Orderly-Rows

Orderly-row seating arrangement is a popular method used to arrange classroom furniture. The defining features of this seating arrangement is that students’ desks and chairs are arranged in rows and the teacher’s table is situated in front of the classroom. Interestingly, this seating arrangement is used in second language teaching settings to facilitate two distinctively different teaching and learning environments. One is to group students as a whole-group class to create a sense of belonging and the second, is  to facilitate students to lean on their own allowing individualized learning  (Harmer, 2015). 

Class as a Whole Group.

With regard to grouping the learners as a whole group using orderly-rows in second language teaching, despite the fact that this classroom arrangement model is identified to have number of limitations, it is popular in cultures and educations settings where teachers have more power and control in all aspects related to classroom management (Carolyn & Carol, 2013). In a typical orderly-row whole class grouping setting, the teacher stands in front of the class to give instructions. Even though contemporary language teaching favors student-centered collaborative learning this way of teacher-centered instruction is considered as the norm of teaching and the customary nature of student-teacher relationship in many cultures (Garrett, 2008). With this background, it is important to identify the advantages of adopting orderly-rows to group the language classroom as a whole group.  

Advantages of Grouping the Class as a Whole.

When students sit in orderly-rows and grouped as a whole class, a sense of belong is cultivated. According to Harmer (2015), this arrangement make the learners think that ‘we are all in it together’. As individual scrutiny is not given to the learner’s language production and errors, in a whole class group setting students are not pressured to perform/speak the target language. It may look seemingly disadvantageous for the learners, however, according to Krashen’s (1981) theory, second language learners absorbed language better when the learners are less pressured. Krashen (1981) presenting effective filter hypothesis, identified that learner’s psychological factors such as lack of self-confidence, and anxiety can form a barrier between the listener (student) and the speaker (teacher) resulting in reduction of input (exposure to authentic language). 

This hypothetical filter is not responsible for affecting the language acquisition directly, however it is understood the filter to act as a barrier for the input to reach the area of the brain that is linked to language acquisition (Ellis, 2015). In this regard, when learners are grouped as a whole group and create a feeling that all are ‘in it together’, allow the learners to feel less pressure in the classroom environment. When the whole class function as a single group, learners are not targeted. Teacher can ask a question from the whole class allowing learners who are confident to respond. This way learners are not in the spotlight and allow opportunities to speak without pressure and in their own time.

Class as a Whole Group and the Silent Period.

   

I'll speak when I'm confident!

Regarding allowing learners to speak/respond in the target language – English in their own time, an observation on immigrant English as a Second Language learning environment Iddings and Jang (2008) recognized that some learners choosing to stay silent during instruction time creating a puzzling question for the teacher as to determine if these silent learners are learning by remaining silent. Krashen (1981), commenting about second language learners silent period, recognize that learners must be provided with a large quantity of comprehensible linguistic input and must be given time to digest the input before being urged to produce linguistic output.

In simpler terms, during the process of learning a second language, adequate time and language input should be provided before expecting the learners to produce any language. In this regard, facilitating the learners to sit in orderly-rows and work as a whole group allow opportunities for the learners who are going through a silent period to absorb enough language from the environment. Teachers can include activates that enable total physical response such as raising hands and pointing in order to include and engage the silent learners in the language activity without pressuring them to immediately produce language. 

Disadvantages of Grouping the Class as a Whole.

Among the significant drawbacks on grouping the whole class in orderly-row seating arrangement, expecting all learners to engage in the same learning activity at a same phase stands out. This practice results in failure to cater to the individual learner differences such as language learning strategies, aptitude, attitudes and learning styles. It also provide limited opportunities to exercise learner autonomy as the control of the language lesson is with the teacher. 

Students rely on teacher’s instructions heavily and miss opportunities to practice language elements through approaches to English language learning such as task based learning. To overcome these challenges, teachers can use orderly rows to group learners as a whole group ideally at the introduction stage of the lesson and choose pair arrangement, or separate groups to facilitate collaboration, engagement, through shifting the autonomy to the language learners. 

  

Orderly Row Seating Arrangement and Individualized Learning.

Facilitating individualized second language learning lies in the opposite end of the whole class grouping using orderly-rows. Teachers can ideally use orderly-rows to facilitate individualized learning for small classes. Individualized learning is a method of teaching designed to recognize language learner’s abilities, interests, language aptitude and attitudes towards learning. In this method of teaching, teachers using personalized content and technology, to cater the learner differences (Haughey, Snart, & Da Costa, 2003). 

Learning is a complex process that involve combination of social, individual and psychological factors (Ellis, 2015; Wolff, 2011). These social, individual and psychological factors are not limited but include linguistic background of the learners, social background, availability for technology, aptitude for learning, attitudes towards learning, degree of motivation, learning strategies, styles and different learner beliefs. However, developing personalized lesson plans to cater each learner’s language requirements is a possibility in small sized classes as it is time consuming for language teachers to develop lesson plans, find teaching materials and prepare work sheets to respond to each learners language needs. 

References.

Ellis, R. (2015). Understanding second language acquisition (Second edition. ed.). Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press.

Harmer, J. (2015). The Practice of English Language Teaching (Vol. 18). Harlow: Harlow: P.Ed Australia.

Haughey, M., Snart, F., & Da Costa, J. (2003). Teachers' instructional practices in small classes. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 49(2), n/a.

Iddings, A. C. D., & Jang, E.-Y. (2008). The Mediational Role of Classroom Practices during the Silent Period: A New-Immigrant Student Learning the English Language in a Mainstream Classroom. TESOL Quarterly: A Journal for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages and of Standard English as a Second Dialect, 42(4), 567. doi:10.1002/(ISSN)1545-7249

           Krashen, S. D. (1981). Second language acquisition and second language learning. Lon- don: Pergamon. 

Wolff, D. (2011). Individual learner differences and instructed language learning: An insoluble conflict?