The Problems Facing EFL Teachers: Agony Uncle “Dr. Dave” Provides Some Solutions

Written by Dr. David E. Shaffer

About a decade ago, the Gwangju News carried an advice column on teaching English in Korea, with David Shaffer (aka, “Dr. Dave”) as the agony uncle. That column, “Letters to Korea TESOL,” enjoyed a two-year run. This concept has been resurrected for this one-off appearance in the present Korea TESOL column. — Ed.

EARLY ENGLISH
Dear Dr. Dave: I think it is hard for children to speak English very well without first being proficient in Korean. So I think young children have to spend more time learning Korean before they are ready to learn English. What do you think? — Mother of Yeong-won

Dear Yeong-won’s Mother: Learning an additional language has very little relationship to one’s level of proficiency in their first language. It is a myth to think that language learners must master their first language before they begin learning a second language. It is also a myth to think that beginning to learn a second language at a young age will interfere with a child’s development in their first language. In many parts of the world, children grow up in bilingual or multilingual speech communities and learn two or more languages from a very young age without any negative effects. In fact, research has shown that children who learn a second language at a young age excel in their other subjects at school, such as mathematics, and have better critical thinking and analytical skills. — Bilingually yours, Dr. Dave

LACK OF INTEREST
Dear Dr. Dave: My students do not seem to be interested in anything. They get bored easily in my speaking class. I do not know what teaching methods are appropriate for my middle school students. I do not have confidence in teaching speaking. What should I do? — Noh Che-mi

Dear Miss Noh: All students have things that they are interested in, and they will stay on-task as long as they are interested. It is the job of the teacher to find out what their students’ interests are and to provide learning materials and activities that match these interests and hold their interest. Regardless of age or proficiency level, there are three general reasons for students to be bored with a class or course: (a) the materials are not interesting, (b) the teaching methods are not interesting or effective, and (c) the teacher is uninteresting or seemingly uninterested in the students. To solve the first, the teacher can conduct a needs analysis by asking the students what their interests are and then preparing teaching materials accordingly. To solve the second, the teacher should be sure to incorporate much interactive activity into each lesson, not only teacher–student interaction, but lots of student–student interaction, too. For the third, the teacher needs to show enthusiasm in what they are teaching and in their students. Teacher interest will convert into student interest. — Enthusiastically yours, Dr. Dave

ELEMENTARY WRITING
Dear Dr. Dave: Could you help me? I know how important writing is for the students. But I find it very difficult to make writing materials interesting for my students, especially elementary school students, as it is so challenging for them to write anything in English. What can I do? — Cho Deung Seonsaeng

Dear Teacher Cho: We have to be careful not to have overly difficult writing expectations of beginning young learners. Making materials interesting hinges on topics that children are interested in and activities that they enjoy doing. For example, children like eating, and they like drawing and coloring. For beginners, you could have them draw a picture of a food they like, write the name of the food underneath (“pizza,” “potato chips,” etc.), and then color the picture. For more advanced young learners, you could have them “write a book.” Title the book (a single sheet of paper folded in half) “Foods I Like,” and have the students draw a picture of a food that they like on each remaining page. Under each food picture, have them write the sentence “I like _” or something similar, filling in the blank with the name of the food. With time and practice, less scaffolding will be necessary. This repetition of patterns is quite beneficial in learning. When the students are finished making their books, have them read their books to the class, praise them, and then display their books on the classroom bulletin board or on the wall to instill pride and confidence in your students. As students progress, more pages can be added, more text can be added, more student-created text can be required, colored pictures can become penciled graphics, graphics can decrease as text increases, and subject material can become freer. — Illustratively yours, Dr. Dave

Dear Dr. Dave: What is the best way to correct students’ grammar mistakes in conversation class without halting the flow of the students’ speech? The students are adult and roughly intermediate level. — Noh In Seonsaeng

Dear Teacher Noh: At times, it is best not to correct. Speaking activities can generally be divided into two types: fluency-promoting (ease of flow) and accuracy-promoting (absence of errors) activities. Accuracy activities are usually more guided, designed to elicit the grammatical forms that the lesson is focusing on. During accuracy activity practice is generally the best time to correct student errors. During fluency activity practice, since the aim is to improve the flow of speech, it is usually better to refrain from making corrections. Common mistakes can be addressed at the end of the activity as a whole-class session. When making corrections (in an accuracy activity), there are a number of explicit and implicit ways to correct students. Which you choose will depend on proficiency levels and individual student personalities. Some students prefer immediate, explicit correction; others will ignore it. I usually prefer immediate correction where I indicate that something is not understood but let them try to figure out what it was and how to correct it. For example, if a student produced “Yesterday I goed downtown,” I might say “Yesterday I … (what?)” or “What did you do?” or simply “Again?” Do not try to correct everything. Grammar that is still beyond students’ proficiency level should be left for later. — Erroneously yours, Dr. Dave

The Author
David Shaffer is vice-president of the Gwangju-Jeonnam Chapter of Korea TESOL (KOTESOL). On behalf of the chapter, he invites you to participate in the teacher development workshops at their monthly meetings (always on a Saturday). For many years, Dr. Shaffer has been a professor of English Language at Chosun University. He is a long-time member of KOTESOL and a holder of various KOTESOL positions; at present he is national president. Dr. Shaffer credits KOTESOL for much of his professional development in English language teaching, scholarship, and leadership. He encourages you to get involved. He is board chair at the Gwangju International Center and also editor-in-chief of the Gwangju News.