Why Don’t Students Like English Class?

J. PucciniELF in El Salvador, 2012

What kind of person are you? Do you prefer…

To vacation at the beach OR in the mountains

Cats OR dogs Saturday nights out OR at home

Warm-up

How did you like the activity?

How do you think it might help students’ learning and/or participation?

How might you adapt it?

Warm-up processing questions

Your ideas and experiences 6 reasons and some possible solutions

suggested by research Conclusion Q & A

Agenda

To explain different answers to the question (why don’t Ss like English class?)

To describe ways to help solve the “puzzle”

Ojectives

What explanations do you have for the question, “Why don’t students like English class?”

Example, “Many students just don’t think English is important.

Your ideas

How Learning Works. Susan Ambrose, et al.,2010.

Switch. Chip & Dan Heath, 2010. “Ten Commandments…” Zoltan Dornyei and

Csizer, 1998. Why Don’t Students Like School? Daniel

Willingham, 2009.

Primary Sources

Broader:1. Society2. The subject (English)3. Classroom environment

Narrower4. Peers5. Students’ history6. The teacher

6 Lens for looking at the “puzzle”

How might society contribute to students’ not liking English?

How might the subject, English, contribute to students’ not liking English?

How might the classroom envirnonment contribute to students’ not liking English?

Broader Lenses

English is not important (compared to math, science, and other subjects)

Society: one reason

The rider, elephant, and path (Switch)

Society: one insight

Example: the $1,000,000,000 gloves

Help people “find the feeling”

English is boring (grammar rules, reading, topics unrelated to Ss reality)

The Subject: one insight

What makes language classes interesting?

The Subject: one insight

Classrooms are dark, uncomfortable places

Classroom environmnet: one reason

From Social-psychology:◦ Broken Windows theory

Classroom environmnet: one insight

What reasons did Jeff talk about? What solutions does the research suggest? What ideas seem most useful for you and

your context? In other words, what is something specific you can do?

Pair share

How might peers contribute to students’ not liking English?

How might students’ history contribute to students’ not liking English?

How might the teacher contribute to students’ not liking English?

Narrower Lenses

The rider, elephant, and path (Switch)Peers: one insight

Example: malnurished children in Vietnam

Help find the “bright spots”

Poor practice failuresGood practice successes “Learning is best encouraged when students’

practice includes 4 points” (Ambrose, et al.)◦ Goal◦ Challenge level◦ Quantity/frequency◦ Feedback

Students’ history: one insight

Zoltan Dornyei’s, “10 Commandments”

6. Make classes interesting 5. Increase Ss linguistic self-confidence4. Develop good relationships3. Clear instructions2. Classroom atmosphere1. T as personal example

The teacher: six insights

How Learning Works: “Ss motivation determines, directs, and sustains what they do to learn.”

Motivation

What reasons did Jeff talk about? What solutions does the research suggest? What ideas seem most useful for you and

your context? In other words, what is something specific you can do?

Pair share

Cognitive science and social-psychology have shown us that

Conclusion

The possible reasons why students don’t like English are countless

The human mind is built to find simple, easy answers

They don’t like English because they are _____

My team lost the game because the coach _______

Our party lost the election because the other side _________

For example

This is how the our minds work because we crave coherent stories. The answer to our question is not one simple, coherent story.

There is no one magic formula or solution. When the door closes, there is just me and my students. What steps will I take?

What insights have you had?

What steps might you take?

What questions do you still have?

Materials available: jspuccini.com Contact me: jspuccini@yahoo.com

Q & A