On English Teachers’ Roles in the Information Age

王麗

【Abstract】Teachers play an important role in both the traditional and modern teaching process. The role of the teacher as a topic has been discussed in the field of general education as well as the language education for many years. The main purpose of the paper is to analyze the historical roles of English teachers in three different periods and to reorient English teachers roles in the new teaching model. With the support of the modern teaching means， English teachers can play roles as organizers， participants， prompters and supervisors in the Information Age.

【Key words】teachers roles； reorient； the Information Age

1. Introduction

To tell the truth， I have never thought about the topic before and nor have I thought over the role of the teacher until I read the following sentence— “What are the differences between the following terms used to characterize teaching： job， work， career， vacation， occupation and profession. ” Maybe for quite a long time， I have just considered teaching as a job or a career. According to Hansens analysis， a job is an activity that provides sustenance or survival and a career is a long-term involvement in a particular activity that need not provide personal fulfillment， a sense of identity， or a public service （Hansen， 1995），which makes me reorient my role as an English teacher， especially in the new era—the Information Age. Now its time to ponder over such questions as “What is the goal of English teaching？ What is the relationship between teaching and learning？ What is the educational role played by the English teacher？” The key to these questions is to recognize the role of the teacher. People often describe the teacher as an engineer of human soul， a controller and a counselor， a sage on the stage， a guide on the side and so on. All these descriptions are quite vivid， but they are all partial. To understand the function and the role of the teacher in the new era， it is necessary to view how the concept of teachers role has developed over the past years first.

2. Historical role of English teacher

Teachers role as a topic has been discussed in the field of general education and language education for years. According to the language teaching strands of thought in different periods， the development of the foreign language teaching can be divided into three stages： teacher-oriented period， transition period， student-oriented period.

2.1 Teacher-oriented period

In the traditional teaching model， English teachers pass the content knowledge on to successive generations of students without many interactive activities between the teachers and the students. Teachers are the core of the teaching activity and they are the controllers of the teaching course. The main teaching process can be concluded as： review the former lesson→introduce new lessons→explain new lessons in detail→conclude new lessons→assign homework. During the whole process， the students are only the passive recipients of the knowledge. Teachers tasks are to teach， to speak， while students task is to listen. The students depend too much on the teachers. They do everything under teachers arrangement. They cannot think over questions independently and lack a sense of responsibility for their own learning. So the whole course can be compared to the process of a play. The classroom is like a stage. On this stage， teachers are like heroes（actors/actresses）； while students are silent audiences.

2.2 The transition period

During the teacher-oriented period， not only students are passive recipients， but teachers feel the teaching process are “so passive， so unchallenging， so boring that they often lose their sense of wonder and excitement about learning to teach”（Kincheloe， 1993， P. 204）. Obviously， this pattern cannot serve well the current curriculum. The educational administrators， policy makers， curriculum planners， teachers and textbook writers all realized the seriousness of the problem. And they try to make some changes from policies and curriculum. Teachers begin to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching acts. The center of the curriculum is ready to shift from the mastery of language knowledge and skill to capability of using language. Reading should not be the only focal point. Listening， speaking， reading and writing ability all should be emphasized. Teachers role also shifts from the controller to the advisor. Their duty is to impel students to participate the learning activities positively， transforming “input” into “intake”.

2.3 Student-oriented period

From the Industrial Age to the Information Age， the traditional teacher-centered teaching model changes into student-centered teaching model. With the development of the modern communication technology， students can derive knowledge from various channels， especially multimedia and internet. Multimedia technology offers not only written text， but sound and visual materials， which provides an authentic learning environment. Students can learn the language from real-life materials. With the assistance of the modern communication technology， students even can be fostered to take up learning autonomously. The concern with teaching and learning has shifted from the teachers teaching to the students learning. But every coin has two sides. The internet also has its limitation. To some degree it cannot supervise students effectively， especially those who lack self-control ability. During this period， teachers task is to analyze students demands， to choose the most suitable teaching materials and design various communicative activities to promote students learning initiatives. On this stage， teachers are more like assistants or consultants.

3. Future discussion of English teachers roles in the Information Age

The process of students learning is a special cognitive process. It cannot do well without teachers participation. As we all know， in the traditional teaching model， teachers mainly play roles as controllers and planners， students accept the knowledge passively. Under the multimedia and internet environment， this situation should be changed. On the one hand， English teachers should go on maintaining discipline in class to make sure everyone has the chance to participate； on the other hand， English teachers should change the traditional notion and play multiple roles to meet with different teaching requirements. Concretely speaking， English teachers roles can be classified as the following sorts in the Information Age.

3.1 The Role of Organizer

With the assistance of the modern communicative technology， students can engage in learning autonomously. But they are not sufficient to set their own goals， plan practice opportunities， or assess their progress. The main aim as an organizer is to tell students what they are going to do and give clear instructions about their task. Meanwhile， teachers should also pay more attention to reactions and feelings of the students during their learning activities. As organizers， teachers should first exactly know the level of each student and then set suitable tasks for them. Teachers should inform the instructions clearly to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings which might hinder the activities.

3.2 The Role of Participant

The participant role is an obvious characteristic in the modern teaching model. Some researchers point out students can learn best when they get knowledge through the interaction with the environment and settle the problems through the collaboration with others. Thus， English teacher can work as a participant to accomplish the task with the students. Before completing the task， students can regard the teacher as their peers. For example， teachers can look for the learning materials with the students and take part in the debate. Through the cooperation， the teacher and the students can build up a closer relationship between each other. Teachers may also offer some suggestions for the students as a cooperator and in this way students can derive knowledge naturally.

3.3 The Role of Prompter

In the real life， some students are too shy to participate in the activities initiatively. There is a typical phenomenon： when the teacher put forward a question， most of the students choose to keep silent. Thus， teachers should try to arouse students enthusiasm， motivate their interest on the subject and encourage them to join in all sorts of activities. However， it is easier said than done. Although it is quite a difficult job for English teachers， the modern communicative means can help teachers to create much more authentic language environment and then prompt the students learning.

3.4 The Role of Supervisor

Although the role of supervisor is a typical role in the traditional teacher-oriented teaching model， it is also very important in the Information Age. As we know， modern teaching means shows great superiority and convenience. But it cannot avoid its limitation， especially for those who lack sufficient self-control ability. English teacher sometimes still should work as a supervisor if he/she expects to take charge over the class activities. Consequently， the valuable time for class wont be wasted and the whole teaching course can go on smoothly.

4. Conclusion

With the changes of times and the development of modern teaching means， both English teachers notions and English teachers roles change a lot. But each role should be associated with specific activities. And the final teaching goal should remain consistent. That is， to cultivate students self-confidence and their courage to challenge authority and to stimulate their creativity and imagination. Being provided with these basic qualities， students will make great progress in both study and life.

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