My teaching philosophy has been influenced by my experience learning English, my work with English learners in K–12 schools, and the knowledge I have gained from the MATL program. As someone who learned English as a second language, I understand that learning a new language is a journey that takes time, requires a lot of effort and regular practice. Having gone through this journey myself, I know the critical role that English teachers play in supporting students’ language acquisition. This includes using different teaching methods and techniques to accommodate students’ learning styles and needs while also providing them with ample opportunities to use the target language in the classroom. Through my work with English learners at Seattle Public Schools, I have learned that students learn differently, progress at different paces, and need different kinds of support. The MATL program has also helped me better understand how students acquire a second language and how I can use Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research and theories in my teaching.
I believe every English learner can become proficient in English with the right tools, support, and opportunities to use the language in meaningful ways in the classroom. English learners enter the classroom with different educational experiences, levels of English proficiency, and cultural backgrounds. However, these differences are not the only factors that can affect their language learning. Brown and Lee (2025) note that language learning is influenced by cognitive, social, emotional, and environmental factors, making each learner's experience different (p. 3). As a teacher, I want to consider these factors when I plan my lessons and provide support to my students. In the MATL program, I learned that students learn English for different purposes, such as for daily communication, education, and career advancement. To help students achieve these goals, I will design activities that integrate all four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) while also providing them with regular opportunities to use English in the classroom.
To ensure these activities integrating all four language skills help my students develop their English proficiency, I will design them with a clear understanding of the cognitive processes behind second language acquisition. In planning these activities, I will draw on Corder's distinction between input and intake, which emphasizes that learners do not automatically internalize all the language they are exposed to; only part of that input becomes intake that contributes to language development (Corder, 1967, as cited in Gass et al., 2025, p. 178). Keeping this distinction in mind, I will provide students with opportunities to practice and use English rather than simply expose them to the language through listening and reading activities.
Effective teaching also requires careful lesson planning, monitoring students' progress, providing them with constructive feedback, and adapting instruction when necessary. Adapting instruction requires teachers to identify the difficulties their students encounter during the learning process and address those difficulties through scaffolding. Brown and Lee (2025) describe scaffolding as temporary support that enables learners to perform tasks, they cannot yet complete on their own (p. 204). As students gain proficiency and confidence, I will gradually withdraw that support and encourage them to work more independently.
I also believe that effective English language teaching should include grammar instruction because students need to understand how English sentences are formed to communicate their ideas clearly and accurately. Folse (2016) emphasizes that ESL teachers should “focus on key ESL grammar structures that their students need to acquire to improve their English” (p. 18). Rather than simply making students memorize grammar rules, I plan to use both deductive and inductive approaches to teaching grammar. With a deductive approach, I would first introduce the grammar rules to students and then give them opportunities to practice using them. With an inductive approach, I would provide examples and guide students to identify the grammar rules themselves. In both approaches, I want students to apply what they have learned in their speaking and writing.
Moreover, vocabulary instruction will be an important part of my teaching because students need vocabulary to understand academic texts, participate in discussions, and communicate their ideas. Nation (2013) notes that knowing a word involves more than recognizing its meaning. Learners develop knowledge of a word's form, meaning, and use, and each of these aspects includes both receptive and productive knowledge (Nation, 2013, p. 44). Academic vocabulary is especially challenging. According to Nation (2013), academic vocabulary "is not easy to learn because words refer to abstract ideas, they are infrequent and their forms do not reveal their meaning" (p. 315). He also states that learners need "rich acquaintance with them in the specialized discourse where they occur and frequent motivated contact with them if they are to use them well" (Nation, 2013, p. 315). I will therefore incorporate academic vocabulary into my reading and writing activities so students encounter these words frequently and learn to use them correctly.
Reading will also play a central role in my classroom. Research on repeated reading has shown that "reading fluency is a significant contributor to L2 reading comprehension and that repeated reading has become an effective and time-tested method for boosting L2 reading fluency" (Taguchi et al., 2016, as cited in Grabe & Yamashita, 2022, p. 414). Grabe and Yamashita (2022) further note that "specific studies have provided multiple demonstrations that extended amounts of reading, both cumulatively and over semester- and year-long experimental studies, have improved reading rate, vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension" (p. 414). With these findings in mind, I plan to incorporate daily reading activities with stories, informational texts, articles, and other authentic materials into my future lessons to help students develop reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
In short, the ideas I have discussed in my teaching philosophy reflect my beliefs about second language learning and teaching. The MATL program has helped me understand how students learn a second language, and working with English learners has shown me what that knowledge looks like in real classrooms. I know my teaching will continue to develop as I gain experience, and I want my teaching to be guided by both research and what I learn from my students.
References
Brown, H. D., & Lee, H. (2025). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy (7th ed.). Pearson.
Folse, K. S. (2016). Keys to teaching grammar to English language learners: A practical handbook. University of Michigan Press.
Gass, S. M., Behney, J., Plonsky, L., & Huntley, C. (2025). Second language acquisition: An introductory course (6th ed.). Routledge.
Grabe, W., & Yamashita, J. (2022). Reading in a second language: Moving from theory to practice. Cambridge University Press.
Nation, I. S. P. (2013). Learning vocabulary in another language (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.