Sarath Samaranayake's Official Blog: A language classroom with many facets

What is it a classroom? If someone asks you this question, the picture that may paint in your mind is a place where a group of students engages in learning a subject or subject with the help of a teacher. This is not a definition for a classroom but an idea or concept of this nature might strike in your mind. However, if the question stated above is referred to a scholar, his/he answer may be totally different from the one I have just mentioned above. Cambridge Advanced Learner’s dictionary (2005) defines a classroom as “a room in a school or college where groups of students are taught” Anyway, the definition for the classroom is not crucial in this discussion because it is not the definition that matters but the process that actually happens inside the classroom is vital in terms of teaching and learning.

My focus in this discussion is on a language classroom because it has undergone a number of changes from what it used to be a few decades ago. Gaies (1980) has noted, the classroom is the crucible- the place where teachers and learners come together and language learning, we hope, happens. It happens, when it happens, as a result of the reactions among the elements that go into the crucible- the teachers and the learners. As indicated by Gaies, the classroom is an important place where one meets real-life teachers in real-life teaching situations. Therefore, in order to gain an insightful understanding of what goes on inside an L2 classroom, classroom observation seems critical. Wajnryh (1992) asserts that “there is a lot to observe: teaching behavior and learning behavior, the pattern of interaction, different learning styles, concentration spans, patterns of group dynamics” (p. 8). It is for this purpose classroom observation and evaluation of learning and teaching procedure which is carried out by teachers and learners in the classroom becomes important.

Recently I wanted to observe one of my classes I teach in order to investigate what adult students really do when they are allowed to do their activities as they wish. On this particular day, the students had to present their role-plays for the final examination in their course. I first told them that they could leave the class once they finished their presentation. Since the class consisted of a lot of students, even classroom arrangements for their role-plays were difficult. Therefore, they had to present their respective performance by standing. While the students started their presentations, I placed a portable video camera on the teacher’s table and pressed the record button using the remote controller of the camera, and left it focused on the class. From time to time, I moved it to every corner of the classroom including the presenters. After 10 minutes, I switched off the video recording and the students also did not bother about the camera instead they continued their activities.

I then uploaded the video from the camera to my computer and carefully watched the video which contained a number of activities that they had done while in the class. Some of the activities such as writing, planning an activity, reading, discussing with peers, presenting role-plays, pair work, and practicing conversation are related to academic type. Meanwhile, I observed that one female student was taking photos of her face using her mobile phone. She was so engrossed with what she was doing that she forgot she was in the class while another male student began to play a game on his mobile phone (Please watch the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DejZfevg0Bs)

However, it can be said that the classroom is a community so one cannot expect only academic activities to occur in it. Therefore, given the view that the classroom is a community, I believe that it should cater for students’ personal and psychological needs provided that they do not cause problems that can affect the smooth flow of the classroom activities. However, it is expected that students should take maximum use out of the opportunities they are provided in the class to improve their proficiency in the target language because once they leave the class; it is impossible for most of the students to get an opportunity to study or use English in social contexts since English is not widely used for communicative purposes.