Perceptions of a teacher’s authority

As concluded in the previous section, we cannot know how exactly the physics students had been taught languages at school. However, the interview included a question about a good language teacher, to which the students seemed to answer with a strong voice of experience (Aro 2009: 133-135). These utterances reveal

their perception of the language teaching they received. Voices of experience very much dominated these answers; schooled voices (Aro 2009: 128-129) were merely present in the vocabulary, such an in extract 11.

(11)

I: Minkälainen on hyvä kielenopettaja?

El: No sellanen --- kenen ne opetusmetodit on sillee monipuolisia ja kuka niinku osaa niinku innostaa oppimaan siihe että ei vaan käyä niinku sitä kirjaa järjestyksessä tällei vaan se tuo aina jotain lisää siihe

I: What is a good language teacher like?

El: Well the kind [of teacher] whose teaching methods are like versatile and who can like encourage [students] to learn so that you don’t only like go through the book in order like this but they always bring something more to it

Ella’s answer shows what a traditional language class is stereotypically like: the teacher heavily relies on the book. Other students also mentioned the variety of teaching methods as a sign of a good teacher, and that relying on the book was not.

Many said that encouraging and motivating the students was important. Agency was placed on the teacher who had an active role in getting students interested in language studies.

The students’ perceptions of language studies shone through particularly well in some of the answers. Valtteri, who did not see himself as a good language learner and who had always been more interested in other school subjects, emphasised that a relaxed atmosphere in class was important. Markus, who was afraid of speaking foreign languages in front of people he knew, said that it is important that a teacher encourages students to speak even if they do not get the forms perfectly.

Valtteri and Kalle, reminiscing about their language classes at school, had found it useful when their teachers had challenged them to speak English.

Overall, the students’ descriptions of a good language teacher were quite alike although their own personalities and challenges with language could be heard in their voices. Perhaps a good follow-up question could have been whether they had had bad experiences about language teachers. However, it is very possible that had they had exceptionally bad experiences, they would have mentioned them in their answers. According to Dufva, Lähteenmäki and Isoherranen (1996), memorable experiences shape our perceptions of language learning. We could, therefore, suggest that the physics students had rather neutral memories of language studies at school. On the other hand, negative experiences are not necessarily in a key role

if we can find a purpose for language learning (Flowerdew and Miller 2008, Lantolf and Pavlenko 2001). In the case of English, the interview data suggests that all the students valued it highly and were used to using it in their free time. Hence, it is possible that not all the students in the present study had had positive experiences of English teachers, but yet none of them even hinted that they were not happy with the role of English in their lives or that they would avoid it in some way.

Finally, it is clear that teachers have strong authority in the students’ minds.

Markus spoke of a good language learner, claiming that he was not one because he had clearly learned from teachers what a good language learner is like. He also mentioned understanding directions to the train station as basic knowledge of language. Valtteri, similarly, stated that he would not be good at explaining a plot of a film in his own words and was therefore hesitant to say he was good at English. These examples encompass a strong voice of their previous language teachers. Although the students actively used English in their everyday lives and had noticed that they were quite good at it, discussing language learning in the interview took them back to a language class at school. Even if they understood that they were able to use English, their perceptions of language learning were strongly related to formal teaching.

Section 7.1 has described the physics students’ perceptions of language learning. It seems that the students were often reluctant to take ownership of their language learning, placing agency on an authority. Optional languages were chosen from the initiative of a teacher, parent or a friend. The students perceived language learning as something that happens in class, and their perceptions of a good language learner seemed to stem from what they had heard at school. The teacher had authority: the students often based their perceptions on what they had learned from their teacher. In contrast to previous studies, the students thought that knowing a language does not entail perfect grammar. Despite this, they hesitated to claim that they knew other languages than English, which seemed to have a special status in the students’ world of languages. This issue is discussed further in the following section.

7.2 Physics students’ perceptions of different languages: “English is a