Managing the Language Classroom

Series Editor’s Preface

The English Language Teacher Development (ELTD) Series consists of a set of short resource books for English language teachers that are written in a jargon-free and accessible manner for all types of teachers of English (native and nonnative speakers of English, experienced and novice teachers). The ELTD series is designed to offer teachers a theory-to-practice approach to English language teaching, and each book offers a wide variety of practical teaching approaches and methods for the topic at hand. Each book also offers opportunities for teachers to interact with the materials presented. The books can be used in preservice settings or in in-service courses and can also be used by individuals looking for ways to refresh their practice.

Phil Quirke’s book Managing the Language Classroom explores different approaches to classroom management and the various challenges this may present to a language teacher. Phil provides a comprehensive overview of how to manage language classrooms in an easy-to-follow guide that language teachers will find very practical for their own contexts. Chapters include a general introduction to classroom management with topics on developing the approach to classroom management with the students and delegating responsibilities to students, recruiting to effective classroom teams and respecting everyone in the classroom, enhancing individual skills and enjoying language learning, appraising student learning and attending to the needs of individual students, and mentoring students to build strong learning relationships and motivating students to learn. Managing the Language Classroom is a valuable addition to the literature in our profession.

I am very grateful to the authors who contributed to the ELTD Series for sharing their knowledge and expertise with other TESOL professionals because they have done so willingly without any compensation to make these short books affordable to all language teachers throughout the world. It is truly an honor for me to work with each of these authors as they selflessly gave up their valuable time for the advancement of TESOL.

Thomas S. C. Farrell

1

Introduction

This book introduces a fresh approach to classroom management by following the educational management philosophy DREAM, an acrostic formed by the chapter titles:

Develop and Delegate

Recruit and Respect

Enhance and Enjoy

Appraise and Attend

Mentor and Motivate

DREAM covers most areas and issues related to classroom management (Quirke & Allison, 2008, 2010; Quirke, 2006, 2011). The DREAM philosophy places teachers at the core of the institution, and the application of the theory to classroom teaching places students at the core of effective classroom management. Based upon numerous workshops by the author and colleagues, this book gives fresh insights into one of the key pedagogical discussion issues in staffrooms around the world.

What Is Classroom Management? inline-image

I like to define classroom management as the ability to create and maintain a conducive, collaborative learning environment with and for students. This is clearly a definition that is simplistic, yet when unpacked it gives us an indication of the true complexity behind our daily work in the classroom—a complexity that is largely tacit in most teachers’ knowledge (Wright, 2005, p. 8), and which therefore requires reflection for us to effectively describe what we do in our classrooms (Farrell, 2008).

The ability to create emphasises the role of the teacher in setting up the classroom and how the teacher deals with what Wright (2005) calls the observables (p. 9) of space, time, learning and teaching activities, communication / interaction, atmosphere, and artefacts.

The ability to maintain infers a longer-term commitment to classroom management that requires consideration of Wright’s (2005) unobservables (p. 16). These include individual affective and cognitive domain factors; group factors; and wider social, cultural, and other influences. The affective domain is reflected most clearly in the participation and engagement of the students that