IELTS Research Reports

Wayne Sawyer and Michael Singhquestioning becomes a problem in terms of not responding appropriately to pupil questionsand answers:their ability to actually catch the message, and then to respond in what is considered inAustralia to be a timely manner. That means not a long pause time or using fillers whichindicate you have received the message but will need a few more seconds or so to thinkabout how you are going to respond.A big issue, therefore, is listening comprehension - something that teachers have to do well, reflectingElder’s finding that ‘good listening skills are crucial for effective performance in teacher educationcourses’ (1993b, p 83). Writing and speaking and questions-to-be-asked can mostly be prepared inadvance, but listening and responding cannot and this creates problems. Language, of course, in all itscomplexity is ultimately inseparable from the acculturation issues:They’re all inter-connected. The more confident international student-teachers feel,especially in their speaking skills, the more potential there is for them to feel comfortableenough to question what’s going on in their heads and what’s going on around them. It’s asense of relationship, connectedness or community that leads them to ask for more help; theyhave to feel they’re in a place where can relax and just try.Academics also identified the clash between the sorts of learning experiences that Australian schoolstudents are likely to have or expect to have - and the willingness of the student to see this as part oftheir learning to be a teacher:There is the attitude of the person who’s coming in - how open minded they are to a differentsystem or whether they’re coming to reproduce their own system. From time to time thereare international students who are so deeply entrenched in their own cultural context, whohave very strong values around transmissive teaching or students’ listening and not askingquestions. These then become extra challenges for international students who are alsotrying to ensure they’re proficient in the English language as well… Open mindedness isan essential characteristic of a teacher… so they can see learning and teaching differently.International students come in with a particular view that they may or may not be aware of.They need to start to question whether that view works in Australia, and what it means tobe in a classroom as a teacher in Australia. Allowing one to question one’s own views andallowing others to question these means using their teacher education program to experimentwith other ideas.In this situation, students’ problems can manifest themselves in an overwhelming concern withclassroom management, since many LBOTE students perceive their own schooling as having beencomposed of mainly passive classrooms in which pupils are not active or outspoken. A perceived needto earn respect, rather than have it bestowed automatically, can lead to feelings of inadequacy and thenthey just ‘get used to’ Australian classrooms when practicum ends. On the other hand, some academicssaw this as largely no different to the problems faced by local students, while others felt that pupilswere generally tolerant and willing to work with a teacher who was trying to build rapport.As many argued, the whole issue of LBOTE students engaging in field-based experiences does raisethe responsibility of the university program itself to address concerns about clashes of – in this case -pedagogical culture:112 www.ielts.org