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Hottest English teaching method

By March 12, 2013April 9th, 201374 Comments3 min read16,635 views
Hottest English teaching method. Carrie Chen

Carrie Chen’s successful chalk-and-talk method

In my previous post, I discussed the celebrity status of star teachers in Taiwan. Although their good looks and personality do play a key role in a star teacher’s popularity, this is only part of the story. These star teachers also possess the knowledge, skills and abilities to teach students in a way that helps them reach their goals. Interestingly, they usually do not employ the much-lauded Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach when they teach nor do they follow the monolingual English-Only Immersion Method. These teachers prefer to use more traditional and local approaches, such as grammar-translation and/or teacher-centered methods. This is due to the fact that the purpose of language teaching in cram schools is different.

In the case of star teachers, they are teaching in buxiban that are focused on assisting students with standardized exam preparation. The star teachers know that more traditional approaches to teaching are the best methods for helping students to pass standardized tests. Clearly, good teaching is context-dependent. It is impossible to separate English teaching methodology from the contexts in which it operates.

I will use the example of a highly successful star teacher, Carrie Chen, to demonstrate how a star teacher teaches their students. Let’s take for example Carrie’s approach to teaching English vocabulary.  Armed with only a blackboard and chalk, Carrie relies on her confidence, enthusiasm and teaching skills to motivate her students.

She begins her class (in the video 05:20) by saying the supposedly longest word in the dictionary, ‘pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.’ She then writes it down quickly on the board to demonstrate her vocabulary expertise. This way she contends that English becomes fun and easy if students study with her saying and they won’t forget the content she teaches them.

Carrie employs a highly traditional and nowadays unconventional method of English teaching, i.e. no teaching aids and teacher centered. She uses Mandarin Chinese as the medium of instruction and the main focus of teaching is employing techniques (association, cognates, comparison …) to help students memorize English vocabulary. Using a combination of her witty humor, off-color jokes and personal anecdotes to make English vocabulary memorable rather than just being a bunch of syllables and sounds strung together.

For example, she makes fun of foreigners who do not know how to pronounce ‘謝謝 – xie xie (thank you)’ and ‘不謝 – bu xie (you are welcome)” in Mandarin Chinese correctly, instead they might say ‘shit shit (xie xie)’ and ‘bullshit (bu xie)’ to Taiwanese people. An off-color joke she used in the video described above is her strategy to memorize the word ‘phenomenon:’ she explains that ‘phe’ means a female elephant or a fat girl. If a girl is fat, ‘no’ ‘men’ are interested in being ‘on’ her. Hence an easy way to memorize the spelling of ‘phenomeon’ as ‘phe no men on.’

During a speech at a National Taiwan University, Carrie listed some keys to being a successful buxiban English teacher including: a smart and neat appearance, good command of English, and devotion and enthusiasm. She continues by emphasizing the need for encouraging students and remaining positive at all the times and incorporating humor and active learning techniques to motivate and sustain students interest.

The test-oriented method used in buxiban is not exotic or fancy. The secret lies in the way the star teachers conducts the class. The celebrity status of star teachers and their popularity does seem to be skin deep. Without their looks these teachers would not be able to pull in the students into the buxiban. Still, it is interesting to note, that although a lot of their popularity is premised on their good looks and charisma, many of these teachers do in fact know how to teach English very well. If they don’t teach well, their looks will not be enough to keep them their job and star status.

The quality of their teaching methods is reflected in the high scores their students achieve on the standardized tests given for admission into high schools or universities.

Jackie Chang

Author Jackie Chang

Jackie Chang is an assistant professor in the English Department at National Pintung University of Education in Pintung, Taiwan. She holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics from the University of Sydney, where she worked under the supervision of Ingrid Piller. Before becoming an academic, Jackie gained extensive experience in the English language teaching industry in Taiwan.

More posts by Jackie Chang

Join the discussion 74 Comments

  • KyKy says:

    This article highlights a seemingly obvious fact; regardless of the classroom or subject, the teacher is still the most integral part of the learning process, or the star of the show as the article alludes to. Even without the use of modern and often useful teaching aids and tools, their sheer enthusiasm and communication ability, in combination with their clever use of humour in their curriculum, allows them to effectively create a memorable learning experience for the students. This is particularly important for passing standardised exams, as the most efficient way of studying for this format of exam is by knowledge recall

  • Ngoc Hiep Nguyen says:

    This story once again reminds me of the idea that if it would be the best way to teach students for the purpose of their learning scores or for the practically applied purposes. This thinking may lead to different methods of teaching. The way applied by the star teachers with celebrity status in Taiwan is known for its effectiveness because of the students’ high scores, on the one hand, can meet the practical demands from the learners in a particular educational context, may not be highly appreciated in the other situations in which the scores are not among the learners’ top priorities.
    I acknowledge that the traditional and local methods that these celebrity teachers use are both interesting and effective in their own ways and the other methods have their own possibilities to be effective in other circumstances.

  • Xinyue Ji says:

    As a Chinese, I believe that the situation the author points out is common and important in Chinese educational teaching. Most Chinese students are used to have teacher-oriented classes. Moreover, in China, there are many goal-oriented examinations like College Entrance Examination, CET4 and so on, and these tests require teachers and students concentrate on the technique, as a result, most teachers may use a humorous function to teach and assure that the learners can effectively remember the learning points.

  • N says:

    This is a good example of how to effectively teach. I believe that teaching approach can be changed or adapted due to those situation and facilities. As in the article, a star teacher, Carrie Chen, demonstrated online via video clips. She just used herself and old-school way of teaching which are teacher-centered. However, the way she teaches and speaks can catch students attention and help them to easily remember difficult words. As the result, students can get high score because of her teaching style. As a student, studying such as vocabulary, grammar or writing is sound very boring, but in term of teacher it is our job to make lessons interesting.

  • Nidhi says:

    Teaching entails various aspects. I strongly believe that the output of student’s performance depends on teaching method. Merely looks can not make a teacher star teacher for that one needs to make an impression of good teaching. I still can remember in my school time my math teacher was too stern and the way of teaching was traditional that I could never enjoy this subject but once Mrs. Anita used innovative ways of teaching (a new teacher) I found my self confident enough to understand in one go.

  • GgUnited says:

    13. The tips that Carrie used to teach English to their students reminds me of my own story in which I once studied English vocabularies by remembering somehow similar pronounced words or phrases in Vietnamese. These tips became so popular at that time that it also appeared in TV programs. However, not all the people share the same interest in the method in which they are taught languages. To the best of my knowledge, this should only be a small part of the learning that can help students engaged in the lesson.

  • Nguyen Thien Duyen Ngo says:

    In my case, I am easily attracted by the appearances of someone else and pay more attention to that one. In the case of study, the teachers with good appearances also easily catch my attention. However, it is just the first impression, after that the teaching methodologies are the most important factors. I can see the ways of communication of the teacher in the video clip is very interesting and worth considering. At the end of the article, it is said about the good results in the standardized exams because of this teaching methodologies, it makes me want to think again about this teaching methodology. Because the education of China quite similar to Vietnam, they judge students’ ability based on the results of the standardized examinations which mainly about memorizing and not really practical.

  • v says:

    I believe that if learners living in the nation where English considers as a foreign language, and it is critical to get a higher review on English test to enter great colleges, the conventional teaching impact on students. The motivations of teaching English are that to influence students to have amended grammar knowledge and in addition maintain an extensive variety of vocabulary. As the instructor has encouraged the students how to remember words adequately, they could have turned into a star educator. Despite the fact that this instructing method probably won’t be appropriate for speaking skill, it is a proficient method to enhance the students’ grammar and vocabulary abilities.

  • tting says:

    A teaching method comprises the principles and methods used by teachers to enable student learning. These strategies are determined partly on the subject matter to be taught and partly by the nature of the learner. For a particular teaching method to be appropriate and efficient, it has to be in relation with the characteristic of the learner and the type of learning it is supposed to bring about. The students’ language level and characteristics should be taken into account in the teaching method.

  • Kim says:

    I could not agree more to the paper that good looks and personality are not the only part a teacher should possess. There are few other more important components that have a straightforward impact on the teaching and learning process such as teaching method. In Islamic school realm, we believe that teacher’s personality and the materials are vital, but the way the teacher delivers the lesson is the most prominent. Nevertheless, it is important that I or perhaps other English teachers should keep in mind that the teaching method has to be based on the context. This, I think, is what teachers, particularly in Indonesia, should develop. Notwithstanding that they acquire a good pedagogy of the language they teach, but usually some teachers of Arabic and English, that I have witnessed, tend to apply the same ways to some different contexts.
    While it is true that those teachers in Taiwan might have used a good method in their language teaching which is reflected by the students’ achievement in the standardized test, other factors like the students’ motivation, aptitude and the out of class supportive learning environment may also have taken a big part of the success.

  • Tamanna Habib says:

    I found this article will be very helpful in my country context. During my learning period, I experienced some classes were really boring as the teachers used to teach in only traditional methods with no technological assistance, no computers, videos, multimedia projectors. I observed the teaching method in Australia school. Here, teachers always try to engage students in different activities through fun. As a result, students are interested in going to class and attend schools. These teachers try to transmit their ideas in examples, anecdotes, comparisons and fun jokes. In the present day, my country teachers try to be efficient and Western-alike in their teaching methods. However, they need proper training and materials to be a star teacher. A star teacher is that person who can bring out the most efficiency in students’ learning and achieve their goals. But he also has to aware of the fact that, he should be flexible according to context and situation.

  • Rochelle says:

    After reading this article and watching the clip, I find that it is explicitly true that a good “star” teacher needs to have the right attitude and looks to attract the students’ attention. As a saying goes, “you are what you eat”, it goes the same for the law of attraction as well where the students’ progress in learning, knowledge and attitude are influenced greatly from their source (the teacher). If I had a teacher who is moody and grumpy in class, no one would be interested in listening to the class, as compared to someone opposite.

  • Shaher Mohammed Shaher Asiri says:

    Hello everyone,
    This article reminds me about how I learnt English. According to my experience, When I started learning English language as a my major in the university, all lectures used the Grammar Translation Method. Most of lectures have PHD in linguistics and they know that methodology might not be a useful technique to teach students a foreign language. I realized later that this GTM , is not effective and it did not teach me how to communicate in the target language. In future, I think, I will utilize CLT method which can meet students needs.

  • yym says:

    As the article mentioned, teachers have played an important role in teaching. The teacher has a good command of English and is enthusiastic and lively. As a result, the classroom atmosphere is positively influenced. Teachers stress and encourage students to maintain a positive attitude while combining humor and positive learning skills to stimulate and maintain students’interest. Carrie is good at using the fascinating method to make the knowledge become alive, which means class atmosphere will become more relaxing.

  • Fern says:

    I agree with the statement that only good looks and tidy appearances do not breed star teachers nor do they get high performances from their students. The situation described in the blog varies according to its contexts. Mostly institutional constraints such as instruction in the target language, adhering to the syllabus contents provide less freedom for teachers to experiment with these different teaching methods as they are branded as traditional. However, the content knowledge and an engaging manner of teaching could not only reap higher results as but increase the motivation of the students. Use of the learners’ first language in the class room has been gaining more prominence recently where student engagement is enhanced and thus performance is improved.Therefore , such methods as Grammar translation method cannot be easily discarded as traditional when it works positively in the second language classroom.

  • Natalie says:

    I find it very interesting that the popularity of a teacher is somewhat influenced by appearance. In terms of first impressions, I understand that a neat appearance implies an organised and orderly approach to life and therefore perhaps many students subconsciously infer that this would also apply to class content, class management and ultimately increase their chances of academic success. Or is it because, in such as highly populated country, Taiwan (or China) an incomprehensible level of competition exists, in which in many cases the easier way to categorise or judge people may be based on their appearance? This can be seen in the SBS programme, ‘If You Are the One’ where future partners are selected based predominantly on appearance, as well as financial security followed by similar social status loyalty to family.

  • Luis TV says:

    I was very surprised by this type of teaching practice for some reasons. Firstly, it considers a traditional teaching method which constrains English merely to memory skills and exam preparation. Second, the use of video recording does not fulfill any other purpose than just showing a chalk-blackboard teaching performance, even though this mode could have been exploited differently. In addition, the teacher-centered approach serves its purpose: the teacher is a ‘star’ that students just need to follow. However, what it strikes me the most is the method’s success. Despite any odds, students achieve high scores on standardized evaluation, thus there is no need for any improvement or revision of the approach. This acceptance of fictional progress is remarkably shocking. Moreover, it could be debatable the use of Mandarin as a medium for instruction, but the persistence on test-oriented teaching, in spite of all the research done refuting it, shows that in some parts of the world this still is the rule of thumb.

  • Hasnahana Hasnahana says:

    This article has made me so nostalgic and reminded me about one of my grade 11-12 teachers. The teacher whom I am talking about, he was not that good looking nor handsome but he had some magical strategies to attract his students. His teaching styles and interactions with students were so unique and he was so friendly to us. We were eagerly waiting for his classes and had full attention to the class. we loved the way he delivered his message and made the things so clearer. Actually the teachers techniques and their interactions with students and the strategies they follow according to the students needs, make the teachers star among the students, no matter they are good looking or not.

  • Yan Yan says:

    I have been exposed to the ‘English teaching method’ mentioned in the article before and tried to learn English in this way. When I first came into contact with this method, I could quickly grasp the memory of words. This method also has certain limitations, because this method will misinterpret the original meaning of these English according to the teacher’s understanding, which is not conducive to students to carry out more in-depth study.

  • Karly says:

    The article is a great illustration of the differences in teaching methods that exist around the world. Although, many teachings nowadays and indeed, the purpose of students studying is ultimately to pass an exam or test, the focus on cramming information for a particular task is effective for that purpose but for that purpose only. Quality teaching will also have similar results but also allow individuals to have a comprehensive and recallable understanding of the topics learnt in the classroom and ultimately lead to better teaching outcomes.

  • Nana says:

    Creativity and enthusiasm are two very important aspects in teaching which are related to students’ engagement and motivation. so, the way the teacher performs her lesson was very interesting because it calls students attention. The technique she employed to teach vocabulary seems to be very significant, in my opinion, learning vocabulary through establishing relations between words is one of the best way of learning; even if the relation is established mixing words from mother language or other languages. The translating method of teaching languages has been hardly criticised, but the reality is that this method is still used in many teaching scenarios and it have given positive results in many cases. The results of a teaching method also depend on the teacher’s strategy to teach, the context and some other factors. In my opinion, the translating method is useful, specially in lower levels because it gives confidence to students and facilitates learner’s understanding.

  • xqx says:

    I do not necessarily agree with the “star” teachers in this article. They might be good instructors who can guide students to get high marks or admission of high school or university, however, in this way of teaching, students just memorize English word by rote without any other involvement of interests or purposes of communication. I am not saying that it is not good to aim and get a high mark in the exam, but since now that a certain amount of time will be spent on learning, why not use the time more wisely and acquire a useful skill.
    It seems that these “star” teachers have already overlooked the original intention of learning a language is.

  • Lai Ng says:

    This article reflects how important the identity of teachers. Their images, executive suits, cross hand gestures, smart look glasses, have already built confidence among students, regardless their genuine professional knowledge, teaching strategies and communication,etc. It reminds me the tutor stars in Hong Kong. Ten years ago, you could see their ads on the bus, at the train station and everywhere. I can say their popularity is proportional to the economy and student population of the society. They are presented as professional, smart and closely connected to the examination authority. Their style of teaching mixed with punchlines or teen jokes were so popular at that time. They became part of the memory for few generations.

  • AzPc says:

    It is true that this is one of the ways for teaching students who want to pass the exam in some countries. For example, when I was in primary school, the teacher taught me how to memorize the word “business”, she said that “there are one goose and two worms in the bus and talking, so they are doing business on the bus”. yes, it did help me to remember the vocabulary. However, if the students want to improve their oral English, I don’t think this is an effective way to learn. Therefore, it depends on the purpose of students.

  • Cami says:

    I watched part of the video and was quite curious about how well the teacher would actually be able to speak English. I agreed with the post by Dirk (2014) that just passing English exams but not being able to use the language to communicate is really flawed. Several of my Japanese friends know so much English vocabulary and if I struggle to understand something in Japanese they can conjure up the magic unknown word in a few quick spins of the brain cogs but they all struggle to converse in English and still feel anxious about talking to foreigners. It is tragic that they invest so much time in “learning English” but are still unable to communicate. It is unfortunate that so many systems of English education do not empower their students to speak. Possibly Latin and French played a similar function to English in Asian, in English speaking societies in the past?

  • zhongliang lin says:

    The question of the ‘hottest English teaching method’ is it is not the effective English teaching method. I used to be taught in that way when I was in buxiban in China. It could be useful for students to pass the school’s English tests, but has nothing to do in improving students’ real English ability. The children’s parents might be happy with the higher score after the buxiban education, but actually, it is not the right way to learn a new language.

  • Gab says:

    Since I was in my bachelor’s degree in teacher education up until now that I am a teacher, I strongly believe that the best “instructional material” is the teacher him/herself. This post strikes me in many ways. First, as mentioned, the teacher teaches with her bare self (without any colourful and creative inst’l mat’ls). Second, despite the introduction and widespread use of “innovative” strategies/methods in teaching, she still uses the traditional ones. Finally, as she mentioned, the key to effective teaching are devotion and enthusiasm. There is NO one BEST method or strategy in teaching. I believe that the teachers know their students better and every student has a unique way of learning. May it be traditional or innovative strategies in teaching, it is the teachers’ task to choose which strategy is effective for them.

  • Salam Moussa Oghli says:

    It is interesting how these celebrity teachers can teach without a direct contact or interaction with students. As a teacher, students’ prior knowledge, interests, contributions, and eliciting have always played a major if not an essential role. This teaching method reminds me of my school education in Syria especially in years 9 and 12 which are crucial school years and their final public test results determine the students’ future. There were numerous famous teachers who had their own teaching business and they offered promising results and full marks. Some parents invested as much as a million Syrian pound (before 2010 you could buy a house with a million Syrian pound in Syria) to ensure their child becomes a medical school student or an engineer.

  • Sirin says:

    Interesting article to read, as I have never heard of star teachers. It is striking that such teacher-centered approaches to teaching show good results when it comes to students’ achievement in standardized tests. Personally, I am not a fan of standardized assessments, as I feel like more time is spent on test preparation than actual learning. It is also dubious whether these students develop sufficient oral and interactive skills.

  • Kara says:

    The way this charisma English teacher from Taiwan, Carrie Chen, seems quite interesting and attractive. Including myself, it is common in Asian countries to have English classes based on teaching strategies to pass standardized tests. I have realized that it is important for teachers to be able to handle the class with unique and motivative teaching skills and equip themselves with a great knowledge of English. I would like to watch her teaching classes if it’s possible to do so, but I couldn’t find the resource on the Internet… Is there any resource related to her English lecture or classes?

  • Adia says:

    It reminds me of my junior and high school time when my teachers taught me with traditional method and teacher-centred approach. These method and approach were used because we also had to learn English to prepare ourselves for the national exam since English has been one of compulsory subjects in national school-leaving examination. Therefore, very often we found English classes boring and difficult, especially when our teachers could not deliver the material in interesting and creative ways. However, we could find English interesting when we learned it in a course institute since the tutors used different approach, which was functional one. Besides, in the course they used many teaching aids and resources that made learning English so much fun. At that time, I wondered why the English that’s learned in school was different from the English that’s learned out of school (course institute) until I figured out that they both have different purposes. Nonetheless, in my opinion, it is definitely legitimate to use certain methodology and approach to achieve certain purposes. Especially in this case, the star teacher is very good at teaching and helping students to achieve their learning purpose and she can turn the traditional method into interesting process of learning for her students and gain the success in her teaching that is shown by her students’ achievement. However, we should note that as teacher we should be aware of the use of certain words or expressions in teaching students. Even though those words may be helpful for the students to understand and memorize their learning material, still it’s improper to use some inappropriate words in academic settings.

  • J says:

    I think that if students who live in the country where English is a foreign language, and it is important to get a higher grade on English test to enter good universities, the traditional teaching method is effective for the learners. This is because the purposes of teaching English are that to make learners have correct grammar knowledge as well as memorise a wide range of vocabulary. As the teacher has taught the students how to remember words effectively, she could have become a star teacher. Even though this teaching method might not be suitable for speaking skills, it is an efficient way to improve the learners’ grammar and vocabulary skills.

  • Luv says:

    I have not heard about the star teachers before. It is interesting how they have achieve their goals in their lessons in which the main one is to perform better in examinations. I like the idea of making classes enjoyable and letting students use many resources to understand and use language for their own purposes. However, this reflects a big area in language teaching that still needs to be improved and reconsidered which is the role of tests and international examinations in language education. Most importantly, thinking that language teaching should be based on passing tests goes against and limits the nature of learning a new language.

  • gab88 says:

    I don’t necessarily agree with this method of teaching in its entirety as it goes against everything I have learnt and done as a teacher but I do see the benefit of such a method in a monolingual class teaching to an exam.
    The enthusiasm she shows as well as her knowledge transcends. No matter what teaching method people use, knowledge and enthusiasm are important elements in any classroom.
    As a teacher, I used to try and put myself in my students’ shoes and figure out the most interesting way to teach a topic whether it was grammar, vocabulary, writing etc. This enabled me to make my classes fun, while learning took place. Students always responded well.

  • Ary says:

    There are many questions for teachers/educators to ask themselves (and probably the involved parties) when it comes to deciding the approach, either for a single lesson or a whole course work. However, the fact that teaching context (including locality, purposes, relevance, usefulness, etc.) can never be omitted, when considering the so-called “teaching methodologies”, could not be more apparent, as the blogpost has pointed out. For a more personal perspective, I do believe that the standard of a good teacher, and good lessons, could be determined among the spectrum created by whether English is an end, or just a mere tool serving whatever purposes the learners are trying to achieve. Nevertheless, whatever the standard we choose on whatever level of the spectrum, arbitrariness should never be let prevail.

  • Au says:

    When I was in schools, my English teacher also employed those conventional method such as grammar translation, direct method to teach the English which we need for the examination. Some teachers possess inborn sense of humor so they can make the traditional classroom more interesting. Hence, we can remember what they taught longer. but they cannot make joke every single lesson. However, the target of these classes and the English outcome does not change much. It is all for the purpose of passing and achieving high in exam. Since I entered university, the target of learning English has changed to communication, thus I found English more practical to learn.

  • Mengyao APPL941 says:

    Actually, it is hard to say these star teachers’ teaching methods cannot help students English learning, although most of these star teachers tend to utilize the traditional and teacher-centered methods. But most of them still can help students pass the Engish standardize examination with high grades through the skillful and strategic teaching skills. These star teachers have good looks and personality to attract their parents to put their children in the buxiban, and their celebrity status could make parents believe in their proficiency. They obviously know how to teach English, but they are not authorities.

  • Yuki says:

    It is completely accurate when saying that “If they don’t teach well, their looks will not be enough to keep their job and star status”. Then, there is nothing more wonderful when this teacher has her star status and knowledge in teaching. In fact, students are attracted by teachers’ appearance including eye-contacts, facial expressions, postures and body language because they have the power of transforming the signs into languages. Especially, the teacher is good at connecting her jokes with the content of the lesson so that students can easily understand and deeply remember knowledge better rather than learning theory. Like this teacher, I myself also try to apply the real stories to the lesson.

  • Chunja says:

    I somehow can relate the teaching method in the blog to my teaching context. In some cases, we may not be able to use technology in our teaching, so as a teacher, we must be flexible in out teaching. We have to know how to convey the lesson interestingly with the traditional method. From my own experience, in fact, there are many teachers who are even more successful in their class using traditional method. The key behind that success should be creativity in designing activities, flexibility in assigning tasks and enthusiasm in giving instruction.
    I also agree that students are sometimes taught mainly for the purpose of passing the test, however, this does not only exert negative impacts on students. In fact, I myself find out that while students practice exercises for the test, they may also really learn and can use this for their communication as well such as useful structures, new vocabularies. As a language teacher, we dont ask students to cram for exam, but in fact they are expected to learn, memorize and practice. I still believe we should be wise and flexible using suitable teaching methodologies with different types of students in different contexts.

  • Farzaneh Morovati says:

    Hello,

    This article reminds me the time I used to teach in an institute in my home country. This article is really inspiring and interesting for me as well. There are so many facilities that assist the teacher to perform better during the instructions, but teacher finally plays the most important role in operationalizing all stuff together and making meanings. It is really interesting that teacher relies on her confidence, knowledge, and personal techniques, since it shows that teacher should have high levels of innate skills, enthusiasm, and dedication to make progressions without teaching aids. It demonstrates that teacher is so courageous and experienced. The teacher can be a good role model of independency and self-reliance. I think the teaching aids used by many teachers are also perfect mediators, but sometimes they bring too much dependency and dominantly define the teaching process without teacher’s direct involvement. Generally, I think an ideal class would be the one which has the integration of both teaching aids and teacher’s skills in presenting the new concepts.

    Thank you
    Farzaneh Morovati

  • The Curious Learner says:

    The concept of star tutors, linked with the ability to teach as well as the influence of ‘physical appearance’ in capturing learners’ attention is rather fascinating. Although the approach is not of communicative language teaching (CLT), rather the unconventional traditional approach, seems engaging, interesting and memorable. Given that this context is of a preparatory course for passing standardised tests, humour and relatable examples given are indeed great ways to help students memorize vocabularies (and pronunciation), especially those that involve long and complex words. The teacher’s energy and excitement that does not falter throughout the lesson is quite contagious, positively expressing that she enjoys teaching – of which in turn would provide the confidence in students to follow her lead.

    On a side- note, off- colour jokes used may not be suitable for some teaching contexts (this is in my opinion, as I understand that others may beg to differ). I find that they may be rather controversial, or inappropriate, especially when intended for a broader audience. Personally, I feel that off- colour humour may not be suitable in an educational context, as learning should be relatable, fun and equally accepting for all students – regardless of their background, personality or ‘appearance’. Also, this may not work in classrooms of students among cultures that are easily offended, or do not appreciate off-colour jokes (from a personal experience :P). The incorporation of (safe) humour into lessons however, is definitely a great technique to keep students engaged and motivated, as well as the ‘chalk-and-talk’ method demonstrated here.

    Regards.
    Have a nice day 🙂

  • Arnon says:

    According to this article it shows one of a good teaching language method that helps students to memorise vocabulary and engage them in class because it is fun. It can solve students needs to pass a test, after that students should employ this initiation for the next step to learn language in different skills. For my experience, although I can remember vocabs, I still cannot communicate with other due to lack of chance to speak. Anywhere, this is a great method to engage students to memorise vocabs.

  • Preeya says:

    In this article, the Star tutor shows an English teacher personality enthusiastically convey information to students by using body language, tone of voice, and eye-contact with students even English language is not her mother tongue language. She can motivate students direct the conversation, and talk about things they’re interested in. Teacher creativity try to find fun ways to clarify meaning of the words which can help the students keep the process fresh and entertaining. Therefore, the teacher can be as a key factor affecting learning.

  • Wendie LIU says:

    After reading this article watching the teaching video, I am pretty impressed by the active and enthusiastic personality of this English teacher, if I were one of her students, probably I would be immersed into the classroom. I totally agree with her advanced and unique teaching methodologies in enabling the students to do better in acquiring English language. We all used to be students when we were in the schools, we have to admit the irreplaceable role of the English teacher in our studies, and for some students, the popularity of the English teacher could be a key element for the students to be interested in learning English. Good command of English, devotion and enthusiasm, smart and neat appearance are undoubtedly the crucial factors for the English teacher to be highly welcomed among the students and parents. Besides, from my point of view, close contact with the parents about the performance of students in and out of school, showing care and concern for the students’ daily lives, being updated with the teaching methodologies and contents, keep relentlessly learning are also very significant simultaneously.

  • Hot tea says:

    This phenomenon of star teachers is completely new and interesting for me as it comes from a completely different context to the one in which I was taught English. I think it is important to highlight how these teachers manage to engage students in their context and maintain their motivation (which is essential in learning). As written in the post “good teaching is context-dependent”, however I personally think that the constant search of a good rapport with students should be relevant regardless of the context. This is possibly the element that make these teachers stand out.

  • Van Le says:

    I found this article very relevant to my teaching context. I felt guilty now and then just because I did not use much of English-only policy or method in my classes, sometimes code switching is a better choice. I also experienced some classes during my schooling time that I found really engaging even though the teachers used only traditional methods, without much of technology assistance, just chalk and blackboard- no computers, videos, or as much fun stuff like teaching nowadays. I just love the way my those teachers with profound knowledge transmitted their ideas in examples, anecdotes, comparisons and fun jokes. We always feel like we need to change to something new, more efficient and Western-alike educational models; however, now reading this I do realize that in different contexts and situations, a good teachers will need to be flexible in applying any teaching methods with passion and understanding about their students to help them bring out the most in their learning and achieve their goals. After all, that is the thing that every teacher need to keep in the back of their minds.

  • Ann says:

    This particular blog post by Jackie Chang on Star Teachers’ popularity is very interesting topic and it has proven its’ success. According to my understanding there are many stars from my own country, join to politics in order to gain more money but not heard about teaching. However, I have experienced students prefer young, beautiful and stylish teachers in their learning process.
    Although this approach do not use current communicative method, but interestingly proven improvement in second language teaching and learning from grammar translation method and teacher centred class room method. They are buxiban teachers who help learners to achieve expected competencies in academic subjects.
    I wish if other starts who have knowledge and skill also can join to this language teaching learning process !

  • Orpheus says:

    After reading this article and watching the Youtube video, I acknowledge that it is of importance for every teacher to learn to apply appropriate language teaching methods which best fit their own teaching contexts. Therefore, they can achieve the best out of their methods to facilitate the language teaching-learning process. Besides, although it is true that a neat and smart appearance could help a teacher to draw students’ attention and make them engage more in activities, it is the teachers’ good ability to teach English is the most contributing factor leading to the success in their careers.

  • Siyi Wu says:

    It is really true. China has lots of “star teachers”. Some famous singers or actors love to be a teacher. And obviously, they can attract students easily. However, the abilities of teachers are always important. Some star teachers can help students in their language but some not. So it is always a controversial topic for Chinese people. But like I said, there are still some teacher who are really good at teaching and they actually can help students a lot.

  • Naoya says:

    It is very intriguing for me to get to know the case that even traditional English teaching methods can accomplish students’ high academic outcomes with quality teachers. As this article says, teachers play a significantly important role in students English learning although teachers’ appearance is described as a good quality as teacher here. However, I am wondering if their students can also attain high oral performance in English in such a teaching method, which has afflicted so many Japanese students’ attainment of communication skills in English.

  • Thet says:

    It is helpful to know the hottest English teaching method for those trying to be good teachers of English in different contexts. It is also fascinating to know the role of the appearance and personality of a teacher in a fun and effective teaching and learning process. The common features of “a successful buxiban English teacher” with the methods and techniques the teacher uses described in the article are useful hands on practices for novice teachers of English to employ in teaching as well as for experienced teachers to do self-reflection. In my opinion, it can be said that building a good rapport between the teacher and the students is also a basic step to be a star teacher who can create a dynamic and effective classroom environment.

  • student says:

    The phenomenon of ‘star teachers’ is not unique to Taiwan. Here in Australia, we have our very own ‘celebrity teacher’, Eddie Woo. Eddie is a young maths teacher from Sydney who uploads videos of his maths classes on his youtube channel “Wootube”. Eddie began posting his lessons online so that a seriously ill student in his class could keep up with their work. Eddie’s clear explanations and humble, enthusiastic demeanour caught the attention of the Australian public, and he was named Australia’s Local Hero 2018. Eddie’s a great example of how to teach meaningfully and compassionately.

    https://misterwootube.com

  • Sunny says:

    Because of the development of the technological advances, such as the revolution of the personal computer, telecommunication and various World Wide Web, everyone have opportunities to become a ‘star’ in a particular field.
    In China, their is a web named Weibo which is the same with Twitter and Facebook. There are many ordinary people who became famous because of this web. The same with this artical, there are also many star teachers. For example, when I learning IELTS, I joined an online course and the teacher is really famous in teaching IELTS since he has millions of followers on his homepage. And I found this teaching method is not bad and pretty interesting. Teachers can teach students from different parts and through some instant communication APP, we can communicate and it is really proficiency. And after that experience, I also hope I can teach in that way.
    Individuals’ daily lives have already integrated with new technologies, and thanks these technologies which provide people more choices as well as opportunities.

  • Yang says:

    The “star” tutors in this article, they don’t actually understand the in-depth of English very well, but they know how to use the more effective way in their English teaching, which is to connect the English words with the specific contexts or interesting translations both in Chinese and English. They active the learning environment as making friend and being close with the students, update the new information and utilise it into English teaching which students can understand and use from the daily life. This teaching method, to some extent can reduce students’ anxiety, and to learn more motivated and effective in class. Therefore, students can achieve high scores in their texts and become more confident in English learning.

  • Anas says:

    The main focus of this article, the teacher, specifically a super-star status teacher is inspiring for me. Chang’s statement ‘Clearly, good teaching is context-dependent. It is impossible to separate English teaching methodology from the contexts in which it operates’. Syllabus content is one thing but what makes it comes to life is the teacher. Without it, even 30-minute class can seem like a 3-hour class. If I look back to my past experiences as a student, I may not remember much of the content that was taught to me but I do remember the teachers. The more memorable the teachers, the more I remember what they have taught. Regardless of the star teachers methods, and yes, the ugly truth is, good looks do matter, these teachers are more than capable and very proficient in English. They not only have the brain and beauty, but they also have a very objective on why they teach a particular topic, in this case for students to pass certain exams. The word ‘phenomenon’ brought back memories when I was attending academic English classes in preparation for my Master’s program. That word seemed to be a favourite word among the Chinese students and I remembered the teacher asking the students to STOP using it as none of them used the word in the right context.

  • Tanaka says:

    Such star teachers are not uncommon in Japan and they are regarded as a charismatic English teacher if they make so many students pass the entrance exam in a well-known, difficult university. They use Japanese as a medium to teach English. Still, like this teacher in the article, pedagogical methods used by impressive teachers are unconventional. Unlike common cram school teachers, who tend to focus on rote-learning, their pedagogical approaches are unique and very engaging students’ interests with simple, but pertinent explanations. Some teachers use many methods of reading out loud, while others explain the core meaning of linguistic features without drawing on memorization. As long as their methods fit into the teaching context and at the same tine engage students with interests in learning English, language use is not a big deal.

  • Nasser says:

    The role of attire in student learning could be positive either implicitly or explicitly. A study by Craige and Savage (2015) reveals that business students’ perception of a formally dressed instructor is mainly positive. They relate this to the teacher’s expertise and professionalism that, in turn, could affect their attendance and attention as well as their test scores positively.
    It can be drawn that while the course content, the teacher’s knowledge and motivation are the key components of learning in Taiwan, other factors such as teacher appearance could facilitate student learning and engagement.
    To support the latter, the significance of the cultural context where learning takes place should not be undermined. In my tertiary education in Tehran, there was a subject taught by a neatly dressed and good looking lecturer in a public university whose teaching quality as known by most students was mediocre. Surprisingly, she had a very good reputation among students, and most of them could pass the tests with high grades in the male-dominated academic teaching context.

  • Haley says:

    There is a case to be made for different teaching methods, depending on the outcome the student needs and cultural factors. In situations like this, this method of teaching may well be the best for the purpose. It would also most likely be a methodology the students are familiar and comfortable with from their educational system.

    My experience teaching with communicative methods to students in parts of the world where they are not used to such interaction with the teachers is that it can often make the students uncomfortable. So there is something to be said for more traditional methods in different contexts.

    For the purpose of teaching to the test these children need to pass, the method employed by these star teachers would seem appropriate. It is unlikely to teach the students how to communicate and speak well, but that is also not necessarily their current goal.

  • Pegah Marandi says:

    Dear all,

    Teaching and context are intertwined as also was mentioned above that some teachers prefer to utilise traditional and local approaches than the new teaching methods because of the specific context. This is observable in Iran also, where teachers still teach based on traditional and conventional system for students are situated within such contexts. Hence, teaching methods seem to be based on the context and how well a teacher can convey all the required information. Despite the fact that technology, internet, good resources, and many post-post modern facilities can facilitate and initiate the learning process, teacher’s knowledge and the the ways/ methods she chooses to teach is of vital importance.

    With regards,
    Pegah

  • Mark says:

    I was having a conversation with some teachers and fellow education and health-care professionals the other week, and a common point of frustration was that emphasis on teaching to pass a test that other comments here have mentioned. Not just in language learning, but in all subjects. Instead of actual learning for their future, or for communication, or joy. I’d be very interested in investigating how well the different methods prepare students for tests and communication with others, how good the cross-over is. As I understand the article, the methods used by these star teachers are primarily for teaching to pass a standardized examination. I would imagine however that there is still some benefit, some improvement in communication, even if it isn’t the most effective method for it, and if so how much?

  • Piiigah (kamali) says:

    In Iran, English learning mainly happens outside of school and students will attend English institutes to learn it. English teachers usually become role-models for students because they do not look like typical school teachers and they give students more freedom because marking and results in English classes are not of critical importance. However, this freedom and fun don’t mean that teachers don’t take English seriously. Nowadays, these institutes are well equipped with the latest technologies and facilities to achieve good results. And teachers’ responsibilities are much higher to the equivalent of their knowledge with the needs of students in an interesting way. The most important factor to approach teaching in this way is the desire and passion that the teachers have for what they are doing.

  • Thuy Linh Nguyen says:

    In Vietnam, especially students aged from 9 to 16, English teachers’ main purpose is to help their students to pass standardized exams. The higher scores students get, the more popular teachers are. As teachers have to base on students’ needs and contexts to design materials and apply teaching methodologies, teachers in cram schools or those assisting students with their exam preparation should find best methods to make learning not only effective but also interesting, inspiring and motivating.

  • Li says:

    This is a really interesting article. After watching Carrie Chen’s successful chalk-and-talk method, I understand that English teaching approach cannot be separated from the contexts in which it operates. Also, if teachers can practice meaningful and interesting teaching strategies, even the teaching approach is too traditional rather than using advanced technology in the English class, they can have an effective teaching lesson. For example, in this video, with witty humor, off-color jokes, and personal anecdotes, Carrie Chen has successfully engaged students in this memorization of vocabulary but she didn’t use any other external materials.

  • Dirk Westerduin says:

    The question is: does learning English solely for test purposes make sense? English, like any other language, is a communication tool. If the only goal is: passing a test, then English is not used, but abused. The English teaching system in Taiwan needs an overhaul, from elementary school to university. The English tests need a major overhaul as well. Exams need to meet reality, i.e. the way we use the language. Of course this is related to a variety of cultures. But we can create useful parametres. The education system as it is in Taiwan right now, is horrific.

    Though I am a foreigner, I admit that many foreigners in Taiwan do not know how to teach. This is idiotic, but created by Taiwan itself. The only thing you need in many cases is: being a native speaker of English and having any bachelor’s degree. Of course many youngsters from the Western world see Taiwan as a hen hao opportunity for an extended back pack vacation then.

    However, do Taiwanese English teachers have better teaching skills? At my university they use 100% Chinese at the Applied English Language department. Further, idiotic situations like an English teaching contest completely in Chinese are considered normal. This is a malfunction in the system as well.

    Anyhow, I am happy that I found this website. Still reading your dissertation.

    Dirk Westerduin, lecturer of English in Taiwan

  • Grace Chang says:

    Thank you very much for a series of posts, Jackie!
    As shown in your posts, the success of star teachers in cram schools, especially for high school students, relies on teaching tips of memorizing English words rather than teaching English communicative competence. I think this phenomenon also reflects some other aspects in a larger picture.
    1. It shows the linguistic environment in Taiwan, where English is not operating as a communicative tool in daily life; thus, for a student, English is often merely a school subject and the major task for them is to pass tests.
    2. English acts more like a gatekeeping mechanism at many educational and employment transitions in Taiwan. Therefore, the form of examinations in English shapes students’ learning techniques and their choice of learning resources. For example, when they are taking speaking tests, they might instead look for teachers of native speakers.
    3. The attribution of cram schools is not only educational but also entertaining since cram schools also belong to service industry. Therefore, students might find it more enjoyable having a good-looking, good-manner, and amiable teacher in these after-hours cram schools after a full day in class. And it would be very exciting to meet the scandal figure!

  • Huw Jarvis says:

    What an interesting and thought provoking post. A number of years ago a Thai colleague and I did some work on CLT and argued for a context-based approach – this may be of interest to readers

  • Li Jia says:

    Jackie, thanks for your wonderful post! The star teachers in Taiwan remind me of a famous training school, probably the most popular one in China in terms of the number of students enrolled and the amount of salary teachers hold (the CEO is said to be the richest teacher in China). It’s called “New Oriental School (NOS)”. It’s the only English buxiban I’ve ever attended in order to improve my performance in GRE (general record examination). Reading your post, I find there are many similarities between teachers from NOS and female stars in Taiwan. The class was also teacher-centred, no modern teaching aids except chalk and blackboard and also Chinese as the instruction medium without using English immersion teaching style. There are also some differences from the star teachers in Taiwan. When I went to Beijing to improve my performance of GRE in NOS, it was in 1998 and the school was just established for 5 years , all of the teachers were males and those male teachers were equipped with talents in their special sense of humour relating English knowledge to Chinese classical figures and works so as to reduce students’ anxiety of memorizing tricky words, and understanding complicated literature theories. Clearly the sense of humour makes teachers both in Taiwan and Beijing popular among students and I think there must be some differences in the way teachers of different genders construct their humour. What are those humorous resources that male and female teachers quote and are there any different choices between males and females or is the teaching humour neutral instead of gender-related? I’d very much like to know more from your future post or your kind reply Jackie.

    • Jackie Chang says:

      Hi, Li Jia! I found your comments comparing the teachers in China to the star teachers in Taiwan really interesting and enjoyed you sharing your experiences with me. As for gender and different types of humor, I think you do have an excellent point. Unfortunately I can’t think of any comparisons off-hand, but when I come across any related information I’ll be sure to send it your way. For my next post, I am thinking about something related to teaching in language schools. I look forward to seeing what you think.

  • ICAL TEFL says:

    Very traditional methods! I wonder how their students compare in their spoken English to students who have learned in a more progressive and modern manner?

    • Jackie Chang says:

      Thank you for your comment! Yes, the method is very traditional. However, as noted in the post, the purpose of the buxiban is to assist students pass standardized test and not to speak proficiently. Taiwanese students that want to focus on speaking proficiency will study English at language schools where different teaching methods are employed and geared towards conversation, fluency and pronunciation.

  • Rosemary Kuwahata says:

    The example about ‘phenomenon’ has reminded me of an example of a similar type of imprinting that I encountered in Japan for the English expression ‘Long, long ago’, which admittedly should not be very difficult to learn or remember. It involves the speaker pretending to be an old man stroking his chin downwards and gazing into the distance while saying “Long, long ago….” The Japanese word for ‘chin’ is ‘ago’, and when accompanied by a picture of a man with a rather long chin it is quite memorable. I have also seen a book full of similar quirky ways to remember English phrases, but do not know how effective such a method would be when used on the scale of an entire book. For the purpose of passing exams it might be somewhat effective as a tool for rote learning and memorisation of random words and expressions because of the fun factor, but depending upon the seriousness of the student, in real communication situations this approach has the potential to cause embarrassment, confusion and misleading lexical and phonological associations to students. Hopefully, as they become more accomplished and move onto higher levels they will be able to stop themselves laughing out loud at inappropriate moments when using such words as “phenomenon” that they have learned in this way, but I hope they continue to laugh inwardly and appreciate the desperate methods that their old cram school teachers employed.

    • Jackie Chang says:

      Thanks, Rosemary! I liked your story. My Japanese is a little rusty, but I did get the expression and thought it was a good way to remember “Long long ago.” As you pointed out there is definitely a difference in learning language for a test and learning it for communication. Thanks for the insight!

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