Algirdas Makarevicius. Teaching Philosophy
My Teaching Philosophy
Every teacher is a personality and has his or her philosophy about teaching and learning. I spent my life traveling, studying, and teaching in culturally diverse countries like China, India, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Lithuania, Denmark, Poland, Bulgaria, Italy, the UK, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, the United States, Brazil, Thailand, Singapore, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. Traveling and working in culturally diverse environments is one of the most effective ways of shaping a personality.
Most people say I possess an open character, a significant asset in my dealings with colleagues and students in various professional contexts. I am aware of and sensitive to the problems and issues involved in intercultural communication and relations at both personal and professional levels. I usually accept criticism and differences of opinion in a positive manner, and I often learn from my colleagues and my students.
My primary field of interest is linguistic pragmatics and cross-cultural communication: the relationships between social and cultural structures, the study of social conflict, and the analysis of face-to-face interaction. At present, I am particularly interested in the field of language teaching as a cultural semiotic practice. The transmission of information through a foreign language is embedded in a universe of signs that are only partially verbal and increasingly visual, based on gestures and even electronics. In particular, computer technology is redefining teaching, not only learning. It offers new ways of representing and mediating the language, culture, and power relations in language teaching worldwide.
There were a few individuals in my life whose theories of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and research in the field of TEFL/TESL had a profound impact on me as a language facilitator: Noam Chomsky, Geoffrey Leech, Stephen Krashen, and Claire Kramsch.
Noam Chomsky's theories inspired me as a linguist, particularly his transformational linguistics, which has been very influential in psycholinguistics in the study of language acquisition by children. I was fascinated by his formulated transformational rules, which transform a sentence with a given grammatical structure (e.g., Peter saw Jane) into a sentence with a different grammatical structure but the same essential meaning (Jane was seen by Peter). It brought me to the idea that sentences conform not only to grammatical rules that are unique to a particular language but also to deep structures peculiar to all human languages and corresponding to an innate capacity of the human brain. This idea led me to further investigate the relationships between language and thought and encouraged me to raise such questions as ‘Do we learn a second language?' or 'Do we acquire it?’ The above interests led me to pragmatics and linguistic stylistics, and these fields became my primary focus in the late 80s. Therefore, at that time, I was much influenced by Geoffrey Leech, especially by his books ‘Principles of Pragmatics” and “English in Advertising.” Consequently, in my doctorate dissertation, I focused on lingo-pragmatic research of the feature article as a genre of English newspaper style.
Stephen Krashen’s theory of second language acquisition enabled me to answer many questions related to ESL teaching. One of his statements, "Language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules and does not require tedious drill,” became my motto. I believe that second language acquisition requires meaningful, natural interaction, and learners are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and understanding.
The research conducted by Claire Kramsch influenced me, too. Such books as “Context and Culture in Language Teaching” and “Language and Culture” shaped me as an ESL teacher. Language is a part of a culture, and I share the same opinion with Claire Kramsch, who underlines the importance of cultural components in language teaching.
My colleagues often ask me about my view of the teacher's role in the language classroom, what the teacher should do to facilitate learning, and how to motivate students. Here are my answers.
It is necessary to teach students how to study. Students should know some basic facts about language acquisition: we do not 'learn' a language; we 'acquire' it. That means that students 'pick up' specific skills, not just memorize information, such as grammar rules, words, phrases, and syntactical structures. Acquiring a language is like learning to swim: the learner must not only understand the ideas and concepts that have information at hand but also make his or her body adapt to using that information in physical activity, i.e., develop critical individual skills. In the case of language acquisition, the physical activity involved is listening, speaking, reading, writing, and body language (or, to be more precise – paralanguage, i.e., mimics, gestures, facial expressions, and many other paralinguistic aspects). I explain to my students that they need not only to memorize and understand but also to practice to 'pick up' specific skills.
Language is a means of learning about the world. Therefore, I believe that we can develop our language skills most effectively in a meaningful context. It stimulates us to think and learn through the use of the target language. My teaching experience showed that in-class examples and discussions, case analyses, experiential exercises, and class projects make students feel more confident, and their learning becomes enjoyable and efficient. They find the necessary information and solve different problems in their target language. Specific tasks I usually give to my students include identifying resources to collect information, generating possible solutions, analyzing the solutions, and presenting the solutions either orally or in writing. In my classroom, students continually interact with each other, try new things, build connections, share ideas, and learn from each other.
Language is a part of our thinking; therefore, my task is to develop learners’ thinking skills. I try to ask my students critical thinking questions from all levels. Some of my questions can be challenging in content or form or difficult because students’ vocabulary is not rich enough. However, I always try to adjust topics that are age and level-appropriate. At the beginner’s level, I prepare responses to some of the most challenging questions using yes/no or embedded questions. I use pictures, drawings, and diagrams to help students answer correctly. Responses to these questions are right on the handout. At the intermediate level, I put more emphasis on comprehension. This level shows that the student understands and can interpret the facts. Students are asked to classify, compare, contrast, and illustrate. At the advanced level, my teaching is based on directing learners’ attention to application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Students learn to solve problems by using previously acquired skills and experience at this level. They learn how to classify, contrast, compare, and categorize these facts, solve problems, and evaluate results.
The teacher has to decide which method, or a combination of methods, he or she can apply to the different stages of the teaching process. The student’s age, educational background, subject, class size, school requirements, learning objectives, and other factors determine this selection.
The quality of teaching has a significant impact on students' behavior and motivation. Motivation is an unconscious, psychological process that varies by the individual over time, and its degree usually depends on attitude. Both attitude and motivation are also social processes, and they depend on students' different experiences and cultural backgrounds. I believe motivation can be generated through a practical curriculum, suitable learning materials, and teaching strategies. The teacher must gain the students’ attention by supplying them with stimulating activities and various teaching strategies.
Student motivation can be a difficult task for the teacher. My students usually perceive the content of my lessons as relevant to their objectives. I try to design learning objectives in such a way as to make them achievable and to continually build my students’ confidence. I motivate students using learner-centered activities, cooperative learning, informal assessments, and open communication. I also explain to my students why they need to learn certain things.
There are two basic categories of problems or issues that I usually need to solve: general problems related to communication and specific questions related to language teaching and learning. General problems are familiar to teachers of all subjects: class participation, homework, complaints, cheating, and sometimes behavior management, such as aggressiveness. Particular challenges relate to the subject's peculiarities, e.g., teaching methods, speaking, reading, listening, writing, material design, testing, and assessment. All language teachers must deal with both problems at schools, colleges, and universities.
The teaching of young people places me directly in the line of shaping their lives throughout education. I am an educator and a life-long learner. Therefore, I have a passion for learning and students. A real teacher (also learner) is not satisfied until he has shared all his knowledge and experience with his or her students. Teaching is a consistent, interactive process of learning and sharing. I often learn from my students by getting feedback from them. Besides, I need to get support and comments from my colleagues, learn from their experiences, be open to new methods and strategies, and seek professional development opportunities at conferences, workshops, or seminars.
In general, a great teacher should teach in such a way that his or her students perceive whatever the teacher offers as a valuable gift but not as a complex, repulsive duty. With these ideas in mind, I believe that the call for teaching and education is one of the greatest missions in life and an incredibly important vocation.
Dr. Algirdas Makarevicius
Ph.D., Linguistics
Algirdas Makarevicius. Philosophy of Management
My Teaching Philosophy
Every teacher is a personality and has his or her philosophy about teaching and learning. I spent my life traveling, studying, and teaching in culturally diverse countries like China, India, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Lithuania, Denmark, Poland, Bulgaria, Italy, the UK, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, the United States, Brazil, Thailand, Singapore, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. Traveling and working in culturally diverse environments is one of the most effective ways of shaping a personality.
Most people say I possess an open character, a significant asset in my dealings with colleagues and students in various professional contexts. I am aware of and sensitive to the problems and issues involved in intercultural communication and relations at both personal and professional levels. I usually accept criticism and differences of opinion in a positive manner, and I often learn from my colleagues and my students.
My primary field of interest is linguistic pragmatics and cross-cultural communication: the relationships between social and cultural structures, the study of social conflict, and the analysis of face-to-face interaction. At present, I am particularly interested in the field of language teaching as a cultural semiotic practice. The transmission of information through a foreign language is embedded in a universe of signs that are only partially verbal and increasingly visual, based on gestures and even electronics. In particular, computer technology is redefining teaching, not only learning. It offers new ways of representing and mediating the language, culture, and power relations in language teaching worldwide.
There were a few individuals in my life whose theories of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and research in the field of TEFL/TESL had a profound impact on me as a language facilitator: Noam Chomsky, Geoffrey Leech, Stephen Krashen, and Claire Kramsch.
Noam Chomsky's theories inspired me as a linguist, particularly his transformational linguistics, which has been very influential in psycholinguistics in the study of language acquisition by children. I was fascinated by his formulated transformational rules, which transform a sentence with a given grammatical structure (e.g., Peter saw Jane) into a sentence with a different grammatical structure but the same essential meaning (Jane was seen by Peter). It brought me to the idea that sentences conform not only to grammatical rules that are unique to a particular language but also to deep structures peculiar to all human languages and corresponding to an innate capacity of the human brain. This idea led me to further investigate the relationships between language and thought and encouraged me to raise such questions as ‘Do we learn a second language?' or 'Do we acquire it?’ The above interests led me to pragmatics and linguistic stylistics, and these fields became my primary focus in the late 80s. Therefore, at that time, I was much influenced by Geoffrey Leech, especially by his books ‘Principles of Pragmatics” and “English in Advertising.” Consequently, in my doctorate dissertation, I focused on lingo-pragmatic research of the feature article as a genre of English newspaper style.
Stephen Krashen’s theory of second language acquisition enabled me to answer many questions related to ESL teaching. One of his statements, "Language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules and does not require tedious drill,” became my motto. I believe that second language acquisition requires meaningful, natural interaction, and learners are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and understanding.
The research conducted by Claire Kramsch influenced me, too. Such books as “Context and Culture in Language Teaching” and “Language and Culture” shaped me as an ESL teacher. Language is a part of a culture, and I share the same opinion with Claire Kramsch, who underlines the importance of cultural components in language teaching.
My colleagues often ask me about my view of the teacher's role in the language classroom, what the teacher should do to facilitate learning, and how to motivate students. Here are my answers.
It is necessary to teach students how to study. Students should know some basic facts about language acquisition: we do not 'learn' a language; we 'acquire' it. That means that students 'pick up' specific skills, not just memorize information, such as grammar rules, words, phrases, and syntactical structures. Acquiring a language is like learning to swim: the learner must not only understand the ideas and concepts that have information at hand but also make his or her body adapt to using that information in physical activity, i.e., develop critical individual skills. In the case of language acquisition, the physical activity involved is listening, speaking, reading, writing, and body language (or, to be more precise – paralanguage, i.e., mimics, gestures, facial expressions, and many other paralinguistic aspects). I explain to my students that they need not only to memorize and understand but also to practice to 'pick up' specific skills.
Language is a means of learning about the world. Therefore, I believe that we can develop our language skills most effectively in a meaningful context. It stimulates us to think and learn through the use of the target language. My teaching experience showed that in-class examples and discussions, case analyses, experiential exercises, and class projects make students feel more confident, and their learning becomes enjoyable and efficient. They find the necessary information and solve different problems in their target language. Specific tasks I usually give to my students include identifying resources to collect information, generating possible solutions, analyzing the solutions, and presenting the solutions either orally or in writing. In my classroom, students continually interact with each other, try new things, build connections, share ideas, and learn from each other.
Language is a part of our thinking; therefore, my task is to develop learners’ thinking skills. I try to ask my students critical thinking questions from all levels. Some of my questions can be challenging in content or form or difficult because students’ vocabulary is not rich enough. However, I always try to adjust topics that are age and level-appropriate. At the beginner’s level, I prepare responses to some of the most challenging questions using yes/no or embedded questions. I use pictures, drawings, and diagrams to help students answer correctly. Responses to these questions are right on the handout. At the intermediate level, I put more emphasis on comprehension. This level shows that the student understands and can interpret the facts. Students are asked to classify, compare, contrast, and illustrate. At the advanced level, my teaching is based on directing learners’ attention to application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Students learn to solve problems by using previously acquired skills and experience at this level. They learn how to classify, contrast, compare, and categorize these facts, solve problems, and evaluate results.
The teacher has to decide which method, or a combination of methods, he or she can apply to the different stages of the teaching process. The student’s age, educational background, subject, class size, school requirements, learning objectives, and other factors determine this selection.
The quality of teaching has a significant impact on students' behavior and motivation. Motivation is an unconscious, psychological process that varies by the individual over time, and its degree usually depends on attitude. Both attitude and motivation are also social processes, and they depend on students' different experiences and cultural backgrounds. I believe motivation can be generated through a practical curriculum, suitable learning materials, and teaching strategies. The teacher must gain the students’ attention by supplying them with stimulating activities and various teaching strategies.
Student motivation can be a difficult task for the teacher. My students usually perceive the content of my lessons as relevant to their objectives. I try to design learning objectives in such a way as to make them achievable and to continually build my students’ confidence. I motivate students using learner-centered activities, cooperative learning, informal assessments, and open communication. I also explain to my students why they need to learn certain things.
There are two basic categories of problems or issues that I usually need to solve: general problems related to communication and specific questions related to language teaching and learning. General problems are familiar to teachers of all subjects: class participation, homework, complaints, cheating, and sometimes behavior management, such as aggressiveness. Particular challenges relate to the subject's peculiarities, e.g., teaching methods, speaking, reading, listening, writing, material design, testing, and assessment. All language teachers must deal with both problems at schools, colleges, and universities.
The teaching of young people places me directly in the line of shaping their lives throughout education. I am an educator and a life-long learner. Therefore, I have a passion for learning and students. A real teacher (also learner) is not satisfied until he has shared all his knowledge and experience with his or her students. Teaching is a consistent, interactive process of learning and sharing. I often learn from my students by getting feedback from them. Besides, I need to get support and comments from my colleagues, learn from their experiences, be open to new methods and strategies, and seek professional development opportunities at conferences, workshops, or seminars.
In general, a great teacher should teach in such a way that his or her students perceive whatever the teacher offers as a valuable gift but not as a complex, repulsive duty. With these ideas in mind, I believe that the call for teaching and education is one of the greatest missions in life and an incredibly important vocation.
Dr. Algirdas Makarevicius
Ph.D., Linguistics
Algirdas Makarevicius. Philosophy of Management
