Effective Teaching Implications

According to Alton-Lee’s ten point model for effective teaching (2003) and Gurney’s five key factors (2007), the most reiterative concepts related to effective teaching are enthusiastic teachers, learning encouragement, inclusive learning environments, promotion of metacognitive strategies and thoughtful student discourse and engaging constructively in goal-oriented assessment.
From the perspective of effective language teachers, Allen (1980) states that a love of the English language, critical faculty, the persistent urge to upgrade oneself, and the professional citizenship are concepts that call the attention of ELT professionals.
Then Brown (2000) groups good language teaching characteristics into four groups (technical knowledge, pedagogical skills, interpersonal skills and personal qualities) that present a number of characteristics to be acquainted with as teachers of English.
All the above gives a good deal of responsibility towards teaching. Rephrasing Reynolds and Yates, it is surprising that most of these components of effective teaching are not given much prominence in the professional training of teachers nowadays. These aspects involving effective teaching seem to be totally ignored by university departments of education teaching beginning teachers (Westwood, 2008). Now, how can educational programs at universities prepare ‘warm, concerned and flexible’ (Wilen et al., 2008) effective teachers? Qualities that are empathetic and human in nature and which the students themselves comment about teachers.
Related to students’ learning, effective teaching should include five areas in which skilled teachers display their expertise: presenting and explaining subject matter and ideas, questioning students during lesson time, giving feedback, strategy training and adapting or differentiating instruction, being this last one a very interesting area to discuss.
Adaptive instruction is defined as instruction geared to the characteristics and needs of individual students (differentiation). The teacher that ‘differentiates’ varies the method as necessary during the lesson, from teacher-directed to student-centered, according to students’ abilities and needs. She/he also monitors the work of some students more closely than others, accepts different quantities and qualities of bookwork, encourages peer assistance and selects or creates alternative resource materials.
Being realistic, this would be very difficult to implement and sustain over time. The pressure and extra work for the teacher to attempt this can be unbearable. However, teachers are required to recognize and respond ‘as far as it feasible’ to different aptitudes and learning needs in any group of students (Westwood, 2008) if effective teaching is expected to occur.