CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT AND SUSTAINING DISCIPLINE IN AN ENGLISH-LEARNING CLASS

Abstract

The lack of respectful behaviour towards teachers and classmates is considered to be the main problem of Bulgarian schools today. A great number of public school teachers have considered leaving the job or have already quit because of students' misbehaviour and their inability to cope with discipline problems. English language teachers are not an exception in this respect despite the popular view that there is a great motivation for learning foreign languages. The focus of the article is the discipline which is necessary to be created, worked upon and maintained in the classroom throughout the whole of the school year. The study was aimed at defining the aspects of the problem with discipline, collect data regarding the existing situation with classroom management and suggest some strategies and techniques for developing and keeping an effective practice. The results confirmed the theoretical concept that the teacher's goal is not to restore the order through respective reactions to misbehaviour but to organize a system of classroom activities and perform a study that would lead to the prevention of the disruptive actions in the first place.   Research methods: content analysis, pedagogical research, scientific enquiry, percent analysis. Scope and results of the study: The study was performed with pedagogical students in the specialty Primary School Education with a Foreign Language at the Faculty of Education at Trakia University, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria. The results point at a desperate need for change in the practice of language teaching in the country so as to face adequately the new generations of students with their attitudes and characteristics.