What EFL Learners Dislike About English Language Teachers

Let’s Continue With Our Series …
In a previous article post entitled, “Common EFL Classroom Problems and What to Do About Them”, we discussed three distinctive examples of EFL classroom-related problems and some suggested management strategies for them. In this related article, we’re going to turn the tables and talk about idiosyncrasies that learners find in English or foreign language teachers. It’s not only EFL teachers who can have the “patience of Job”, but EFL and foreign language learners too may have to endure some disparate teaching traits and conditions.

Video Clip: USC Prof. MacArthur Gomez demonstrates successful interaction with a group of learners

First of all, don’t get me wrong. I think that a variety of teaching styles can be a good thing for learners. This is just one of the ways that learners can benefit from input sessions using a broader spectrum of methods and techniques than might necessarily occur by having only one a or very few teachers using only a limited number of teaching resources.

Problems however, can begin to arise when the teaching styles of a group vary enough so that they impact the overall quality of a curriculum. This brings up some aspects that EFL learners said they disliked about EFL teachers. Of the several predominant points the learners mentioned, here are some of the most recurrent.

1. Teachers Who Are Obviously Unprepared for Class
These teachers may be guilty of:

• Having few or NO prepared lessons, resources or activities to conduct classes
• Often being late for class
• Frequently having a disheveled, unkempt personal appearance

2. Boring Teachers
You know the ones they mean- you know what they’re going to do class today, this week, next week, next month or even next year for that matter because it’s always the same – BORING. Dynamics? why they seem to never have heard of the word. So learners “fight back” by bringing an unending stream of technology from mp3s, iPods and mp4s loaded with their favorite music to class just to “survive” these lackluster sessions.

3. Teachers with Poor Speech or Heavy Accents
This is one aspect that many EFL learners brought up which I could really relate to; Why? Because, years ago I had an Eastern-European-born Robotics professor who spoke English with such a heavy accent we just couldn’t understand anything he said, whenever he talked. To make matters even worse, he talked continuously from the start of class until the end of class (and beyond). His idea was to literally “tell” us everything that we needed to know for the class. Talk about a real bummer. The only two true saving graces of the course were:

• 1. He was very highly knowledgeable in his field. No one ever questioned that he lacked depth in his area of expertise. In robotics programming languages he was “off in the ozone” somewhere. Certainly at levels we never planned or hoped to go.

• 2. He wrote EVERYTHING he said on the blackboard as he said it. When he filled up the two boards with writing, he promptly went back to board number one, erased it, and started filling it up with writing again often without so much as a glance in our direction.

There Are More of Course
Certainly the list of EFL learner pet peeves doesn’t stop here. We could discuss some others in another article post. The point is, don’t YOU fall into the category of being a boring, unprepared EFL or foreign language teacher in any of the afore-mentioned aspects. As is being demonstrated in this video, teachers should strive to interact with learners, engage them and ensure their interest and participation in class sessions.

Strive to make your EFL of foreign language classes an interesting, dynamic, enriching experience for your learners and you’ll ultimately have nothing much to worry about; at least, not in these areas.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 80 countries. Get your FREE E-books,"If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" or "7 Techniques to Motivate Your English Language Learners and Make Your Classes More Dynamic" by requesting the title you want at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

Common English as a Foreign Language Classroom Teaching Problems and What to Do About Them

Not “In It” For the Money
Most practicing English language teachers, especially EFL teachers are not “in it for the money”. Instead, they have other aspects of teaching English as a foreign language that reward or satisfy them such as shorter work weeks, extensive vacation and holiday schedules, and travel abroad opportunities, among many others. Nonetheless, EFL learners can irk even those with the patience of Job.

Here are three distinctive examples of EFL classroom-related problems and some suggested management strategies for them:

1. Students Don’t Have a Course Book
This can be an especially acute problem when teaching a course book-based program.

Try some or all of these strategies:

• Write all key lesson material on the board for learners to view and perhaps copy into their notebooks
• Project course book pages on a screen or the board using an Overhead Projector (OHP) or opaque projector for learners to note key items and exercises
• Make use of realia or alternative teaching methods for the theme being taught

2. Students Don’t Prepare Properly for English or Foreign Language Classes
If the number of class contact hours per week is very low, say for example less than four or five hours per week, there may be few other options available to the teacher outside of assigning homework or projects to be done outside of class hours. If EFL or foreign language learners consistently come to class with incomplete or undone assignments, both they and you suffer the results. So why not try “prodding” them gently by:

• Giving frequent or regular written and oral reviews
• Scheduling mandatory tutorial or listening laboratory sessions
• Announcing a quiz for the next , or soon upcoming class

3. Students Regularly Copy the Work of Others
Foreign languages in particular, require individual effort and participation to acquire. Simply copying the work of other learners will not promote foreign language acquisition.

• Give learners individual workshops (or worksheets) which are not identical to be completed in class and outside of class hours
• Assign individual or small group projects to EFL learners
• Use individual-based web quests as assignments
• Use dynamics and practice materials prepared in class for each learner or small groups

Other Problems Exist
While surely a multitude of other EFL related classroom problems exist, those presented here are among the fairly common ones. Depending on the regulations of the institution and the government where you may be teaching, some of these suggested solutions may be more or less practical than others. What are YOUR solutions to these or other EFL teaching classroom problems that YOU have? Although there are aspects EFL teachers dislike about students, there are also aspects that EFL learners dislike about EFL and foreign language teachers as well. We’ll consider some of these in upcoming articles.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 80 countries. Get your FREE E-books,"If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" or "7 Techniques to Motivate Your English Language Learners and Make Your Classes More Dynamic" by requesting the title you want at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

Teaching Verb Tenses and Grammar in the English Language

Grammar in English
There are number of ways grammar in English or the grammars of other foreign languages can be taught. Should you teach learners rules and grammar, translations of speech and meanings or just go with teaching communicative forms and discourse? This will depend, of course, on exactly who the learners are and the purpose of their course of language study. But often, as is the case with the following example, foreign language learners can become confused – as on occasion, so can English or other foreign language teachers.

Consider the following:

A teacher said, “I tutor Spanish. I find that much of a student's confusion in learning Spanish often stems from a lack of understanding of English grammar and language constructs, in general.”

First, you are correct in saying that a foreign language learner’s confusion can stem from a lack of understanding of the grammar in their first language (L1). This is but one of the many reasons the English or foreign language teachers should be trained. If you don’t know the grammatical formation of your own language, then understanding the grammatical structure of another language will be that much more difficult. In fact, this very theme causes many would-be foreign language learners to “throw in the towel” after becoming hopelessly lost or confused. It doesn’t help either when profit-crazed language institutes and unskilled teachers make astonishing claims for “instant” foreign language learning like “Learn a Foreign Language in 48 Hours”.

Another query area came up with, “I was trying to explain to a student that the present tense in Spanish (for example, "yo voy") can translate both to "I go" and "I do go." It then struck me that, while I know that the first explanation is obviously the present tense ("I go"), I was not entirely sure what name, if any, is given to the English construct of "to do + infinitive" (e.g., I do go, I did go, etc.).”

Second, I for one am not in favor of teaching technical terms to English or foreign language learners at all. But rather, I strongly feel that taking a much more communicative approach is more effective. It’s also more easily and quickly absorbed by learners especially when you use fun activities and authentic language. For example, while on vacation if someone asked you “How long have you been here?” you’d hardly respond by asking what’s the present perfect continuous form of saying two weeks? Hopefully, you’d just respond by saying, “Oh, I’ve been visiting here for three weeks now.”

Instead of burdening a learner with trying to “translate or conjugate” in their head I prefer teaching communicative response without the need for thinking about grammar rules or translation. When I study languages, I do the same thing with myself, not asking for a “translation”, but rather what is "real language” that could be used, an effective spoken discourse or response in the situation.

Some expressions, idioms and normal speech elements do not translate correctly from one language to another. Saying, “That’s cool!” in Spanish would translate, “Esto es fresco.” But that hardly means the same thing at all. If however, you wanted to express the same thought in Spanish and said, “¡Que chevere!” you’d certainly come across a whole lot better and definitely be well understood.

Third, in your example, “I do go …” the “do” is being used for emphasis of the main verb “go”. Consider:

“Do you study Spanish?”

“Yes I do.”

“You’d learn faster if you went to school.”

“But I DO go to school.”

Finally, we as English or foreign language teaching professionals, need to continually bear in mind the foreign languages are not translations of each other. Languages were created with another purpose in mind according to the Bible book of Genesis, from verses 1 to 9. Check it out for yourself sometime and you’ll see just what I mean.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 80 countries. Get your FREE E-books,"If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" or "7 Techniques to Motivate Your English Language Learners and Make Your Classes More Dynamic" by requesting the title you want at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

Why Grammar teaching Should Be Explicit

Implicit Grammar Teaching
Implicit grammar teaching should not be excluded for explicit grammar teaching entirely, however. Some basic features of English language grammar structure are illogical or dissimilar to speakers of other languages and do not readily lend themselves to being well understood, even in context. In cases where features of English grammar are diametrically opposed or in some other way radically different from the manner of expression in the student’s L1, explicit teaching may be required.

Photo: The author making a point in a university EFL class

Aspects of English language grammar that may offer exceptional challenge to EFL students include use of word order, determiners (this, that, these, those, a, an, the), prepositions (in, on, at, by, for, from, of), auxiliaries (do, be, have), conjunctions (but, so, however, therefore, though, although), interrogatives, intensifiers (some, any, few, more, too) and distinctions between modal verbs (can, could, would, should, may, might, must). Phrasal verbs also present considerable difficulty to Spanish speakers learning communicative English.

Student Responses
Some students also are logical or linguistically-biased thinkers who respond well to structured presentation of new material. Logical-Mathematical and Verbal-Linguistic intelligence learners are prime examples of those that would respond well to explicit grammar teaching in many cases.

Based on my English language teaching and on my personal second and third foreign language learning (L2, L3) experience, an exclusive approach using either implicit or explicit methodologies is not as effective as utilizing one or the other of these approaches as required. Although it is essential to teach elements of language and develop communicative abilities in our students, there is no one best way to introduce and provide practice in them. Young learners have more natural facility in acquisition, while adults may benefit substantially from more “formal” language learning. Learning styles and intelligence strengths are also a significant factor.

Sounds and Structure Introduction
There are many generally accepted ways of introducing the sounds, structure and vocabulary of English, including colloquial forms of conversation and the four basic communication skills. Grammar provides for “communicative economy”. Grammar teaching should be implicit, or explicit, as teaching / learning conditions may dictate helping to minimize the student response teachers fear most, “Teacher, I don’t understand.”

Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on the lucrative, fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign Language, get your copy of his no-cost, full multi-media, hypertext-linked pdf ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know” by sending an e-mail to lynchlarrym@gmail.com with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. Need professional, original content and photos or images for your blog, newsletter, e-zine or website? Want more information, have a comment or special request? E-mail the author for a prompt response.

Grammar Teaching Should Be Implicit

Strictly Explicit Grammar Study
Strictly explicit grammar study however, and even grammar-focused lessons are often not communicatively based. They can therefore be boring, cumbersome and difficult for students to assimilate. The strict teaching of grammar / structure, except with students of the Logical – Mathematical or Verbal – Linguistic intelligences (H.Gardner, 1988), can be frustrating and highly ineffective. Thus enters Implicit grammar teaching methodologies.

In the early 20th century, Jespersen, like Boas, thought grammar should be studied by examining living speech rather than by analyzing written documents. By providing grammar in context, in an implicit manner, we can expose students to substantial doses of grammar study without alienating them to the learning of English or other foreign language. I also agree with this implicit approach of teaching grammar. The principal manner in which I accomplish this is by teaching short grammar-based sessions immediately followed by additional function-based lessons in which the new grammar / structure is applied in context.

Acquisition vs. Learning
The hypothesis of language-learning researcher Stephen Krashen, pictured above, is that adult language students have two distinct ways of developing skills and knowledge in a second language, acquisition and learning. Acquiring a language is “picking it up”, i.e., developing ability in a language by using it in natural, communicative situations. Learning language differs in that it is “knowing the rules” and having a conscious knowledge of grammar / structure. Adults acquire language, although usually not as easily or as well as children. (Krashen – Terrell, 1984)

Acquisition, however, is the most important means for gaining linguistic skills. A person’s first language (L1) is primarily learned in this way. This manner of developing language skills typically employs implicit grammar teaching and learning.

This does not exclude explicit grammar-teaching entirely, however. Some basic features of English language grammar structure are illogical or highly dissimilar to speakers of other languages and do not readily lend themselves to being well understood, even when presented in context. In cases where features of English grammar are diametrically opposed or in some other way radically different from the manner of expression in the student’s L1, explicit teaching may be required as will be considered further in the following article post of this series.

Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on the lucrative, fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign Language, get your copy of his no-cost, full multi-media, hypertext-linked pdf ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know” by sending an e-mail to lynchlarrym@gmail.com with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. Need professional, original content and photos or images for your blog, newsletter, e-zine or website? Want more information, have a comment or special request? E-mail the author for a prompt response.

How Should Grammar Be Taught?

Based on my 20 years of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teaching experience, the statement “grammar teaching should be implicit, not explicit” could be argued both for and against. Whether to teach grammar as an extracted focus of ELT (English Language Teaching) or more passively as an inductive, integral topic has been the theme of countless debates on the part of institutions, professors, grammarians and language researchers for decades. Grammar is the branch of linguistics dealing with the form and structure of words or morphology, and their interrelation in sentences, called syntax. The study of grammar reveals how language works, an important aspect in both English acquisition and learning.

The Early 20th Century
In the early 20th century grammarians like the German-American anthropologist Franz Boas and the Danish linguist Otto Jespersen began to describe languages and Boas' work formed the basis of various types of American descriptive grammar study. Jespersen's work was the fore-runner of such current approaches to linguistic theory such as Noam Chomsky’s Transformational Generative Grammar.

Chomsky, pictured above, who studied structural linguistics, sought to analyze the syntax of English in a structural grammar. This led him to view grammar as a theory of language structure rather than a description of actual sentences. His idea of grammar is that it is a device for producing the structure, not of a particular language, but of the ability to produce and understand sentences in any and all languages. Since grammar is the means by which we can understand how a language “works”, a definitive study of language grammar is essential to language study.

Strictly Explicit Grammar Teaching
Strictly explicit grammar study however, and even grammar-focused lessons are often not communicatively based. They can therefore be boring, cumbersome and difficult for students to assimilate. The strict teaching of grammar / structure, except with students of the Logical – Mathematical or Verbal – Linguistic multiple intelligences, can be frustrating and highly ineffective.

There are many generally accepted ways of introducing the sounds, structure and vocabulary of English, including colloquial forms of conversation and the four basic communication skills. Grammar provides for “communicative economy”. Grammar teaching should be implicit, or explicit, as teaching / learning conditions may dictate.


Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on the lucrative, fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign Language, get your copy of his no-cost, full multi-media, hypertext-linked pdf ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know” by sending an e-mail to lynchlarrym@gmail.com with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. Need professional, original content and photos or images for your blog, newsletter, e-zine or website? Want more information, have a comment or special request? E-mail the author for a prompt response.