Universidad Catlica de la Santsima Concepcin

Facultad de Educacin

English as a Foreign Language Methodology

ARGUMENTATIVE
ESSAY

Students Names: Nayareth Hernndez H.

Karen Utreras M.
Teachers Name: Roxana Correa P.

When we look up a definition for methodology, we can find that this concept has different
meaning according to Scrivener, Tamura, Van Manen and Brown who have created their
own concept depending on their perception and emphasis. However, there are some key
words that they match between each other. These authors agree that it aims to improve the
process of teaching and learning. Taking some aspects that they consider in their concepts
we propose that:
Methodology is the process of teaching process which implies a sequence of
activities to improve students learning process and also it facilitates teachers work.
Beside this, it helps students to encourage meaningful learning. To achieve this,
methodology has to do with what to teach, how to teach and the target of the course,
what requires an organization. (Hernndez & Utreras, 2014)
Every aspect has relevance because in the process of teaching teachers have to be aware of
different sort of unforeseen that may happen at the moment to teach, time and seating
arrangement, classroom management, types of activities among others. The purpose of this
essay is to explain why our concept is appropriate and also why we need to consider lesson
planning as an important part in order to improve the learning-teaching process.
We would like to state that our definition is appropriate because it takes into account
different relations of the didactic triangle which are the student, the teacher and the content.
Kansanen (1999, 1) explains " the core of subject didactics is outlined as the teacher's
relation to another relation, that between the student and the content. So we might dare to
say that the relationship between teacher and content is how to teach the content that we
need to teach using the appropriated method to improve our students learning process and
is this that we call methodology. Finally, we need to add that these three elements are not
isolated but are under political, cultural and social context as Kansanen (1999, 1) states

didactics always is connected with some context in the society, with some institution, and
it is here that a curriculum comes into the picture.
Furthermore, it contains the expression meaningful learning. Ausubel states meaning
happens when new information is taken into a person's existing cognitive structure and is
related to the previously learned content forming new connections between this new
information and the existing information(2014). So that, teachers need to know what to
teach (content) and how it should be relevant and useful for learners, why they will teach
that content and also they should ask themselves how this will help to their students.
According Van Manen the educator must be able to interpret and understand present
situation and experiences of the child and anticipate the moments when the child in fuller
self-responsibility can increasingly participate in the culture.
Our definition takes two important questions into account that methodology should
respond which are what to teach and how to teach. As we have to mention that what to
teach is given by the curriculum which is a social construction. It means teachers teach
content. So we can say that teacher must master the content. Tamura (2006, 169) explains
what to teach is the amount of knowledge, skills and habits that students have to obtain
within the process of learning the language. On the other hand, the questions how to teach
is teachers pedagogical skill. It means how the theory is put into practice. Tamura (2006)
states "in this case one can call to mind the principles upon which teaching of English is
based, the means, methods, fashion and tactics used in teaching in order to achieve the
required final completion (p-169). How to teach refers to all the elements, resources,
techniques, activities, planning lesson and others in order to make the teaching process into
meaningful learning process.

As we mentioned before a good teachers should master the content, but also good
teachers need to know how teach the content and teach to their students how to study. It
means a teacher needs to know how to organize a class, what sort of activities should
include in each lesson, how to management his/her time; so that, we can organize all these
aspects in our planning lesson. First of all, we have to clarify what a lesson plan is,
according to Jensen (n-d, 403) a lesson plan is an extremely useful tool that serves as a
combinations guide, resource, and historical document reflecting our teaching philosophy,
student population, textbooks, and most importantly, our goals for our students. To
Harmer (2005, 156) is a plan gives the lesson a framework, and overall shape.
Despite of that expertise teacher might believe that planning lessons are unnecessary
(Harmer,2005, p-156). One of the most important reasons is that they find planning as
waste of time.

Moreover, teachers usually believe that planning a class is only an

administrative part that they have to accomplish to Unidad tecnica Pedgogica. However,
lessons planning are fundamental part of teaching. When teachers plan they think beyond
the content and it is here where they could take relevant decisions in order to improve
language-teaching process.
Planning lesson can be successful and beneficial because it promotes students learning
process. According to Jensen (2005) when teachers plan lessons they have to considerer
backgrounds, interests, learning styles and the abilities of their students. These parts must
be taken into account to achieve the target of the course because when we are planning we
need to think of all our students not only in the good one. Also, teachers need to know
about their students learning styles in order to know how their students learn, we have to
clarify that a good teacher not only teaches the content but also teaches how to study it.

When teachers are planning they need to be aware of the relevance of classroom
management because it involved the context, and atmosphere where the teaching is
happening. Jensen (n-d, 405) a lesson plan is the lessons content: this includes
procedures or activities along with transition notes, as well as time management and class
management notes such as the students seating arrangement for different activities.
Classroom management is important at time to create a good lesson planning because
teachers have to make relevant decision about time, tone, stages of the class, class control,
seating arrangement, engagement, rapport, among others. Diamond expresses that
classroom management involves teachers being prepared for lessons, motivating students,
providing proper and effective discipline, making students feel comfortable, building
student self-esteem and designing constructive and entertaining lesson plans (2014). So
that, we would like to say that teachers that not pay attention to this, probably they are
going to teach in a disorganized classroom and probably our students might not learn. To
take into account classroom management when we are planning, it could prepare the set for
teaching learning process.
On the other hand, teachers can benefit from planning lesson because it improves the
way of teaching which gives a sort of guide. According to Harmer (2005, 156) a plan
gives the lesson a framework, and overall shape. Following Harmers idea lesson plan
gives to the teacher a sort of map to improve the teachers work in terms of organization.
Also, as Harmer states it could help teacher to remember they intention, if they forget
something and it could provide security to novel teachers. Nonetheless, Jensen (n-d, 403)
points out a good lesson plan guide but does not dictate why and how we teach. It is
necessary to clarify that teachers need to be flexible and creatively to deal with unforeseen

events. They should be prepared to change their planning lesson and understand that this is
not a recipe that they must follow.
Moreover, planning lesson improves teachers work because the teacher will be able to
take a look at previous lessons planning in order to have a register and not to repeat
activities that were not successful and reinforce students weaknesses. Harmer (2005) a
plan is a log of what has been taught. Also, he states (2005, 164) we need to plan
future lessons on the basis of what happened in previous classes A teacher needs a
register in order to know what could be improved to promote students learning process.
According to Harmer planning lesson gives the possibility to evaluate teachers
performance.
Considering the above, our concept of methodology is appropriate because it includes
all the aspects that a teacher should considerer at the moment to teach. They have to know
What to teach, How to teach and the aim of the course. These aspects were taken from
authors like Tamura (2006), Scrivener (2005), Harmer (2005), Kansanen (1999) , Van
Manen (1989) and Brown (2001) who created their own concept of methodology. Another
issue that we included in our definition was lesson planning because it has to be considered
in how to teach so that it has to do with didactics triangle which implies: the teacher, the
student and content. Every methodological practice should considerer these three important
points if teachers want to achieve a successful students learning process and to improve
their work. Planning lessons can improve learning and teaching process because it allows
the teacher to organize what he or she is going to teach, to cope different unforeseen and to
think about what he or she should enhance in order to promote students learning and to

recognize students learning styles. The last point is very important because if a teacher
takes it into account he or she will be able to promote a students meaningful learning.

References

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Diamons, G. (2014). Why Classroom Management is Important. Retrieved August 23,
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Gower et. al. (2005). Teaching Practice: A Handbook for teachers in training. Macmillan
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Harmer, J. (2005). How to teach English: Planning Lessons. Longman: Pearson Education.
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