Defining Effective English Teaching: Essential Characteristics

Describing good teachers: How should good English teachers be?

1. Introduction

When a person thinks about an English teacher, the image of a neat person in front of a classroom talking with an interesting accent and with a marker in her hand comes to most of our minds. There are many types of teachers that people have to deal with during our school life. Students tend to categorize them as good or bad teachers. Some students think that good teachers are the ones who create a good environment in the classroom, prepare interesting lessons, search for the appropriate materials for them; besides, they are funny, knowledgeable, flexible and comprehensive. This paper will discuss factors that determine teaching performance and the characteristics

According to Harmer (2007: 24) there is not an ideal personality, but that has to do with teachers’ attitude and reactions towards events that occur during the lesson. Therefore, the best point to consider in teachers’ personality would be demonstrating a positive attitude and their responses while taking decisions during the class that is what students see at that moment. From their adaptability, we can take into consideration two points while describing good teachers which are, as Harmer (2007: 25) discusses, the flexibility and the ability to take advantage of every single event in their favor so that help them to succeed. Harmer also agrees that good teachers have to encourage students’ motivation and to respect the learner, because creating a good relationship in the class is a proof of upright rapport in the lesson. Scrivener (2005: 24) agrees that good teachers have to create an atmosphere where the empathy and the authenticity are effective to complement the rapport in a lesson, besides, Scrivener (2005: 23) states that good teachers are sensitive, confident, responsible and understanding. All of these aspects are really important to consider when describing good English teachers because students look for feeling comfortable with teachers with such features, in order for students to feel secure enough to make questions and receive the most appropriate answers, which allows them to develop their skills in learning a second