Teachers and their role in language learning through the eyes of their students

TRÁVNÍKOVÁ, Petra. Teachers and their role in language learning through the eyes of their students. 2022.

Basic information

• Original name: Teachers and their role in language learning through the eyes of their students
• Authors: TRÁVNÍKOVÁ, Petra.
• Edition: 2022.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Field of Study: 50301 Education, general; including training, pedagogy, didactics [and education systems]
• Country of publisher: Czech Republic
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Organization unit: Language Centre
• Keywords in English: language learning histories; self-reflection; autonomy
• Tags: International impact

Abstract

Much has been written about the essential role of teachers in a language classroom and how it has been changing over the years. However, this presentation is not going to deal with this role through the lenses of methodological theories; it is going to show how language teachers are viewed by their students themselves. Based on an analysis of a self-compiled corpus of 100 language learning histories written by master’s students of an academic presentations course, the author is going to demonstrate the two-fold role as seen by her students- they describe their (mostly) primary and secondary school teachers either as helpers and motivators on their path to language mastery or as those who have distracted or discouraged them on this journey. Students’ accounts of their language learning histories give an interesting insight into how languages have been taught at Czech schools in the third millennium, which can help us understand what really works and what does not in language learning in students’ retrospect.