Saturday, June 4, 2011
Discussion Question
Imagine yourself as a foreign language teacher. You notice that one of your students in your class lacks self-esteem. You are aware that this lack of self-esteem is preventing the student from achieving success and causes him/her to get low grades on his/her exams. In order to solve this problem, how would you help the student?
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Low self-esteem can be a big obstackle in second language learning. so for a successful language learning, this obstacle must be got rid of. To get rid of low self-esteem, I think that the most important factor is class atmosphere.In the environment where students can freely learn, they display positive attitudes, self-confidence, and low anxiety. To provide affective atmosphere in the class, teacher must encourage students often. Teacher must provide a relaxed class environment, give students the chance of talking about themselves, their ideas, their experiences. teacher must avoid the questions, situations which make students embrassed or anxious.
ReplyDeleteStudents’ feeling good about themselves is important, therefore I try to help this student. First of all, I try to make him believe that he is a successful student and in order to achieve this, I assign him some activities suitable to his level. In this way, the student will see that he has the ability to achieve. Then, I give constructive feedbacks after his each participation to the class, homework, projects. If the student has low self-esteem in certain tasks, then I focus more on it. For example, if the student has problems with listening, I give him some easy listening activities to make at home and observe his development until his self-esteem increases and in the classroom during the listening activities I ask him some easy questions to make him feel successful and to encourage him and I try to create a friendly environment in the class.
ReplyDeleteIn order to achieve an objective, one must believe in oneself. The best way to believe oneself is to experience achievement beforehand and knowing that s/he has the capability of doing that job. Language learning is one of these jobs. Before or while learning a language, student's confidence should be high. As I said to provide this, experience and belief is required. I make low-esteemed student work harder, give more homework than the others. However, I take care and give more feedbacks than the others. I make student feel comfortable and show him/her that s/he can do that activities easily. That's I believe, some experience, a little encouragement and positive feedbacks turn a low-esteemed student to confident language learner.
ReplyDeleteIf I have that kind of student in my class, I would help him/her to get self-esteem by several techniques. For instance, I would award him/her for every activity or question that s/he achieved correctly. I would reinforce him/her by saying “well done, excellent, great etc.” I would give some easy homework to make him/her do it without any mistakes and then again award him/her. I would ask him/her to answer my question and after s/he answer it, I would say “you are great, perfect etc.” and make the other students clap him/her. Then, I would speak to him/her about how s/he is good at English, s/he totally should be more active in the classroom, because s/he has the enough ability for learning the foreign language
ReplyDeleteSelf esteem is very important in language learning. Lack of self esteem may dramatically effects students' learnig. To solve this problem teacher should create a relax classroom environment. Students should feel free to share their opinions. Asking questions is very important in learning. So students should feel free to ask questions. Also, teacher should find out the abilities and tendencies of students, so make students know about their own capabilities.I a student don't want to talk about the sucject, another subject in which students are interested can be suggested.Also teacher should show that s/he gives importance to students's ideas, which can make students feel more comfortable and confident.
ReplyDeleteSevgi KOÇER
Psychology and feelings in education are of great importance. If a student doesn't have self-esteem, it is a problem that must be solved. There may be a lot of reasons behind this problem but i guess, a teacher's job is to help this student have a self-esteem. Grades, points, exams, theories written on books are not more important than a student's psychology and life. If a teacher helps that student immediately by trying to work out how to solve the problem and if a teacher treats him like a friend who understands his feelings and emotional state, this brings success and self-esteem to that person. However, if we, as future teachers, regard our students as robots, test-takers and don't care about their feelings, neither success nor self-esteem comes.
ReplyDeletefirstly ı would try to speak with him. ıf ı cannot reach him ı would try to communicate with his parents. because this situation might be related with parents. we sit and talk about this bad situation in order to find a solution. then ı would give some challenging assigments which he can do. sometimes ı would help him in order to encourage him. after he finishes his homework, ı would give him a reward in front of the class. also, ı would say nice words to him. for exampleş 'you did a great job' or 'your effort while doing your homework is relly nice. ı appreciate you' and so on.
ReplyDeletetuğçe koç
It is a big problem for both a student and a teacher. However, it can be solved by special techniques for the student. Firstly, I would encourage the student to participate to the lesson, and explain the advantages of participating. Secondly, I would pay extra attention to his or her efforts. I would make feel his or her that I know he or she tries to do something. Lastly, I would give some specific homework or duties to that student. I think having a specific duty and completing it succesfully increase his or self-esteem. Also, I would help during the preparation of homework. This homework or duty shows to him or her what s/he can do.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, I think that these solutions can be differentiated in terms of the student’s qualification. It is important to find the reason for low self-esteem. After finding it, the solutions can be produced more easily. Consequently, low self-esteem is a problem if teacher uses the correct techniques and student want to get rid of it.
ELİF ÖZDERE
Primarily,I would treat him/her as a counselor not like an authority.By this way,I encourage him/her to be more autonomous. I believe that autonomy is a source of self-esteem because if a student is aware of his/her achievements or failures and take responsibility for his/her learning ,s/he won’t avoid taking risks. As long as s/he is aware of not being judged by an authority,s/he will be more active in class. Moreover,I would try to create non-threating environment in class by creating games that everybody both enjoy and learn. In addition,I think students should not only be competent but also feel competent.Therefore, I would adopt communicative based curiculum to make them engage in real life situation with the help of role-plays,discussions.
ReplyDeleteEce Nur ÖZASLAN
Firstly, I try to understand the cause of his lack of self-esteem. Than I would try to put away these factors. For example if he has fear of his peers’ mocking I talk with other students. Secondly, I greet him when he completed even simple tasks and I remind him that his success in the task has been very well. Then I give him some extra simple homework in terms of taking some responsibilities and present it in the class. After completing his tasks I will give feedback in a positive way (without making offend him). In addition, I try to make him focus on his inner motivation rather than other’s points of views. Because if he thinks about others he cannot act by himself. If he can satisfy with his tasks he will have self confidence and he will be able to be more eager to take more responsibility.
ReplyDeleteZeynep MADEN
I think this question is a bit too general.If this low self-esteem results from getting low grades, you may provide additional tasks to motivate the student. This will show him that he is considered important by the outside world and increase his self-esteem. After he completed these tasks, you should provide him with positive feedback. His or her low self-esteem may result from being mocked by his/her friends. Then, what you have to do is to warn the mockers and encourage him for his participation in the class. However, this may not always be the case. His low self-esteem may result from some psychogical problems too such as child abuse, sexual abuse or even being bipolar. If this is the case, I don't think you can't help him besides talking to his parents. It is the job of a psychologist then.
ReplyDeleteGürkan Küçük
First of all, ,I would try to find the reason why the student lacks self-esteem. It may be caused by his/her family,friends,grades,teachers or etc. After finding the reason I would try to solve the problem. If it is with his/her family I would have a talk with the family or it is friends, I mean if the student is lonely, I would prepare group working and I would give a duty which can make her/him important himself/herself.And like these solutions, I would try to find solutions to the source of the problem.But I prefer him/her to take professional help.
ReplyDeleteELİF KILIÇ
ReplyDeleteI believe that one could not be successful without any self-esteem. It shows one’s approval of oneself and it is very important for a student to have self-approval to be active in the classroom environment. If I have such a student whose self-esteem is low, firstly, I would make him/her to success by giving him/her assignments that s/he could easily do. Secondly, I would try to make him/her active in the classroom by giving all of the students individual presentations or demonstrations to present in the classroom so that would make him/her active in the classroom up to some degree because s/he would see that s/he can manage something. I would go on this by increasing the activities until s/he has the intrinsic motivation to be active in the classroom.
It is really hard to know the personalities and psychological states of each student in a class. However, this is, maybe, the teacher's most important task; a teacher should be able to spot students who cannot totally devote themselves to their tasks. All students do not have perfect personalities and lives; in fact, all students have their own problems. I know this fact from myself. Sometimes my psychological state do not let me focus on my tasks; actually I suffered much from it this year. Anyway, when it comes to this students who have low self-esteem... WE SHOULD ALL ACCEPT THAT, MOST PROBABLY, HIS/HER PROBLEM IS NOT ABOUT THE COURSE. Talking directly is not the best solution. Firstly, I would should show him/her that we really care about him/her. So I would not try to set things right through some assignments or positive feedbacks; it would be really hard that way and the effect would be temporary. Then I would spare some time for this student. I would just listen at first. Advices are not that effective. I would just tell my experiences or things like that from which s/he could conclude some things and would make him/her think.
ReplyDeleteSelf-esteem has importance in second language acquisition especially in view of cross-cultural factors. I think teachers have an important effect on students'learning performance and emotional well-being. If I had a student his self-esteem is lack, firstly I would encourage him/her with speaking in positive manner. I would tellthis student that she/he can do it. After that I would give right to speak this student even he does not raise hand. While doing activities I would call the student to the board and I want him tomake the activity. Before making I would say that do not worry I will help you if you need any help, so I encourage the student not to confuse and make the activity. Everything should be done to solve self-esteem problem.
ReplyDeleteFeruze İlkatmış
If one of my students has self- esteem problems, the first thing I will do is to search for the causes of being lack of it. I think there may be more than one reason like the attitudes of his friends to him, or the failures that he may have had in other courses or the low grades of previous exams of that course. If its reasons are originated from the first cause, I will talk to his friends so that they will give up their discouraging attitudes (like laughing when he makes a mistake), and if the reason is originated from the previous failures of other courses or previous exams of that course, thinking that he will fail again, seeing himself as incapable in that course, I will talk to him and say that he may have failed in previous exams but that does not mean that he will fail again as long as he studies enough. And to encourage him, I will give some assignments according to his level and make him believe that he can do anything as long as he believes in that he can do it.
ReplyDeleteÖzge KÖKSAL
In a real class, always there are students who don't have self-esteem. To help this kind of student, I always try to ask him/her questions that I think s/he knows the answer. When he knows the answer, he thinks that s/he can do it if he wants. It encourages him/her to participate in the lesson. Also, when I give them a group activity, I give him/her more responsibility. So, s/he gain the feeling that he can conduct an activity or take the lead to his/her group members. Also, after the activities, during the feedback part, I give positive reinforcement such as well done, that's great, it can't be better. I think these encouragements provides him/her to get self-esteem.
ReplyDeleteHASAN ACAR
I think teachers’ purpose is not only giving lecture, he should also help students’ problems even if the problem is out of lesson. If a teacher understands that his one of the students has self esteem problem, he should try to help students to gain self esteem. Firstly he should make students to feel that he can do it. The students should trust themselves to achieve something. In order to help students gain self esteem, the teacher should often give positive feedback to the student, and create a relax atmosphere. He can give individual simple presentations to the student to feel that he can do it. He can care with the student individually if he cannot understand the lesson, and encourage the students to want help if they need. Besides, the teacher must be patient and friendly towards the students. Maybe the student is afraid of the teacher.
ReplyDeleteMahmut KARACA
Emine Özdemir
ReplyDeleteThis type of students generally says '' I can not do it, I won't be succesful in this test'. Actually this students wants to respect and love themselves. They generally do not believe in and use their potentials. So the teacher can ask such students to say 10 best thing that they havedone up that time. This will help them see their real potentials and help them to gain self-essteem. The teacher should not critize such students. The teacher should generally praise them But while the teacher is praising those students s/he should not do it in such a way as ''You are perfect, I appreciate you with all my heart...'' But instead of it they can praise the specific jobs. For example; while solving this problem you use these methods, this is actually a good strategy.
In a second language or a foreign language learning, students should have some qualifications. One of these qualifications is self- esteem. If the students lack of self- esteem in the classroom, teacher has an important role to make him/ her get rid of this situation. And if I were a teacher in such a classroom,firstly I would try to find the reason behind his/ her being lack of self- esteem. Secondly, I would try to create a flexible and relaxed classroom environment, because the students should speak, talk about his/ her feelings and participate in activities without being embrassed. And lastly I would give simple task as both class- work and homework.
ReplyDeleteBEHİCE KOÇAK
Ümmü KAHRAMAN,
ReplyDeleteSelf-esteem has a very outstanding role in learning a foreign language. If I realize that one of my students lacks self-esteem, I would try to encourage my students. How? I want to give an example from my teaching experience in TEGV. Last term, I was teaching there 4th grade students with my friend from Gazi University. One of my students didn't participate lessons as much as his friends did, but he always came the class. He was afraid of his friends' laughing at him. When I asked him a question, even if he knew the answer, he looked at his friends' face and than tried to answer. We decided to ask him the questions which we thought he would answer. After he knew the answer, we told him that he did a great job, sometimes we applauded him. Maybe you will think that it is absurd, but it worked. And it was very nice to see him while participating without asking him a question directly.
Not only in SLA, but also in all learning areas self-esteem and being successful are so intervowen that a student can hardly be successful in the learning area with a low self-esteem and being unsuccessful brings lower self-esteem. Thus, if had a student with low self-esteem I would firstly try to determine if this low self-esteem was about the foreign language or a general characterstic of the student. If it was a general property, I would talk to his/her parents and try to solve the problem with a therapy and if it is because of the foreign language I would show concern for him/her specially since I think that if a student loves the teacher s/he loves the lesson at the same time. I would tell him/her that I would be very pleased to help him/her whenever s/he needs me about not only the lesson but also the life.
ReplyDeleteFirsly, ı will try to go deeper in order to solve his/her problem. I mean I try to understand what is the reason behind this self-esteemness? Fort he beginning, I will make them more integrated to classroom activities. When I make them in group,one group will be composed of the ones who lack self-esteem so as to see how they behave and complete the task (for once or twice I make them in the group composed of all the students lacking self-esteem because apart from the reason of observation, it will effect them in a bad way in terms of the realization of the class) In the light of the results, I will create drama activities at the end of lessons which help them to develop and see their potential. In addition, I always encourage them to speak up in class and prevent other students who try to make fun of them or interrupt them while they are doing the activity or speaking in the class
ReplyDeleteÖZGE METE
This is a big obstacle in teaching-learning process for both the teacher and the student because it prevents the student’s study and causes him/her fail. For the teacher, it causes to lose a student even if s/he can achieve when s/he has self-esteem. In such a situation, the teacher has an important role. If s/he does not facilitate learning process of students, each student may experience lack of self-esteem because in learning process, what students need is motivation. The teacher should be able to motivate his/her students. This develops their self-esteem and they become confident individuals. All the time, motivation works.
ReplyDeleteEsra İDİL
In a classroom one of the main problems of a teacher is giving equal opportunity to each students. Because every student has a different style and character. While some of the students share their ideas easily the others may have a problem about speaking in front of the class or sharing their ideas with everybody. The general problem of the students is lack of self-esteem in the classroom because they are afraid of being humiliated in front of their friends. The biggest role belongs to the tacher in that situaiton.If I had a students like that I would make him/her believe that his/her ideas are valuable and we care about them.
ReplyDeleteLow self-esteem can prevent the student from learning a second language. First of all, I would try to show my faith in the student's ability to change by encouraging him/her .The student's building self-esteem may take a long time,so patience is really important. I would help the student to recognize his/her abilities as much as possible and try to persuade him/her to believe that he can achieve if s/he trust in himself/herself. I would give importance to use positive reinforcement by saying "well done,congratulations, you did a great job etc." Smiling can also work well as the student can feel the support and warm attitudes of the teacher.I believe that step by step progress is important in such kind of situations. Firstly, the student should be provided with simple tasks and given opportunity to share his/her ideas with his/her friends. This is necessary to feel the acceptance and approval of the rest of class. Then, s/he can have the desire to engage in harder tasks.The teachers should behave in a friendly manner and try to their best to cope with low self-esteem.
ReplyDeleteEsra KARAKUŞ
Lacking self-esteem is something that comes from the past events that one experienced. Firstly, as a teacher I would accept that this students as whos/he is and I wouldn't try to judge her/him because of her/his hesitation in speaking or doing something. However, I would try to make him/her believe that there is nothing s/he can't achieve is s/he wants. In order to make this I would do some things or observation in order to eplore my students' skills and their interests and also the one who lacks self-esteem. After seeing his/her talents I would want him/her to do things in the field that s/he has talent. Upon seeing that there is some things that s/he can achieve, his/her self esteem will be increased.
ReplyDeleteDealing with the lack of self-esteem is a challenging issue for most teachers. First of all, i personally believe that approaching the student in a friendly manner is essential. However, being friendly alone is not very effective because the student may tend to think that "just another person trying to tell me what to do.." and may not be willing to cooperate. So, i would first try to find out what's wrong by getting personal with my student in an appropriate level. If this is something about his/her personality (as in being an introvert person) and not related to a certain event or a person, it is just about making him/her believe that s/he is just as valuable as others in the class so s/he should share his/her opinions, as well. I think instead of using cliché motivator such as "great job!" or "well done!" a detailed and extraordinary one would be much of use, such as: "i am really impressed with the way you expressed your ideas X, thank you." Being praised is something but making the students feel that they actually 'did' a good job would make them feel more confident.
ReplyDeleteCeren Korkmaz
the best solution to low self- esteem is to praising the students and to show that you trust them. I should not act out as if I care them. On the contrary, I should take care of them sincerely. For exmaple, when I ask question in class, firstly I should encourage them to speak and answer. If s/he really does not want to answer, we should not force them in class. For, it just causes them to be embarrassed among their peers. This is also leads to discourage them. I should talk about these situation with them not in class but out of class so that they will not become estranged from the lesson. I should approach them in a friendly manner so that they do not feel that they are under pressure in class. Also, I should make the lesson more enjoyable. Not just teaching grammar, but I should make them take part in a variety of activities in class or out of class. Instead of individual works, I should encourage them take part in pair works or group works. As a reasult of these, they can feel themselves as valuable people and have confidence to become successful in their lives.
ReplyDeleteWhat students think about themselves is very important because their feelings affects their learning. So an effective teacher should make students believe in themselves. But how it can be done? Firstly, self-esteem is very important,if the teacher make students' self-esteem higher, their other problems can be solved more easily.Because if a student have respect to himself, he became more powerful against his other problems. And if I had a student who have self-esteem problem, firstly I would try to find reason of this lack self-esteem and try to make my student overcome it. Then I would encourage him/her when s/he made a good job. And even when s/he did not a good job, I would encourage him/her to keep try again. Briefly I would make him to believe in himself.
ReplyDeleteLack of self-esteem is one of the most difficult problems in language learning. Learning language requires it exactly. To make this students have balanced self-esteem, s/he should encourage him/herself first. I try to give chance to realize own potential in activities such as speaking, role-play, and answering questions. at early stages I monitor this students carefully and give chance to him on topics s/he is successful. I believe, realizing that s/he could do, s/he starts to take part in class more. Continuing support at later stages makes this students increase self-esteem. If student does not respond enough a little force would be nice. Somehow, belief is very important in that process, both teachers, students should have patience, and belief, but teachers’ should be more.
ReplyDeleteLack of self esteem in an important obstacle for learning. The students with lack of self esteem will have a problem of learning or showing teheir knowledge alhought they have a potential. As a teacher if I had such a student, I would try to solve the problem by using many ways, because solving this problem is important for the future of that student. Firstly I would try to find the source of the problem and then accordingly I would follow a strategy. Motivating the students, showing them the importance of their ideas can be solutions to the problem.
ReplyDeleteHava MİNNETOĞLU
Firstly, you need to provide comfortable and securable environment for a student in order to gain effective learning. Firstly they need to feel secure and valuable, you could give this to students by positive reinforcements and encouragements often with simile. The students getting positive reinforcements have find chance to construct his o her belief system again and started to believe in themselves in order to gain success. As a tactic, from the aspect of activities ,teacher can start from the easiest activity, even if ,the experts suppose just the opposite with the aim of gathering students attention. As I stated before the feeling of care, value and relax beings itself the idea of success in almost every field of life.
ReplyDeleteÖZGE UĞURLU