ANM-ANG-113 - ELTE BTK/PPK MA in ELT Methodology Lectures – Uwe Pohl

Have you got the energy? - teacher energies and learning groups

THE LESSON AS SOCIAL AND PEDAGOGIC EVENT

Ideal vs. real lessons

Idealised visions of language teaching are often based on the assumption that teaching and learning can be planned fairly neatly in advance. In reality, however, they are sometimes a very untidy affair. This is because any class is not just a pedagogic but also a social encounter. It is an event in which “people come physically together and therefore become subject to the immediate influence of each other’s behavior” (Allwright 1989; 4 cf. Tudor 2001:43-46).

THE ENERGETIC CLASSROOM

The dynamic nature of classroom learning

The language classroom is also a place where the participants – the students and the teacher – meet and interact on the basis of potentially different perspectives on the nature and goal of classroom activity. All of this gives rise to a dynamic tension which builds up and gets released in a way that is often described as the rhythm of learning in a group.

What is group energy?

It is difficult to describe the essence of the energy that makes itself felt in any learning group. Bentley (1994) offers a definition that captures the dynamic nature of the phenomenon and highlights some essential features:

“[Group energy] is the moment-to-moment fluctuating balance of mental, emotional and physical intensity and vitality that can be felt like a positive or negative electrical charge in the air as if the group is switched on or off.” (Bentley, 1994, p.23)

GROUP ENERGY AND THE ROLE OF THE TEACHER

The need to harmonise group energy

A bunch of people in a room does not make a group. A group is a “resource pool that is greater in any given area than the resources possessed by any single member”. (Dörnyei & Malderez, 1997: 66). To operate as a group, the students’ diverse, sometimes conflicting perceptions and goals need to be harmonised or aligned.

“When a group of people function as a whole […] a commonality of direction emerges and individuals’ energies harmonise [as] their shared vision becomes an extension of their personal vision” (Senge, 1990, pp.234-235)

Non-aligned group / Aligned group

Presence and rapport

The teacher is one of the key factors that influence the level and flow of energy in a group. Presence describes “the unique climate or psychological atmosphere that the teacher creates (Underhill 1997).

Rapport is what gets created when different presences meet. It is the bridge between the teacher and other individuals in the group and the channel through which they communicate verbally and non-verbally.

Teachers’ preferred access points to a group energy field

To build and maintain a group energy field (Heron,1993, p.46) teachers may use personally preferred and interrelated access points.

CHALLENGE
INTENSITY / / EMPATHY
HUMOUR

Strategies for managing group energy

A teacher can consciously influence and work with the energy in a learning group by

·  staying attuned to the energy level present
·  creating a shared focus of attention / ·  providing a strong interest to communicate
·  making space for students’ ideas
·  tapping into different competences

Compulsory reading

Pohl, U. Szesztay, M. (2010) Understanding group energy in university language

classes, Working Papers in Applied Linguistics (WoPaL), 4, 23-38. 2010.

References

Allwright, D. (1989) Interaction in the language classroom: social problems and

pedagogic possibilities. Language teaching in today’s world. Vol.3. Paris: achete. Bentley, T. (1994). Facilitation. Providing opportunities for learning.

Dörnyei Z., & Malderez, A. (1997). Group dynamics and foreign language teaching.

System, 25/1. 65–81. McGraw-Hill, London.

Heron, J. (1993). Group facilitation. Theories and models for practice. London:

Kogan Page.Cambridge University Press.

Senge, P. (1990). The fifth discipline. The art and practice of the learning

organisation. New York: Doubleday.

Tudor, I. (2001) The dynamics of the language classroom. Cambridge: CUP.

Underhill, A. (1997). The psychological atmosphere we create in our classrooms.

The Language Teacher, 21(9), JALT Tokyo. Retrieved, September 30,

2010 http://www.jalt-publications.org/tlt/files/97/sep/underhill.html