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Abstract ：The teacher plays a significant and irreplaceable part in education. This paper demonstrates the multiple roles that teachers play, especially language teachers in the process of teaching. The good teacher never works as mere deliverer of information, but take on the roles as mentor, assessor, facilitator, participant, guide in cultural teaching and morality, and learner as well.
Since every individual student is an integrated and dynamic body, the teacher should take into consideration all kinds of the cognitive, affective as well as social factors that involve learning. Teachers must be proficient in their career to enable the students to make some academic achievements. Then they should facilitate learning by encouraging and motivating students and providing a comfortable learning environment. Language teachers should also pay attention to foster the right attitude of students towards different cultures. Meanwhile, teachers are themselves learners and it is necessary to continue to pursue professional and personal growth in teaching.
Key words: Teachers’ role; mentor; promoter; guide; learner
Introduction
The importance of education in modern society can never be overstated. Since the goal of education is to lead people from the darkness of ignorance to the light of truth. Teachers, as the guides, play a major part in this career. Teaching is an art, and teachers are artists. The key to successful teaching depends on how well teachers play their roles and deal with the relationship with students.
In order to exert the proper kind of relationship on students, teachers should be qualified in many aspects. According to Allen, good ESL teachers have competent preparation leading to a degree in TESL; a love of the English language; the critical faculty; the persistent urge to upgrade oneself; self-subordination; readiness to go the extra mile; cultural adaptability; professional citizenship; and a feeling of excitement about one’s work (Brown 2001).
With the development of the notion of education and language teaching theory, however, the role of teachers transferred from “a static /institutional to an innovative /democratic and global teacher role” (Ayse 2006). The change of teacher-centered to learner-centered approach to language teaching has put higher requirement for teachers. Teachers should never be only deliverers of information to their students form textbook. Brown stated that a spectrum of possibilities of the roles of teachers included: “controllers, director, manger, facilitator, resource” (2001: 161). This paper is a demonstration of the multiple roles that teachers play, especially language teachers in the process of teaching. In the first place, teachers must be competent mentors in their specialty to enable the students to be proficient. Then they should act as facilitator to motivate students and provide a comfortable learning environment. Another prominent role of language teachers is that they have the opportunity and responsibility to foster the proper attitude of the students towards different cultures. Moreover, teachers are also learners and it is necessary for them to continue to improve themselves in their professional field and other related aspects.
Part 1 The teacher as mentor and assessor
1.1 The teacher as mentor
China has a saying that teacher’s job consists of transferring knowledge and cultivating people. The primary role of the teacher is professional — practical instructor. It is the teacher’s duty to impart professional knowledge to their students. The teacher should help students achieve certain proficiency level and develop intellectual excellence through learning.
In the teaching practice, the mentor is meanwhile organizer and controller. It is natural that in teaching a foreign language it often involves the teacher as a controlling role. A teacher controls not only what the students do, but when they speak and what language they use (Ma Yinchu 1992). The teacher is required to be more qualified in the ability to organize classroom activities in the learner-centered approach to language teaching.
Nevertheless, it is worth noting that teachers should not act as mere professional instructors. The relationship between students and teachers is not that students only expect to appropriate useful information from their teachers while teachers try to get rewards by transmitting academic information and satisfying the standardized tests. According to Freire (1998), to teach is not to transfer knowledge but to create through possibilities for the production or construction of knowledge. Therefore, what is more important in the teaching process is to teach students some skills and strategies that can help them work more effectively. More emphases ought to be put on the students’ ability to learn rather than the slavish acceptance and positive memorization of knowledge. Furthermore, teachers as mentors should create more opportunities to foster learners’ automaticity.
1.2 The teacher as assessor
The procedure following teaching professional knowledge is the assessment of students’ learning effects, which is as well a major part of the teacher’s job. Teachers need to know how well their students can perform in their academic field. Moreover, teachers to students are what physicians to patients. The task of teachers is to diagnose the problems that puzzle learners. Giving exams and homework is necessary and significant to achieve the purpose. By treating the classroom as a doctor’s clinic, in which the teacher acts as counselor, and learning physician, the teacher can talk with and counsel those who need assistance in the classroom; can focus on learning-problems; can prescribe courses of learning action (Finch 2002). As to the attitude of error-correction, modern language teaching theories hold that errors are inevitable and even unnecessary to be corrected if it does not hamper normal communication. Celce-Murcia stated that, the teacher’s role is primarily to facilitate learning and only second to correct errors in the communicative approach to language teaching (2001:8). Therefore, teachers should stick to this principle as a guide in teaching and give proper feedback to their students.
Part 2 The teacher as participant and promoter
2.1 The teacher as participant
Besides the cognitive factors of learning, the affective factors play a significant part in language learning, such as students’ belief, confidence, and motivation. The “Input hypothesis” theory raised by American linguist Krashen showed that the affective factors can directly influence learners’ behavior and achievement (Zhu Xiufeng 2007). Beck points out that a teacher is not one who imparts knowledge, but he limits himself to the one who investigates together with the learner (1985:119). Thus teachers are required to undertake the roles of participant and promoter in classroom interaction to reduce the possible anxiety of students.
Although teachers must maintain some control to organize the teaching activities, they do not act as despots or masters. On the contrary, they also co-investigate what is taught to their students and solve problems with them collaboratively. They may take part in an activity as an equal with students. In doing this, students can benefit more than when the teacher only dominates everything without participating. Not only can teachers give guidance if it is necessary, joining in students can also draw close the distance between them. The significance of teacher-student interaction is summarized by Buber that the interaction between teachers and their students or between learners and the environment is aimed at building a relation between them; but also teachers present the world to their students and share their own insights with them. This presentation is not a transmission of certain items of knowledge but the expression of a voluntary responsibility towards the learners as well as a demonstration of true humility (Shim 2008: 527).
2.2 The teacher as promoter
Being a participant with students in the classroom learning is useful for creating a non-threatening and friendly learning environment. However, the teacher is required to do more in order to facilitate learning. Another role of the teacher is the facilitator or promoter. A successful facilitator requires the teacher to be empathetic, warm, positive, and respectful to students. Therefore, the teacher ought to help their students “clear away roadblocks, to find shortcuts, to negotiate tough terrain” to make the learning easier for them (Brown 2001). It is teachers’ responsibility to increase students’ confidence and motivate them to sustain effort to carry out learning, which is a long and effortful process. Therefore, it is more important for the teacher to promote students’ motivation for learning. As both Plato and Freire demonstrate, teaching is based on the autonomous thinking of learners, which teachers should try to promote (Shim 2008). The ability to autonomous studying and critical thinking is to large extent more important than the mastery of static knowledge.
Part 3 The teacher as cultural guide
A prominent feature in the teaching of a foreign or second language is the encounter of a different culture in which the language implants. Therefore, the teacher takes on the less directive and invisible role as cultural guide in the process of teaching. As an indispensible part of foreign language teaching, the cultivation of students’ proper attitude toward different cultures is meaningful. This issue is especially important in China, where there is the new upsurge of English learning.
It is almost inevitable that students’ views are influenced by the teacher’s attitudes towards different cultures and different outlooks on the world. The task of the teacher is to foster students’ culture-awareness and cultural sensitivity. Teachers should pay attention to fostering the democratic attitude and open-mindedness of the students by demonstrating the true and objective side of the western world. The teacher can lead students to understand the diversity of different cultures and to appreciate the difference from various perspectives. The goal of culture teaching in foreign language teaching is to promote a deeper and overall grasp of the language. As a result, students can obtain a better understanding of the western cultures, which is also beneficial for language learning.
Part 4 The teacher as learner
Teacher themselves are students. By referring teachers as learners, first it means that teachers will become more experienced and excellent in teaching by reflecting on the whole process of teaching and accepting teacher training. A most directive way to improve the competence of the teacher is the constant reflection of one’s teaching course. Shim (2008) pointed out that teachers should realize their own limitations, shortcomings, and flaws, and they should reflect, try to improve themselves, and consequently attain spiritual, moral, and consequently attain spiritual, moral, and esthetic growth. It is thus necessary for both novice and experienced teachers to reflect on their teaching in different periods of the career.
Then with the lifelong learning notion teachers should improve themselves both by teaching, studying and self-cultivation. For Confucius, teaching is an important factor that contributes to self-cultivation. The teacher should update the store of knowledge continuously as charging a battery. Brown (2001) listed the eight goals for the teacher to pursue to grow professionally and meet the challenges, “a knowledge of the theoretical foundation of language learning and language teaching; the analytical skills necessary for assessing different teaching contexts and classroom conditions; an awareness of alternative teaching techniques and the ability to put these into practice; the confidence and skill to alter your teaching techniques as needed; practical experience with different teaching techniques; informed knowledge of yourself and your students; interpersonal communication skills; attitudes of flexibility and openness to change.” To meet the requirement of the eight goals, the teacher is required to be professionally competent, be able to manage the classroom activities and handle the relationship with students. Meanwhile, the teacher can achieve personal growth through the mutual efforts of teaching and learning. Only in this way, can the teacher be real resource of information. Most importantly, as Aristotle stated, by experiencing satisfaction and self-realization while teaching, the teacher can obtain happiness-the final goal of all humans (Shim 2008).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the role of the teacher should not be confined to dispenser of knowledge. On the contrary, they work as mentor, assessor, facilitator, participant, guide, as well as learners. Taking up the vocation of teaching is doing creative, challenging and meaningful work. As the proverb goes, it takes 10 years to grow a tree, but 10 decades to cultivate a person — this plainly reveals the hardship of this career as a teacher. Nevertheless, teaching is a means to improve both the teachers and students. It is important for teachers to individualize their teaching methods, or to make it relevant to learners so as to cultivate students’ characters (Shim 2008). Thus, it is safe to say that the roles of the teacher are too important to be replaced by the computer.
The last point accompanies the many roles that the teacher plays is the solidarity and connection between the teacher and students. The teacher should exemplify sincere love and care towards the students, which serves as guarantee for successful teaching. As a result, the precious trust built around the teacher and students is “the most inward achievement of relations in education” (Buber 1965:98).
Bibliography
Beck, R. (1985). Platos views on teaching. Educational Theory, 35(2), 119-134.
Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by principles: an introductive approach to language pedagogy. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
Buber, M. (1965). Between man and man. New York: Macmillan.
Celce-Murcia, Marianne. 2001. Language teaching approaches: an overview. In Marianne Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as a second or foreign language (Third Edition) (pp.3-11). Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Ayse, Ottekin, Demirbolat. (2006). Education faculty students’ tendencies and beliefs about the teacher’s role in education: a case study in a Turkish University. Teaching and Teacher Education, 22, 1068-1083.
Finch, Andrew. (2002). The language clinic: the teacher as an agent of Change. Karen’s Linguistics Issues. Freeman, Donald, & Jack, C. Richards. (2002). Teaching learning in language teaching. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Express.
Holt-Reynolds, Diane. (2000). What does the teacher do? Constructivist pedagogies and prospective teachers’ beliefs about the role of a teacher. Teaching and Teacher Education, 16, 21-32.
Nettle, E.B. (1998). Stability and change in the beliefs of student teachers during practice teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 14, 193-204.
Freire, P. (1998). Pedagogy of freedom. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
Shim, Seung-Hwan.（2008）. A philosophical investigation of the role of teachers: A synthesis of Plato, Confucius, Buber, and Freire. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24, 515-535.
Willis, Jane, & Dave, Willis. (2002). Challenge and change in language teaching. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Express.
马寅初, 黄金岩。(1992)。《实用英语教学论》。长沙：湖南师范大学出版社。
朱秀峰。（2007）。“大学英语教师多个角色的情感表现探析”。《湖北经济学院学报》， 第4卷， 第7期，193-194。
Since every individual student is an integrated and dynamic body, the teacher should take into consideration all kinds of the cognitive, affective as well as social factors that involve learning. Teachers must be proficient in their career to enable the students to make some academic achievements. Then they should facilitate learning by encouraging and motivating students and providing a comfortable learning environment. Language teachers should also pay attention to foster the right attitude of students towards different cultures. Meanwhile, teachers are themselves learners and it is necessary to continue to pursue professional and personal growth in teaching.
Key words: Teachers’ role; mentor; promoter; guide; learner
Introduction
The importance of education in modern society can never be overstated. Since the goal of education is to lead people from the darkness of ignorance to the light of truth. Teachers, as the guides, play a major part in this career. Teaching is an art, and teachers are artists. The key to successful teaching depends on how well teachers play their roles and deal with the relationship with students.
In order to exert the proper kind of relationship on students, teachers should be qualified in many aspects. According to Allen, good ESL teachers have competent preparation leading to a degree in TESL; a love of the English language; the critical faculty; the persistent urge to upgrade oneself; self-subordination; readiness to go the extra mile; cultural adaptability; professional citizenship; and a feeling of excitement about one’s work (Brown 2001).
With the development of the notion of education and language teaching theory, however, the role of teachers transferred from “a static /institutional to an innovative /democratic and global teacher role” (Ayse 2006). The change of teacher-centered to learner-centered approach to language teaching has put higher requirement for teachers. Teachers should never be only deliverers of information to their students form textbook. Brown stated that a spectrum of possibilities of the roles of teachers included: “controllers, director, manger, facilitator, resource” (2001: 161). This paper is a demonstration of the multiple roles that teachers play, especially language teachers in the process of teaching. In the first place, teachers must be competent mentors in their specialty to enable the students to be proficient. Then they should act as facilitator to motivate students and provide a comfortable learning environment. Another prominent role of language teachers is that they have the opportunity and responsibility to foster the proper attitude of the students towards different cultures. Moreover, teachers are also learners and it is necessary for them to continue to improve themselves in their professional field and other related aspects.
Part 1 The teacher as mentor and assessor
1.1 The teacher as mentor
China has a saying that teacher’s job consists of transferring knowledge and cultivating people. The primary role of the teacher is professional — practical instructor. It is the teacher’s duty to impart professional knowledge to their students. The teacher should help students achieve certain proficiency level and develop intellectual excellence through learning.
In the teaching practice, the mentor is meanwhile organizer and controller. It is natural that in teaching a foreign language it often involves the teacher as a controlling role. A teacher controls not only what the students do, but when they speak and what language they use (Ma Yinchu 1992). The teacher is required to be more qualified in the ability to organize classroom activities in the learner-centered approach to language teaching.
Nevertheless, it is worth noting that teachers should not act as mere professional instructors. The relationship between students and teachers is not that students only expect to appropriate useful information from their teachers while teachers try to get rewards by transmitting academic information and satisfying the standardized tests. According to Freire (1998), to teach is not to transfer knowledge but to create through possibilities for the production or construction of knowledge. Therefore, what is more important in the teaching process is to teach students some skills and strategies that can help them work more effectively. More emphases ought to be put on the students’ ability to learn rather than the slavish acceptance and positive memorization of knowledge. Furthermore, teachers as mentors should create more opportunities to foster learners’ automaticity.
1.2 The teacher as assessor
The procedure following teaching professional knowledge is the assessment of students’ learning effects, which is as well a major part of the teacher’s job. Teachers need to know how well their students can perform in their academic field. Moreover, teachers to students are what physicians to patients. The task of teachers is to diagnose the problems that puzzle learners. Giving exams and homework is necessary and significant to achieve the purpose. By treating the classroom as a doctor’s clinic, in which the teacher acts as counselor, and learning physician, the teacher can talk with and counsel those who need assistance in the classroom; can focus on learning-problems; can prescribe courses of learning action (Finch 2002). As to the attitude of error-correction, modern language teaching theories hold that errors are inevitable and even unnecessary to be corrected if it does not hamper normal communication. Celce-Murcia stated that, the teacher’s role is primarily to facilitate learning and only second to correct errors in the communicative approach to language teaching (2001:8). Therefore, teachers should stick to this principle as a guide in teaching and give proper feedback to their students.
Part 2 The teacher as participant and promoter
2.1 The teacher as participant
Besides the cognitive factors of learning, the affective factors play a significant part in language learning, such as students’ belief, confidence, and motivation. The “Input hypothesis” theory raised by American linguist Krashen showed that the affective factors can directly influence learners’ behavior and achievement (Zhu Xiufeng 2007). Beck points out that a teacher is not one who imparts knowledge, but he limits himself to the one who investigates together with the learner (1985:119). Thus teachers are required to undertake the roles of participant and promoter in classroom interaction to reduce the possible anxiety of students.
Although teachers must maintain some control to organize the teaching activities, they do not act as despots or masters. On the contrary, they also co-investigate what is taught to their students and solve problems with them collaboratively. They may take part in an activity as an equal with students. In doing this, students can benefit more than when the teacher only dominates everything without participating. Not only can teachers give guidance if it is necessary, joining in students can also draw close the distance between them. The significance of teacher-student interaction is summarized by Buber that the interaction between teachers and their students or between learners and the environment is aimed at building a relation between them; but also teachers present the world to their students and share their own insights with them. This presentation is not a transmission of certain items of knowledge but the expression of a voluntary responsibility towards the learners as well as a demonstration of true humility (Shim 2008: 527).
2.2 The teacher as promoter
Being a participant with students in the classroom learning is useful for creating a non-threatening and friendly learning environment. However, the teacher is required to do more in order to facilitate learning. Another role of the teacher is the facilitator or promoter. A successful facilitator requires the teacher to be empathetic, warm, positive, and respectful to students. Therefore, the teacher ought to help their students “clear away roadblocks, to find shortcuts, to negotiate tough terrain” to make the learning easier for them (Brown 2001). It is teachers’ responsibility to increase students’ confidence and motivate them to sustain effort to carry out learning, which is a long and effortful process. Therefore, it is more important for the teacher to promote students’ motivation for learning. As both Plato and Freire demonstrate, teaching is based on the autonomous thinking of learners, which teachers should try to promote (Shim 2008). The ability to autonomous studying and critical thinking is to large extent more important than the mastery of static knowledge.
Part 3 The teacher as cultural guide
A prominent feature in the teaching of a foreign or second language is the encounter of a different culture in which the language implants. Therefore, the teacher takes on the less directive and invisible role as cultural guide in the process of teaching. As an indispensible part of foreign language teaching, the cultivation of students’ proper attitude toward different cultures is meaningful. This issue is especially important in China, where there is the new upsurge of English learning.
It is almost inevitable that students’ views are influenced by the teacher’s attitudes towards different cultures and different outlooks on the world. The task of the teacher is to foster students’ culture-awareness and cultural sensitivity. Teachers should pay attention to fostering the democratic attitude and open-mindedness of the students by demonstrating the true and objective side of the western world. The teacher can lead students to understand the diversity of different cultures and to appreciate the difference from various perspectives. The goal of culture teaching in foreign language teaching is to promote a deeper and overall grasp of the language. As a result, students can obtain a better understanding of the western cultures, which is also beneficial for language learning.
Part 4 The teacher as learner
Teacher themselves are students. By referring teachers as learners, first it means that teachers will become more experienced and excellent in teaching by reflecting on the whole process of teaching and accepting teacher training. A most directive way to improve the competence of the teacher is the constant reflection of one’s teaching course. Shim (2008) pointed out that teachers should realize their own limitations, shortcomings, and flaws, and they should reflect, try to improve themselves, and consequently attain spiritual, moral, and consequently attain spiritual, moral, and esthetic growth. It is thus necessary for both novice and experienced teachers to reflect on their teaching in different periods of the career.
Then with the lifelong learning notion teachers should improve themselves both by teaching, studying and self-cultivation. For Confucius, teaching is an important factor that contributes to self-cultivation. The teacher should update the store of knowledge continuously as charging a battery. Brown (2001) listed the eight goals for the teacher to pursue to grow professionally and meet the challenges, “a knowledge of the theoretical foundation of language learning and language teaching; the analytical skills necessary for assessing different teaching contexts and classroom conditions; an awareness of alternative teaching techniques and the ability to put these into practice; the confidence and skill to alter your teaching techniques as needed; practical experience with different teaching techniques; informed knowledge of yourself and your students; interpersonal communication skills; attitudes of flexibility and openness to change.” To meet the requirement of the eight goals, the teacher is required to be professionally competent, be able to manage the classroom activities and handle the relationship with students. Meanwhile, the teacher can achieve personal growth through the mutual efforts of teaching and learning. Only in this way, can the teacher be real resource of information. Most importantly, as Aristotle stated, by experiencing satisfaction and self-realization while teaching, the teacher can obtain happiness-the final goal of all humans (Shim 2008).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the role of the teacher should not be confined to dispenser of knowledge. On the contrary, they work as mentor, assessor, facilitator, participant, guide, as well as learners. Taking up the vocation of teaching is doing creative, challenging and meaningful work. As the proverb goes, it takes 10 years to grow a tree, but 10 decades to cultivate a person — this plainly reveals the hardship of this career as a teacher. Nevertheless, teaching is a means to improve both the teachers and students. It is important for teachers to individualize their teaching methods, or to make it relevant to learners so as to cultivate students’ characters (Shim 2008). Thus, it is safe to say that the roles of the teacher are too important to be replaced by the computer.
The last point accompanies the many roles that the teacher plays is the solidarity and connection between the teacher and students. The teacher should exemplify sincere love and care towards the students, which serves as guarantee for successful teaching. As a result, the precious trust built around the teacher and students is “the most inward achievement of relations in education” (Buber 1965:98).
Bibliography
Beck, R. (1985). Platos views on teaching. Educational Theory, 35(2), 119-134.
Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by principles: an introductive approach to language pedagogy. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
Buber, M. (1965). Between man and man. New York: Macmillan.
Celce-Murcia, Marianne. 2001. Language teaching approaches: an overview. In Marianne Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as a second or foreign language (Third Edition) (pp.3-11). Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Ayse, Ottekin, Demirbolat. (2006). Education faculty students’ tendencies and beliefs about the teacher’s role in education: a case study in a Turkish University. Teaching and Teacher Education, 22, 1068-1083.
Finch, Andrew. (2002). The language clinic: the teacher as an agent of Change. Karen’s Linguistics Issues. Freeman, Donald, & Jack, C. Richards. (2002). Teaching learning in language teaching. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Express.
Holt-Reynolds, Diane. (2000). What does the teacher do? Constructivist pedagogies and prospective teachers’ beliefs about the role of a teacher. Teaching and Teacher Education, 16, 21-32.
Nettle, E.B. (1998). Stability and change in the beliefs of student teachers during practice teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 14, 193-204.
Freire, P. (1998). Pedagogy of freedom. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
Shim, Seung-Hwan.（2008）. A philosophical investigation of the role of teachers: A synthesis of Plato, Confucius, Buber, and Freire. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24, 515-535.
Willis, Jane, & Dave, Willis. (2002). Challenge and change in language teaching. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Express.
马寅初, 黄金岩。(1992)。《实用英语教学论》。长沙：湖南师范大学出版社。
朱秀峰。（2007）。“大学英语教师多个角色的情感表现探析”。《湖北经济学院学报》， 第4卷， 第7期，193-194。