Section 4
Teaching, Learning and Assessing Modern Languages
4.1 Teaching and learning
The process of teaching and learning can be complex. Different stages in the learning process require different interactions between teachers and pupils. The quality of these interactions is the critically important feature of effective teaching.Pupils approach learning with their own unique set of understandings and experiences. Teachers approach their teaching with their own unique set of experiences and preferences. Effective teaching and learning happens where teachers address the diverse needs and experiences of their pupils through the flexible and creative use of a range of teaching approaches, learning activities and resources. Teaching and learning will thrive where it is rooted in well-planned programmes and activities, experiences that engage and challenge pupils and a supportive classroom ethos.
Effective teaching and learning comprises a wide range of important and interacting features. These can be gathered under three key organising principles that lie at the heart of effective teaching and learning. These principles are widely accepted as the basis of good practice. They are concerned with teachers:
- making learning clear for the learner
- using a variety of approaches to match different learning purposes
- giving and receiving clear and regular feedback.
Where teachers do these things well, effective and enjoyable teaching and learning takes place.
Effective classrooms are characterised by an ethos of achievement and an enjoyment of learning where the role of the teacher and of the pupil is carefully considered. Fostering such an ethos of achievement has implications for both school management and teaching practices. For management it requires the constant reinforcement of those strategies designed to enhance achievement in its widest sense. For teachers the need is first and foremost to structure teaching and learning in ways that provide each pupil with challenge and allow opportunities for whole-class, group and individual reflection on work completed and on future tasks.
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