The Good Language Teacher: Coping With the Effect of Affect. CATESOL Occasional Papers, No. 4

Recent research that has attempted to define the good language learner can also yield information about the good language teacher. While it remains clear that there is much variation among learners, the following characteristics have been distinguished as identifying the good language learner: (1) field independence in classroom or tutored learning; (2) field dependence or empathy; (3) meaningful communication; (4) use of feedback; (5) optimal social distance with regard to the native and target cultures; and (6) self-esteem. By implication, the good language teacher can be said to: (1) be able to deal with field independence; (2) respond to the student with empathy; (3) insure the presence of meaningful communicative contexts in the classroom; (4) provide optimal feedback; (5) be sensitive to sociocultural alienation; and (6) encourage self-esteem in the student. (AM)