Excerpt from The Invisible Foreign Language Classroom (Dabbs & Leaver): Introduction

 

Introduction

Ever wonder why you just could not get along with Sally Jo in high school?  Why you, as a teacher, cannot reach a particular student no matter how much one-on-one time you provide them?  Why two learners in your classroom squabble all the time and seem to delight in challenging you? Why some classes seem so harmonious, and others are clearly dysfunctional?

The answer to these questions and many others lies in understanding intragroup dynamics.  These dynamics, exposed, show us an invisible, or hidden, classroom, that can differ quite remarkably from the classroom we think we are seeing, whether we are a student in it or a teacher of it (Ehrman & Dornyei, 1998).

In this book, we will be using examples from and demonstrating the dysfunction that occurs in foreign language classrooms, including English as a Second/Foreign Language. Although we address the language classroom specifically in this book, the core causes of dysfunction can occur in any classroom—any subject matter course, any age or education level, and, indeed, in any country of the world. These are classes and situations that all teachers and all students have encountered, whether or not they understood the dynamics behind the discomfort and dysfunction emanating from sources that were hidden to the not-so-observant eye. The samples we provide and suggestions we make can be extrapolated to situations beyond those we discuss in this book.

So, what is going on? What shapes these dynamics that no one seems to see? The answer is not simple; the sources are not singular. We can, though, identify many of the sources: the way unobserved traits work together to produce observed frustration, hostility, isolation, and withdrawal, among other instinctive emotional responses to being in a group (one whose composition a teacher or learner generally did not select).

THE PARAMETERS OF THIS BOOK

Variables related to perception, personality, and cognition play a role in the classroom atmosphere and functionality. Any two human beings coming into contact with one another, trying to learn from the same material, or completing a shared task represent an opportunity for fun or friction, for bonding or battle, and for success or failure. We talk about people being compatible, the basis for marriage or friendship or positive working groups. We talk about opposites attracting, and we know that in that attraction there can also be rejection. When learners are artificially grouped in a classroom, both attraction and friction can present themselves.  Either can be mild or strong; much depends upon the various possible combinations.

Clearly, in a language classroom where a teacher or curriculum is focused on auditory learning, or understanding something best when you hear it, perhaps in the case of a textbook that introduces each new lesson through a broadcast, visual learners (those who learn best by reading) or motor/kinesthetic/haptic learners (who learn best by doing things) will be at a disadvantage. If there are only a few  non-auditory learners, the learners’ comfort level with the class will be high, but where the opposite is true and most of the learners are not those who remember best the things that they hear, then the comfort and success levels will be low. Most teachers, learners, and just about anyone else will likely agree. Most people, in general, do know what works best for them for understanding and remembering things; seeing them, hearing them, writing them down, or doing something with them.

These sensory preferences for learning (Barsch, 1996), like their counterpart differences in cognition,[1] can and do affect success in language programs. They also can set up some conflict among students where some students, whose styles do not match the expectations of the teacher and/or the structure of the textbook, may struggle with grades and minimal course requirements and project resentment for their struggles onto other students, creating some friction. However, they do not create the deeply dysfunctional classrooms that result from interpersonal dynamics, the focus of this book.

While the concept of the invisible classroom is, in general, new to US classrooms in academia and even, though to a lesser extent, to K-12 classrooms, that concept is well entrenched at some US government institutions as well as in K-16 programs in the Middle East, Latin America, and countries of the former Soviet Union. In fact, the socionics literature meaning from the USSR/Russian and the Ukraine contains many references and a number of works that at least tangentially treat the invisible classroom or elucidate many of the variables associated with it (Filatova, 2009; Leaver, 2000). Likewise, English language programs in some Middle Eastern countries, like Bahrian, Jordan, and Qatar, some Latin American countries, like Ecuador and Brazil, and in many counties (former republics) of the Former Soviet Union have incorporated an understanding of the elements of the invisible classroom for more than two decades.[2]

THE STRUCTURE OF THIS BOOK

This book takes a deep dive into personality psychology, exploring when and why given classrooms become dysfunctional. Divided into sample classrooms by MBTI personality type, the book presents one sample classroom for each teacher type and walks the teacher of that type through the heuristics of predicting the level of harmony in the classroom and identifying steps that can be taken to manage dysfunction should it appear or to avoid it in the beginning.

Part One provides a theoretical and research background. A book of this size cannot provide a large enough sampling of classrooms even to establish templates for the full range of possible learner-leaner and learner-teacher combinations that exist. Moreover, it is not possible, given the large number of variables, factors, styles, types, preferences, and significant demographics to present a menu of options for teachers. The intent of Part One, then, is to present the broader theory so that teachers can use the sample lessons we provide in Part Two as models and knowledgeably and confidently apply them, using the clarity of theory, to new situations.

Part Two presents 16 teacher-class combinations. The organizing device is the teacher type, not student type—and in that, this book differs from other books available on personality type. Teachers can find their own type and work through the class presented—and then use the general principles to adapt instruction and class management to the needs of each changing class.

WHY?

Why we wrote this book and why we organized it as we have can be answered by what some might argue is assumption but what is becoming known as fact: because teachers can and must adapt instruction not only to make classes more harmonious for everyone’s comfort level but also to ensure that learners are able to succeed—and adapting instruction and tasks to the affective and cognitive needs of students is one of the most effective ways of doing that.

Why should teachers care? Why should not learners be expected to do all the adaptation? Because retention is more difficult in cases where learners are having to do all the adaptation. The willingness and ability of faculty members to understand and support students, to adjust instruction, and to accept at least 50% responsibility for outcomes has been shown to be key to student success (Strikwerda, 2019).

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[1] For a broad and deep discussion of individual differences that can influence learning success or lack thereof, see Teaching the Whole Class (Leaver, 1997) or The E&L Cognitive Style Construct (Leaver, 2019).

[2] Leaver has conducted many workshops in all of these countries on topics of sensory preferences, personality variables, and cognitive styles. These workshops, in many cases, expanded beyond language classrooms to include any K-16 subject matter.