The Role Of The Teacher In Primary English Teaching And Learning Process

The role of the teacher, which is one of the very powerful influences, is very important in the language teaching and learning process. Teachers' own conceptions of what is meant by learning, and what affects learning will influence everything that they do in the classroom directly. Since the reform, the English teaching scale gets enlarged continuously; great achievement has been made in China. However, the current educational situation cannot meet the needsof the development of economy and society. There is a great gap between them. Primary English has become one of the reforming curricula in the basic educational reform. Students start to learn English from Grade Three in China, and in the developed or coastal areas like Dalian, students begin to learn it even from Grade One. This makes the teacher, especially primary school English teacher to reflect on their role in the teaching and learning process. And it also needs teachers to explore the new position of the role. Yet teachers are used to the teacher-centred classroom. They usually regard their roles as language knowledge disseminators or language skill trainers that monitor and manage teaching. Some of them even treat primary school students with adult methodology. They not only neglect students' central position, but also neglect their role of mediators. It reduces students' interest in learning and restricts learner autonomy. According to the social constructive theory, knowledge does not belong to a teacher who is supposed to transmit it; it is rather the result of social interaction and the meanings the teacher and the students construct together. As mediators, teachers should select and organize stimuli, that is the task, which they consider most appropriate for students, shape them and present them in the ways considered most suitable to promote learning, help them learn to learn, control their own behavior and solve the problem by themselves. This thesis mainly focuses on the role of the teacher in primary English teaching-learning process and it provides some examples to illustrate the application of the ideas. We also apply to a number of issues in learning and teaching, such as motivation and task design and how students can be helped to acquire appropriate strategies for language learning and social development in long run.