The document outlines the author's language teaching philosophy. It begins by discussing the questions language teachers must consider to achieve excellence. It then presents a metaphor of language learning as climbing a mountain, with fluency being the peak. The goal is for students to achieve language fluency. High expectations and an integrated theoretical foundation are important. Affective factors are addressed to create a safe environment. Progress is assessed through meaningful output and celebrating growth. The challenges of teaching attract the author and developing relationships is fundamental to good teaching.

1. My Language Teaching Philosophy
Levi M. Johnson
Lincoln Christian University

2. My Language Teaching Philosophy 1
Abstract
I begin this teaching philosophy by outlining the questions I believe language teachers
must face to achieve excellence, articulating a metaphor of climbing a mountain to represent the
process of learning, and point out that meaning is the purpose of such endeavors. I move on to
explain that the goal in my mind while teaching students is their language fluency, and outline
why high expectations are important. Then, I explain how a standard of excellence is achieved
using an integrated linguistically theoretical foundation of research works by Swain, Chomsky,
and Krashen. I go on to identify certain affective factors involved in language acquisition, and
my approach to addressing them effectively in the classroom. I then show many details as
pertaining to student assessment of articulated goals of achievement, and the methods I use to
engender communal development and empowerment of the student within this context. Finally, I
explore the inner landscape and personal motives for having chosen to enter and continue to
teach with the SLA field, and conclude by answering why I will continue to be an educator for
the remainder of my life.

3. My Language Teaching Philosophy 2
My Language Teaching Philosophy
What drove me to become an ESL teacher? What purpose do I serve in this role? How
can I make a meaningful difference in humanity? These and other similar questions enter the
mind of an English Language Teacher (ELT), and must be answered. I believe the core of what
makes an excellent ELT is a focus on meaning. An excellent ELT leads their students on the
paths of meaning. If reaching the peak of the mountain is fluency, then the journey is the process
of language acquisition, and the sights, sounds, and stumbles along the way are the trials, error,
and lessons one encounters. My teaching philosophy follows this metaphor, and that each step
taken is a new experience of growth and learning. In this teaching philosophy I will answer four
questions within the journey metaphor; what destination do I have in mind when I teach? How
do I plan for my students and me to reach that destination? How will I judge when that point in
the journal has been reached? And why should I take that journey?
When I teach, I have in mind for my students the top of the mountain; language mastery.
With sensitivity to how my students feel about English language acquisition, I feel that it is best
for a teacher to aim for excellence. I cannot control my students goals, I can only guild them
towards the best within English language teaching. My assumption is if someone is in my class,
they are there to become fluent. My purpose as teacher is to push the student towards that goal
through an effective attitude of servant/leadership. I am a servant who is here to lead us to the
language mountain peak because I have traveled this path before in my own quest for second
language acquisition.
I carry out this journey through a focus on empowerment of students, because I want to
push students “to take responsibility for ... [their] own learning”, as Swain (1993) advocates
(p.159). I achieve this by focusing on “comprehensible input” as defined by Krashen in his Input

4. My Language Teaching Philosophy 3
Hypothesis (Brown, 2007, p.295), communicating just slightly above my students language level.
I do this in two ways. First, I plan lessons with forethought of difficulty in mind. I want to make
the journey challenging enough to exercise students skills by asking “circling” questions
(Benedict, 2011, p.3) around the content being taught, whether reading, writing, conversation, or
listening, that reinforce the meaning of the content, and give the students (what Chomsky labels)
Language Acquisition Devise (LAD) the opportunity to set its Universal Grammar (UG) (Brown,
2007, p.29). Using language and content that meets a student at their level, I utilize technology
(websites, videos, etc.), realia, pictures, miming, facial expressions, tone, volume, and emphasis
of voice, drawings, props, and student volunteers to convey meaning. Based upon experience,
students usually respond positively to these ways of conveying meaning as I try to make them
fun and exciting. My students seem to acquire content meaning thoroughly with these
approaches.
When planning my lessons and curriculum I try to keep in mind the personalities,
strengths and weaknesses of the students. For instance, during the lesson I might call on the more
extroverted students first since I know they will probably enjoy the limelight, and give the
introverted students the time and space they need to assemble the language they will use to
participate. Next, I keep a close watch on my student’s affective state and gauge how to relate to
them, somewhat based on how they are feeling and the class direction at the time. I mead out
affective management of students with care, but at the same time continue to keep a steady
stream of positivity focused at everyone. This is intended to communicate that, “this classroom is
a safe place for you to let down your guard, and participate as you can.” In this way, the students’
affective filter, as defined by Krashen in his “Affective Filter hypothesis” (Krashen, 1982), are
kept to a minimum (p.31). My jokes, facial expressions, tone of voice and body language are

5. My Language Teaching Philosophy 4
intended to help students feel safe. My aim is to give students a safe place to take risks by trying
out the language without fear of punishment. In my classroom, mistakes are seen as opportunities
to learn.
I also empower my students to take more and more control of the classroom experience.
For instance I teach my students form questions such as “May I have a pencil?”, “How do I spell
________?”, “May I go to the bathroom?” (depending on students age), and other questions and
phrases. I challenge them to form complete sentences, and push them to be accurate with their
form (although this varies in intensity with age group. It is not realistic to expect students at age
4 to form the ‘th’ sound perfectly, but for an older student this is quite feasible) since Swain
(1993, p.159) points out that pushing students to produce quality output forces them to convert
from sematic to syntactic processing. This challenges them to think deeply about how to create
correct language forms to accurately encapsulate the idea’s they desire to express. As students
grow through the process of trial and error within the context of our constructively critical and
relaxed atmosphere, it engenders a sense community, giving them “shared experiences”
(Sullivan, 1996) around which trust is socially developed, propelling the classes’ language
acquisition momentum forward (p.3).
One way that I assess my student’s progress is through my “Developer” talent, as defined
by Clifton and Anderson (2002, p.47). This enables me to sense even the slightest growth in my
students, giving me ample opportunities to celebrate the smallest growth in language acquisition,
i.e., a student forms a sentence I have never heard them say before, expresses a word more
articulately, etc. Another method of assessment is through students meaningful output.
Intuitively I often sense what a student means and guild them through differing forms of
feedback toward accurate linguistic structures, or teach them directly if they are not able to self-

6. My Language Teaching Philosophy 5
correct and grasp the correct form as it correlates to meaning. When I give formal examinations
such as written or spoken tests, I align them with the core goals of language fluency so that I
teach language skills that directly relate to what they will be tested on, with the aim of increasing
the students motivation to learn what is taught, as supported by Haugen’s writing from the
Center for Teaching Excellence (1998, paragraph 3). Using these methods of assessment, I
gauge each student’s success based upon their potential. If a student is bright, energetic, and
clearly shows potential for SLA success, I hold them to that standard. But if another student does
not show the same kind of potential, I do not hold them against unrealistic expectations. If the
former students mentioned get a C+, I will challenge them as to why it was not an A+, but if the
later student gets a C+, I will praise him or her. The point is, what is the best they can produce?
A student needs to be gently but firmly held accountable to their individual potential.
Finally, I believe that language is one of the most difficult subjects to teach because of
the challenges on the journey to doing it with excellence, especially when overseas. There are the
language barriers, cultural differences such as power distance, gender domination, social faux
pas, and the list goes on. A successful language teacher must be adaptable, excellent in integrity,
hungry to learn, willing to let go of their own agenda, have cultural sensitivity, and be willing to
take risks. In short, they have to bend without breaking within the winds of the educational
environment. All of these challenges attract me to teaching, since it demands my very best every
day. One of the focuses of teaching is train students how to think about and perceive reality.
Teachers are change agents who impart value sets to their students, since “We teach what we are”
(Palmer, 1997, p.14). In my opinion, fundamental to good teaching are the elements of
relationship building, rapport development, facilitating, communications, emotional intelligence,
management, leadership, vulnerability, intelligence and hard work. When a teacher works hard to

7. My Language Teaching Philosophy 6
earn the respect of students through utilizing these means, it engenders a powerful social
classroom environment where students feel safe to be led towards the peak of the mountain of
language acquisition. I am a language teacher because I feel compelled to lead students up the
path of learning. I derive extensive meaning from these endeavors, and will continue to do so for
the remainder of my days.

8. My Language Teaching Philosophy 7
References
Anderson E., Clifton, D., (2002). Strengths Quest: Discover and Develop Your Strengths in
Academics, Career, and Beyond. Washington, D.C: The Gallup Organization, Gallup,
Inc. 47.
Benedict, S. (2011). TPRS, Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Story Telling. Teach for
June. Retrieved from: http://teachforjune.com/handouts/tprs-handout-2011.pdf p.3
Brown, H. (2007). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. White Plains, NY: Pearson
Education. 29, 295.
Haugen, L. (1998). Writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement. Iowa State University: Center for
Teaching Excellence, 3. Retrieved from:
http://www.celt.iastate.edu/teaching/philosophy.html
Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice Hall. 31.
Palmer, P. (1997). The Heart of a Teacher: Identity and Integrity in Teaching. Change
Magazine, 29(6), 14.
Sullivan, P. (1996). Sociocultural Influences on Classroom Interaction Styles. TESOL
Journal. 6(1). 3.
Swain, M. (1993). The Output Hypothesis: Just Speaking and Writing Aren't Enough. The
Canadian Modern Review, 50(1), 159.