C o p y rig h t N o tice

S taff an d stu d en ts o f B irk b eck C o llege are rem in d ed th at co p yrigh t su b sists in th is ex tract an d
th e w o rk fro m w h ich it is tak en . T h is D igital C o p y h as b een m ad e u n d er th e term s o f a C L A
licen ce. Y o u are allo w ed to :
• access an d d o w n lo ad a co p y;
• p rin t o u t a co p y.

T h is D igital C o p y an d an y d igital o r p rin ted co p y su p p lied to o r m ad e b y yo u u n d er th e term s

o f th is licen ce are fo r u se in co n n ectio n w ith th is C o u rse o f S tu d y. Y o u m ay retain su ch
co p ies after th e en d o f th e co u rse, b u t strictly fo r yo u r o w n p erson al u se.

A ll co p ies (in clu d in g electro n ic co p ies) sh all in clu d e th is C o p yrigh t N o tice an d sh all b e
d estro yed an d /o r d eleted if an d w h en req u ired b y B irk b eck C o lleg e.

E x cep t as p ro v id ed fo r b y co p yrigh t law , n o fu rth er co p yin g, sto rage o r d istrib u tio n

(in clu d in g b y e-m ail) is p erm itted w ith o u t th e co n sen t o f th e co p yrigh t h o ld er.

T h e au th o r (w h ich term in clu d es artists an d o th er v isu al creato rs) h as m o ral righ ts in th e w o rk

an d n eith er staff n o r stu d en ts m a y cau se, o r p erm it, th e d isto rtio n , m u tilatio n o r o th er
m o d ificatio n o f th e w o rk , o r an y o th er d ero g ato ry treatm en t o f it, w h ich w o u ld b e p reju d icial
to th e h o n o u r o r rep u tatio n o f th e au th o r.

Name of designated person authorising scanning: Director of Library & Media ID:
Services 35405

Course_name: Core issues in language teaching and TESOL

Article_title: Chapter 1: Components of context

Author_of_article: Wedell, M., & Malderez, A.

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Place_of_publication: London

ISBN/ISSN: 9781441133076 Publication_year: 2013

Source_title: Understanding language classroom contexts: The starting point for change

Author_of_source: Wedell, M., & Malderez, A.

Volume: Start_page: 7 End_page: 28

luals in
in) how
iy have
1
:all any
)k may
:essary Components of contexts

ng and
1sks as
needs) Introduction
at is in
his chapter provides an overview of the many aspects of context that can
T affect teaching. We introduce them all briefly here to illustrate the 'whole
·aching picture', before, in later chapters, looking at many aspects in more detail.
The thing about context is that it is easy to take it for granted. Teachers do
notice and comment on aspects of their immediate context - for example the
inyone numbers of pupils in each class, or the availability of facilities. Every teacher
experiences the differences between the classes they teach, but have you
apters ever worked in different schools? What about moving to different parts of
your country or indeed to another country? Have you had to work with a new
1ers to curriculum? Have you changed the age or level of learners with whom you
have worked? The more often you have answered yes to any of the questions
other posed, the more likely it is that you are already aware of some of the ways in
which the broader context can affect language classrooms.
'h this As an understanding of context is so often taken for granted it is often
given too little attention. For us, an explicit understanding of context needs
by a to underpin the work of any English Teaching (ET) professional (teacher,
textbook writer, curriculum developer, ministry planner, teacher of teachers,
,e an tester and inspector). since how each plays their role influences what happens
in classrooms.

1. Description of a context

What follows is the type of description of a context that all the above ET
professionals (at whatever level) might find particularly useful prior to making
plans for the implementation of changes in language classrooms. Although
it is not a full description, nor one of a single 'rea l' context, and although in
twenty-five full-time teachers have tables in one of two staff rooms (shared
many respects it may look 'old-fashioned', in our experience it continues to with their part-time colleagues). The head teacher has a private office and a
represent a typical sketch of many English language teaching environments secretary in an adjacent room, which houses the only copier in the school
in the world today. reserved for the head's use only. The deputy head also has an office. There
It is the kind of sketch that could be written by visitors to a context who is also a larger formal room for staff meetings and for meetings with visitors.
have walked around a school and the town in which it is situated, observed The caretaker and his assistants also have storerooms in this building. There
classes, spent some time talking to a range of school staff and done some are slightly more than one thousand students, and three full time English
basic background reading about the region and the country. teachers in the school, with a geography teacher also giving some English
lessons. All learners have at least three periods of English a week, with
Readers might like to consider, as they read, which aspects of the final year students (approximately a third of the student population) who are
description are or are not 'true' for their own situation. aiming for a high stakes English exam that will determine their entry to senior
secondary, having five, mostly taught by the most senior teacher. The full-
time English teachers teach a minimum of twenty lessons a week. During
(i) This classroom contains fixed tables and benches, and 51 learners, their non-teaching periods they do not necessarily remain in school. Classes
aged between 14 and 15, although one or two look rather older. There is start at 7 a.m. and end at 1.30. The school leaders communicate with
a blackboard in the room and most learners have a copy of the national teachers through a staff meeting at the start of each of the three terms, and
textbook (new or second-hand) which is the basis for all teaching. The any necessary bulletins are posted on the staff notice board. Each subject has
English 'blurb' on the back cover of the textbook says that its goal is to a lead teacher who acts, amongst other things, as a channel through which
develop learners' ability to understand and use English. The teacher and teachers can communicate with school management. We are informed that
learners are formally dressed (learners in a more or less complete uniform). such communication happens rarely.
The teacher stands behind her 'teacher's desk' or at the blackboard. The (iv) The school is situated on the outskirts of a medium sized town in
teacher uses a mixture of her mother tongue and English in class. She uses a largely rural region, 80 kilometres from the regional capital. There are
English when she is reading directly from the book, but she doesn't use it important historical sites nearby. There are two main languages used in
for classroom management. (She does not talk fluently when answering the town, a national lingua franca and the local language. English can be
visitors' questions.) Oral drills, textbook grammar exercises and pupils seen on some shop fronts, and is used in the growing tourist industry.
reading texts aloud can be seen in most English lessons. Learners copy In addition, English is needed by some personnel in the exotic vegetable
grammatical explanations and vocabulary items which the teacher has export business. The climate is fairly hot and humid most of the year, with
written on the board into their notebooks. Learners remain sitting in the most rainfall concentrated in the summer months. Agriculture of one kind or
same seats throughout the lesson, except when nominated by the teacher another was the principal occupation of almost all inhabitants of this region
to answer a question, when they stand up. During the lesson, learners only until very recently, and remains important.
speak when asked or instructed to do so by the teacher, and from what they (v) The country itself is industrialising rapidly. There are many consequent
say, they seem to have different levels of English proficiency. The teacher infrastructure problems, including that of power supply. The gap between
says that this class obtains lower results on tests and exams than other the rich and the poor is widening. The President of the country is keen
classes in the same year. to promote the country's global competitiveness and universal English
(ii) The teacher, in her mid-twenties, graduated five years ago from proficiency is deemed an essential component of the development strategy.
a provincial teacher's college, and has had no further formal support for There are few higher education institutions and a shortage of graduate (and
development. Learners have had between 3 and 5 years of formal English postgraduate) level personnel within the country.
lessons (some learners began learning English at primary school). (vi) There is a national curriculum for English and government-approved
(iii) The junior secondary school, of which this classroom is part, looks like all and supplied textbooks to support its teaching. However, according to the
the other schools in the area. It is built in three main blocks, around a central teachers the content of the high stakes English exams does not reflect the
playground. Two of the blocks have three floors with classrooms. Staircases goal of learning English as expressed in the curriculum documentation.
and corridors are covered, but open, and as most classroom windows are also (vii) Teacher training colleges report increasing difficulty in recruiting
open for most of the year, noise carries easily between classrooms. There is good quality applicants. Although teaching is traditionally highly respected,
a small gender-segregated toilet block between the two classroom buildings. industrialisation and the growth of alternative opportunities for employment
The third smaller blockhouses staff rooms and administrative offices. The mean that teachers' low incomes deter many. We were told that the school
10 UNDERSTANDING LANGUAGE CLASSROOM CONTEXTS COMPONENTS OF CONTEXTS 11

recently lost a very promising and enthusiastic English teacher (a graduate At first sight, anyone (e.g. inspectors, planners, head teacher, etc.) might
from one of the best colleges) to the local tourist industry. There is no national assume that what the teacher in the description above did and did not do in
curriculum for initial English teacher preparation, so there is some difference the classroom , was a result purely of her own professional understandings (or
between graduates from the different institutions. However, most initial lack of them) and her own linguistic confidence. However as the description
preparation for teachers consists of language proficiency development and
continues, it seems very likely that there are much more complex reasons
lectures in literature and linguistics, together with some general courses in
for the observed classroom behaviour. It could be that her practice is largely
education, and, perhaps, one or more, often largely theoretical ('A History
a function of the atmosphere in the school, the Head teacher's instructions,
of Methods'), courses on English Language teaching methodology. The
preparation programmes in general refer little, or not at all, to local textbooks the nature of the exams, the nature of her initial teacher preparation or
or the national English curriculum. Student teachers are expected to make some combination of these or other factors. It is likely that the teacher in
their own arrangements for the usual period of 'teaching practice' which our description above is not consciously aware of many of the factors in
in most cases is undertaken, largely unsupervised, at the end of the her context that affect her existing practice or her ability to make classroom
programme. Graduating English teachers are generally not very confident in changes, whether motivated by her own experience or required by others .
either their own language proficiency or their own teaching skills. The rest of the book will be trying to illustrate ways that you might make
(viii) There is an inspectorate drawn from the teaching workforce. They sense of your context for your own purposes. In the next parts of this chapter,
receive no specific training for their role which, as well as 'providing support we try to provide a systematic overall framework for understanding the 'whole
to English teachers', involves reporting to the Ministry on teacher supply picture' of any context, and in subsequent chapters, go into more detail on
and the quality of teaching (largely judged on students' exam results, and
different parts of that 'whole'.
one observed lesson). These reports affect teacher promotion.
(ix) There is no systematic provision of in-service development
opportunities for teachers, although there are occasionally ministry and/
or donor-funded workshops led by staff from teacher training colleges or 2. Developing a framework for
non-governmental organisations (NGOs). These are attended by only some
teachers, often the lead teacher and are usually connected to a major
understanding context
change (such as when the new English curriculum and textbooks were
launched seven years ago).
Before we go any further, did you recognise any aspects of your own
(x) The country is situated in a part of the world that has historically not
context in the description that we gave? Were there any parts of the
had a large influence on world affairs or been visibly influenced by them.
description which made you realise that you didn't have enough
Now however, its aspirations for modernisation mean that it is increasingly
information about your own context to say whether or not it was similar?
turning to the wider world for financial and technical assistance as well
as strategic support for development. This is a part of the world in which Why might this be?
the old are traditionally respected for their wisdom, and the good of the
group is considered to be far more important than the self-realisation of the
individual. 2.1 The impossibility of describing context completely
(xi) Official documentary rhetoric states that education should encourage
all learners to flourish in their own way. However, our conversations and Describing context is complicated. It is made more so by the fact that
observations suggest that many people working in the education system contexts are not static, but changing over time. This means that even some
see their role to be to maintain the status quo (conserve things as they of the visible components may not remain constant for long enough to make
are) and equip young people to fit harmoniously into the existing social the effort of describing them in detail worthwhile. Just how difficult any
structures and norms. attempt to describe the complete context of an educational setting can be, is
(xii) The school in which our classroom is situated seems to be run on suggested by Fullan when he states that any such context has:
hierarchical lines. For example, staff tell us that everyone follows the Head
teacher's instructions. It is noticeable that the Lead English teacher, who
... a huge number of variables and their interactive change nature is so
is considerably more experienced than the others (and for whom initial
large that it is logically unfeasible to get all the necessary information, and
teacher preparation was unavailable at the start of his career) is deterred to
by his colleagues. cognitively impossible for individuals to understand the total picture, even
if the information is available. (Fullan 1993:208)
12 UNDERSTANDING LANGUAGE CLASSROOM CONTEXTS COMPONENTS OF CONTEXTS 13

Therefore, we have to accept that we cannot look at every component of most useful when wanting or being expected to make or plan changes in
context from every perspective, and that whatever is described on one day English classrooms, and that we believe will be most useful to most readers
or week or year will have changed, at least to some extent, by the next. If with regard to understanding the main features of the context in which their
this is so, why even try? A former colleague of ours (Alan Maley) once said, English teaching and learning takes place.
referring to attempts to describe what was meant by the then new concept
of 'communicative competence': 'you can't get at the essence of a rose by
2.2 Identifying components of context
pulling off its petals'.
There is a sense in which pulling a concept such as 'communicative
To begin with, we base our discussion on two ways of describing English
competence' or 'context' apart only gives the illusion of a complete
Teaching (ET) contexts BANA and TESEP proposed by Holliday (1994).
understanding, since there will always be parts left out. For example,
Although these terms were coined some time go, they remain useful since
important factors may be missing due to the complex relationships between
they not only highlight differences that are frequently commented on in the
the person doing the pulling apart and what is being examined. These
still relatively limited 'ET context literature', but also offer an initial way of
relationships can considerably alter the form of, or the emphasis within, the
differentiating between two still current (in 2012) broad ET realities.
descriptions ultimately reached. Taking the quest to understand the 'essence
A way of viewing the ET profession is as a continuum with the extreme
of the rose' as an example, one person's 'essence' may be strongly influenced
ends represented by, at the one end:
by, for example, the memory of the pain of a thorn, while another's may
be influenced by memories of having been given a red rose on a romantic
occasion, or catching the beautiful perfume on a summer evening. • The minority of English Teachers in the world who work in university
What use then is the 'pulling apart' that we are now embarked on? Well, to departments, higher education language units or private language
begin with we could not have talked about the part of the 'rose' that caused schools, in Britain, Australasia and North America (BANA) who:
us pain if someone had not noticed and named a thorn. If nobody had studied
the part of the rose we call roots, or the effects of cutting back rose stems • share many features of their educational cultures.
during winter, we would not know how to care for roses in ways that produce • have developed many of the current ET approaches and
the types of flowers we want. And the analogy could go on. The point is that methodologies.
making an attempt to undertake the process of noticing the various parts
and the ways that they affect each other is worth it, as Alan Maley went • control most of the internationally recognised journals.
on to note. In the process of examination, the language to label the parts is • write most of the widely influential 'methods' books, including (still)
developed (coined by the first 'examiners', and learnt by those who follow) textbooks.
which in turn enables later thinking and talking about parts, their connections
• teach small classes and have access to a wide range of materials
and the whole, as part of an ongoing process of understanding.
This ongoing re-examination is particularly necessary when it comes to and equipment.
'context' because, as noted earlier, context is never static. The effort involved • have a wide range of professional experience as a result of being
in the ongoing attempts to understand a context, will, of course, need to be expected to make decisions about what and how to teach, based on
supported by a personal purpose that provides the motivation for the detailed their understanding of their learners' needs.
work of examining parts, their connections and the whole.
• teach mainly teenage / adult groups of paying learners with clear
(usually instrumental) aims for learning English.
So, what is your 'personal purpose'? How would a better understanding of
your context benefit you?
and at the other end

In this book, we have had to make choices about which parts of the (English • The majority of English teachers worldwide who work in tertiary,
Language) Classroom Context to explore, using and building on parts which secondary or primary level (TESEP) institutions within the state
have already been labelled. We have included those which we have found sector in non-English speaking countries who:
14 UNDERSTANDING LANGUAGE CLASSROOM CONTEXTS 15
COMPONENTS OF CONTEXTS

• represent a variety of different educational cultures. We find these ways of thinking about context (SANA, TESEP, Macro and
• teach learners who are learning because it is part of the curriculum, Micro) useful for thinking about all the many factors that might influence what
and who, even where there are 'school fees' to be paid, are not does or does not happen in classrooms, and so will refer to them in this book.
paying specifically to learn English. However, we have found we need a more detailed framework than these
provide for understanding 'whole' contexts, which we now begin to discuss.
• often teach larger classes.

• often have much less access to a variety of materials and/or

equipment. 2.3 Core components of context
• usually have less freedom to make decisions about what to teach
English Teaching (ET) is concerned with the teaching and learning of
or how to do so, and so have a more limited range of professional
language, and language is essentially human. People are therefore central
experiences.
to any discussion of the context of ET. People behave according to their
• are often expected to use materials and/or methods emerging from own conscious or unconscious 'thinking'. This thinking is influenced by
BANA contexts. the meanings that they have made of experiences they have had, which in
turn are coloured by the norms of the culture(s) to which they belong (see
Of course, between these two scenarios, are a range of others. For example, Chapter 2).
there are increasingly large numbers of teachers in private language schools The physical environment, or place, in which they find themselves, can
or NGO personnel working outside BANA countries who, to varying extents, also influence how people behave, as you may have noted in the example
share features of both scenarios. description above. (For example, perhaps one of the reasons for the teaching
methods in the description above was connected to climate in the place,
So where are you? Are you working in a BANA or TESEP context, or are you causing the open windows and corridors in the school design and so the
somewhere in between? desire to avoid disturbing other classes with 'too much noise').
In addition, when we describe the way people think and behave, and
Holliday uses this BANA/TESEP contextual distinction in a discussion the environments in which they work, what we are describing is inevitably
of appropriate teaching methodologies. For example, he suggests that situated at a point in time in terms of individual biographies or of the
the teaching methodologies devised by BANA professionals may not be history of the place or of ideas. Also, since any teaching is about actively
appropriate for TESEP contexts without considerable modification. However, encouraging changes in what people know and the way people think and
he points out that nonetheless, due to the continuing prestige of BANA ideas behave over time, teaching itself needs to take into account the stage in
and practices in many parts of the world (as those working in BANA contexts learning that has been reached at a given point in time. In other words,
are both mostly native speakers of English, and representatives of 'the North' what people (can) think and do is influenced by the point in time at which
or 'developed' countries), there has been a tendency to assume that BANA the teaching occurs.
methodologies can, and even should be transferred wholesale to TESEP All this leads us to conclude that the three central, interdependent
contexts. In many cases, attempts to do so have been very disappointing. contextual elements that influence and may be influenced by, what happens
Our experience suggests that what Holliday said, almost 20 years ago as we in any classroom (whether described as SANA or TESEP or somewhere in
write, still holds true. between) are People, Place and (point in) Time.
Holliday also uses the terms "Macro" and "Micro" contexts to refer to Although we believe People to be the central component of any teaching
different aspects of the whole context that we might want to investigate. The and learning context, in the past, when we have asked teachers to talk about
Macro context is the wider context of the educational and national culture their working context, the ideas they have mentioned first have been those
and the socio-economic environment in which any individual educational to do with the notion of Place. So, as we are now going to look in more detail
institution is situated. The Micro context refers to the specific features of the at these three elements, we will centre the discussion in this chapter on the
individual school or classroom. context of Place.
 16 UNDERSTANDING LANGUAGE CLASSROOM CONTEXTS COMPONENTS OF CONTEXTS 17

3. The context of place TABLE 1.1 Context as place: visible and invisible layers

Starting from the classroom (that many teachers first mention when asked
about their teaching context) we can 'zoom out' geographically (Google-Earth
fashion) theoretically as far as the boundaries of planet Earth!
From the classroom, (the micro), which forms the centre of any
: ,,
I
education system, we can move outwards to the school or institution in
which the classroom is situated, to the city or town and region, and at the
outer macro layers to the country and its physical, geopolitical position
in a particular part of the world. All of these geographical, immediately
visible aspects of place, will influence, for example, the prevailing types of
economic activity, the prosperity of the place and so the funding available
for education. Geographical location will often also affect the culture at
all levels (see Chapter 2), and the languages that are used officially and
unofficially, that are needed for different domains in life, and taught in
schools, (see Chapter 3). In addition, features of place will affect the
physical structures in which education occurs (see Chapter 8) and when,
each day, children are at school. If you read the description at the start of _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (At points in) TIME _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
the chapter again, you will notice that almost all of these aspects of Place
are mentioned.
Table 1.1 presents a way of describing the various layers of 'visible' and
So, the idea that most people have of context as Place - because this
'invisible' Place, to illustrate some possible interactions at each layer. If read
is the most noticeable, the most visible, aspect of context, is not 'wrong' -
top down, the table moves from the micro-context out to the macro.
place does matter - but so do other aspects.
In both of the above lists, the extent to which the influence of each layer
will be apparent to the individual teacher or learner is likely to decrease as they
3.1 People and place move away from the immediate classroom and classroom group towards the
wider world outside. This means it is much easier for teachers (and we include
There is also an invisible dimension to each of the above layers of the ourselves here) to be aware of many visible (and some invisible) influences of
Place context. This invisible dimension is a result of the (often unspoken) particular classes and institutions on what happens in our classrooms, than it
meanings given to each of the Place layers by the people working in is to realise how these micro-contextual influences are themselves a result of
them. For example, what happens in a classroom is determined by beliefs beliefs and behaviours in the macro-context.
(often unspoken) about what is, and what is not, appropriate behaviour In the section that follows, we will look in a little more detail at some of
for language teachers and learners. What is considered to be appropriate the aspects of context that might be included at each of the layers listed in
classroom behaviour is itself a result of deeper and more widespread Table 1.1.
societal beliefs at the level of nation or world region regarding, for example,
the purpose of education.
To clarify, by 'visible' we mean aspects of context that it is physically possible
3.2 Some features of the visible layers
for an outsider to notice relatively quickly, (through observation: seeing and
3.2.1 The classroom
listening; or reading or questioning), that is, using the eyes and/or one or more
of their other senses. 'Invisible' aspects of context are, we consider, equally It does not take a great deal of imagination to realise that if there are no tables
real, but are not directly accessible to the senses, and therefore take longer or desks in a classroom (for example) it will make a difference to what happens.
and more effort to understand. Features of the classroom that may have a bearing on the kind of teaching
 18 UNDERSTANDING LANGUAGE CLASSROOM CONTEXTS COMPONENTS OF CONTEXTS 19

and learning that occurs include: number of people in it, its size, weather and suggested, perhaps due to the inclusion in the figures of those repeating a
sound-proofing, and availability of various facilities - IT equipment, boards, year and of overage children.
desks, paper, electricity and other teaching/learning support facilities and
materials.
3.2.6 The world
Despite the variation in actual school attendance seen above, most parts of the
3.2.2 The institution
world, on paper at least, give education a high priority and are endeavouring
Since budgets are generally held at institutional level (or above) the money to widen provision. All countries have places they call schools, where
available will determine many of the visible features of the classroom. In teaching and learning takes place, and governmental bodies responsible for
addition, the type of institution (school, college, university, ministry), or at education. We cannot compare the educational context on earth with that of
a local level its name, whether it is a state or private school or whether it any other planet!
is affiliated to a particular religion, may all provide clues about the types of We have chosen to work from the micro to the macro because our
activities that may be carried out in its rooms and how such activities are experience, as noted above, is that when people think about context, they
likely to be conducted. all first think about their own micro working environment. It would of course
have been equally possible to begin from the outermost layer. It might even
have been more logical, in the sense that the macro layers determine many of
I
I
I
. 3.2.3 Village, town or city
,I the possibilities available to those working closer to the classroom.
Whether an institution is located in a broadly speaking rural or urban area is This notion of the smaller units being part of, and therefore influenced
'
! i likely to affect its size, the number and type of people within it, and often the by, and potentially at least influencing, the larger units within which they
budget allocated to it. exist, may be better illustrated by concentric circles (rather than the lists
suggesting a hierarchy) in which the classroom lies at the centre and the
world is represented by the outermost layer. Figure 1.1 illustrates this.
3.2.4 Region
The dotted lines indicate the fuzzy, permeable nature of the boundaries
In most countries there are richer and poorer regions and differences in between layers and (the potential for) a constant flow of influence
architectural styles of buildings, which may be due as much to climate and between layers.
physical geography as to social and/or economic history. In addition, regions
may be homes to different ethnic groups within the wider society who may
visibly differ from each other.
A. Classroom
B. School/Institution
3.2.5 Country and part of the world C. Village/Town
D. Region
Similarly countries have their own climatic and geographical characteristics
E. Country
and different socio-economic profiles. They have more or less money F. Part of the world
available for education, different periods of compulsory education, and put G.World
different amounts of effort into ensuring that children attend school. The
proportions of each age group and the age distribution of people engaged
in formal learning will therefore, differ. For example, UNESCO statistics for
worldwide educational enrolment in 2008 show that different regions of the
world have between 40 per cent and 210 per cent of their children of primary
age actually attending primary school. The strange phenomenon of having
more than 100 per cent of an age group at school is, as the World Bank has
i
• I
I,! FIGURE 1.1 The layers of the visible Place context.
20 UNDERSTANDING LANGUAGE CLASSROOM CONTEXTS COMPONENTS OF CONTEXTS 21

3.3 Some features of the invisible layers for example, there will be variations in the extent to which this principle is
formally enshrined in written or unwritten national constitutions or evident in
We will now look at the right hand side of Table 1.1 and consider invisible everyday life. Therefore national educational cultures will differ, at least in part,
influences on what happens in classrooms, this time beginning from the according to the different belief systems from which they derive. (The term
outer macro layers and working inwards towards the micro context of the 'culture' will be discussed in far greater detail in Chapter 2; for the present
individual classroom. we are taking it to mean the invisible belief system underlying the external
social behaviour of a particular national group.) For example, those countries
that view the purpose of education primarily as producing new generations of
3.3.1 Humaness socialised group members will have an educational culture which is distinct
Here again we run into the problem of only being able to compare ourselves from those that see education principally as a means to enable each individual
with other life forms on this planet. The main feature of being a human that to reach his or her highest potential.
is relevant to this discussion, seems to be the use of language which enables Broadly speaking each educational culture may be placed somewhere on
each generation to learn as quickly as possible what previous generations a number of interconnected continua whose notional extremes represent
have come to know and consider important to the society. Nowadays at least different and complex ideas of the purposes of education and how they
a part of this learning usually takes place in formalised systems that we call may be achieved. Kennedy 2011 (borrowing terms from Kalantzia and
'education'. (We will see in Chapters 2 and 3 that much informal learning Cope 2008) proposes one such continuum which suggests that three main
through language occurs, for example, and perhaps especially, in the years types of education systems currently exist in different parts of the world:
before children enter their first classroom). the Didactic, the Authentic and the Transformative (p. 30). They differ from
each other in, for example, their view of appropriate teaching approaches
(structural-communicative or task based - see Chapters 4 and 5), where they
3.3.2 Balance of power and philosophical position believe that education can take place (only in schools; partly in schools, partly
Now, as throughout history, not all parts of the world are equally powerful. off site; or anywhere at all using technology) and in their view of the extent to
Nowadays power, defined as the ability to make things happen as one which learners should be regarded as a uniform group or as individuals.
wants them to, is most usually closely connected to economy, technology At a more fundamental level, educational cultures may differ in how they
and access to information. The development of these, in turn, is increasingly understand, for example, the concept of 'knowledge'. At extreme ends of
perceived to be highly dependent upon an educated population. We see a another continuum one view of knowledge might be as a finite, unchanging
connection here between our definition of power and Sen's (1999) view of body of 'true facts', while the other views knowledge as constantly being (re)
Human Development as involving education that helps people become able constructed and so changing and expanding. The view of knowledge in turn
to do what they want, rather than just have what they want. affects attitudes to the learning approaches that are most common within
In addition, different parts of the world have always held more or less the different levels of the education system. In some educational cultures the
different philosophical positions in terms of matters such as what is thought way in which knowledge is defined and the learning approaches that result
to be important in life, where truth can be found and what the ideal patterns may remain largely unchanged throughout the education system. In others
of social organisation are considered to be. there may be significant differences between, for example, primary school
and university.
Coleman (1996:151, adapted from Ballard and Clanchy 1991) gives an
3.3.3 National educational culture and overview of how cultural attitudes to knowledge may affect conceptions of
socio-political belief system
learning and so what is expected of teachers. Table 1.2 highlights some of
The philosophical positions that predominate in different parts of the world the options.
have been interpreted in a variety of ways in different countries. For example, The top row of Table 1.2 shows a continuum of possible ways of thinking
whether individual fulfilment or group harmony is thought to be of prime about knowledge. At the left, a 'conserving' view sees knowledge as a more
importance within a society varies considerably from one part of the world to or less finite and unchanging body of information to be passed on. At the right
another. Even where the individual is considered to be the most important, end, 'speculating', implies a view of knowledge as dynamic and changing
 22
UNDERSTANDING LANGUAGE CLASSROOM CONTEXTS 23
COMPONENTS OF CONTEXTS

TABLE 1.2 Examples of how belief systems may affect what happens harvest periods, or for time after school to be used up on essential tasks
in the classroom to support immediate family needs rather than on homework . On the other
hand, in an affluent. competitive, urban environment, parents might choose
Attitudes to Conserving Extending to pay for extra private teaching after school on top of what the state provides
knowledge
to try and ensure their children 's educational success.
Learning Reproductive Analyti cal Speculative
approaches
3.3.5. Institutional culture
Role of teacher Exclusive source Coordinator of learning Colleague, The variations already mentioned at the layers above become further
of knowledge, resources, questioner, collaborator,
directs and critical guide, principal _ _
differentiated at the institutional level. Many readers will doubtless have had
preliminary critic,
assesses. assessor. advisor.
experience of working in different institutions and will therefore know how
these may stress different aspects of the wider educational culture, expect
and encourage different kinds of behaviours and appear to have different
Type of Memorisation Analytical and critical Speculating priorities. These differences may be a reflection of the region or town in which
learning Imitation thinking Hypothesising
strategy the institution is situated, but may equally be the result of the biographies of
promoted the different decision-makers involved (see Chapter 8).

3.3.6 Aspects of group dynamics in classroom groups

and open to question. The rows that follow show some likely implications
of these different views of knowledge for what is expected of teachers and As may be imagined, all the above affect what actually happens in the
what learning strategies are recommended, for example. We hope that you classroom, and the way that the people in the classroom group think and behave,
will see that differences in ideas about the nature of knowledge can therefore {see Chapters 2 and 6). All layers of the invisible context will contribute to
lead to very different visible behaviours in classrooms. classroom norms (what is considered to be appropriate behaviour), classroom
relationships (how people interact with each other) and classroom goals (what
How do you see knowledge? Is this the same as or different from others in results group members expect from time spent in the classroom).
your context? How do you know? In Figure 1.2, we again try to represent the 'invisible' context from the table
in a way that demonstrates the part-wholeness of each of the layers. 'A' now
represents the understandings people bring to and create in classrooms, and
3.3.4 Regional educational culture: Local attitudes to
'G' what it means to be human in the world. Once again the dotted lines in the
education
diagram signify the ability of each layer to both influence and be influenced
The factors mentioned under 'region' in the 'visible' layers may lead to by the others .
variations on the national theme. For example, remote rural regions of any As you will note, Figures 1.1 and 1.2 look essentially the same. However,
country are traditionally thought to be more conservative, in the sense of each figure should be understood as representing different 'sides' of the
wanting to 'conserve' the present and keep things as they are. In the past, Place context. Figure 1.1 offers a way of considering the many layers of
this has probably usually been largely due to lack of opportunities for contact the Place context from the physical visible perspective. Figure 1.2 takes the
with the wider world. Developments in technology now have the potential to perspective of the many layers of the invisible, and often unspoken, meanings
change that, and in many places are doing so. that influence what people living and working within particular Places expect
The economy or principal employment base of a particular place may from and invest in them. In Figure 1.3, we try to bring the two, visible and
mean that attitudes to education locally may be more or less favourable invisible, perspectives back together to represent the single, whole, multi-
for children's learning. For example, if a particular place depends largely on layered context of any Place.
agriculture, there may be a tendency to take children out of school during Just as we said that the boundaries between each of the layers in Figures 1.1
and 1.2 are fuzzy and permeable, the same is true for the two 'sides' of the
lffl
24
UNDERSTANDING LANGUAGE CLASSROOM CONTEXTS COMPONENTS OF CONTEXTS 25

whole. Here too, the 'invisible' and 'visible' are not neatly separated in the way
the diagram above might suggest, but instead influence and are influenced
by each other.

4. Time
As we have already mentioned, no layers of context are static. For example, at
macro levels socio-political systems and the philosophical positions in which
they are embedded are the result of historical processes and are continuing
to change. As such changes occur, so their influence prompts changes in
other layers.
Layers change at different speeds. Generally, the more powerful
macro layers (where any 'top-down' or 'outside-in' change is initiated)
themselves change more slowly. But changes to the macro-layers can also
occur, apparently more quickly, as a result of 'bottom-up', or 'inside-out'
A. classroom groups B. institutional culture C. local attitudes (to education
influences stemming from changes within the micro layers. For example,
D. regional educational culture E. national belief system if one individual (or small group) who has some power and/or influence
F. (balance of power) philosophical tradition G. human-ness in his/her layer of context begins to imagine and then talk about and/or
demonstrate different ways of doing things and different ways of behaving,
FIGURE 1.2 The layers of the invisible Place context.
changes may start to happen (see Chapter 6). If, over time, a critical mass
(Markee 1997) of individuals within the context begin to understand and
support the new view, then changed attitudes and behaviours may begin to
spread more widely, initially within that layer. In the longer term, provided
they are not over-ruled by individuals or institutions in more powerful outer
layers, these changes may eventually become a part of the educational
culture (see Chapters 8 and 9).
Understanding a context therefore requires us to situate any event not only
Visible in terms of place but also in terms of when it takes place in the history of a
Aspects Invisible
---f-------Aspects class, an institution, an educational system or a country, as well as when it
Of
Place Of occurs with regard to the personal histories of the individuals (the teachers
Place and learners) involved (see Chapters 4-6).

5. People
Most things about people relevant to understanding context have already been
FIGURE 1.3 The whole context of Place. mentioned or alluded to in the previous sections. However, to summarise and
review from this perspective:
 26 UNDERSTANDING LANGUAGE CLASSROOM CONTEXTS COMPONENTS OF CONTEXTS 27

• Societies are made up of groups of people, and cultures are a result

of the meanings that unite people within these groups and within a (viii) There is an inspectorate . .. Again, describing VISIBLE aspects of
society (see Chapter 2) . the MACRO, National context, mainly relating to PEOPLE.
(ix) There is no systematic provision ... as for the previous paragraph -
• Time affects peoples (national groups) and people as individuals . but with the addition of some TIME information .
This is extremely relevant to education, as is clear if, for example, (x) The country is situated in a part of the world . .. MACRO, another
you think about how you would differentiate your teaching practices layer out, VISIBLE, PLACE and TIME, then the beginnings of a discussion
for a 6-year-old and a 26-year-old . of PEOPLE in terms of their INVISIBLE 'thinking' in this PLACE.
(xi) Official documentary rhetoric states that education should
• Teaching is a human activity. We define teaching as purposeful encourage all learners to flourish in their own way . . . MACRO, but back to
activity designed to promote and support human learning processes, National PLACE layer, official 'visible', and some PEOPLE 'invisible' (though
and human learning as something that happens within, between it would have needed some serious research to be able to assert that the
and mediated by people. main educational aim of most people was 'conserving').
(xii) The school in which our classroom is situated is . ... MICRO,
• Any context of teaching and learning entails People undertaking
institution, PLACE layer, focus on the INVISIBLE and PEOPLE (with some
activities at a certain point in Time and in a certain Place. In other VISIBLE examples of the likely influence of the INVISIBLE, and some
words, it is People who are central. reference to TIME and influences of next more MACRO layer of PLACE).

So, having illustrated how we developed our framework, we will now show
you how it relates to the descriptive sketch of a TESEP context with which As you will have noticed in this analysis, the description we provided at the
we began this chapter. start of the chapter dealt in a lot more detail with visible aspects of place and
people than with time, and dealt far less with the 'invisible' aspects of context.
This is why much of what follows in this book will be focussed on developing
(i) This classroom contains . .. Everything in this paragraph relates to the lenses through which the 'invisible' behind the more easily accessible 'visible '
MICRO, INNERMOST LAYER, mostly about PLACE (with some PEOPLE)
can begin to be revealed .
and describes what is VISIBLE in the classroom.
(ii) The teacher graduated five years ago ... This paragraph is again at
the MICRO, innermost classroom layers, and describes what is VISIBLE in
the same broad way as above. The focus here however is on PEOPLE and 6. Summary and task
TIME.
(iii) The junior secondary school of which this classroom . . . This
paragraph focuses on the next layer of the VISIBLE MICRO context, the • In this chapter we have introduced the idea that every (English
institution, and describes aspects relating to PLACE, then PEOPLE. language) classroom is at the centre of its own, partly visible, and
(iv) The school is situated on the outskirts of a medium sized town ... partly invisible context, made up of many layers and three main
This paragraph begins to move towards more MACRO layers and describes
interrelated components: Place, People and Time.
VISIBLE aspects of PLACE, with some references to PEOPLE.
(v) The country itself is industrialising rapidly . .. We are now focussing • Part of this complete context will be expressed in terms of the set
on the National, MACRO layer describing VISIBLE aspects of PLACE and of educational attitudes and behaviours that the People involved
PEOPLE. There are some glimpses of the TIME element. at the particular level of Place hold to be true and/or appropriate at
(vi) There is a national curriculum .. . Still describes VISIBLE features of that point in Time.
the National MACRO level, with a focus on education.
(vii) Teacher training colleges report ... Another paragraph describing • Attitudes and behaviours are some of the fundamental markers of
mostly VISIBLE features of the Macro (national) context, relating to teachers 'culture' which is the focus of our next chapter.
and teacher education (PEOPLE) with references to PLACE (socio-economic
conditions) and TIME (changing status of teachers)
28 UNDERSTANDING LANGUAGE CLASSROOM CONTEXTS

Task:

ook again at the description that started this chapter and at Figures 1.1
L and 1.2 and the text that follows each. Make notes describing what you
consider to be important features (because they influence what you do /do
not do in the classroom and /or how you do it) of as many layers of your own
visible and invisible context as you can. Where are there spaces? What do
you need to do or find out about in order to fill them?

References
Coleman, P. H., ed. 1996. Society and the Language Classroom. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press .
Fullan, M . G. 1993. Change Forces. Probing the Depths of Educational Reform.
London: Falmer Press.
Holliday, A. 1994. Appropriate Methodology and Social Context. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press .
Kennedy, C. 2011. 'Challenges for language policy, language and development'. In:
H. Coleman, ed., Dreams and Realities: Developing countries and the English
language. London: British Council, pp. 24-38.
Markee, N. 1997. Managing Curricular Innovation. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Sen, A. 1999. Development as Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2008 . [accessed 25 May2012].Availablefrom: http://
stats. uis.unesco.org/u nesco/TableViewer/tableView.aspx? Report Id= 183.