Classroom Affective Environment

1-     Affective Filter.

    Krashen (1983) considers the teacher’s talk as an input that can be an intake for the students. He also states that the affective filter controls the quantity of input. Learners with high motivation  and self-confidence and with low-anxiety have low filters and, thereby, obtain and convert plenty of input into intake. By contrast, learners with low motivation, little self-confidence and high anxiety have high filters and, hence, receive little input. Creating an affective environment is of paramount importance in the teaching /learning process. The lower the affective filter, the more intake will take place, and vice versa. Indeed, the use of humor and effective warm-ups are two ways of lowering students’ affective filter.

2. Warm-up  

          The warm-up is an opening activity which is basically meant to motivate the students and to lead them up to what follows. Adolescents as well as children appreciate well some sort of ice-breaking activities. However, teachers should be selective and purposeful in these activities. The latter should also meet the level of students. Peter Renner (1993) gives a piece of advice to teachers : « select your activity (ice breaking) with care. An exercise that works in one gorup may bomb in the next » (p.15). Therefore, teachers’ responsibility to accumulate warm-up activities and try to adapt them for their classroom environment.

3. Use of humor

   

        one aspect of class control and management, according to Fontana, is the use of humour in the classroom. To lower students’ inhibition, the teacher should be humourous. But far from being a clown, teachers should try to help students settled in, create a sense of security, and establish a lively atmosphere. During my teaching practice, I have worked hard on this point. I have never missed an opportunity without joking with my students. That has given them an appetite for learning. One of my students has written me the following note as feedback :

Monsieur le professeur :

« je veux vous dire que vous êtes un excellent professeur et surtout gentil professeur et amusant. En plus je préfère que tu m’enseignes toute la vie. Avec vous nous avons passé de très bons moments. Vous m’avez aimé la langue anglaise.

Merci, merci beaucoup. » (third year ECO student)

Indeed, humour is the strong chain which may relate a teacher ot his students. Joining them in their general laughter whenever suitable is an emblem of  security and group affiliation. Fontana states that « a sense of humour often ranks second only to fairness in child’s list of good teacher qualities »(p.330).

4. teachers’ attitude towards pupils’ errors

One of the most important problems in second language pedagogy is the matter of how and when to correct the errors of pupils. People with a long teaching experience have certainly encountered situations where they have difficulty locating the exact error committed by a student in an essay or in an oral communication. This implies that error is not always something that can be easily spotted. The major problem, however, is how to respond to students’ errors.

Broadly speaking the correction procedure  consists of two types. These are self correction and peer correction. These techniques give opportunities to students to interact with their peers so as to undermine the psychological barrier that blocks effective learning. Students should know that mistakes are not embarrassing but natural steps towards a good control of language. Teachers’ correction should be the last resort. It is worth mentioning that correction of errors depends on whether an activity is accuracy-based or fluency-based. If it is accuracy-based, language errors should be tactfully corrected. But if the activity is fluency-based, errors can be tolerated so long as the message gets across.