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English as a world language is becoming more and more important in our culture, thereby affecting the English classroom and its participants. The whole process of teaching English has been changing during the last decades and so have the students. Thus, teachers not only educate students what English is about and how it works, but also the usage of it and particularly communication skills. The role of the teacher depends to a large extent on the function he performs in different activities. Being an English teacher requests me to act in differerent roles. In addition, it is important for me to be able to switch between these roles appropriately and be aware of how to carry out the required role. To be honest, I may not be good at being a facilitator since this role requests teachers have extraordinary subject knowledge, what I need to do next therefore is to keep improving my own ability as well as seeking further development. The teachers play the role of controller when they are totally in charge of the class. They control not only what the students do, but when they speak and what language they use. Clearly the introduction of new language often involves the teacher in a controlling role, particularly at the accurate stage. It is important to realize, however, that this control is not necessarily the most effective role for the teacher to adopt. Indeed if he wishes the students to use language in any way, then control will have to be relaxed since if all the language used is determined by the teacher the student will never have the opportunity to learn properly. The teacher as controller, then, is useful during an accurate reproduction stage and in general during lockstep activities. But even during immediate creativity, for example, it is vital that this control should be relaxed to some degree and during communicative activities or the practice of receptive skills, the teacher as controller is wholly inappropriate. Perhaps the most important and difficult role the teacher has to play is that of organizer. The success of many activities depends on good organization and on the students knowing exactly what they are to do. A lot of time can be wasted if the teacher omits to give students vital information or issues conflicting and confusing instructions. The main aim of the teacher when organizing an activity is to tell the students what they are going to talk about (or write to read about), give clear instructions about what exactly their task is, get the activity going, and then organize feedback when it is over. This sounds remarkably easy, but can be disastrous if the teacher has not thought out exactly what he is going to say beforehand. Clearly a major part of a teacher’s job is to assess the student’s work, to see how well they are performing or how well they performed. A difference has to be made, however, between correcting and organizing feedback. During an accurate reproduction stage, where the teacher is totally in control, he will be correcting student’s error and mistake. His function is to show where incorrectness occurs and help the student to realize what has gone wrong and to put it right. Where students are involved in immediate creativity, or where they are doing a drill—type activity in pairs, the teacher may still correct, but such correction might be ‘gentle’. Gentle correction involves showing that incorrectness has occurred, but not making a big fuss about it. Being an English teacher requests me to act in differerent roles. In addition, it is important for me to be able to switch between these roles appropriately and be aware of how to carry out the required role. To be honest, I may not be good at being a facilitator since this role requests teachers have extraordinary subject knowledge, what I need to do next therefore is to keep improving my own ability as well as seeking further development. Reference Finocchiaro M., 1975. Myth and Reality: A Plea for A Broader View, in the art of 1ESOL: Selected Articles from the English Teaching Forum, Part One, Washington, D.C. Hosenfeld C., 1984. Cases Studies of Ninth Grade Readers. In J. C. Alderson and A. H. Urquhart (eds.). Reading in a Foreign Language. London: Longman. Rivers M. W. & Temperley M. S. 1978. A Practical Guide to the Teaching of English as a Second or Foreign Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Williams, R. 1986. “Top ten” principles for teaching reading. ELT Journal, 40(1), 42-45.
