In most instances, behaviour management is taught through a smorgasbord

approach a little bit of William Glasser, a little bit of Thomas Gordon, a little bit of
Rudolf Dreikurs, a little bit of Lee Canter. The teachers are told to find an approach
that works for them.
Anita E. Woolfolk (1993)

1.0 INTRODUCTION
There are many theories that are available for the managing of a primary ESL
classroom. Out of a number of theories, we are going to critically review three of
those theories which are Theories of Democratic Teaching by Rudolf Dreikurs,
Theories of Congruent Communication by Haim Ginott and Theories of Assertive
Tactics by Lee Canter & Marlene Canter.

1.0 Theories of Democratic Teaching by Rudolf Dreikurs
The first theory which will be reviewed is the Theories of Democratic Teaching by
Rudolf Dreikurs. This theory states that all behaviour, including misbehaviour is, is
orderly, purposeful, and directed toward achieving social recognition (Wolfgang,
1995). The misbehaviour to attain social recognition includes attention gaining,
power and control, revenge and helplessness. Rudolf Dreikurs (1995), suggests that
logical consequences is the best possible way in rectifying the students
misbehaviour problems to bring upon changes in their behaviour instead of
punishment. Logical consequence is exposing the students to the result of their
behaviour.
Personally, I feel that logical consequence is very effective rather than punishment in
addressing the students behaviour problems. using logical consequences will
enable them to think wisely on the consequences that they may face due to their
certain conducts. This will prevent them from indulging in any form of misbehaviours
that might have a negative effect on them.
I found out that this theory have its own strengths and weaknesses in managing the
students misbehaviour. First of all, the theories of democratic teaching gives
opportunities for students to practice democratic principles in school so that later
they will be able to learn on how to contribute to a society as a whole. Next, this
theory clearly defines how the teacher can help the students who are misbehaving at
different levels. This gives teachers a chance to equip themselves with all the
necessary knowledge and skills in handling those students effectively.
Reinforcement and encouragement are both used in tis theory to motivate the
students.
However, the only drawback of this theory is that no punishment shall be carried out
on any student. Dreikurs believes that in a democratic society and a democratic
classroom, students must be responsible for how they behave (Wolfgang, 1995).
Therefore, punishments are to be substituted by logical consequences. What I feel is
that when punishment is not used at all for misbehaviour that is uncontrollable, the
classroom might be in chaos and even further severe misbehaviour may be
portrayed by the students because there is no punishment to scare them off from
such misbehaviour.
This theory is very practical in todays classroom especially in a country like
Malaysia. Eventhough this theory takes a lot of effort from the teachers side, it is still
very effective in making the students to realize their scope of problem and change
for the better.

2.0 Theories of Congruent Communication by Haim Ginott
The next is Theories of Congruent Communication by Haim Ginott which
emphasizes on the communication in the classroom. Haim Ginott is well known for
his books that address relationships between adults and children (Burden, 2010).
The theory proposed by Ginott is mainly on how adults can build the self-concepts of
children through interaction by avoiding attacks and instead focusing on the situation
or actions. Through this article, I found out that what Ginott meant by congruent
communication is maintaining a secure, humanitarian and productive classroom with
appropriate praise.
In this article, there are numerous strategies and approaches outlined for this theory
which can be practiced by teachers while taking into consideration of protecting and
building students self-esteem. The approaches are deliver sane messages,
express anger appropriately, invite cooperation, accept and acknowledge student
feelings, avoid labelling the student, use direction as a means of correction, avoid
harmful questions, accept students comments, do not use sarcasm, avoid hurried
help, and be simple when dealing with minor mishaps. Personally, I feel that these
approaches are very strategic and well-devised in handling students behaviour.
The positive side of this theory is that the students mistakes and misbehaviours are
rectified in a way where the students self-esteem is not to be diminished by any
means. According to Burden (2010), this theory can avoid teachers from insulting
and intimidating their students but expressing an attitude of helpfulness and
acceptance while showing increased sensitivity to their needs and desires. This
gives the students a sense of security in the teachers classroom and confidence to
do the right thing. However, the drawbacks of this theory are that it consumes time in
attending to individual students misbehaviour during the lesson. Besides, it has low
teacher classroom control where the misbehaviour of the students tends to be over
limit if the teacher is way too lenient in managing the classroom.
3.0 Theories of Assertive Tactics by Lee Canter
The another theory that I found would be very useful in the Malaysian ESL
classroom is Theories of Assertive Tactics by Lee Canter & Marlene Canter. This
theory was developed by Lee and Marlene Canter when they realized that teachers
were not trained to deal with student behaviour and discovered that best teachers
are assertive as they teach students how to behave. This theory emphasizes that the
key to effectively deal students behaviour is not negative but positive consequences.
All these while, I had the preconceived notion that this theory is all about dealing with
students negative behaviour. However, this article broadened my knowledge that
this theory takes into consideration on the positive attitude too.
In this theory, there are several strategies used by the teacher in managing the
students behaviour. They establish clear rules for the classroom, they
communicated those rules to the students, and they taught the students how to
follow them (Lee Canter). Praise is used for every positive attitude. Through the
article, I found that teachers only use firm and consistent negative reinforcement only
as a last resort when the students break the rules.
There are a number of strengths and weaknesses in the Theory of Assertive Tactics.
The pros are, with a definite classroom plan and rules, teachers can reduce the need
to pause the lesson to correct a misbehaving student. This will save the time during
the teaching and learning process. It also helps the teacher to be consistent in
rectifying the students behaviour. I found out that in punishing students, at times
teachers respond differently based on the students culture, race and socioeconomic
backgrounds. Therefore, this theory suggests that having rules and also effective
discipline is applied to is applied equally to each and every student. On contrary, I
personally feel the weakness of the system is that the students may feel humiliated
by the punishment given by the teacher such as writing the misbehaving students
names on the board during the lesson.
Theories of Assertive Tactics can be very useful in the ESL classroom management.
First and foremost, when the teachers set out the rules clearly, the students know
what to expect from the teacher when they misbehave and saves time in handling
the interrupting students. However, as stated in this article, if teacher gives too many
chances to the misbehaving student, it is a waste of time and energy and therefore
teachers can give one positive repetition to reinforce the right behaviour and straight
away to negative reinforcement if the unwanted behaviour is repeated. Its stated in
the article that, Teachers who useincrease their students time-on-task.
Therefore it is very worthwhile in the Malaysian ESL classroom where teachers have
particular syllabus to be covered in a confined period of time. According to the article
by Lee Canter in (Woolfolk, 1993), Assertive Discipline is not a cure-all. This
indicates that teachers can use this as the primary tool in identifying with
misbehaviour but still apply other methods such as counselling.
4.0 CONCLUSION
After an in-depth reading of these theories, I feel that now I do possess better
knowledge and mentally prepared to face misbehaviour portrayed by the students
and the way to handle them. A well mothered and fathered child is easy to handle by
the teacher but not those students who are not. These are the students who do not
get enough love and care. Therefore, it is the teachers responsibility to bring upon a
positive behaviour and learning in those students and there stands my responsibility
as a teacher.


Bibliography

Burden, P. R. (2010). Classroom Management. Kansas State University: John Wiley
& Sons, Inc.
Wolfgang, C. H. (1995). Solving Discipline Problems. United States of America: Allyn
& Bacon.
Woolfolk, A. E. (1993). Readings & Cases in Educational Psychology. United States
of America: Allyn & Bacon.