Nam Y.P.
ENGLISH FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNERS’ PREFERENCES OF TEACHING STYLES *
Аннотация:
teaching styles play an influential role in English Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ classroom. Depending on the teaching styles being supportive or not supportive for the particular context, students can possibly face new opportunities or additional challenges. Thus, exploring the phenomenon of teaching styles, this study reviewed a number of sources dedicated to teaching styles in EFL context. The aim of this study is to identify the most preferable teaching styles by EFl learners and factors which support students during the language learning process. In conclusion, it was revealed that Facilitator teaching style, student-centered approach benefited. Additionally, it was recommended for teachers not to ignore their own feelings during teaching to avoid burnout.
Ключевые слова:
EFL, TFL, teaching styles, delegator, facilitator, personal model, expert, formal authority
Introduction.Effective teaching is paramount to successful English foreign language (EFL) learning, and in order to achieve effectiveness in teaching instructors take into account multiple factors. Students require their needs to be considered: for this process teachers implement various teaching techniques and strategies to their working process, predominantly learning about their students’ needs, and follow their specific teaching styles. Teaching styles is indisputably a factor which also can influence students’ learning process. According to Sternberg (1997), teaching style is a teacher’s preferred way of delivering lessons, solving problems which appear during the teaching process, and providing tasks. It is hypothesized that the teaching styles which a teacher establishes through the time of experience can influence the way students understand the content, perceive the subject. Furthermore, some particular teaching styles can lead to negative results, in case they were not appropriate for the audience, and, oppositely, can lead to to a greater extent positive results, if the teaching styles utilized by an instructor were highly appreciated by the circle of learners. Foreign language learning is a process which is complicated itself, therefore, various aspects including teaching styles can possibly have a noticeable impact on students. This literature review is going to explore the topic of the particular teaching styles influencing students’ success in English learning in a deeper manner. This research aims to synthesize a number of existing research sources on EFL learners’ preferences for different teaching styles, studying which teaching styles learners of EFL find most supportive and least supportive. Thus, for instance, according to Aliu and Raheem (2023) different teaching styles can influence some groups of people differently: students of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) specialties had contrast in terms of succeeding in their disciplines, since their teachers were observed to follow their individual teaching styles. By examining studies conducted in this area, this review is intended to analyze and compare the articles about teaching styles in EFL context, identifying the commonalities and differences in EFL learners’ preferences. The light shed on what relevant recommendations it is possible to provide to teachers, what teaching styles it can be more effective to utilize during the practice. Admittedly, everything is individual, and it is complicated enough to conclude what teaching style is the most supportive for students of EFL, yet, ultimately, a better understanding of EFL teachers’ teaching styles can contribute to the more student-centered education with the theoretical interventions, which learners might find beneficial for them. In order to analyze the teaching styles, this study was based on the research conducted by Grasha (1994), which was observed to be classical in terms of teaching styles. After the revision of the number of sources, it became clear that the teaching styles which can be met frequently in the works by other researchers are: delegator, facilitator, expert, personal model, and formal authority. These listed teaching styles were the basis of the number of articles, therefore, this study was particularly focused on these five suggested teaching styles.Literature review.It is an indisputable fact that every teacher follows their own individual teaching style. Teaching styles themselves is the phenomenon which can hypothetically influence the flow of the lesson, what students feel during their learning process, and sometimes how they perceive the subject. Teaching styles can have a direct connection to EFL students’ academic achievement at higher education level (Darazi et al., 2022). There are multiple definitions of what teaching styles basically are, yet, according to Sternberg (1997), “teaching style” is a way preferred by a teacher to conduct the lessons, provide tasks, information, solve problems arriving during the teaching process, teaching styles may vary from individual to individual, and depending on the educational organization. Taking into account the particular types of teaching styles, a number of researchers consider the classification suggested by Grasha (1994), which reports that there appear five types of teaching styles: Facilitator, Delegator, Expert, Personal Model, and Formal Authority. Depending on the meanings of the revealed teaching styles, “Facilitator” refers to a teacher who appreciates the interactions between students within the class, guides utilizing the leading questions, in-class discussions, real-time discussions, “Delegator” refers to the type of teachers who establish deadlines, minimize the level of in-class interactions, and works as a materials provider, thus sending the needed sources of materials students need during doing an assignment, since their purpose is to motivate students to work independently, “personal models” try to inspire their students by telling them personal stories about working or studying experiences, and motivate students to continue to work on their future professions, teachers who are “experts” demonstrate and hold their status in class by their level of knowledge, they try to challenge their students in terms of the amount of information, and check their progress on it, “formal authority” teachers prefer to keep status with the help of knowledge and role of faculty member, where they have clear expectations and rules, feedback, transparent goals due to these teachers’ specific peculiarities to have their own correct or appropriate ways to teach. Thus, relying on the listed teaching styles, this research seeks to establish the possible supportive teaching styles for EFL learners, which can influence the studying process positively. Teaching styles can have different impacts on different groups of learners (Aliu and Raheem, 2023). It can be hypothesized whether specific teaching styles can have positive or negative effects on EFL students’ learning progress specifically, and it is where this research deepens into the topic of teaching styles. According to Heydarnejat et al. (2017), EFL teachers may prefer two following teaching styles: Facilitator and Delegator. These two contrasting styles motivate learners to work in a collaborative manner and independently respectively. However, there is the question appears about what the preferred by EFL-learners teaching style is. Thus, the research conducted by Roland (2014) delivered the results that EFL-students found Expert style as the most suitable for their context, while Formal authority was observed as the least preferred. In addition to the Facilitator style remarked on to be the appropriate teaching style, Razak et al. (2008) concluded that Facilitated style followed by Personal Model, after which Deelegator appears. The research presented by Doncel Rizo (2015) discusses the significance of learning styles being taken into consideration, recommends to align teaching strategies with learners’ needs, thus improving the quality of education. This article suggested various teaching strategies including the combination of individual and group work, which refers to Delegator and Facilitator teaching styles. The same result was obtained by Grasha (1994), in whose works the five teaching styles with their definitions were explored. It was reported that EFL-learners can, theoretically, appreciate the Facilitator and Delegator styles by their instructors, especially, in advanced courses, reflecting their preparedness to work collaboratively or independently, as well. The research of Mermelstein (2015) was concentrated on the exploration of EFL learners’ preferences of teaching styles, by the end it was summarized that EFL-learners prefer to a greater extent student-centered approaches, and have more positive perspectives towards student-centered learning. These results refer to Facilitator teaching style, to decipher, or not the teaching styles where teacher is the main figure within the classroom. Furthermore, Facilitator style can indeed influence EFL learners’ level of engagement to the lesson, since in this case students interact with their teachers (Rosalia, 2024). The study provided by Ghanizadeh et. al (2016) remarked on the significance of teachers experimenting and adjusting their teaching styles to learners’ needs. Thus, together with consideration of teaching styles suggested by Grasha (1994), the researchers found new teaching styles, which were appropriate for their context: entertain style and quiz style. Students shared that they felt motivated and engaged into the process of learning in the EFL-classroom with the new teaching styles. It means, it is not “bad”, if teachers continue to experiment with their styles to teach, thus trying new approaches or developing their own flow to conduct the lessons, relying on their students’ needs. It can be predicted that, relying on the EFL-learners’ preferences, the teaching styles, where students learn through interactions with their group mates and teacher, learn through practice, benefit most. Furthermore, considering the phenomenon of teaching styles from the teachers perspectives, it can be established that teachers’ creativity predicts Facilitator and Delegator positively, and it predicts Formal Authority and Expert negatively. Nevertheless, it was additionally explored that Facilitator, Personal Model and Delegator teaching styles can in some cases lead to burnout, while the left two styles - Formal Authority and Expert - did not have the same results. To summarize, it is indisputably important to take into account students’ learning preferences, yet the teaching style which requires creativity and a share of energy can lead instructors to burnout. Furthermore, teachers should consider their feelings and motivation to work, in order to work in stability. Continuing the row of recommendations, Glenn (2016) and Dickinson (2021) encourage teachers to implement changes into their lessons, therefore, teachers should be able to adapt lessons in the way their students need, based on how they learn and perceive information.Conclusion.Teaching styles have an influential role in terms of language learning. Students can find some teaching styles appropriate or not appropriate for their context, which can theoretically lead to lower academic results, and furthermore, teaching styles can affect various groups of students in different ways. Thus, taking into account the context of EFL-classroom, this study reviewed a number of sources dedicated to the teaching styles preferred by EFL-students specifically. In order to analyze what teaching styles are the most and least supportive, Grasha’s (1994) teaching styles were utilized. There are Facilitator, Delegator, Authority, Personal Model and Expert teaching styles. After observing the research studies on teaching styles, it became clear that student-centered approaches were, admittedly, highly appreciated. To summarize, considering EFL-learners, Facilitator style benefited most. However, it is complicated enough to conclude what teaching styles are the least supportive for EFL-learners, the main objective there is to provide students with the opportunity to learn through practice, have some in-class interactions, and share their learning needs with their instructor due to the teacher’s possibility to improve or reveal some relatively new teaching styles or approaches which can be implemented in practice. Furthermore, it is recommended for teachers not to ignore their own effectiveness, avoiding burnout. Such styles as Facilitator, Personal Model, and Delegator can lead teachers to burnout, in some cases, since these particular styles require creativity from the teachers’ side. In conclusion, EFL-learners to a greater extent prefer Facilitator teaching style, however, teachers are recommended to take care of themselves, not ignoring their own feelings.
Номер журнала Вестник науки №6 (87) том 1
Ссылка для цитирования:
Nam Y.P. ENGLISH FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNERS’ PREFERENCES OF TEACHING STYLES // Вестник науки №6 (87) том 1. С. 690 - 697. 2025 г. ISSN 2712-8849 // Электронный ресурс: https://www.вестник-науки.рф/article/23662 (дата обращения: 12.07.2025 г.)
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