The data gathered from the classroom observations and interviews can be divided into two categories. First, the social and emotional aspects of having an unsighted EFL teacher in the
2 Certain quotes of the interviews are cited in the ‘Results and discussion’ section in the author’s translation.
59
classroom are going to be discussed, taking into consideration both points of view. Second, a systematic survey of the specific practical difficulties Anna experiences is presented.
3.1. Social-emotional issues
Having a visually impaired person in the language classroom is doubtless a challenging situation in itself. If the teacher is the one with the handicap, it is even more demanding for both parties, since they are the ones who are responsible for what is taking place during a lesson, and it is obviously more challenging for a teacher who cannot see to be in charge.
3.1.1. Communicating the disability
According to Anna, one of the first difficulties she has to face is how to speak about her disability to the students. In the course of her teaching career, she opted for telling about her impairment to the students straight away, right at the beginning of a new course. In accordance with Owens’s (1955) opinion, Anna also believes that if she treats this problem as something natural and ordinary, this attitude will be assumed by the students, who will behave similarly.
3.1.2. Empathy
EMPATHY ON THE TEACHER’S PART
Anna acknowledged that, as she has no visual tool of maintaining direct relationship with the students, she could only base contact on auditory sources, on constant speaking activities, either on the students’ or on her part. In the interview she pointed out that for her the sense of empathy as such might compensate for the lack of vision:
Since a visually impaired language teacher is definitely more vulnerable to the behaviour of students, he or she must ‘tune in’ on them. As a result, without the teacher’s and the students’
being on the same ‘wavelength’, a class simply cannot function. This can be considered an undeniable advantage, due to the fact that to a certain extent an unsighted teacher might be more sensitive to his or her surroundings. Consequently, for a visually impaired language teacher, it is a must to be a ‘good listener’, which anyway should be a characteristic of a good teacher.
Thus, a visually handicapped teacher who is unable to create an appropriate atmosphere for learning in a group cannot be able to make his or her way during the lessons. A good and relaxed atmosphere in a language class is a pre-requisite in every well-functioning classroom, regardless of the teacher being able-bodied or handicapped. It is worth noting how a massive disadvantage can be turned into an advantage by exploiting the available circumstances.
EMPATHY ON THE STUDENTS’ PART
Anna’s very sensitive and understanding attitude was noted and respected by her students as well, who claimed that in the case of other language teachers (or teachers in general), they had not experienced similar treatment. When one student was asked whether the fact that Anna could not see had presented any personal problems during the classes, she called the attention to the fact that owing to Anna’s absolutely ordinary behaviour, there was no one in the group who would not be able to deal with this problem properly. Another student pointed out that due to the fact that Anna accepted her disabilities and possible limitations, behaving spontaneously and naturally, it was not at all challenging for the students to behave in a similarly natural way.
HUSSE 10 Proceedings Andrea Juhász
60 3.1.3. Intermember relationships
In the interviews the respondents all drew attention to the very special and intimate nature of the relationship between Anna and her students. All the students were willing to participate in the lessons actively, being aware of the fact that they were not treated as inferior persons, but were all accepted as equal partners. The method of treating students as equals is fundamentally important in the field of adult education and it was convincing for me to observe that a visually impaired teacher can achieve this goal so easily and spontaneously.
TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS
Regarding her relationship with the students, Anna has always put special emphasis on establishing and maintaining a fostering learning environment, which has certainly exerted positive effects upon intermember relationships within the group. It must be stressed, though, that this fostering atmosphere never became patronizing in any way. Anna talks about her presence in the classroom in the following way:
So I think the essence of this all is that if the teacher takes the student seriously ... then the student feels it, and will take the teacher seriously, in a similar way. If you do respect these kids or young adults or adults, and you think it’s important to … to teach them the language, it induces a kind of reaction ... perhaps, they don’t even realize it ... that they also respect you.
On the students’ part, this attitude was noticed and fully acknowledged. They were all well aware of the fact that they were treated kindly and properly, that they were always listened to carefully and were helped when needed. Furthermore, one of the students mentioned that although Anna could not see them in the physical sense of the word, she must have had a surprisingly complex picture in her head about all of them.
We have never talked about it, probably, we will never do at all, but I’m a hundred percent sure that she … that in her special way she can perfectly see us, or ... even better than sighted people ... and that she probably has a complex picture about us, like ... that I have brown hair, or ... I don’t know ... that I am slim, or anything. So, in my opinion, she knows us and our characteristics better than a sighted teacher.
ATMOSPHERE AND STUDENT-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS
As far as the atmosphere of the lessons is concerned, both the author’s experiences as a participant-observer in the lessons and the data coming from the interviews show how friendly and relaxing the context was in which Anna and the group were working. One student pointed out that for her the lessons were stimulating, helping her feel relaxed after a tiresome day at work. Irrespective of how exhausted she had been, she usually felt rejuvenated at the end of a lesson.
Concerning classroom atmosphere, the students all agreed on the fact that Anna’s personality played an important role in generating and maintaining a friendly and casual learning environment. Still, none of the students thought that it had anything to do with Anna’s impairment, but rather with her personality. In one of the students’ view, being visually impaired does not necessarily play a crucial role in shaping one’s personality and characteristic features, especially if the person in question is not born blind.
I think that everything … that everyone exerts an influence on their environment, and … so it is without doubt that Anna’s personality influences the kind of community an ordinary group can become.
61
The crucial role of a teacher’s personality in a learning-teaching context of any kind is often discussed in the literature. Since I am not well-versed in psychology, it is impossible for me to explore and explain the connection between blindness and personality change, or any impairment and its potential influence on character building and personal development.
Consequently, it is beyond my knowledge to judge the extent to which Anna’s own personality is dominant or whether it has been shaped by the features she has been forced to develop due to her physical handicap.
3.2. Practical problems
Owing to the visual nature of almost all the available language learning and teaching materials, ranging from course books or visual aids to traditional boards and flip charts, it seems to be obvious that the practical difficulties Anna has to face are more than challenging.
Furthermore, Anna called attention to the fact that it is not only difficult and challenging, but sometimes even impossible for her to use certain activities offered by different course books.
She mentioned crossword puzzles, for instance, in the case of which she had never been able to memorize all the clues and the way the words were crossing each other in the puzzle. For that reason she has to consider and select carefully the activities she includes in her lesson plans.
3.2.1 Difficulties before lessons
PREPARING FOR THE CLASS
As it has already been mentioned, it is an unfortunate fact that there is surprisingly little course material designed for EFL teachers with visual impairment. Furthermore, this very limited amount of such material is either not up-to-date enough, or it is simply the Braille-printed version of a course book which is originally designed for teachers and students who can see. Given the fact that there are no special materials available, preparing for the lessons is certainly a difficult and time-consuming task for Anna.
Since she is obliged to learn by heart and later remember everything that a sighted language teacher can simply refer back to by glancing at the text or the exercises in question, it is a must for Anna to have special and efficient preparation and memory techniques. One of these techniques she mentioned in the interview was the importance of visualization. Since Anna is unsighted, it may seem to be contradictory or even paradoxical that for her visualization is one of the most important factors in being able to remember and recall what she has prepared before. However, considering that she lived as a sighted person in the first twenty years of her life, though, it sounds understandable.
Anna’s exceptional memory skills are evidently noticed and appreciated by her students. On the other hand, for Anna her way of giving instructions that shows the knowledge of the exact layout of a particular book is regarded as a natural and ordinary teaching activity. She never forgets the tasks she assigns, and always devotes enough time to discuss them. Furthermore, in connection with the texts and activities themselves, she can quote certain paragraphs of the exercise in question.
It was also emphasized by the students that each of Anna’s classes was very well-organized and structured, with all the exercises and activities synchronized, from the beginning of the lesson, the warm-up period, to the very end. This does not only require hard work but a conscious and detailed course and lesson plan. Such clear-cut lesson plans, good timing methods and the conscious use of inductive and deductive approaches should be the main components of a well-planned English lesson in general. However, most of this apparatus actively applied by a blind teacher can contribute to a more efficient motivation technique, since the students may have an additional inner drive to fulfil the requirements, seeing the enormous amount of input on the teacher’s part.
HUSSE 10 Proceedings Andrea Juhász
62 3.2.2 Difficulties in the classroom
Apart from the difficulties occurring during the preparation phase, Anna also mentioned some factors that make her work in the classroom occasionally problematic. These issues are also connected to the fact that, due to her sensory deficiency, Anna has no visual sources of information. For that reason she can only base her actions and reactions on what she can perceive with the help of her other senses, such as tactile sensation, hearing or even empathy.
Therefore, she must rely on her perception of the whole class as a living entity surrounding her.
‘WHO IS PRESENT’
One of the most challenging issues for Anna in the course of a lesson is to remember certain practical things, such as keeping constantly in mind who is present in the classroom. For a teacher with no visual handicap this task is not difficult at all, as he or she can simply look around and spot, for instance, the black-haired tall student at the back of the room to whom she had not talked to so far. However, for a person who cannot see, there are no such ‘visual aids’.
To be able to handle the lesson, it is essential for Anna to do constant mental background activities, with her brain maintaining an alert state all the time. It is important for every teacher to know their students as closely as possible in order to elicit every potential from them. Knowing the students well, however, is even more essential for a visually impaired teacher, because, as Anna has also mentioned in the interview, it is her memory, her background knowledge and her deep insight into the characteristics of the students that she finds particularly useful in conducting a language class.
LACK OF EYE CONTACT
In the interviews the students also mentioned the difficulty that arose from the lack of eye-contact with the teacher. They pointed out that this visual communication, however, was counterbalanced by an almost constant auditory contact.
In the case of Anna, the complete lack of eye-contact is replaced with other means of keeping contact with the students, similarly to Wells’s (1986) findings. Remembering the names of all the students being present is the most essential substitution method, because instead of the simple act of looking at the students one by one when asking them a question, it is necessary to call them by name. Anna thinks that remembering names is an easier task for a blind person than for their sighted colleagues. In addition to the special emphasis on remembering all the names, Anna keeps moving about in the classroom, touching partly the backs of the chairs and partly the shoulders of the students.
USE OF THE BLACKBOARD
Anna emphasized her inability to use the blackboard, which factor is also outlined in the literature (Merri and Monties-Cabot 2005, Uys 1993). In her lessons the responsibility of writing on the board is completely assumed by the students themselves. However, all the students mentioned that the fact that they are the ones who are responsible for putting new words on the blackboard makes them pay more attention to getting the spelling of words correctly than in any other language classes.
MONITORING PAIR WORK AND GROUP WORK
For a visually impaired teacher physical mobility is a demanding task in itself. Moving around in the classroom is one of the most automatic activities for a sighted person, but it is a very stressful situation for those who cannot see. Nevertheless, Anna said that in a familiar context,
63
it is not at all difficult for her to move around. Nyquist (1971) and Uys (1993) also mentioned the importance of a familiar setting for a blind teacher to be able to feel secure. Furthermore, Anna also pointed out that, as her auditory sense is acutely sensitive to noises, she is able to split her attention and monitor the speeches of two or three pairs simultaneously at a time.
SILENT PERIODS
According to Anna, her main deficiency (which she is completely aware of) is that she does not like to include silent periods into her lesson plans. As she is perfectly aware of this shortcoming, she tries to overcome this weak point; however, it requires a lot of energy on her part to spare time for tasks that require individual and silent work during the classes. Her experience of twenty-five years can enable her to have a very reliable sense of time, so her timing is the greatest help in this question of individual task management. Most of the time she can anticipate the amount of time students need for a task; therefore, the periods of silent and individual work can be inserted smoothly into the flow of the lesson.
DISCIPLINARY PROBLEMS
During the almost half-year-long period I spent in Anna’s classes, no disciplinary problems occurred, and neither the students nor Anna could mention any. The lack of behavioural problems in smaller groups is also pointed out in the literature (Branson and Branson 1964, Huntington 1962, Nyquist 1971, Owens 1955, Wells 1986), though Cross (1972) and Sabeston (1959) argue that in larger groups slight problems in discipline might occur.
Regarding Anna’s opinion concerning the question of discipline, she finds it safer to be involved in adult education, where highly motivated adult students are in her classes, and where cheating or talking loudly or disturbing classmates are less frequent than in other educational contexts, such as mainstream education.
CORRECTING WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS
For a sighted EFL teacher, marking papers, especially pieces of writing, is a time-consuming and tiring task. For a blind teacher, it is one of the most difficult activities, which is impossible to be accomplished on their own. According to Cross (1972), a visually handicapped teacher almost always has to co-teach with a sighted colleague to be able to correct written assignments; therefore, coping with this problem must be extremely hard for most of the visually-impaired language teachers. As for Anna, she is in a good position, as she is the head of a private language school. She works with a team of sighted teachers, which means that she can accomplish the task of marking written assignments with the help of her colleagues, who read out the written assignments to her so that she can make comments and ask the colleagues to use her own correction symbols. She can also add her own remarks on the particular student’s performance.