IN EFL CLASSES IN R. OF MACEDONIA
Bisera Kostadinovska-Stojcevska
“St. Kliment Ohridski” University – Bitola, Vasko Karangelevski, 7000 Bitola, Macedonia k_bisera@yahoo.com Uniwersytet Pedagogiczny w Krakowie. DOI 10.24917/9788394156893.17
teaching in the country strive to improve the educational process, in order to equip our educational institutions with quality staff.
From the earliest times, the meaning of the school is to convey some knowledge to the students. Traditionally, the teacher is the one who is in the center of attention, whose role is dominant in the classroom. Much of the person’s life is spent in educational institu-tions. There, one acquires basic, as well as extended knowledge, builds its character and prepares its future. The teacher is often called a “second parent” because of his influence on the student’s opinions and abilities. The teacher has the final saying and leaves no place for discussion. The students are passive listeners and are dependent on the teacher even with the smallest assigned assignment.
But with the new techniques and approaches in education, the focus is placed on the stu-dent itself as the most important individual in the educational process.
One of the features of the modern school is learning through research (in Macedonia Учење низ истражување), which frees and motivates students, and thus their results are even more qualitative. The most successful students are those who have come to the conclusion by themselves; actively came to the correct answer, whereby the teacher is only a facilitator, an instigator, a tool with which the student is served in the thinking pro-cess. We live in a time when everyone has a quite easy and unlimited access to information - besides the books; the written word offers a number of possibilities through the Inter-net. With only one step we get the necessary data and statistics, research reports, etc. The students who accurately and in their own way reproduce the acquired knowledge man-aged to master the material and overcome the passive state of the class (Westwood, 2008).
Teaching methodology constantly directs its curiosity towards finding the most useful ways to successful education for each student. The change of forms and forms of work in literature in primary and secondary schools in the subject of English as foreign is obvi-ous (Blog.udemy.com).
The aim of this paper is to present the most widely used methods for studying the Eng-lish language in the Republic of Macedonia, i.e. to see which methods are most widely used and with that to show that the teaching process in the Republic of Macedonia has changed and has directed itself towards the needs of the students.
As a beforehand, presented are the most commonly, widely accepted teaching methods that both the literature and the teachers interviewed accentuated and confirmed that are most commonly found in schools around the world. Later on, the results from the re-search implemented for the needs of the paper are elaborated and explained.
Forms of teaching
The forms of teaching are an inevitable part of the teaching activity. Over the years, they have taken different forms and underwent smaller and/or bigger changes, and educa-tors, advisors and scientists themselves have taken measures to improve these forms,
depending on what has been proven to be the most effective and which are obsolete and poorly accepted by students. Some forms of teaching work are enriched for better student performance and facilitated teacher work. Essentially, they serve to empower students and therefore their nature and use depend on the age, the affinities of students for learning and their individual characteristics. Other factors that influence the features and function of the teaching forms are the teaching structure which also examines the teacher’s approach.
Called teaching procedures, types of teaching, often also interfere with the notion of teaching methods. In a form of teaching work, several teaching methods can be used, with the teacher acting as coordinator, director, motivator, and guidance.
The most widely known and for that matter, the most widely used forms of teaching are divided into frontal, group work, pair work and individual work.
Frontal form of teaching
From the time of J. A. Comenius, this sociological form of teaching is one of the old-est, and it is still called a collective form of work. If we return even further in the past, the ancient Greeks were known for their oratory abilities, and often an individual publicly addressed to a larger group of people. Solon, Pericles, and Demosthenes are just some of the prominent speakers and thinkers at the time. In their addresses to the audience they talked about political and legal issues, opened up philosophical dilemmas and encouraged the soldiers. For the purpose they had to persuade their audience in what they claimed. In churches and monasteries, the faithful listened to the sermons of the priests.
The negative effects and results in this way of working in the classroom have been proven - it is intended for the “average” student, at a time when there are not enough teachers, schools and premises intended for educational process, when one teacher was believed to be able to work with 100 students at once. More recently, it is seen that it is impossible for a teacher to enroll students at the same number of numbers at the same time to pay enough attention. The basic features of the frontal work are the ac-tive teaching of the teacher, the same pace, the same content at the same time for the whole class. During this class, the student and his speaking and leadership abilities are placed in the background, and the teacher addresses all students. This form of teach-ing does not allow individualization of teachteach-ing. When workteach-ing with a larger group of students at the same time, with each student being given the same tasks and directions, their interests, characteristics and opportunities do not come to the fore. One and the same teaching unit is exposed and demonstrated simultaneously to the entire class-room. Here, the individual needs of the student are neglected, he is lost in the crowd, resulting in an unsatisfactory level of knowledge and abilities that he demonstrates to be evaluated.
Advantages of the frontal form of teaching work
There are many reasons why exactly this form of work has remained present in the class-room so long. The biggest issue was and maybe in some environments, still is the econo-my. When there were not enough literate people, a small number of teachers and priests held lectures, and this way of working proved to be the most suitable. It saved both time and material resources.
For another value, the systematicity is considered - the teacher is the implementer of the class, so certain goals and tasks are fulfilled. At the same time, the students behave more appropriately and at the same time a harmonious working atmosphere prevails. The teacher is the one who gives directions, so there is no concern that a student misses something important.
The weaker students work together with the average, so they are thought to achieve bet-ter results. Similarly, by getting to know and to socialize with children, their communica-tive abilities, the feeling of empathy and the competicommunica-tive spirit increase.
Weaknesses of the frontal form of teaching work
In the past experience and research, the frontal form of teaching has proved to be the weakest and full of deficiencies. Starting from its onset, the frontal shape was intended for the average student, which means that there is no differentiated approach. Weak stu-dents are struggling with the pace and weight of the teaching unit, and for gifted and talented, this approach is unstimulative and too easy. Furthermore, the student is a pas-sive subject to whom knowledge is given “on a tray”. With the fact that the answers and the definitions of a certain topic are already said, the student has nothing left but to mechanically repeat and learn. Namely, his thinking, creativity and fantasy are not ac-tivated. Another important disadvantage is the interaction between the teacher and the student individual. Because of insufficient time and patience, the teacher does not realize any closer relationship with the students, does not receive feedback on the work done, and the student learns only about the grade from his assessment and achievements. Eve-ry student is questioned in the same way that the possibility of freedom of expression is lost. Finally, the frontal form does not leave room for the practical application of the acquired knowledge; it does not create real situations where the student can show what he learned and do something on his own.
Group form of teaching
This approach is considered innovative and has long been used. The basic feature of the group form is the possibility of its application at all stages of the teaching process. The teacher acts as guidance in the group work - at the beginning of the lesson he gives instruc-tions and divides the class into smaller or larger groups. Each of the groups work together and performs some tasks, work on a particular problem, and the results are presented