UNIVERSIDAD JUÁREZ DEL ESTADO DE DURANGO

CENTRO UNIVERSITARIO DE AUTO-APRENDIZAJE EN LENGUAS

DIDÁCTICAS DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS

“THE TEACHER’S ROLE”

PROFESSOR:

NADIA MEJÍA

TEAM MEMBERS:

CLAUDIA SUSANA ALVARADO FLORESESTEFANIA ARREOLA MERAZ

MA. GRACIELA ESPINO HERNANDEZJESSICA RIOS PÉREZ

1/12/010

THE TEACHER'S ROLE

Before describing what the teacher’s role relies on, it is important to give a

definition of the role. A role is a proper or customary function: the teacher’s role in a

society, this definition given by dictionary.com, a role is the responsibility that each

person has in a particular area.

The learning of a target or a foreign language can be mainly related to the

strategies or roles that the professor needs to follow in order to succeed, not only on

classroom management, but also on leaving a significant knowledge in the student.

There are different roles that a professor needs to follow, according to an article written

by an English professor guiding the student is crucial because the student needs to

know where he or she is heading. When the student is being guided, the professor

is going to show the students different techniques for learning the new language, for

example one powerful tool that can help the students is the use of English dictionaries,

so by doing this, the professor is already conducting the student to investigate the

meaning of new words.

Another important role is when a professor is an observer, also known as the

teacher’s withdrawal, basically as the word says the professor looks or observes the

students while doing a certain activity or task in the classroom. In this role the professor

leaves the student to work by their own and there is not interaction between professor-

student in this role. Being an observer helps the professor to see what activities left

a significant knowledge on the student and to check if a knowledge is created on the

student, if a knowledge is not created, the professor must try something different in

future classes. An activity for the students in where the professor can put in practice

the role of the observer can be the following: if it is a large class, the students can

be divided in groups of five and ask each student to describe one daily activity using

the simple present, for example a student may say “I take a shower every day”, and

the next one says “I have dinner at 5pm with my family”, and so on and after the five

students say the activity they are going to repeat what each of their classmates said.

With this activity, the professor will be able to see what mistakes the student is making

and try to correct them. On the other hand, another important role that the professor has is when he

or she gives an explanation of the class, a specific grammar structure, or just how

to follow the rules of a certain activity. By doing this, the professor is taking the role

of the controller, usually when the teacher takes this role students listen and follow

instructions, the teacher has the control of the class. In a real classroom, the teacher

has the role of the controller by explaining the grammatical structure of the simple

present in its different forms, for example explaining to the class where to put an “-s, -

es,: She works, He does,” how to make an statement: “I play football,” how to make a

question: “Do I play football?”, and the negative form: “I don’t play football.” With this

activity the professor has the control of the class explaining a new topic to the students.

A professor is a prompter when motivates the student to continue with an specific

activity when the student has lost the track. The teacher tries to help the student by

giving options or clues inviting the student to think in a more cleverly way, in here the

student is stimulated or motivated to use the target language instead of the mother

tongue . By taking this role the teacher is giving an interactive class, in where the

teacher is not the only one who talks and talks , instead he or she gives the student the

opportunity to participate in class by asking questions or doing certain activities that

motivates the students. An activity of this role can be when a professor gives a warm-up

activity or plays a game.

The main purpose of being a tutor is that the teacher just work in small groups

or individually with the students. In this role the teacher just lead the students by giving

them clues about how to do a certain activity. The professor is just there to solve

doubts or questions that the students may have, this role is also known as the teacher

intervention in where the teacher just gives directions and ask questions to the students.

For example, the professor can set up the students in small groups or in pairs and ask

them to have a conversation using nouns, colors and the simple present, with this

activity, the professor is letting the student to show what they have learned in class.

Being an organizer is another important role, in here the professor needs to

give specific instruction or information of how an activity is going to be done, working

in groups, individually, or in pairs and give the students specific time to finish up an

activity, it is another important point in this role. Organizing the class is also very

important in this role, by doing this it would be easier to give a lecture for the teacher

and most importantly understand the main message of the class for the students. For

example, by preparing a class way ahead it is exposed, it is a clear example of how

the professor is taking the role of being an organizer. It is important to point out that in

the preparation of the class the teacher has the task of putting different activities that

motivates the students. When a professor takes the role of the Assessor, the student has to receive

feedback and correction of mistakes. In here the professor grades the students and

tell them to concentrate in an specific topic if the student needs it. An activity in where

the professor can be an assessor is to set the students in groups of three and ask the

students to conjugate the verbs using flashcards ( this material is going to be provided

by the professor), in this activity the professor is going to be able to give the students

feedback and make corrections if the student makes mistakes.

Taking the role of a participant, the teacher participates with the students as if

he or she were another one, in here the professor needs to be careful of not dominate

or control the activity and lead the students. When a professor is giving the class but at

the same time let the students to be active in class is taking the role of the participant.

For example, before starting to explain a grammar structure or a new topic, the

professor gives a warm-up activity to learn the numbers and colors. The teacher present

to the class pictures of the numbers and each number has a color then the students are

asked to repeat each number and color after him or her. With this activity a professor is

being a participant.

The resource role is basically when the students need to make a presentation

of a certain topic or to read an article in class and the questions or doubts that they

might have can be answered by the professor or in another type of source that the the

teacher indicates. It's mainly the student's responsibility to investigate new and specific

information.

The professor takes the resource role when he or she asks the students to present an

specific topic, the students can be divided into groups and ask them to draw a clock and

put each number with a different color, and once the students are done the students

come in front of the class and ask the rest of the class what time it is by using the clock.

In this activity the students are going to be the ones who are going to create its own

material and at the same time they are in charge of making a brief review of the topic

in class.A successful teacher is the one who has control of the class, and also motivates

students by having an interactive class by taking the different roles that a professor

should have.

Bibliography TEACHER’S ROLE IN LANGUAGE http://www.jiaoyu123.com/Article/2006/497.html THE TEACHER’S ROLE http://www.leading-learning.co.nz/quality-learning/teachers-role.html