Teaching as a Coordinator Between Students and Texts

【Abstract】Reading development is a process which involves listening intently to the texts， taking ownership of the ideas and externalizing the input. This paper aims to identify reading teachers roles in different instructional settings for an attempt to help reading teachers understand their roles and implement their tasks better.

【Key words】reading development； teachers roles； instructional settings

【作者簡介】劉穎（1978-），女，漢族，湖北荊州人，湖南師范大學外國語學院，碩士，講師，研究方向：翻譯理論與實踐，二語習得，英語教學法。

Facilitator Talk in EAP Reading Classes by Kate Wilson is a pedagogy-oriented article， shedding new light on teachers role in teaching reading from a sociocultural perspective. Basing on Vygotskys （1978） views on learning as intermental and intramental interaction， this article presents reading development as a process which involves “l(fā)istening intently to the texts， taking ownership of the ideas and externalizing the input”（Wilson， 2008）. This process encourages teachers to reinvent their roles as a facilitator to set up a learning-teaching environment which can engage students in direct dialogue with texts. In order to achieve this aim， this article also identifies several features of facilitator talk， including “economical teacher talk， unobtrusive class management， re-redirecting students attention to the text， increasing prospectiveness and sensitive feedback” （Wilson， 2008） to help reading teachers understand and implement this task better.

Studies revolving around teachers roles in different instructional settings have been carried out substantially so far and the roles that teachers should assume seem to vary in line with the development of language acquisition theories. At one time， teachers may take the role of navigators， knowers， masters or supporters to fulfill a variety of responsibilities for a variety of purposes. In recent years， a growing concern in sociocultural pedagogical theory on dialogic learning （Wilson， 2008） has called on reading teachers to reconsider their current roles in an increasingly collaborative classroom setting. Learning to read occurs not only in teacher-student discourse but also in student-student discourse. Therefore this sociocultural interpretation of teachers role as facilitators takes a shift from the conventional pattern of teacher talk to a more cooperation-based pattern of teaching. This view on teachers roles corresponds to what we have learned about motivational theories. Van Lier （2004） has ever proposed that language learning emerges from participation in linguistic practices. Teachers roles in classroom settings are therefore to set up a student-friendly environment which motivates students to engage in learning rather than to purely transmit knowledge. As reading is a highly individual activity， students engagement plays a significant role in influencing teaching effectiveness. At present， with growing recognition of sociocultural theories in teaching reading， teachers may have to adapt their roles to fit in a more collaborative classroom setting which can offer ample opportunities for students to have a direct discourse with texts. As a result， reading teachers may work as a coordinator between students and texts to exploit this environment to its full advantage.

In the practical reading teaching contexts， reading teachers may often find themselves get involved in a variety of instructional tasks： sometimes to initiate students reading activities； sometimes to guide students in discussions； sometimes to elaborate on linguistic knowledge； sometimes to give feedback on students performance. Those tasks neither take up a fixed position in teaching practices nor occur in a self-evident sequence， the employment of which largely depends on students engagement and participation in learning. Meanwhile， teaching to read may also involve the practice of a variety of reading focuses： intensive reading， extensive reading or speed reading. In this case， the class management may either be easy to get lost in a mess or still be teacher-dominated. How to keep the class in an atmosphere both instructive and student-oriented is often a plight I have to be faced with.

This article offers a new perspective to look at the process of teaching reading in a collaborative teacher-learner relationship. Simply put， reading is a way to extract meaning from texts and then form an understanding of the meaning in readers mind. Bakhtin（1994） also proposes that meaning does not exist on the paper， but in the minds of the readers. Words serve as a mediator for ideas and are often reconstructed by the readers. So the learning of reading can be interpreted as a process which consists of 3 phases： first， readers try to draw out information or meaning from the texts； second， readers internalize the information and form an understanding which corresponds to their highly personal features； third， readers externalize what they have learned and engage themselves in a further dialogue with the texts. Generally speaking， learning of reading can be thought as a learner-text interaction. This interaction does not deprive teachers of any responsibility in the reading practices， on the contrary， its highly necessary for reading teachers to work as coordinators between students and texts for this interaction would be as complex and difficult as you can imagine.

To be a coordinator， reading teachers have to negotiate and coordinate the relationship between students and texts whenever there occurs any obstacle that will block the development of the interaction. For example， in the first phase of extracting meaning from texts， teachers may primarily help students select an appropriate text which matches their language proficiency and caters for their interests to establish contact with. In order to achieve this， teachers had better provide their students with a list of suitable texts covering a wide range of topics. When the contact is set up， students will begin to make meaning from the texts with all their prior knowledge in language， reading strategies and all the other sociocultural aspects. During this process， teachers had better not make themselves invisible for an attempt to maintain student-centered environment because students insufficient knowledge is very likely to interrupt their discourse with texts. Therefore in order to pave the way for student-text interaction， teachers， as coordinators， are supposed to observe along the process and support with explicit explanation when necessary. Such an intervention should be made short and pertinent by using succinct instruction or it could be done in a way that teachers give referential questions to help students infer from the context. Neither of these will lead the class to the conventional teacher-dominated pattern. Then in the next phase when students are trying to internalize the meaning and form an understanding， teachers could play the role of a coordinator by organizing discussions which provides opportunities for student-student talk and also student-teacher talk. Students participation and engagement will make positive contribution to their reading development. In the final phase to externalize the meaning， students have to compare， analyze， critique and reflect on what they have read. Teachers， as coordinators not authorities， are not supposed to offer a feedback with all the students mistakes listed on； rather， teachers should guide students to reconsider or reconstruct their ideas by giving a plausible solution. To conclude， in a cooperation-based classroom setting， teachers may try every effort to enhance communication between students and the texts that they are working on for this could be the most effective way to foster students reading abilities.

As Wilson （2008） puts， “we cant teach students to read； rather， it is students who learn to read. Our job as teachers， then， is to create conditions which foster learning”. Teaching as a coordinator between students and texts may contribute a lot to establishing a collaborative and student-friendly learning environment which can boost students to participate actively in reading. A coordinator role for reading teachers doesnt mean there is only one responsibility to assume， on the contrary， it means teachers need flexibility to move between roles and to use hybrid patterns of discourse to channel and stimulate student learning （ Kamberelis， 2001）.

References：

[1]Bahktin，M.M.The dialogic imagination：Four essays. In P. Morris （Ed.），The bakhtin reader[J].London：Edward Arnold，1994.

[2]Kamberelis， G.Producing heteroglossic classroom （micro） cultures through hybrid discourse practice[J].Linguistics and Education，2001，12（1）：85-125.

[3]Van Lier，L.The ecology and semiotics of language learning：A sociocultural perspective[J].Amsterdam：Kluwer Academic Publishing， 2004.

[4]Vygotsky，L.Mind in society：The development of higher psychological processes[M].Cambridge，MA：Harvard University Press，1978.

[5]Wilson，K.Facilitator talk in EAP reading classes[J].ELT Journal， 2008，62（4）：366-374.