Varying reasons of young learners’ problem behaviours according to novice ELT teachers

Authors

  • Mehmet Tunaz Erciyes University

Keywords:

Gender, novice teachers, problem behaviours, young learners

Abstract

This research is conducted to examine novice ELT teachers’ perspective on the possible motives behind young learners’ problem behaviours in English classes. The gender of ELT teachers have been also considered in order to investigate whether there is a difference between the perception of male and female teachers on the leading causes of problem behaviours in classroom. The adapted version of the questionnaire developed by Miller, Ferguson & Byrne (2000) were conducted with 15 male and 15 female novice teachers in their first year in teaching profession. The result of the study indicated that both male and female novice teachers have similar ideas about the causes of misbehaviour except for one point: (1) teachers’ rewards and punishments. Female teachers stated that teachers’ rewards and punishment might be the main motive for problem behaviours whereas male teachers disregard this factor as a crucial cause of misbehaviour. As for the other three factors, all the teachers agreed that (2) “adult behaviour” and (3) “curriculum demands on children” might increase the frequency of misbehaviour among young learners in English classes. (4) “Personality of the learner”, however, was found to be the most important reason behind problem behaviours. As the results revealed, most of the factors were explained similarly by both male and female teachers except for teachers’ rewards and punishments, a finding which shows that gender has little (if any) effect on novice teachers’ attribution for learner misbehaviour in EFL classes.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

Author Biography

Mehmet Tunaz, Erciyes University

ELT Instructor, Erciyes University, School of Foreign Languages

References

Altınel, Z. (2006). Student Misbehaviour In Efl Classes: Teachers' And Students' Perspectives. Unpublished MA thesis. Cukurova University, Adana, Turkey.

Bru, E., Stephens, P., and Torsheim, T. (2002). Students’ perceptions of class management and reports of their own misbehaviour. Journal of School Psychology, 40(4), 287-307.

Carless, D. (2002). Implementing task‐based learning with young learners. ELT journal, 56(4), 389-396.

Gibbs, S., & Gardiner, M. (2008). The structure of primary and secondary teachers’ attributions for pupils’ misbehaviour: a preliminary cross‐phase and cross‐cultural investigation. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs,8(2), 68-77.

Greenlee, A. R., & Ogletree, E. J. (1993). Teachers' Attitudes toward Student Discipline Problems and Classroom Management Strategies.

Harmer, J. (1983). The practice of English language teaching. London: Longman.

Houghton, S., Wheldall, K., & Merrett, F. (1988). Classroom behaviour problems which secondary school teachers say they find most troublesome.British Educational Research Journal, 14(3), 297-312.

Litz, D. R. (2005). Textbook evaluation and ELT management: A South Korean case study. Asian EFL journal, 48, 1-53.

Miller, A. (1995) ‘Teachers’ attributions of causality, control and responsibility in respect of difficult pupil behaviour and its successful management.’ Educational Psychology, 15, pp. 457–71.

Miller, A., Ferguson, E. & Byrne, I. (2000) ‘Pupils’ causal attributions for difficult classroom behaviour.’ British Journal of Educational Psychology, 70, pp. 85–96.

Özben, Ş. (2010). Teachers’ strategies to cope with student misbehavior.Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2(2), 587-594.

Rahimi, M., & Asadollahia, F. (2012). EFL teachers’ classroom management orientations: investigating the role of individual differences and contextual variables. Procedia-Social and behavioral sciences, 31, 43-48.

Sadık, F. (2008). İstenmeyen davranışlarla baş etme stratejilerinin öğretmen ve öğrenci görüşlerine göre incelenmesi. İlköğretim Online, 7(2).

Sugita McEown, M., & Takeuchi, O. (2014). Motivational strategies in EFL classrooms: how do teachers impact students' motivation?. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 8(1), 20-38.

Turanlı, A. S. (1999). Influence of teachers’ orientations to classroom management on their classroom behaviours, students’ responses to these behaviours, and learning environment in ELT classrooms. Unpublished MA Thesis, Middle East Technical University, Institute of Social Sciences, Ankara, Turkey.

Downloads

Published

2017-05-15

How to Cite

Tunaz, M. (2017). Varying reasons of young learners’ problem behaviours according to novice ELT teachers. Journal of Human Sciences, 14(2), 1703–1710. Retrieved from https://www.j-humansciences.com/ojs/index.php/IJHS/article/view/4459

Issue

Section

English Literature and Teaching