Teaching Philosophy

James S. May

My primary concern is that students advancing from the EAP program here at Valencia not only have the necessary academic skills to guarantee their success in college but also have confidence in their abilities to succeed. To meet this end, I believe that a number of obstacles need to be overcome. First, my non-native English speaking students need to acquire academic language skills that will allow them to compete with native English speaking students. Second, in addition to standard literacy, my students need to develop computer literacy so that they will be able to compete in the technology rich job environment of the twenty-first century. .Most importantly, I see it as my personal responsibility to modify their current behaviorally conditioned misconceptions about education, where college is seen as a means to an end, into a life long learning concept, where students enjoy and value learning for its own sake.

Given the diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds of my students and the ominous task of second language acquisition (SLA), my ability to guarantee the achievement of academic literacy for all of my students may see menacing to some. However, I value their diversity and see it as a tool to be used in their instruction. In addition, research in the field of SLA and my own personal teaching experience have shown me that a collaborative, student centered learning environment, which is rich in interaction and negotiation of meaning, leads to student success. If this approach calls for a break from the traditional syllabus structured learning environment, often described as, “It’s week two, so we must be working on verbs,” then so be it. I feel it is my responsibility to provide my students with a comfortable, safe learning environment where they can try out their second, or sometimes fifth, language without the burden of time constraints often caused by strict, syllabus based instruction.

I also view technology as the gateway to the future. Ten years ago academic literacy was the barrier between successful and unsuccessful employment opportunities. However, as we have entered the twenty-first century, computer literacy has begun to become an even greater barrier. I believe that it is essential for my students to acquire more than basic computer skills. In addition to basic office software, I believe it is necessary for my students to familiarize themselves with a variety of email and web based applications. Furthermore, they need to be able to search for information using this new technology, and they need to understand how to critically analyze and evaluate what they find.

Finally, I believe that restructuring student misconceptions about education is my primary task. Many students view college as a means to an end, “If I can just get through these classes and get my A.A. or my B.A., I can earn more money.” I view these misconceptions as a byproduct of a combination of years of behavioral conditioning in a materialistic society and social promotion through primary and secondary education. Students should value education for its own sake if they are to be true life long learners. I believe that teachers can change these misconceptions by creating learning environments that are fun, utilizing authentic tasks and materials, providing real life opportunities for students to demonstrate learning, and modeling an appreciation of life long learning.

I started teaching second language students abroad, in Mexico (1990-91) and in Korea (1996-97). In the 1998 academic school year, I started working with ESL students at the community college level (more specifically, Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville). After completing my doctoral course work at the University of Florida, my wife and I moved back to Orlando, and I have been teaching EAP here at Valencia ever since. Thinking back over the years I have been teaching, I can’t help but wonder who has learned more. I mean, I would like to think that I have given my students a lot more than they have given me, but I am not sure of the veracity of such a statement. I learned from the first male Korean student sharp shooting my grammar knowledge in class, thereby forcing me to learn more about grammar than any human should be subjected to. I have also learned from Generation 1.5 students who refuse to do work or participate in class, but who happily sit with me one-on-one in the lab for hours, discussing vocabulary and topics from class, thereby forcing me to re-evaluate my thoughts on assessment and student performance in light of the cultural, face saving displays of machismo demonstrated in the classroom environment. I guess, to sum up my teaching philosophy, to be a good teacher, one needs to appreciate, but more importantly, have a incessant hunger for learning.