English Teachers' Role in the Days of Internet.doc

网络时代英语教师的角色English Teachers' Role in the Days of InternetContentsAbstract.11.Introduction22. Different ways of saying “The role of the teacher and the learner” .22.1 Traditional role of teacher in ELT.22.2 The modern role of the teacher in ELT.32.3 The relationship between teachers and students.43. The Internet comes into ELT.53.1 The significant of using the Internet.53.2 The computer is a tool or a substitution of a teacher?.63.3 The computer is a kind of teaching media.84. English teachers' new role.84.1. English teachers' role changes under the environment of the Internet.104.2. Basic quality that the English teacher should possess under the environment of the network.125. Conclusion:.13Reference.13English Teachers' Role in the Days of Internet摘 要：计算机辅助教学是科技与人文的结合,在国外已经有较长的历史，近几年我国也在大力推广利用现代信息技术辅助英语教学时, 英语教师会面临一些实际的问题必须事先解决, 首先教师必须明了自己在教学活动中所扮演的角色教师的地位和教学的其他要素都与计算机有直接的关系本文着重分析了不同时期英语教师所扮演的角色,自从有了计算机,英语教师的角色就必须重新界定,计算机可当作一位老师、一种工具或一种媒介，而英语教师可以成为被咨询者、主导者、指导者对计算机及软件他可以一无所知，一知半解、或有深入了解,但在网络日渐成为计算机辅助教学重心后，英语教师若要胜任教学必须具备一定层次的计算机知识,不断更新教育观念,转变自身角色,以适应当代教育的发展,故我们不能不深究。关键词: 网络 计算机辅助教学 英语教师 角色 Abstract: Computer-assisted instruction English has a long history abroad in the combination of science and technology and humane. Our country is popularizing in a more cost-effective manner in recent years. While utilizing auxiliary English teaching of the modern information technology under the environment of the network, English teachers will face a lot of real problems.The first thing to solve among them is that teachers must make themselves understand the role they act in teaching activity. The teacher's status and other key elements of teaching are closely bound up computer.This paper focuses on the analysis of the possible roles that a teacher is supposed to take in different times.After there are computer,the English teachers role must be defined again. Computer can be regarded as a tutor, a kind of tool or a kind of media, English teacher can become consulter, leader and adviser. He can know nothing, has half knowledge, or understands in depth to the computer and software. After the Internet becomes computer-assisted instruction center day by day, if English teacher want to be competent at teaching, he must possess certain information technology and network knowledge, bring in constant renewal in the educational idea,change oneself role among teaching and make a reservation in English, so as to meet the developing need of modernization educates. Key words: Internet; computer-assisted instruction; English teacher; role English Teachers' Role in the Days of Internet 1.Introduction:English teacher plays an important role in traditional language teaching, but after there are computers, the teacher's role must be defined again,because the computer-assisted instruction may have many kinds of different modes, the ones that the teacher adopts decides his relation with the computer, teaching materials and students. He can be onlooker,consulter, the leader, or the participant. He can know nothing, has half knowledge, or understands in depth to the computer and software. He can be user, compiler and evaluator. After the Internet becomes computer-assisted instruction center day by day, if English teacher want to be competent at teaching, he must possess certain information technology and network knowledge, bring in constant renewal in the educational idea, change oneself role among taeching and make a reservation in English,so we can not but take it seriously.The Internet is one of the most powerful tools for teachers to help students collaborate, interact and participate actively in the learning process. However, the wealth of available resources may cause confusion among students and discourage them from participating, if they are not given the necessary guidelines. When students are faced with thousands of Internet sources, They cannot effectively handle such large amounts of information. One of the most important tasks for teachers is to assist their students so that they can discover what they enjoy most according to their level of linguistic competence. Teachers are also responsible for the evaluation of all the web tools offered. 2. Different ways of saying “The role of the teacher and the learner”The teacher and the student are the two principle components of the classroom. What roles do they have? Widdowson (1987:84) suggests two kinds of role enacted in the classroom in terms of occupation and activity. That is, on one hand, the teacher has a superior and dominant position over the student. The teacher plans the lesson, and manages the class. Students are under the guidance of teachers. They need to behave properly so that the environment of learning can be guaranteed and learning can be carried on effectively. On the other hand, the teacher, as the teaching person helps the student, as the learner to learn in the activities aiming at achieving explicit learning objectives. In the learning activities the student is the principal part and has to take responsibilities for their own learning. To further discuss the role of the teacher and student is not an easy task.2.1 Traditional role of the teacher in ELTTraditionally, the evaluation of a teacher has depended on the amount of knowledge he or she crammed into the students head: the more, the better. Therefore, the image of a successful teacher has been of one who let loose a flood of eloquence while standing on the platform of the classroom, the teacher is the unquestionable authority, who dominate the class from the beginning to the end, while the students are just “ignorant audience ” who write down the precious words and sometimes offer their applause and laughter caused by the admiration, considering the time spend on the explanation and analysis of grammar, sentences, phrases and words and their usages with comparatively little time on exercise and practice and almost no time on communication. Its obvious that the teaching is focused on linguistic competence rather than communicative competence. Therefore there is little cooperation between the teachers the student and the teacher gets little feedback from his or her “audience ".Its apparent that the teachers role in the classroom is decided by the goals that the teacher intends to achieve. the goal of traditional ELT has been to help student read and appreciate selected written passages, and the most effective way to realize the goals has been to explain to the student the necessary vocabulary items and grammatical structures. When translation of the reading passages is finished, the teaching goal has been accomplished. In this teacher-centered class, the teacher is a controller who instructs and guides his or her students to understand the passages sentence by sentence, taking scant notice of the feeling and reactions of students. Students have no opportunity to apply what they have learnt to practical communication. Thus, the result is the teachers heavy domination over the whole class and students passive reception. 2.2 The Modern role of the teacher in ELTIn the 21st century, the Internet will play a more and more important role in English teaching. A teacher is one who is able to impart information or is a guide to the information. The teacher must know where the student is in his understanding and abilities. The teacher must understand the gap between the student and the information. A good teacher will know how to help the student to bridge that gap in the most effective way by blending appropriate methodologies and tools. if the teacher does not take into account the particular characteristics of his students, he may wind up going through the empty motions of "teaching" but not effecting a learning gain by the student.Students need to get used to working in online teams. Teachers must get used to fulfilling the role of moderator in which they have to cultivate both personal and group participation. And assessment techniques need to move away from testing to projects, assignments, and case studies.The role differences between a dominant teacher and a directive teacher can be seen through the techniques they employ,as far as the teaching techniques are concerned. The following procedure and explanation are given just for some demonstration of directive teaching.“Im not the expert on everything. Were all learning from resources.” This bold and brave statement from a teacher trying to figure out how best to integrate technology into her curriculum captures the tensions inherent in a difficult struggle. Computers are becoming as ubiquitous as blackboards in many classrooms, challenging teachers to find ways to incorporate technology in support of curricular and pedagogical goals. On one hand, the urge is strong to script the lesson, set the bookmarks, and guide the student. Yet one of the greatest benefits of using computers, and particularly the Internet, is that they afford freedom to explore. Teachers must be willing to allow students to exercise that freedom, to struggle, to be risk takers - while keeping students strength and weaknesses in mind and becoming learners along with them. It is only when teachers are willing to learn both with and from students, that technology has the potential to inform the delicate balance of instructional decision making. At this time, teacher is not only a guider, but also a learner. Computer-assisted instruction English has a long history abroad in the combination of science and technology and humane, our country is popularizing in a more cost-effective manner in recent years. In an Internet-based lesson, rather than being a single omniscient source of knowledge himself, a teacher is a facilitator helping students build their own learning strategies. What learners acquire with the Internet is less under the control of the teacher. The teacher's role includes planning, analyzing, organizing, coordinating, and problem solving in a student-centered environment.2.3 The relationship between teachers and students.There are many controversies when it comes to the relationship between teachers and students. However, one idea remains, the teacher's primary job is to educate while the student's primary job is to learn. The techniques are what differ among teachers and in turn that shapes the relationship between the two parties. As many of the writers discussed in class, have pointed out, the education experience, from curriculum to academic and extra-curricular programs directs a person's path in life. Is this relationship between teacher and student that important to discuss and analyze? Does a student's education depend on the techniques of the teacher? Alternatively, do students have a responsibility to their own education? The relationship between the teacher and the student is both important and detrimental to a student's education.In Hooks' opinion, the teacher's response to the student's welfare plays a vital role in the student's self-concept and self-awareness. Experiences at Stanford led Hooks to believe that her fellow students were not like her and the professors she had never acknowledged the differences among social classes. This phenomenon bothered Hooks and caused her to take on the role of an educator, traveling to different universities discussing the differences and adverse effects of social classes in education. In her case, the distant relationship she had with her professors gave her motivation to be a more open, "self-realized," realistic educator.(1987)What about the student's responsibility? Where do the teacher's techniques and the student's responses collide? This offers yet another perspective to education and the relationship with the instructor. The old saying still applies, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. The teacher can use every possible technique, good or bad, but without the student's involvement or interaction, the effort is in vain. The connection lies within the following metaphor. The teacher must open several doors without pushing the student through a particular room and the technique the educator uses is the key that unlocks each door. These doors can have political and social class knobs in which students have the freedom to make wise decisions.So how should a teacher teach? Moreover, what kind of teaching offers good relations between teachers and students? The answers are impossible to standardize. There may never be one set solution. However, by acknowledging each side of the relationship, a clearer perspective and job duty can appear. There must be respect and admiration among both the teacher and each student. Every educator can or should reflect on their own teaching patterns and shape them around suggestions made by Cheney and Hooks. The teacher's primary goal is to broaden and bring about awareness to individual students. The only way to accomplish that objective is to find a balance between obtaining the power and allowing freedom in the classroom. 3. The internet comes into ELT In the last few years the number of teachers using Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) has increased markedly and numerous articles have been written about the role of technology in education. Although the potential of the Internet for educational use has not been fully explored yet and the average school still makes limited use of computers, it is obvious that we have entered a new information age in which the links between technology and TEFL have already been established. The development of the Internet brought about a revolution in the teachers' perspective, as the teaching tools offered through the net were gradually becoming more reliable. Nowadays, the Internet is gaining immense popularity in foreign language teaching and more and more educators and learners are embracing it.3.1 The significant of using the internet:The Internet has tremendous potential as a tool for teaching EFL. Sayers (1993:) mentioned that network-based technology can contribute significantly to:Experiential learning The World Wide Web makes it possible for students to tackle a huge amount of human experience. In such a way, they can learn by doing things themselves. They become the creators not just the receivers of knowledge. Information is presented in a non-linear way and users develop more flexible thinking skills and choose what to explore. Motivation Computers are most popular among students as they a