.

Of course there is also the practical problem. As oral English teachers much of the work we do is in pairs or groups. A non-participating student doesn’t just affect himself he spoils the task for his whole group. If you are a keen and eager student and you are partnered in a speaking task with a student who won’t even wake up then you aren’t able to learn either. You know when you have such a student because when you include him or her in a group the others always complain. There is not much you can do. Limitations on time and the logistics of the classroom layout make it hard or even impossible to just move people about so you just have to try on a week by week basis to organize the groups in such a way that everyone who wants to at least gets a chance to work with different people.

So what’s the answer? Well I once observed a teacher who took the wrong answer to an extreme. In the lesson I watched he interacted with no more than half a dozen students from a class of about seventy. When I asked him about it he said that he was only going to teach the ones who wanted to learn – and by that he meant the few who volunteered answers to his questions. That wasn’t just ignoring the ones who didn’t want to work but also the majority of those who did but who couldn’t – for whatever reason – offer an answer. In my lessons I always make an effort to include everyone. I wake up the sleepers and ask them questions. People gazing out of the window can also be sure they will draw my attention and get asked. In groups I will either try to make the reluctant students lead the group or, if their English isn’t strong enough for that, tell the group leader that they can help them in Chinese if they have to. Students who seem to just be struggling get easier questions and more time so that they can build their confidence until they join in more freely.

The bottom line is that “let sleeping students lie” may be a common philosophy here but that doesn’t make it a good one. You should try to reach everyone – accept that maybe you will be unsuccessful but you have to try.