Middle school

TEACHING ENGLISH IN MIDDLE SCHOOL
Teaching English as a Foreign Language to young adolescent
Silvia Cárdenas
EDCI: Curriculum and pedagogy in middle level education
June 19, 2014

TEACHING ENGLISH IN MIDDLE SCHOOL 2
Introduction
Teaching children and adolescents is one of the main concerns in many countries. Educating
people means to fulfill their necessities to build a better future. As in many other countries,
Ecuador is also improving every day its educational system. Ecuadorian educational system is
organized in General Basic Education and Bachillerato. General Basic Education is mandatory
and it is considered from the 1st year of education to the 10th year. Students in the GBE are 5 to
13 or 14 years old. While, students from 14 to 17 or 18 years old are considered in the
bachillerato section. Students who have finished the General Basic Education must continue the
studies in the bachillerato for three years to get a diploma. Students arrive in schools with
different backgrounds, thoughts, and questions. When students are in elementary school, they
have more teacher and parents’ commitment. Students who go in the eighth year of basic
education are more free since parents and teachers consider they are growing and it is not
necessary much supervision. Many parents consider that studying in middle school will be a
waste of time and adolescents have to work.
Ecuadorian government is enhancing educational system. Studying basic education from first
to eight grade is mandatory. Moreover, if students want to get a school diploma, they have to
finish third bachillerato. These new policies has encourage adolescents to finish school in order
to look for new opportunities. Today, there are more students in the classrooms than before.
Adolescents are aware of this great opportunity to study and they try to finish high school. To
improve education, it is necessary many changes and promoting teachers improvement is one
objective of the government.
One of the most important aspects that has changed in Ecuadorian educational system has
been the curriculum design. It has been difficult to introduce the new curriculum, but the

acceptance is increasing. The curriculum objectives for each subject is the same for private,
public and semi-public schools in all the country. English is one of the subjects that is taught in
all the schools. Students have to reach level B1 to get a high school diploma. English curriculum
is designed according to international standards and it is a mandatory subject for students from
8th year of GBE. They have to achieve certain English levels according to the grade level.
However, some schools have include English as a foreign language in their curriculum since first
year of GBE. For this reason, teaching English is very important in Ecuador and teachers’
responsibility is high because they need to help students to achieve their curriculum goals.
Some schools in Ecuador teach students from first to seventh grade, while others teach
students from eight to third year of bachillerato. Other schools have basic and bachillerato
education. This shows that teachers have the responsibility to know how to teach young
adolescent regardless the organization of the educational system.
As English is part of the curriculum and teachers have to work especially with students form
eighth grades until third year of bachillerato, teachers have to be prepared to meet students’
needs. English teachers have to consider students’ development in order to plan their lessons and
help students to accomplish the educational goals in English. According to Ecuadorian In-
Service English teacher standards (2012), English teachers have to “comprehend and apply
knowledge of socio-cultural, psychological, and political variables to facilitate the process of
learning English” (p. 3).
Knowing about students’ development in different areas could improve teachers’ teaching
practices. When they are in the adolescent development they may experience different situations
that could affect their schooling. According to Queen (2002), students can face two kind of
transitions. The first one is the structure of the school system and another one is developmental.

Based on this is necessary to analyze each aspect of adolescents’ development to be aware of the
importance of knowing out students.
Literature Review
Characteristics of young adolescents
According to Brown and Knowles (2007), young adolescents are people who are growing
and facing many changes. They state that “this period of time is characterized by vast
developmental changes” (p. 3). These changes can vary in each person. They try to look for
independence and their thoughts are opposite of the adults. They want to be part of the society
they change from the safety of their homes to the risk of knowing new people. The authors also
state that teachers who want to help young adolescents to be successful in a school have to
consider those changes and take the responsibility to learn more about them. Additionally,
Crawford (2008) states that, “adolescence is a developmental time of erratic physical growth,
social exploration, and unfolding intellectual capacity. It is a time to awakening, realization,
anticipation, confusion, awkwardness, transition, change, identify defining, and self-discovery”
(p. 26).
Lerner (2002) states that adolescence is a period of transition, dramatic changes,
excitement and anxiety. Also, the author argues that “adolescence is a confusing time for the
adolescent experiencing this phase of life, for the parents who are maturing the adolescent during
his or her progression through this period, and for the other adults charged with enhancing the
development of youth during this period, such as teachers, coaches, and so on” (p. 5).
Adolescents experience biological, physiological, and social/ecological changes during this
period (Lerner, 2002).

Developmental learning needs are also necessary to understand in order to teach
adolescents. Crawford (2008) describes these learning needs as personal connections because
they have to connect personal experiences with the new knowledge and construct meaningful
concepts. Intellectual challenge and metacognitive development are also other adolescent’s needs
because they are developing their cognitive capacities. In addition, emotional engagement is
essential to keep students motivated. Finally, social interaction and learning environment help
them to support their learning process.
Physical development
According to Brown and Knowles (2007), adolescents need to know if the changes that
are experimenting are good or bad. As they are growing and their body is changing, they need
some guidance in order to have an answer to their concerns. At this age, they need different
activities to do inside and outside the classroom. They can be restless and want to eat all the
time. These characteristics are important for teacher to know since they have to plan according to
students’ needs.
Based on students’ physical development needs, physical activity is very important for
their growth. Sund, Larsson, and Wichstrom (2011) conducted a study to know if physical or
sedentary activities are factors to develop depressive symptoms in adolescents. The results of the
studies showed that actually sedentary or low level physical activity were risk factors for
adolescents to develop depressive symptoms. They also suggest to keep in mind this findings
when giving any kind of service to young adolescents like education or health care.
Brown and Knowles (2007) assert that adolescent are worried about their body image.
Some adolescent have already shown some signs like muscles, voice in boys, and other
characteristics of this age while others have not seen these characteristics in their body yet.

According to Wiliams and Currie (2000), self-esteem, pubertal timing, and body image are
connected. The resulted demonstrated that self-esteem is low in the pubertal timing when there is
a late maturation. Adolescents are concerned with their body size and perceived appearance.
Moreover, Dorn, Susman, and Ponirakis (2003) conducted a study to analyze if the pubertal
timing are in relation with adjustment and behavior problem. There were 52 girls from 9 to 14
years old and 56 boys from 10 to 15 years old. The results indicated that both men and women
who had had late maturing present more adjustment and behavioral problems. While, adolescent
with an earlier maturation did not demonstrate those problems.
Lerner (2002) suggests that physical and physiological changes cause body alterations in
adolescents’ body. The adolescents are going to pass though the prepubescence and the
pubescence. Prepubescence is characterized by the first signs of sexual maturations. In the
pubescence the growth spurt occurs. The adolescents experiment rapid changes like weigh,
height, or breast. Also in women start the menstruation period and this can bring some problems
like dysmenorrhea or amenorrhea. Eating disorders may appear at this age since they are worried
about their body image. These disorders are more common in women than men. This problems
can be anorexia or bulimia.
Implications
Based on theoretical framework, I can say that physical changes in adolescent are linked
with behavioral problems, too. There are many physical issues to keep in mind when our
students are in the young adolescence. There are many studies based on physical development
and adolescence. Some of these studies state that physical growth and self-esteem are connected.
Therefore, when children from the age of 10 or more have many concerns and this age is critical
because of their appearance.

When working with the Roller Coasters group, I could see that at the beginning they were
engaged but then they started to stand up and others tried to sleep. I could prove what I have read
about them. They do not like to stay all the time in their seats. They want more physical activities
or they will get bored. Furthermore, these characteristics can be seen in my students too. They
have to remain in their seats for 8 hours and they do not feel comfortable. However, it is
considered as a bad behavior if they stand up or change their position. Activities that involve
movement are essential at this age. The group observed had to work all the time in their seats and
some of them demonstrate disconformity.
Intellectual development
Brown and Knowles (2007) argue that young adolescents are changing form the concrete
operational thought to the formal operational thought. This will include solving abstract
problems. They are developing their critical thinking skills and metacognition. If a student at this
age starts developing metacognition, they will be able to take responsibility of their learning
process. Moreover, Lerner (2002) states that cognitive development can be seen in quantitative
and qualitative characteristics. They have better scores in abstract subjects and their critical
thinking skills have improved. The author states that “during adolescence thought changes from
being predominantly concrete to being predominantly abstract” (p. 94). Another important fact is
adolescents’’ egocentrism. They pretend that others are worried for their appearance and they
start to make wrong assumptions about their thoughts and other people thoughts.
As adolescents are changing from concrete to abstract thought, teachers understanding of
this development is important. They are going to be more willing of learn and they need
motivation. According to Lerner (2002), academic achievement is affected. They will perform

better in abstract subjects like mathematics or physics. However, the academic achievement will
be influenced by their culture, social interaction, parents’ involvement or partners.
Implications
Crawford (2008) states that students need hands-on activities and authentic learning in
order to develop abstract thinking. By providing challenging activities, they will be able to move
to make connections and acquire the new knowledge. Teachers have to present different
activities to help students to store the new concepts in the long-term memory. These activities
can be used according the topics and learning goals.
The observed group demonstrated a good level of cognitive development. They had to
develop some academic vocabulary using their iPad. At the beginning they were asked about the
concept of vocabulary. I could observe that one boy who like to read provided a good concept.
Other boys and girls also collaborate with the meaning and it was interesting to know their
reasoning. They started to work on their assignment and they were engaged. When it was time to
present their task, I was impressed because they were creative and had a clear understanding of
the vocabulary. I could say that they demonstrate one of the characteristics of their age. Their
critical thinking skills were implicit and each one was worried about doing the best presentation.
They wanted to be better than the other classmates.
Additionally, I have observed in my students that they are always trying to do their best
effort when they are in grades eighth or ninth. However, when they are in tenth or a more
advanced class, they lose their interest. Those students who were excellent in the eighth grade
have a poor performance when they are in an advanced level. Teachers think that in advanced
classes, students do not need hands-on activities and they lose the interest. The same strategies
should be used in basic and more advanced levels.

Emotional development
Santrock (2012) defines emotion as “feeling, or affect that occurs when a person is I a
state or an interaction that is important to the individual, especially to his or her well-being” (p.
150). When adolescents are developing their emotions, they can make wrong decision. They find
self-regulation of their emotions difficult to control. King, Lengua, and Monahan (2013) state
that “although children’s ability to regulate their behaviors continues to improve throughout
childhoods and adolescence, it remains unclear how contextual risk factors might influence this
development during the transition to adolescence, or how variation in the development of self-regulation
predicts adjustment” (p. 57). According to Lerner (2002) “if an adolescent cannot find
a role that resolves the emotional upheaval which results from the sting societal and personal
mandates for role adoption, and identity crisis may result (p.158). Moreover, at this age, they are
looking for peer acceptance. Oberle, Sschonert-Reichl, and Thomson (2010) developed a study
in which they demonstrated that empathy and optimism was important for girls’ acceptance of
peers while positive affect was not essential. On the other hand, positive affect predicted peer
acceptance in boys and empathy or anxiety were not related with acceptance at all. The author
suggest to include social and emotional comfort as a complement to peer acceptance.
Some adolescent want to discover their identity and they find many conflicts at this age.
According to Lerner (2002), self-regulation and identity will allow adolescents to reach their
goals because they will be able to explore the world and interact with society. It is important that
people around adolescent guides them. With guidance, they will discover who they are and what
they want for their future.
According to Santrock (2012), emotions on adolescents are presented as a feeling of
guilty because of their angry. They are able to express their emotions to others and improve their

relations. Adolescent develop emotional competences. These competences are self-regulation
when there are negative emotions. They also keep in mind emotional states and are not
overwhelmed. Adolescents start to understand how their emotional expressions affect other
people and how it plays an important role in the relationships. Moreover, the author argues that
sexual experiences and romantic relationships appears in the change to middle school. This
change can cause stressful experiences. Their hormone levels can provoke moods changes.
Moods changes can lead to depression especially in girls.
Implications
According to Crawford (2008), when students are learning, emotional engagement is
important for them. They need to feel part of the class regardless their culture background,
capabilities, or economic differences. Teachers have to create an environment where students
feel safe and engaged. The activities presented in classroom should be authentic and exigent.
Emotional experiences will impact students’ attention, motivation, intelligence, and retention.
These experiences can be problem-based learning, games and simulations, class discussions,
group works, interactive technology, projects development, and experiments (Crawford, 2008).
Based on my observations, students had to make a decision without knowing the
objective of the activity. When they were informed of the activity, there were many comments
since some of them make a wrong decision. They had to tell something about them according to
the number of toilet paper squares they had chosen. Those students who picked up a lot of
squares started to feel uncomfortable. At the end they tried to solve the situation by telling as
much as they could, but they finished a little bit unsatisfied of the situation. This shows how
students are unable to make decisions or they just do it without thinking in the possible
consequences.

Social Development
Adolescent are looking for independence but at the same time they want to get involved more in
social life. According to Lerner (2002), adolescents want to spend more time with their peers
than with their parents. They want to be part of the crowd that they feel identified. At the
beginning they try to get along with peers from the same sex. However, when they are in middle
school they look for a relationship. At this age, friendship is crucial. If friendship is engaged and
stable, they will improve their self-esteem and will not do wrong decisions. But, if the friendship
is not well-oriented, they will develop a disruptive behavior and the consequence can be
deliquesce.
Crawford (2008) states that “adolescent learning is socially motivated through a natural
inclination to interact with peers and a cognitive need to collaboratively construct knowledge and
new language” (p. 34). Adolescents also need to develop social and personal skills. These skills
can be developed by using cooperative learning strategies, literature circles, and other activities
that involve interaction. Teachers have to consider ongoing assessment, instruction, and practice
to help students to manage their group relationships (Crawford, 2008).
Implications
Based on my observations, students who are 10 to 11 years old try to look for their peers
from the same sex. When they arrived in the classroom, they look for groups of the same sex.
Women were in on table and men in another one. The instructor just allowed them to choose
their seats. It shows one characteristic of the adolescents. They look for same-sex friendship. The
boys were more extroverted than the girls. There were more boys than girls. However, when they
had to present the task, girls finished first and they took the risk to go to the front and showed it.

In my school setting, I could observed that students try to form their groups and do
activities that they cannot do with an adult. However, these group activities sometimes are
related with alcohol and drugs. They want to be part of the groups and they need to show it. The
social environment is not appropriate in most cases. Their families has been separated because of
immigration and other social problems. They look for a space in the society and teachers do not
promote interaction in the classrooms and they try to look outside them. They need guidance and
sometimes parents and teachers forget it.
Moral development
According to Sylwestern (2007), morality and ethics are human being characteristics.
Morality refers to some issues about right or wrong, possible and impossible, god or bad, and so
on. When people have to follow certain behavioral codes means ethics development. Osguthore
(2009) conducted a study to know about the relationship between a teacher’s moral character and
a student’s moral development. The author concluded that teachers’ moral character will not help
to develop on students’ moral character. However, teachers can influence in moral development
when use some strategies to foster moral development on students.
Santrock (2012) suggest four domains for moral development. Moral thought is based on
Hohlberg’s levels. Preconventional reasoning in which moral thinking is connected with
punishment. Adolescents look for their own interest. Conventional reasoning is showed as a need
to act in society considering its expectations. Finally, postconventional reasoning is when
morality is more internal. It means that they are worried to reach high ethical standards and they
analyze their reasoning. Then moral behavior is another domain. Adolescents follow models
which must be reinforced positively. The moral behavior must be in concordance with the

society rules. Moral feeling refers to empathy ad conscience. Moral personality involves
thoughts, behavior, and feelings.
Implications
Students’ personality and behavior was clearly noticeable by their attitudes toward
partner and activities. When young adolescents were working in their tasks, they tried to do
things thinking in what will be the best choice. They tried to select her best pictures to fit in their
concepts. The audience was very important for them. While they were working in the iPad, they
asked very kind for help. I can link this with the values they have learned in the school and at
home. They followed the rules established at the beginning of the class. When they were doing
the introductory activity, some of them wanted to cheat but the instructor notice that and
immediately they notice their attitude. They knew that acting up wrong would have its
consequences. At the end, a good behavior and values were presented in their presentations.
Area of concern
Teaching adolescents in a middle school classroom requires a deep understanding of
students’ development. As each individual is different, applying different strategies to teach
should be the best option to teach adolescents. Knowing students’ characteristics, teachers can
differentiate instruction in order to help them to achieve their goals. According to Crawford
(2008), all the students have same capacity to learn, but how they learn, will be different.
Instruction should be based on students-centered and taking into account many factors are
important. These factors can be emotional engagement, curriculum design, learning environment,
students’ needs, metacognition development, and social interaction. Learning environment
involves adolescents’ intellectual, social, physical, and emotional development. Moreover,
Lerner (2002) states that “today, schools are in a state of crisis. They are charged by society with

doing more than just educating youth but faced with diminishing resources and challenged by the
complex of serious problems shown by the young people they encounter (p. 273).
Another factor to consider in school is that society also influences in students’
achievement. However, the social context in school is very important for help adolescents to
reach the academic goals. According to Lerner (2002), “schools are training institutions, agents
of cultural transmission, and as means to inculcate knowledge and values. Schools fulfill a
maintenance-actualization role and are a place to develop optimal personal and interpersonal
attributes and the ability to contribute to society” (p. 274). Adolescents find in schools an
opportunity to grow in all the aspects because they spend most of their time there. Schools have
provided many activities and have done come changes according to students’ development.
Going back to my school setting, students must learn a second language. This second
language is English in my setting. As any other subject, students have to reach the English
curriculum goals. According to Ecuadorian In-Service English teacher standards (2012) “the
English Language Learning Standards (ELLS) are outcomes students are expected to achieve at
the end of a proficiency level in terms of knowledge and skills gained throughout the process”
(p. 8). Moreover, these standards involve the listening, writing, reading, and speaking language
skills. Students have to reach level B1 at the end of the high school.
Teaching English in a middle level school requires especial attention because students
need authentic material and activities. These activities must be in concordance with their needs.
Furthermore, teachers also have to consider adolescents’ development to teach another language.
According to Becker (2001), secondary students who are learning English as a Second Language
need a lot of hands-on classes like arts, physical education, or music. They need to interact with

native English speakers in this kind of classes. This interaction can help them feel more accepted
and develop their cognitive and social skills.
According to Kingen (2000), becoming a middle level teacher requires a lot of
commitment and energy. Since middle level learners are very active, teachers need to work in
class with enthusiasm. Moreover, Santrock (2012) argues about the hidden curriculum. He states
that “the hidden curriculum is conveyed by the moral atmosphere that is a part of every school”
(p. 239). Teachers are considered like models for students and they can transmit attitudes.
Teachers must involve students in constructing their own knowledge. They have the
accountability to help each student to guide and promote positive values. Students’ transition to
middle schools could be difficult for some students and teachers must be ready to guide them.
When they do not receive the correct guidance, problems like dropouts may occur. Moreover,
classroom management is important when working with young adolescents. They are developing
their social skills and interaction must be considered in each classroom. Kingen (2000) argues
that “a middle level teacher has to know when they attend to distractions and when to ignore
them, how to distinguish honest criticism from hostile accusation, and why the most innocent of
statements can create ill will” (p. 31).
To sum up, teaching middle school learners requires a big commitment. Young
adolescents are not only attending school to learn new concepts. They are attending school to
experiment many changes while they are learning theories. It can be a difficult stage for many
adolescents but teachers’ accountability will guide in this process. Also, it is necessary teacher
improvement and preparation to work with middle school learners. There is always something
new to learn and all the things can be improved to help anyone.
Personal application

Based on the theoretical framework, middle school students need more attention than I
supposed was necessary. I can state that my instruction was just based on teaching English
regardless their conditions or situations. Now, I am sure that this age is difficult for them and
teachers are the ones who have to work very hard to help students to overcome those situations.
By applying new strategies that require hands-on activities will be one of the best options to
work with this kind of students. Moreover, considering their social, moral and emotional
development, group work should be one of the strategies to use in my classes.
Our curriculum is designed to work with all the students. However, differentiating
instruction and considering students development will be a good opportunity to start teaching
regardless the curriculum design. It does not mean to change everything in the curriculum. On
the contrary, it requires to reach the standards based on student’s’ needs and individual
differences. When we talk about individual differences, we have to keep in mind that at the same
time they passing across physical, emotional, moral, intellectual, and social changes. Teachers
have to be aware of each implication and promote a good learning environment.
Most of the time I have worked with middle school students. Students who attend my
school are in an average from 11 to 17 years old. The schools has its own rules to manage
discipline. However, while I was learning about middle school learners, I could realize that there
are many rules to change and adapt according to students’ development. Sometime teachers are
not allowed to work outside the classrooms and students have to remain in their seats all the class
period. It means that they have to be inside their classrooms for eight hours, unless they have
laboratory practice. Furthermore, group work are difficult to carry out because some teacher
think that there is a lot of noise and it is impossible to work. I could name more issues but in
conclusion this shows that traditional education still reminds in my school. Even though,

students’ development has always been considered in education, teachers are reluctant to change
their practices.
Teaching English young adolescents requires especial attention to their backgrounds. We
need to apply many strategies and techniques to help students to reach the standards. Based on
students’ backgrounds, teachers can differentiate their teaching practice. But, this differentiation
must be according their development.
In conclusion, teachers must keep all students motivated all the time. They are human
beings that need to find out who they are and how to solve problems. They are vulnerable to
choose the wrong way because they start to make decisions. Adults’ guidance and commitment
is important to help them to reach their goals and be prepared for the life.

References
Brown, D. F., & Knowles, T. (2007). What every middle school teacher should know.
Portsmouth: Heinemann.
Crawford, G. B. (2008). Differentiation in the adolescent learner: Accommodating brian
development, language, literacy, and special needs. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.
Dorn, L. D., Susman, E., & Ponirakis, A. (2003). Pubertal timing and adolescent adjustment and
behavior: Conclusions vary by rater. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 32.3 p. 157-167.
Ecuador, Ministerio de Educación del. (2011). Curriculum . Retrieved from
www.educacion.gob.ec: http://educacion.gob.ec/objetivos-2/
King, K. M., Lengua, L. J., & Monahan, k. C. (2013). Individual differences in the development
of self-regulation during pre-adolescence: Connections to context and adjustment.
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 41.1 p. 57-69.
Lerner, R. M. (2002). Adolescence development, diversity, context, and application. Upper
Saddle River: Prentice Hall.
Oberle, E., chonert-Reichl, K. A., & Thomson, K. C. (2010). Understanding he link between
social and emotional well-being and peer relations in early adolescence: Gender-specific
predictors of peer. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 39.11 p. 1330-42.
Osguthorpe, R. D. (2009). On the possible forms a relationship might take between the moral
character of a teacher and the moral development of a student. Teachers College Record,
111 (1) p. 1-26.
Queen, J. A. (2002). Student transitions from middle to high school. Larchmont: Eye on
Education.

Sund, A. M., Larsson, B., & Wichstrom, L. (2011). Role of physical and sedentary activities in
the development of depressive symmtoms in early adolescence. Social Psychiatry and
Psychiatric Epidemiology, 46.5 p. 431-41.
Sylwester, R. (2007). The adolescent brain: Reaching for autonomy. Thousand Oaks: Corwin
Press.
Williams, J. M., & Currie, C. (2000). Self-esteem and physical development in early
adolescence: Pubertal timing and body image. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 20.2 p.
129-149.

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