Learned Helplessness

        In a demonstration of learned helplessness by Charisse Nixon, PHD Developmental Psychologist at Penn State Erie, students receive slips of paper with three anagrams to solve. Unbeknownst to the students, one group receives a slip with easy anagrams like "bat" (tab) and "lemon" (melon) while the other group receives the words "whirl" and "slapstick"; unsolvable anagrams. The last word, "cinerama" is the same for both groups. During the activity, the students are told that the activity is "really simple" and it "shouldn't take too long". They are told to raise their hands once they are finished. Unsurprisingly, half the class raises their hands within seconds while the other half struggles to solve the anagrams, bemused. Because the group with the unsolvable words are faced with a challenge they were told was "easy", their plummeting confidence inhibits them from solving the last word, which is in fact the same for both groups.

      What this activity demonstrates is that learned helplessness can be induced in the EFL classroom through lack of sensitivity to learner's levels or capabilities, and setting unrealistic expectations by saying "this is really easy" or, "you should have no problems with this", etc. Furthermore, through subconscious habits such as 'echoing' (repeating words back to students say even if they pronounce or use them correctly), or reacting positively to opinions only shared with the teacher, it becomes clear that the unbalanced power dynamics within a classroom can be detrimental to students' self-esteem and ultimately, their long-term relationship with language-learning.

  

       As a teacher, I have struggled with these unconscious habits and this 'default' classroom environment in which the teacher is the "holder-of-knowledge" or authority figure. I have found myself wishing my students would start talking spontaneously in the silence, tell me what they want to discuss for the day, or be more active in using their smart-phones/dictionaries to look up words or check information. On the other hand, I realize that the role I play in their passitivity is significant: I am guilty of echoing, sending tacit messages that confirm my personal opinions or beliefs, and essentially controlling the the topic of dialogue and the participators in class discussions. 

    In an article by Chia Suan Chong in ELT Professional, she cites Jim Scrivener's 21 steps towards a proposed 'solution' to learned helplessness:

1. Start small

2. Offer binary choices
3. Allow divided outcomes
4. If you offer a choice, make it genuine
5. Make any constraints absolutely clear (then discuss where we can go from there)
6. Don't make a big deal about choices
7. Get students to notice that not everyone has the same viewpoint
8. Avoid wordings that imply that the teachers is someone who needs to be pleased
9. Get students discussing some decisions
10. Demonstrate that you are listening, but also have an opinion
11. Don't always go with the majority
12. Ask different people to make each decision
13. Don't let the decision making get boring
14. Restrain yourself from being the power, the authority, the decider.
 15. Don't 'save' them
16. Offer more decisions as time goes on
17. Offer more important decisions
18. Train your learners in listening and negotiating skills
19. Trains students to evaluate themselves
20. Hand over a big decision and a strategy for deciding
21. Ask very big questions

        Numbers 8, 15, and 19 resonate with me most strongly, as these issues are ones of which I am recently becoming more aware. I find it incredibly difficult to control my gestures of affirmation (e.g. nodding, smiling, frowning, etc.) and not feel like I'm doing something pernicious when I give negative feedback if a definition is not up-to-par with what I was expecting. I also find it almost painful to have to bite my tongue when a student struggles to express an idea and they look at me with a vulnerable, desperate look that cries, "Please, please, PLEASE help me! I know you know how to say what I'm trying to say.". However, I do believe it's crucial to implement some sort of quality-control and set a standard in the classroom - what would happen if I accepted every possible definition, even the ones that weren't entirely accurate? What other methods could I use to avoid binary, black-and-white, 'yes-or-no' feedback? How can I lead a student closer to a generally-accepted version of a 'correct answer' without negatively affecting their self-esteem or confidence?

     I believe the difficulty in being a dynamic, supportive, and effective teacher who encourages learner-autonomy lies in the conflict of demands between the materials, the students, and the institution of learning. If the language school requires certain materials to be used or is inflexible with their teachers going 'off-book', the student autonomy will be severely restricted. On the other hand, if a language center allows so much freedom that there are no systems of maintenance of the quality of teaching or no way to assess students' progress, there can be no sure way to confirm if language learning is actually happening. 

      But at the root of it, I think that we as teachers are working within a system in which we ourselves were taught - a system which begets passive learners, demands that we obey authority, teaches us to respond to positive/negative stimulation and to realize that our value to society lies in our ability to take tests well and learn within an academic framework. So, I think the challenge first lies in acknowledging that before we can assume the role of a discussion mediator, guide, or facilitator, we must first gain awareness of the myriad of ways in which we ourselves are inculcated in the system. Then, I believe, we can begin to step back when necessary, know when to keep our mouths shut (or not), or have the foresight to ask a question instead of spoon-feeding information without a moment's hesitation.

   Here is another article by Chia Suan Chong that eloquently addresses the issue of the "teacher-as-facilitor" vs. "teacher-as-knowledge-owner" that's worth a read if this post was interesting.

     (On a related note, the other day I saw a documentary called "Schooling the World" that broke my heart a little. If you're a teacher/person living in an industrialized society and can readily engage in a discussion about the relation of happiness to wealth, then you should probably watch this film.)