Mesut Deniz

Write a two page essay on your own experience in a classroom that helped or hindered your
success due to the affective domain. And what the teacher did/or could have done to help
make your experience positive. (Chapter 6)

As far as I understood from the textbook, the affective domain is a part of a system to
identify, understand, and address how people learn. The book mentions three central factors or
combinations of factors that are central to the affective domain which are attitude, motivation,
and anxiety. In order to make mention of my own experiences while studying another language,
I will focus on these three factors separately.
According to the affective domain, some strategies or factors can either help or hinder
the success. What is to do with the attitude? I would first consider my attitude towards the
teacher, or to the particular subject. Then I can refer to the attitude that my teachers had
towards student or particularly me. I am coming from a homogenous environment in which
people were pretty much the same. I was not in multicultural environment. Everyone including
me spoke the same native language. So, everybody was even in the classroom in terms of
culture and society. I never felt lonely and did not have any confidence issues. Let me picture
the classroom environment and the approaches that most of my teachers had. I learned in a
classroom that belonged to us and teachers used to come to the classroom. The classroom is
not similar to todays classroom. It is composed of a teachers desk and students desks. You
can see basic posters on the wall that shows the date, pledge of allegiance and thats it. I cant
even remember what kind of visuals that my teacher used to use. No need to mention that the
classroom did not have TV, projector, a cassette player or etc. I had very knowledgeable
teachers who mostly did direct instruction who were also quiet authoritarian. I used to take a
lot of notes. I was part of the lesson, not talking about tests or exams, when teacher assigned
loud reading or asked a question for a discussion. What my teachers could have done is to
create an environment where we students can actually interact and share our experiences and
interests so that we can benefit from each other. I do not remember any pair-work or groupwork I have done in the classroom except the ones in the science lab. So basically, the attitude
that was shown by the teacher was pretty much uniform that applied to all. I cant really
remember any DI strategies as well.
To me, motivation takes up the most important space in learning. If I am motivated,
there shall be no excuses and no challenges whatsoever for me. I would first like to mention
what kept me motivated in the process of learning another language.

Firstly, I always liked to be honored, and success was the absolute key for me to be
honored regardless of the subject area. Secondly, I liked learning a different language because
it made me feel like I was two persons. One language is one person, and 2 languages are two
persons. I do not know where I got the idea or feeling from, I felt like I am invisible because I
was capable of expressing things differently. I had an absolutely new way of expressing myself.
These were my own drives that motivated me.
Before mentioning my teachers approaches, I also want to give a little feedback
regarding my English background. I learned English as a second language. I did not desperately
need it since entire education was in my native language until I got into college. I was in 6th
grade when I first learned What is your name? and responding My name is Mesut. What a
pride! My first English teacher was also my science teacher and I loved science. Interestingly
enough, this was my first incentive towards learning a second language, having a favorite
teacher to teach a two periods of English as a second language in a week. During middle school
I kept learning and forgetting grammar. There was no substantial English teaching. High school
was not different either. My high school English teacher was also my history teacher, wow.
When I got into college, it was then time to learn A real English since the education was going
to be in English. I was eighteen years old already and had one year English prep class in which I
finally learned applicable English. I had various teachers during the prep class for reading,
writing, listening, and speaking in addition to basic grammar. I loved all my teachers. They all
used different strategies to teach us. We had a very welcoming classroom setup with more
facilities. We were encouraged to work together with peers, and given various tasks to
internalize what we have learnt. I think the teachers had a very professional and structured
plan and curriculum with an ample amount of time to apply them, 30 periods a week. During
the prep year, I remember that every day I went back home with knowing something new. I
added on every single day. I started comprehending my favorite English songs. I started
watching movies with its original sound and without doublings. All these kept my motivation
high.
To reduce the anxiety I had in the process of learning a new language, I remember that
teachers I had provided me with many opportunities. The goals were set, and the expectancies
were clear. All I needed to do was to follow my instructors lead. There was not a competitive
environment but collaboration. We always worked in groups which reduced the stress. The only
anxiety I remember was to fail, to fail and not being able to pass proficiency test which was the
only ticket to the Physics department. If you do not pass the test, you cant start your college
education. Either you repeat the prep class, or get transferred to another university which
teaches in home language. This part of the challenge was nothing to do with the teachers
approach. It was a big pressure sometimes to think about not being able to pass. This anxiety
though, helped me stay awake and be focused on what I need to accomplish.

All in all, these factors sometimes limited me, sometimes dynamized me. Now, there is a
chance for me to apply the right strategies that I my teachers used to, and eliminate the
approaches that I found wrong or old fashioned. This is a challenge which I accepted by being a
teacher. I hope I will get through this challenge.