William C. Maisch
Philosophy of Teaching
Above all, I
believe that one's philosophy of teaching must be flexible in order to maintain
its relevance and vitality. I see teaching as an ongoing experiment. Although
many of the practical truths that I have discovered about the learning process
of over my thirty-seven years of teaching have remained unchanged, several
theories that initially appealed to me have not stood the test of practice. I
take pride in the language-teaching profession for our traditional commitment
to experimentation, rigorous self-questioning and open-mindedness.
I feel that the
most significant factor of all effective teaching is the instructor's apparent
enthusiasm in class. I also believe that teachers should have high expectations
of their students and set ambitious but not unreasonable goals. I have found
that students tend to live up or down to their teachers' expectations of them.
Teachers must also be models of their own expectations of their students. If,
for example, an instructor demands that students be prepared for class and meet
deadlines, he must himself be a model of preparedness and timeliness, always
returning student work with comments as soon as possible. Furthermore, I
believe that students are the most reliable judges of effective teaching. We
teachers should poll them often and seriously consider their opinions.
As a teacher of
Spanish, I agree that foreign language teaching should be proficiency-based and
communicative. By proficiency-based I mean designed to facilitate student progress
to ever higher levels of proficiency as defined by the American Council on the
Teaching of Foreign Languages. By communicative, I mean that communicative
functions such as describing ourselves, talking about our childhood and giving
advice to friends, must be prioritized as organizational criteria for the
course over formal aspects of the language. Although both communicative goals
and formal aspects of the language must be addressed, lexicon, syntax and
grammar must serve communicative functions rather than vice versa.
Foreign language
learning demands a classroom atmosphere where students feel comfortable enough
to participate actively. We teachers must do all that we can to create such an
atmosphere. It is essential for the foreign language teacher to refrain from
excessive correction of students when they are speaking in class. A student who
is interrupted for every error in grammar, syntax and pronunciation will soon
fall silent; a teacher who overcorrects tends to forget that language is
primarily about communication and not only grammatical accuracy. Correction in
communicative language classes should be limited to errors that cause a
breakdown in communication and those that deal with the primary grammar focus
of a given lesson. Linguistic errors should be addressed in undergraduate
literature classes only when they are common to a majority of the class and
seriously impede communication.
In order to achieve
a non-threatening language learning environment in which students freely
participate, I believe that instructors must do all they can to encourage
student-to-student collaboration in the learning process. Cooperative learning
activities in class, in which students work in pairs or small groups, are
especially beneficial to the classroom atmosphere and foster wide-based student
participation. Foreign language teachers should also encourage student
complicity in the language-teaching process. Our language students need to be
made aware of the theoretical basis of our methods and the ways in which we
develop appropriate strategies in order for them to become more involved and
self-sufficient language learners.
Language teachers
must recognize that students have different learning styles. We must strive to
meet students where they are and take them as far as they can go in the
language given their language aptitude and personality. In order to address
individual styles of learning, we must vary our teaching methods as much as
possible. One of the greatest rewards of my recent efforts to incorporate information
technology into the language curriculum has been witnessing the increased
participation and enthusiasm of a certain type of student who responds well to
independent problem-solving tasks.
I have been
encouraged by our students’ response to our increased efforts in “experiential”
learning; both study abroad and service learning. In the past ten years, I have become
increasingly involved in service learning through the APPLES office. I have personally taught five service learning classes and supervised seven more. I have also become more deeply involved in
our study abroad programs, in teaching abroad as well as supervising and
advising our programs abroad and our undergraduate students who study abroad. It is heartening to see how students learn
more effectively and more efficiently as well as retain what they have learned
when experiential learning gives them the opportunity to learn and use the
language in these real and deeply meaningful contexts. Those of us who teach Spanish language here at
the
Language teachers
must take risks. We must rely on our instincts and our common sense even if
such reliance means abandoning theoretical tenets that were once appealing. As
an example, for many years I subscribed to the theory that second language
learners should be exposed only to a specially adapted form of the spoken
language in class, a level of language and pace that is "just a bit"
beyond their ability to completely understand. After seven or eight years of
faithful practice, I realized that this seemingly logical theory had
undesirable consequences when put to practice. Although the pace was ever
increasing during their course of study, many students exposed only to this
watered-down spoken language, could not even partially understand authentic
input after three or four semesters of study. I now feel that students must be
exposed to at least two different levels of language from the very first day of
class, and that one of these levels must be authentic, native or near-native in
both its pace and level of difficulty. I have now practiced the
"multi-level input" approach for at least twelve years, and have
found the results encouraging. After only a semester of study most of my
students say that they can "partly" understand a native newscast
whereas previously most of them insisted that they could not understand "a
single word" of such authentic input.
Finally, teaching
and learning are inseparable processes, in which teachers must show themselves
to be model learners. Learning and teaching demand humility as well as
enthusiasm. Teachers who feel they have nothing to learn will soon have little
to teach.