18.4.1.2. The students

The teacher who does everything to avoid trouble may still have problems because of the students: and all practising teachers know that while one group may cause no trouble, another may be difficult to handle. There are, of course, a number of reasons why students behave badly and we can mention a few of these:

Time of day: the attitude of the students is often affected by when the class takes place. If the students are overtired after a long day of study they may find exacting classes too challenging. If the class takes place just before lunch students may tend not to pay too much attention as the lunch hour approaches. Early morning classes may cause students to be sleepy. Classes after lunch are often full of drowsy students. The teacher must take these factors into account when planning the class.

The student’s attitude: a lot depends on how the student views the class, the teacher and the subject being learnt. Clearly, therefore, it is important for these to be seen in a positive - or at least neutral – light. For many reasons, though, students are often hostile to English classes and their teachers. Where a student starts with a negative attitude, however, much can be done: If the class is interesting – if students can become interested even against their better judgement – a lot of the problem will disappear.

A desire to be noticed: it is generally accepted that adolescence is a difficult time and that young adolescents often need to be noticed or have a desire to be recognised in some way. This is not just special to adolescents, however, and most teachers are familiar with students in their classes who demand attention and who are quite prepared to be disruptive in order to gain the recognition they need. It seems somewhat short-sighted, then, to label such bad behaviour as in some way wicked and punish it harshly. Much more important is the possibility of challenging this behaviour and involving the student. If recognition is what is needed then the teacher should try to make sure that it can be given within the context of the language class.

Two’s company: two students being disruptive together are far more effective than one! They may encourage each other in their anti-social behaviour and gradually influence the whole group. Action in such cases has to be taken fairly rapidly, and much can be achieved if students are re-seated, if the troublemakers are separated, and if particularly disruptive students are made to sit at the front.

Students have a number of reasons for behaving badly: they cannot always be easily controlled and much will depend on the particular group and the particular teacher. In general, though, a bored student is a discipline problem, where is an interested student who knows and understands the code is not.

18.4.1.3. The institution

A lot depends on the attitude of the institution to disruptive student behaviour. Ideally, there will be a recognised system for dealing with problem classes and students. It is to be hoped that the teacher can consult co-ordinators or department heads when in trouble. It is also hoped that people in the authority can act upon cases of extremely bad behaviour.

If the institution does not have a recognised policy for dealing with discipline problems then it is up to the teacher to press for such assistance. Ultimately, students who cause a severe problem have to be handled by the school authority rather than by teachers on their own and it is, therefore, in the teachers’ interest to see that there is a coherent policy.

Teachers should be careful about showing that they disagree with the policy of the institution (where they do) since this can have a bad effect generally on other classes in the same area. Teachers who disagree about things like the choice of textbook, for example, should not show this disagreement too openly to the students, but work with the administration to have the decision changed.

There are many causes of discipline problems, some of which we have looked at in this section. Generally we have been dealing with classes of children and adolescents. But many of the comments we have made apply equally well to adult classes for here too the teacher must have some kind of code of conduct and must take account, for example, of the time of day when the class takes place.