An expert EFL teacher’s class management

The present research sought to investigate how expert EFL teachers manage their class and keep itsdiscipline. To this aim, the existing prior ELT (English Language Teaching) research on exemplaryteachers’ practices were reviewed and the typical class management strategies used were extracted.Moreover, 20 ELT specialists including teacher educators, university professors of applied linguistics,mentor teachers and language institute supervisors were selected through purposive snowball andconvenience sampling methods, and were interviewed. Since they were directly dealing with teachersas trainers, supervisors, and mentors, they were considered as qualified informants. There were finally4 themes and 3 sub-themes extracted from the qualitative content analysis of the interviews, whichwere presented in this paper along with sample extracts of the actual interview content. The themesincluded: expert teachers’ identification power, use of external control, use of preventive managementstrategies and monitoring student behavior. The 3 sub-themes of the second theme were: clarificationof expectations, use of body language and establishing rules and routines. Knowledge of these themesand sub-themes can shed light on a key behavioral aspect of expert English language teachers in class.These strategies, if followed properly, can set good examples for novice teachers and those who haveproblem managing their classes.

Keywords:

expertise , expert teacher , EFL , teacher education , class management