language study
Letters to KOTESOL
By Dr. Dave Shaffer
If you have a question for Dr. Dave, please send an e-mail to gwangjunews@gmail.com letting us
know your question, student’s age and proficiency level
Dear Dr. Dave,
I have a student in my class who says she needs to
pass in order to carry on with her thesis, but honestly
she speaks very poorly and has little to no
conversation ability. She seems to understand only
about 10% of the questions I ask her, and talks in a
whispered voice that I, in turn, catch only about 10%
of.
Although I realize it is my responsibility to try and
reach her as a teacher, my ultimate question is:
“What are your feelings on passing students who
need the credit for a different major but obviously
can’t speak the language at all?”
-Degree factory
Dear Degree,
Your situation is not an uncommon one for an
instructor to face, especial at the tertiary level. I
obviously cannot tell you what to do in your specific
situation because of the lack of details, and
thankfully you are not asking me to. What you are
asking for are my general feelings on passing students
for low level work. Several things need to be
considered. First of all, was it made clear to the
student at the onset of the course what was
expected of the student in the course? And did that
student strive toward those goals? Second, I think that
degree of effort is important. In a skills course such as
English conversation, students often come into the
course with greatly varying language proficiency
levels. I do not think that the student who comes into
a course with the highest proficiency level and still
has the highest proficiency level and the end without
making much of an effort at improving is the best
student, and therefore should not get the best grade.
For me, effort toward improvement of proficiency
level is the most important factor to consider in
assigning final course grades. Thirdly, take into
consideration the value system of the people within
the educational system that you are associated with.
Recognize what the community expects of an
educator within that value system and act
accordingly. Trying to implement your own value
system that you may have brought with you from the
other side of the globe is not going to yield positive
40 Gwangju News January 2012
effects if your personal value system clashes with that
of the community. If you cannot accept the
community’s value system, try to stretch its
boundaries from within. If you cannot conscientiously
do that, you need to find a value system to work in
that is more compatible with your own.
Dr. Dave
Dear Dr. Dave,
What is your opinion on broaching taboo subjects in
adult conversation classes? I find my students
respond better to a bit of controversy, and when the
conversation gets heated is when they really strain to
express themselves the most in English.
-The 1st amendment
Dear First,
Taboo subjects are by definition subjects that are not
to be talked about. Therefore, if either the teacher or
the students think of a subject as being taboo, it
should not be discussed in the classroom. I do not think
that Korean students especially enjoy controversy; in
fact, I think they go out of their way more than others
to avoid it. What students everywhere respond well to
are topics that are of interest to them. What the EFL
teacher needs to do is find out what the topics are
that most interest the students in their classes and
construct lessons around these topics – whether they
be topics like “tigers” for elementary school boys or
“cougars” for university guys.
Dr. Dave
“Dr. Dave” is Dr. David Shaffer, current
President of the Gwangju-Jeonnam Chapter
of Korea TESOL (KOTESOL). On behalf of
the Chapter, he invites you to participate in
the teacher development workshops at their
monthly meetings. Dr. Shaffer is a professor
of English at Chosun University, where he
has taught, graduate, undergraduate, and
postgraduate courses for many years. He
has recently received the first-ever
KOTESOL Lifetime Achievement Award.
Facebook: Gwangju-Jeonnam KOTESOL
Email: gwangju_kotesol@yahoo.com
www.koreatesol.org/GwangjuJeonnam