Lylia Schoepp

Teaching Philosophy
My Language Teaching Philosophy

Consider the traditional Foreign Language classroom, one that I experienced in my

language learning, like many of my peers. Are students actually encouraged to use the

language? Are students participating in active learning activities that are authentic and

culturally relevant? If I started a spontaneous conversation with a student in one of these

classrooms would they be able to apply what they have learned and respond to me? The

answers to these questions would most likely be no. Many traditional foreign language

classrooms will have students focusing on grammar in a decontextualized deductive approach

instead of learning through the use of authentic materials and interactions with native

speakers. While some students will use the language in the classroom willingly and be able to

speak spontaneously, many will not be able to converse unless it is a scripted, practiced

conversation. I know this to be true, as I learned this way myself often, and I have noted it in

my clinical field observations.

My language teaching philosophy and style are primarily influenced by the experiences I

have had in my own language learning and experiences within classroom observations.

Throughout my learning of educational strategies and theories, I have learned that languages

are best taught through an inductive approach, authentic materials and a 90 percent use of the

target language by both the teacher and the student. Students need to be given the

opportunity to, and be encouraged to use the language in speaking. Teachers and students

should have equal conversational roles in the classroom, so that students will feel comfortable

negotiating meaning about the language and content with the teacher. They should be given
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Teaching Philosophy
opportunities to interact with native and heritage speakers of the target language, and use

other materials in class other than those that are in a traditional textbook.

My lesson plans and instructional strategies promote an active learning environment,

inductive approach and support my belief that a regular classroom is a place of inclusion for all

students, regardless of gender, race, or any disabilities that the student may have. Language

classrooms, and really any classroom should be designed with an inductive focus, where the

students have the central role in the class. In this sense, student needs should lead the

instruction, and teachers should be open to modifying teaching strategies in lesson plans and

on the spot to best fit these needs. Along with modifying content for inclusion of all students, a

teacher should also work to create a welcoming classroom environment, where all students feel

safe and celebrated for their differences. These differences should also be seen by the teacher

as a tool for learning, rather than an obstacle to learning. A truly inclusive classroom will use

the differences of students to create new approaches to learning, whether it be a total

modification of the instruction, or by using the essential idea of an active classroom. An active

classroom may be shown in ways as simple as having students interacting with the materials, or

by having them up and moving during learning, whether it be for one activity or the whole

class.

Learning should be assessed through projects or recreations of real life situations. As

students should ideally be using the language in real-life situations, and assessment should

measure what a student actually knows and is able to do, a test where students just fill in the

blank is extremely inadequate. Traditional tests only measure low-level learning (according to

Blooms Taxonomy), and a good grade on a test like this does not mean that a student can
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Teaching Philosophy
produce any language. Project based assessment monitors what a student can actually do with

the language, whether it be writing, speaking or active listening in a conversation. While these

may be more difficult to grade, they will help students practice using the language in real-life

situations, get them into the higher levels of thinking according to Bloom, and allow students to

self-assess what they actually know, and what they need to work on.

I believe that language instruction is most effective when it begins as young as possible.

Due to Chomskys research on the critical period in the brain, where children are best apt to

acquiring a second language, or even a language in general, it is now know that the earlier a

child is able to listen to, and try producing a language, the better they retain this language. This

does not mean a child cannot learn a second language once they have hit puberty and exit the

critical period, it just means that this child will lose the ability to acquire another language at a

native-like level. This is why interaction with native speakers and authentic materials are so

important in language teaching; they allow students to come as close as they can to an

opportunity to learn a native-like level of the language.

It is extremely important that educators inspire intrinsic motivation in their students, so

that they see the true value of learning a language. This value is the use of the language in real

life. When students know the value of learning a language, they can take their knowledge of

the language and apply it into real life scenarios. This intrinsic motivation needs to go deep

enough to inspire in students a want to know a language in order to connect with other

cultures and develop relationships with the people of these unique cultures instead of only

wanting to know a language to diversify a resume and make themselves more marketable for a

job. An educator should work to change this mindset so that the knowledge of and the learning
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Teaching Philosophy
of a language is seen as an enjoyment and life enrichment, rather than just as a requirement to

make more money. This aspect of learning a language is what has made me become so

passionate about foreign languages. A regular lesson can take a student on a trip across an

ocean to another continent, and have them exploring another culture and way of life that is

different than theirs. This idea of learning a language through this amazing exploration of new

cultures if often overlooked when teachers are faced with teaching the immense amount of

vocabulary and grammar forms that are required by school districts and state/national

standards. If educators can get back to this approach of teaching, they will be creating students

who share this goal of learning a language for the love of communicating and interacting with

other cultures.

Like any teacher should be, I am very open to new ideas and methods that will help my

students best succeed. I dont believe that there is one specific way to teach a language;

instead I believe that a teacher must use professional development, reflection, and have the

willingness to try new approaches in teaching in order to find the combination of strategies that

best suit them and their students in the process of learning a language, and being able to use it

in the real world. My goal as a foreign language teacher is just this; inspire my students to

consider new world perspectives through the lenses of a new language, and learn the

importance of learning a second language, as I have described.