UNIVERSITY OF LATVIA

FACULTY OF EDUCATION, PSYCHOLOGY AND ART

TEACHER EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

DEALING WITH STUDENTS’ OBJECTIONS TO AVOID

CONFLICT SITUATIONS IN ENGLISH CLASSES

RĪCĪBA SKOLĒNU IEBILDUMU GADĪJUMOS

KONFLIKTSITUĀCIJU NOVĒRŠANAI ANGĻU VALODAS
STUNDĀS

TERM PAPER

AUTHOR: VALENTĪNA MAKSIMOVA

TEACHER EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

vm07022

ADVISER:

Dr. Paed, asoc. prof.

INDRA ODIŅA

RIGA

2010
 Declaration of Academic Integrity

I hereby declare that this study is my own and does not contain any unacknowledged
material from any source.

Date:
2
Signed:

Abstract
Every young teacher has doubts whether he or she will be able to control the class he
or she is going to teach. Therefore with this research the author wants to provide some
aid to young teachers to be ready for school and to provide advice on how to react on
different conflict situations that might occur during teaching process.

The topic of the research is ‘Dealing with Students’ Objections to Avoid Conflict
Situations in English Classes’. The aim of the Term Paper is to find out ways how to
deal with students’ objections in the classes of English.

The author in her Term Paper has used a survey as a research method, and
questionnaire and interview as data collection methods. The data of the research
reveals teachers’ and students’ attitude towards teaching process as their work and
their ways of dealing with conflict situations at school.

The main conclusions drawn from the questionnaire were that teachers face such
problems as pupils being late, pupils’ remarks, chatting, cussing, no homework done.
There were no respondents who did not meet these problems during lessons.
Therefore author admits that the Paper is of great importance to find out ways how to
deal with problem situations in lessons as she has chosen a teacher’s profession.

The further research should be conducted on this topic in order to find out pupils’
opinion on reasons why conflict situations appear in classes and what are their
suggestions to solve problems.

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 Anotācija
Katru jauno skolotāju mēdz mākt šaubas par to vai viņš/viņa būs spējīgs
kontrolēt klasi, kuru nāksies mācīt. Tādējādi ar šī kursa darba palīdzību autore vēlas
nodrošināt palīgmateriālu jaunajiem skolotājiem kā rīkoties dažādās konfliktsituācījās,
kuras varētu atgadīties mācīšanas procesa laikā.

Pētījuma nosaukums ir “Rīcība skolēnu iebildumu gadījumos konfliktsituāciju

novēršanai angļu valodas stundās”. Kursa darba mērķis is noskaidrot veidus kā
cīnīties ar skolēnu iebildumiem angļu valodas stundās.

Kursa darba autore darba iztrādē lieto tādas pētījumu metodes kā aptauju,
anketu un interviju kā datu vākšanas metodes. Apkopotie dati atklāj skolotāju un
studentu attieksmi pret mācīšanas procesu kā viņu darbu un viņu veidus kā cīnīties ar
problēmsituācijām skolā.

Galvenie secinājumi pēc anketu datu apkopošanas bija, ka galvenās skolotāju

un studentu minētās problēmas ir skolēnu stundu kavēšana, piezīmes nevietā,
pļāpāšana, apvainošana, neizpildīti mājas darbi. Nebija respondentu, kuri nepiemin šīs
problēmas savās stundās. Tādējādi autore apstiprina, ka kursa darba izstrādāšana ir
nozīmīga, lai noskaidrotu kā cīnīties ar problēmsituācijām stundās, jo galu galā autore
ir izvēlējusies skolotājas profesiju.

Tālāks pētījums būtu jāveic saistībā ar šo tematu, lai noskaidrotu arī skolēnu
viedokli par konfliktsituācijām stundās, to cēloņiem, un kāds, viņuprāt, varētu būt
konfliktsituāciju atrisinājums.

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Table of Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................. 6

1. A Conflict and a Conflict Situation ............................................................................... 8

2. The Most Common Cases of Misbehavior, Objections ............................................. 10

3. Less Punishment and More responsibility ................................................................ 14

4. Dealing with Misbehavior ......................................................................................... 17

5. Survey ....................................................................................................................... 20

6. Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 34

7. Bibliography .............................................................................................................. 35

8. Appendixes................................................................................................................ 36

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 Introduction
Life is changing all around. And so does the school, children and teachers. Schools
are facing more and more discipline problems within classrooms, halls, and even
outside the territory of the school. The reason why the author of the Paper chose to
write about this topic was such a phrase as “This young generation is getting worse
and worse, we don’t know how to deal with them.” And as being a future teacher this
topic seemed to have a contribution in future profession.
The topic of the research is “Dealing with Students’ Objections to Avoid Conflict
Situations in English Classes.” To author’s mind this topic should be researched to
help not only young teachers to start working at school, but to any teacher who finds
it difficult to deal with discipline problems, who needs an aid in preventing pupils’
misbehavior in order to have successful lessons with unnecessary disruptions and
misbehavior problems.
To author’s mind misbehavior is the most important obstacle to effective learning and
teaching process. Misbehavior can vary a lot. It can be poking at other students during
the class, sleeping in the class, not listening to what teacher is telling, chatting to
bother the teacher, making rude remarks, avoiding to do what teacher asks to do.
Every teacher has to face misbehavior problems every day. It is never easy to fight the
right solution. But to author’s mind the solution has to be found in order to be able to
cooperate with students. Otherwise there is no way to speak about effective teaching,
learning process.
In author’s opinion there is a way how to have an effective and successful lesson
where teaching and learning is taking place. But before that a teacher should have an
overall conception of classroom management.
The aim of the Term Paper is to find out ways how to deal with students’ objections
in classes of English.
The objectives of the Term Paper are as follows:
1. To study the literature on objections and how they appear;
2. To find out most common students’ objections teachers have faced during
their classes;
3. To design an interview for teachers;
4. To find out the best ways or methods to deal with students’ objections;

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Before starting to write the theory, the author brought forward main research
questions that should be looked upon and found solutions to. First of all the author
wants to find out what objections mean and what types of objections teachers
face. Secondly, why objections appear. And further on what the main objections
that teachers have to face are and what the best ways to deal with students’
objections in the classes of English are.
The research method used in this Term Paper is survey and as data collection
methods a questionnaire distributed to teachers of Kuldīga Secondary School and
students of the Faculty of Education, Psychology and Art, and interviews with a
young teacher and teacher who has been working in school already for 29 years.
An outline for the Paper:
Chapter 1 gives definitions of conflict and conflict situation. It describes the aim of
the education.
Chapter 2 the chapter gives examples of most common misbehaviors in school and is
suggesting that most of the problems should not be considered to be as personal
attacks on a teacher.
Chapter 3 the chapter consists of information about the importance of teaching
children responsibility. It suggests that responsibility instead of harsh disciplinary
punishments can be taught and used.
Chapter 4 suggests ways of dealing with problems. it offers tips for solving minor
misbehavior in lessons.
Chapter 5 consists of data collection and interpretation where answers to
questionnaire distributed in Kuldīga Center Secondary School and the Faculty of
Education, Psychology and Art, LU and interviews are summarized.

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 1. A Conflict and a Conflict Situation

“A conflict is the collision of goals, interests, positions, opinions, or point of views. It

is emotionally strong, intensification of a problem hard to solve, serious
misunderstandings, argument in which the interests of one side in reality or seemingly
excludes interests of the other side. As it is natural that individuals have different
interests, conflict in communication is natural and unavoidable, but starting from the
childhood it has to be taught and learned to solve it productively and without
violence.
A conflict situation is a situation in which we see disagreement between situational
demand and a person or persons with different interests, inclinations, needs, opinions
depending from each person’s suspended knowledge, experience, etc. Conflict
situation helps to enrich personal experience.” (Skujiņa, Beļickis, Blūma, Koķe,
Markus, Šalme, 2000:84)

Conflict situations are happening in everyday life and so it happens in schools as well.
Conflicts might occur among pupils, among teachers or between pupil and a teacher.
And as Manning and Bucher (2007) assert conflict situations eventually appear in
schools. It is an inevitable situation. Authors state that pupils deal with conflict
situations similarly to grown-ups. Children adapt similar behavior to what they have
seen grown-ups doing. Therefore if grown-ups view a conflict as a competition where
winner should be established children learn the same conception where one has to
fight to prove something. Or if a grown-up tends to avoid confronting conflict
situations children might learn the receding position as the best way out of the matter.

Considering this fact that pupils adapt the situations they have seen before to their
own actions, teachers should be aware that they will have to demonstrate the right,
most favorable ways of solving the conflict situation. In author’s opinion children
should be shown that there are different ways how to deal with a problem or a
conflict. Children should learn how to analyze the situation, and how to apply the best
way of solving their conflict situation. A peaceful, calm, and constructive way of
dealing with a problem situation should be taught to pupils.

Education with an aim to develop. School is a place where young children should
be taught the basic knowledge they need to survive and develop. As it is said in the
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law of Latvia on Education “education is the systematic acquirement of knowledge
and skills and a process of developing attitudes as its result. Educational process
includes action of educating and learning. The result of education is personal
knowledge, totality of skills and attitudes.” (http://www.likumi.lv/doc.php?id=50759)
Education is supposed to be developing for young people, but the reality is different.
Teachers have to face resistance and opposition every day in their classes. Every
teacher is full of knowledge they are ready to give to their students, but the problem is
that they have to deal with misbehavior, defiance, bad attitude towards them and a
subject. So instead of teaching they are fighting with discipline. Teachers throughout
the world are facing similar problems and are trying to find solutions.
Children are on the way of development and adults are one of their teachers who
teach them the lessons of life, who show them how things work. To author’s mind
adults should be aware of the importance that they bring in showing children their
attitudes, actions, and examples.
Teacher is one of the persons who clearly can see the attitudes and behaviors children
have learnt from their parents, siblings or other people. It is hard not to judge and not
to get angry with pupils’ misbehavior as it is normal human reaction to unpleasant or
frustrating situations. But as Di Giulio (2007) states there is no sense in accusing or
blaming parents for that. He suggests that teacher’s task is to teach and not judge
pupils. Blaming prevents us from taking constructive action toward resolution of a
problem: (Di Gulio 2007: 2)
Conflict situation means a collision of opinions therefore people are forced to deal
with these situations and to learn how to solve them the best way. As Skujiņa,
Beļickis, Blūma, Koķe, Markus, Šalme mention the conflict situations can help to
enrich personal experiences. Considering this a profit can be gained even from having
a difficult situation where two or more representatives are having a disagreement.
Teachers and pupils are in the same situation where they have to cooperate and
sometimes deal with conflicts. It is upon teachers as well as upon parents to show
children how a conflict can be solved by peaceful, calm, and constructive approaches.

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 2. The Most Common Cases of Misbehavior,
Objections

Blum (2006) gives examples of disturbances during the class that teachers might face:
1) Students won’t come into the class on time. According to the questionnaire of
the survey it turned out to be one of the most popular disruptions during the
classes. 53% of respondents mentioned it as one of the common disturbances.
2) While teacher is trying to begin the lesson, students continue conversations
which are difficult to stop.
3) Students get out of their seats without asking permission and go to talk to or
interfere with other students.
4) Students will shout across the room, get out of their seats, hit other people or
take their possessions.
5) Students will shout out comments or questions over teacher’s speech, which
will spoil the momentum of teaching.
6) Students bristle aggressively if asked to stop talking or interrupting the flow of
the lesson. This is likely to get into a verbal confrontation if teacher’s requests
to stop interrupting persist.
Additionally to this list Burden (2006) mentions such misbehaviors as tattling,
clowning, cheating, lying, stealing, profanity, rudeness toward the teacher, defiance or
hostility, and failure to do schoolwork. As a solution to tattling author reveals that it
is important to let students know what kind of information should and what kind of
information should not be reported to the teacher. Students should feel confident
about a possibility to go up to their teacher and reveal to him/her whatever pupil’s
concerns are.
Whereas as a way of solving clowning (behaving silly, funny), cheating, lying,
stealing, profanity Burden (2006) suggests to have a private conversation with a
pupil in order to better understand the situation, pupil’s opinion on the case, to try to
explain the right ways of doing things, and explaining why these misbehaviors are not
acceptable.
Rudeness towards a teacher is a more offensive and harder to deal with. It involves
personal attitudes and personal offence. As already mentioned before, teacher should
not take students’ misbehavior personally though situations when rudeness is

10
expressed towards him or her in a way of talking back, arguing, making rude remarks,
or showing inappropriate gestures, it nevertheless alarming situation which takes a lot
of inner strength to keep calm and not to get into a verbal conflict. Burden (2006)
maintains the idea of staying calm in such situations, student should be informed that
such behavior is inappropriate, and classroom rules about respecting others should be
reminded. Though if the situation does not change the author suggests to consult with
counselors or with the principal in order to find solution.
A similar situation is pupil’s defiance or hostility towards the teacher. Solutions
provided by Burden (2006) are to have a private conversation. The situation should be
discussed and pupils’ concerns or objections have to be heard. In author’s of the Paper
opinion these situations are the hardest ones in teacher’s work. As a result of defiance
can be a serious reason which a pupil has not revealed for a longer period and when
this kind of disruptive behavior occurs the offence towards a teacher can be much
deeper than the actual situation that had occurred during the lesson. The most difficult
part must be to listen to what a pupil has to say and at the meantime not to take
everything too personally and offensively.
According to Curwin (1999) about 70% of school misbehavior might have its roots at
home. So it leads to the idea that teachers must be ready to deal with attitudes,
misbehaviors which are not caused by his or her work, but the reason is just that a
child is frustrated because of difficult situation at home. Therefore, it does not change
the responsibility of a teacher to eliminate the objections and keep on conducting the
lesson.
Balson (1995) in his book about how to understand class behavior suggests that a
teacher who fights and imposes students on his decisions is showing disrespect
towards pupils. But the teacher who gives up a fight loses respect towards himself. He
suggests that conflict situations should be solved by maintaining the mutual respect.
To author’s mind this is a very strong view that shows how the relationship usually
works. Teachers or students tend to choose their positions. There are people who love
to be superior over others. This can be seen in schools, classes, families and so many
other places in everyday life. As from the experience of author there are too many
examples of classes where some of pupils want to be superior over everybody else
that they forget about other people, they tend to lose the barrier between friendliness
and disrespectful approach. Either they do not feel the line or they just strive for more

11
and more power in order to gain respect and admiration from other classmates. It
happens that pupils might do it unconsciously without deeper thinking of why they act
like that.
But on the other hand, the author’s experience has shown that this striving for a power
can be seen from the teacher’s part as well. There are many teachers who prefer to
lead the lesson when pupils are quiet and are not misbehaving. Most of them achieve
this by putting bad marks, writing the remarks in pupils’ report books, by sending
pupils out of the classroom, by asking them to write an explanation notes to report
their misbehavior and reasons of it, or by sending them to the social worker of the
school.

Cussing. Cussing is one of the most common problems in schools. Children shout or
whisper offensive or discriminating phrases about their classmates, teacher, or the
teaching process as such. As Blum (2006) describes it the cussing can be compared to
pouring petrol on fire, because it is a form of verbal bullying and intimidation but it
ranges from mild to severe. To his opinion teachers should try to eradicate it
constantly, otherwise it can completely destabilize the lessons.
In author’s opinion cussing should be eliminated from lessons, especially when there
is a teacher who is responsible for what happens with children while they are in a
classroom. It is hard to have a conversation with children about their feelings and that
the cussing can hurt a lot. Children seem to be irritated when they again hear the
speech of ‘You are hurting others by saying such things’.
Blum (2006) suggests that cussing can be solved by having strategies. First of all
teacher should analyze if those inappropriate phrases tend to repeat often or this is just
an insignificant utterance that can be simply avoided. He affirms that some comments
can be easily solved by teacher making joke to stop it happening. But there are more
severe cases when the problem should be solved by either having an open discussion
with the whole class, or parents should be informed about it and got involved in
solving the problem.
Author’s experience shows that children tend to offend each other regularly. For some
children school is a place where they do not feel comfortable because of these rude
and offensive remarks from classmates. For some children school can be a trial where
they have to survive every day. Even when the author tried to solve the problem by

12
having a class conversation on cussing and offensive attitude, nothing changed,
except the fact that children stopped cussing when the teacher was around. In author’s
opinion this problem cannot be eradicated in a short period of time. It takes a lot of
time and work. Team building games might be one of the tools how to help to solve
the problem of cussing. A long term plan should be worked out in order to eliminate it
from the classroom.

3. Less Punishment and More Responsibility

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Rules are necessary. Schools and teachers cannot function efficiently when not having
any rules on behavior and class work. Not just Mendler and Curwin (1999) suggest
that teachers have to be strict about the demands that they have in classes. Balson
(1995) suggests that in order to raise responsible and self-disciplined children, a new
approach to discipline is needed. Both authors represent the idea of teaching children
responsibility of their actions. Children should understand the consequences they
might have after their misbehaving. They should realize that this is their own fault and
their attitude or action caused the consequence or sometimes this is the punishment
they receive. The goal is to have responsible children who realize the significance of
their own actions. “Discipline is less about punishing and more about teaching
responsibility” (Mendler, Curwin, 1999:13)
By offering children to be responsible they are offered a choice. They know what
specific misbehaviors can lead to. And in this way pupils can have a choice to
misbehave and receive the punishment or pupils can just simply choose to behave
well and engage into process of learning, as it is expected from them. According to
Mendler and Curwin threat displayed as a choice is not actually giving opportunity to
a student to choose any options. Mendler and Curwin (1999) name it as another more
sophisticated form of bullying. For example, threat might sound in such a way: “Stop
interrupting or you’ll receive a detention.” Where, on the contrary, giving choice
might sound like: “Stop interrupting. If you really want to tell me something, you can
either raise your hand or write it down and meet me after the class when we discuss
your concern without interrupting the class.” (Mendler, Curwin, 1999: 17)
To author’s mind offering a choice to children or any other adult is the basis on how
our society functions. Everybody is responsible for themselves. Children should get
used to this idea from the very beginning when they start to go to school. They should
know that things function depending on their choices that they have made. If a pupil
receives a remark in his or her report book, pupil should feel responsibility of his
action, he should realize that the remark is a consequence of the action that he decided
to undertake.

‘Stay personally connected without taking offensive behavior personally’

(Mendler, Curwin, 1999: 41)

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It is common to react to pupils’ behavior, to rapport what is happening in the class.
There are occasions when the things happening in the class are far from wanted.
Students might have different ideas about the teaching process and usually when they
seem not interested into topic or procedure of the lesson they credibly will start to
make problems. In these cases Mendler and Curwin (1999) suggest to stay calm, to
react to the situation if there is a problem arising, but they remind not to get
personally offended. Students’ offensive attitude cannot be taken as a personal attack.
The reason of misbehavior should be found and dealt with. As already mentioned
before, students’ might have had some frustrating conflict long before the class and
that might have caused their misbehavior and not the teacher’s lesson. Mendler,
Curwin (1999) assert that pupils who tend to attack harshly on others (including
teachers and classmates) are always under attack themselves. Fearful, or real, or
imagined harm, they often strike first. And if they are attacked back, never-ending
cycle of aggression can start. These students usually view the world as a hostile place,
and their reactions and acts are entailing to confirm their worldview.
The aggressive behavior from the student’s part cannot be solved by using a
punishment. It is a vicious cycle where aggressive behavior brings on
punishment, which then causes more aggressive behavior, bringing on more
punishment. Punishing is a deprivation of child’s needs, and as a result of not
satisfying their needs bring children more frustrated which therefore leads to
aggression: Gordon (1991)
To author’s mind it is significant to have control over yourself while being in front of
the class. Pupils tend to feel the emotions, attitudes of the teacher. They can clearly
notice when a teacher is frustrated and can be exasperated. Being calm and confident
about teacher’s own actions can lead to successful teaching process which therefore is
respected by children. They should find teacher a person who can control them, lead
them into right direction and help them behave as expected. From the author’s
experience the not behaving in the class, or not having a homework done cannot be
solved by putting a remark in pupil’s report book. The best way is to offer a choice,
which leads to student’s own decision making of what consequences he or she will
take. Children get offended when they receive authoritative attitude, they start to show
their discontent very clearly. To author’s mind children should be taught how to be
responsible. It can be taught even without their own notice.

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4. Dealing with misbehavior

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At the very beginning of solving the discipline problems it is crucial to mention rules.
Without rules there is no possibility of infringement. How can a child be scolded
about something if he did not know that was not allowed to do. Therefore rules are
necessary in classrooms.
The author’s experience shows that it is very important to set the rules before starting
the first class. Students should know the rules well. It is crucial that they understand
what consequences they can have in case of breaking the basic rules that have been
established before starting the learning, teaching process. The best case is to get
students acquainted with the rules before setting them as ground rules and to get their
approval of applying these rules to their lessons. As MacKenzie (1996) suggest
teachers should set aside time during first four weeks at the beginning of the year and
teach the rules and procedures of the classroom. If this time is not devoted for
teaching the rules at the beginning of the year, teacher might end up struggling with
discipline throughout the whole year and wasting the valuable time of studying
process.
Effective guidance requires a balance between firmness and respect (MacKenzie,
1996:54). MacKenzie (1996) describes effective teachers as people who do not
lecture, cajole, bargain, or negotiate. They do not use threats, intimidation, or long,
drawn-out consequences. And effective teachers do not compromise their standards.
Instead a good teacher owns a respectful attitude, states the rules clearly, and uses the
instructive consequences when necessary. MacKenzie (1996) sees it as the democratic
approach where children know the rules and consequences, upon them it is to decide
how to act. His democratic approach is described as a win-win method where a
problem is solved firmly with respect. Besides it accomplishes the main goals –
stopping misbehavior, teaching responsibility.
Weinstein (2007) offers practical tips for dealing with misbehavior:
 Using a nonverbal intervention (facial expressions, eye contact, hand signals,
proximity);
 Using a nondirect verbal intervention (stating the student’s name,
incorporating the name into the lesson, calling on the student to participate,
using gentle humor, using an I-message);

17
  Using a direct verbal intervention (giving a succinct command, reminding
students about a rule, giving a choice between behaving appropriately or
receiving penalty);
 Ignoring the misbehavior (but only if it is minor and fleeting).
These are some tips for minor misbehavior. These interventions are good when it is
necessary to get students back to work. They can help when students are frequently
whispering, staring into space, calling out, passing notes, or doing other distractive
things during the lesson. To author’s mind it is important that students are engaged in
the procedure of the lesson. But it is a common situation when students get distracted.
It is physically normal to get bored, tired, or oblivious. Teachers should not take it too
personally and definitely should not start lecturing about paying full attention to the
lesson. In these cases it is easier to remind the pupil in a more sophisticated way that
he is expected to pay more attention to what he is supposed to do in that moment.
Therefore nonverbal, nondirect, or verbal interventions are of a good help to make the
student participate in the lesson.

Using Penalties.
When smaller interventions do not help, or when a student needs a tougher proof of
the fact that teacher seriously wants to have an order in the classroom penalties come
as an aid for a teacher to make the pupil understand that his action is unacceptable and
wrong. As Weinstein (2007) states the aim of the penalty is not to hurt or offend kids,
but to help them change their behavior. And if a penalty does not reach its goal –
child’s attitude does not change, it was not a good penalty used. Weinstein (2007)
offers 7 categories of penalties:
 Mandatory private conferences, conversations (still showing the responsibility
that children must take);
 Loss of privileges (for example, sitting wherever they want);
 Isolation from the group (moving a pupil to another place in the room);
 Exclusion from class (reserved for major disruption);
 Detention (for routine violation of rules, e.g., coming late);
 Written reflections on the problem (remark in the report book);
 Contacting parents.

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As Di Giulio (2007) states the same solutions in using penalties, he adds one more
suggestion – to have contracts with pupils. He suggests that the contract should be
written together with pupils and it should be as specific as possible, outlining
acceptable behavior and what consequences pupil might have disobeying the rules.
Di Giulio mentions sending a child to the principal. These measures should be taken
in the situations where the situation is getting out of control and teacher does not see
any other way of how preventing pupil’s misbehavior. As a questionnaire of a survey
shows 17% of teachers and future teachers use sending a pupil to the principal as a
way out of the conflict situation.
To author’s mind teacher should be flexible and should try to use different ways to
solve problems that occur during the lesson. And teacher should start from using
smaller interventions, reprimands, and just then if nothing works penalties should be
included to solve misbehavior. Though it does not refer to not having a homework or
being late. If these situations appear the rules have to take their place. If a teacher has
included these occasions in the list of rules that pupils have to know, the action
mentioned must be taken seriously, and penalty should be given.

5. Survey
The author used the questionnaire and an interview as a data collection method and a
survey as a research method. The aim was to find out how other teachers and future
19
teachers deal with problems occurring in lessons and which are the most common
problems in a classroom. The questionnaire (appendix 1) was distributed in Kuldīga
Center Secondary School and among 3rd and 4th year students of the Faculty of
Education, Psychology and Art, University of Latvia. The author in her research part
wanted to find out the differences between opinions of experienced and not so
experienced young teachers. In order to find the answers two interviews were
conducted (appendixes 3,4). Weather they solve and interpret problems differently.
The survey helped the author to see the situation in the real school atmosphere and to
gain new ideas, new experiences of how teachers solve problems.
All in all 60 questionnaires were distributed among teachers and young teachers,
where 40 answers were useful in representing the necessary data.
As an addition 2 interviews (appendix 2) were carried out in order to find out the
attitudes and ways of dealing with conflict situations from an experienced teacher and
a young teacher who works in school recently.

The plan of the research was:

1. To find out a theoretical material what are objections, how do they appear, and
the best ways how to deal with them during the lesson.
2. To prepare a questionnaire for teachers in Kuldīga Center Secondary School
and students of the Faculty of Education, Psychology and Art in order to find
out their thoughts about objections, their experience in dealing with
confronting situations in school.
3. To compare the given answers from teachers, their methods of dealing with
conflict situations in school with the previously studied theory.
4. To take an interview from teachers in order to find out their ways of dealing
with unexpected situations during lessons.

The author’s main goal of the questionnaire (appendix 1) was to find out which are
the biggest problems for teachers that they face at school in their lessons, and to find
out their ways of dealing with those problems. To receive more detailed information
the author interviewed a teacher from Dobele Center Gymnasium (appendix 2) and a
teacher from Talsi Secondary School No. 2.

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The questionnaire contained the information about teachers’ gender and it showed
that most of the respondents were female (Figure 1). 80% of respondents turned out to
be female gender and just 20% male. But nevertheless, the data reveals that future
students who are male compose 25% of respondents whereas in school just 15% of
respondents were male gender. This fact leads to the idea that more of male
contingent is choosing the teacher’s profession.

Figure 1. Gender of respondents.

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 Figure 2. The attitude towards going to respondents’ workplace, school.
To the question about respondents’ attitude towards their work the majority answered
positively – 73% of respondents answered that they either go to school with pleasure
or they are satisfied with their work. Though 25% of student respondents and 20% of
teacher respondents answered that they don’t like their work and they do it because it
is their responsibility. So it leads to think of reasons why people do something that
does not please them. As it shows in the table of teachers’ attitude probably those
respondents are just used to their work and are not ready to change the situation.
Whereas for student respondents the situation shows that they still have time to
rethink whether teacher’s profession is the right one for them. As already discussed in
the theoretical part teacher needs to have an ability to inspire pupils, so their ability to
be motivators or inspirers is quite questionable.
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 Figure 3. Frequency of misbehavior.

All of the respondents answered that they do have to face misbehavior problems or
any other kind of problems during their lessons. Therefore the author comes to a
conclusion that the strategies how to deal with pupils’ objections and their
misbehavior is crucial in teacher’s profession. As figure 3 shows 5% of teachers face
misbehavior and other problems every day, but 20% of student respondents answered
that they face misbehavior and problems every day. Therefore it leads the author to a
conclusion that experience takes a big role in dealing with pupils’ misbehavior, their
objections.
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Another fact that the author discovered was that those teachers who answered
negatively about their willingness to go to work were the ones who answered that they
have to face misbehavior or other problems every day. Therefore the author draws a
parallel between these two questions. It means that teachers who do not like their job,
they have to overcome themselves to go to work, or they just do their job because
they have to, are facing misbehavior or other problems more frequently than the ones
who are satisfied with their job.

Figure 4. Most common problems.

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Figure 4 contains the information about problems that respondents have mentioned as
the most common ones. In the chart it is seen that chatting during the lesson is the
most popular and most common problem teachers and students are facing. Though the
major difference is in the chart of no homework done. Teachers have stated is as the
most common problem among all of others. Whereas students have stated is as the
least common problem. The author draws a conclusion that the difference might be
explained by the subject differences (figure 5). As students who answered the
questionnaire were mainly language teachers therefore it appears that pupils do not
have such problems in doing homework for their language classes. Similar answers
were received from language teachers of Kudīga Center Secondary School where
50% of language teachers had not mentioned absence of homework as one of the most
common problems.
The least problematic problem for teachers was cussing mentioned. Where 50% of
students answered they find cussing as one of the most common problem. The author
draws a conclusion that teachers either are better at dealing with cussing at school
rather than young students, or they just do not pay that much importance to it as
students do.

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Figure 5. Subjects taught by respondents.

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 Figure 6. When the problem is solved
The data shows that teachers have different ways of choosing when to solve the
problem. The answers differ the same as problems. There are situations when it is best
to try to deal with the objection or misbehavior immediately, but there are many
occasions when it is best done either in the brake or after lessons. The data shows that
teachers are solving problems more often after the lessons than students. The most
common reason should be the lack of students’ time therefore students are more
willing to solve problems either imediately or during the brake and less after lessons.

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 Figure 7. Do they manage to solve problems

The following question was asked in order to get the feedback weather teachers think
they can deal with hard situations. As the data shows just 5% of student respondents
answered that they cannot deal with problems and no teachers answered that they
cannot solve problems. In the contrast 35% of students were confident that they can
deal with conflict situations whereas just 20% of teachers were so confident about
dealing with problems. Though 77% of respondents showed confidene in their ability
to deal with hardships in their work, and just 18% answered they can manage to solve
problems sometimes.

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 Figure 8. Most Common Outcomes from Conflictsituations

Teachers were asked a question about what is the most common outcome to the
conflict situation. Majority of respondents responded that they are having a
conversation which leads to reconciliation where both parts of the conflict situation
are satisfied at the end. 25% of teachers suggested that their solution is a remark in
pupil’s report book. The major difference in answers was mentioned a solution by
sending a pupil to the principal. Students mentioned it less than teachers. To author’s
opinion experienced teachers are more used to working in school and are familiar
with the administration therefore it is easier for them to use such an option.
According to the theory part discussed in the Paper, majority of the respondents have
chosen the right way of dealing with problems. Although there always are more
difficult occasions when the only solution the teacher can use is to write a remark or
send to the social worker. As an example could be mentioned situations when pupils
have vandalized the property then it is hard to solve the problem just by having a
conversation with the pupil, other executives should be involved.

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 Interviews
The author of the Paper conducted two interviews with two teachers. The first teacher
is a young man who started to work in school within the framework of the program
“Iespējamā Misija”. Gatis Narvaišs is the teacher from Dobele Center Gymnasium
and teaches physics, mathematics and IT lessons.
The other interviewee was an experienced teacher who has worked in school already
for 29 years. She is a teacher from Talsi Secondary School No. 2 and is a former
teacher of social sciences and economics, but now teaches just geography.
The aim of the interview was to find out if there is a difference in attitudes and
methods in dealing with conflict situations between young teacher and an experienced
teacher.

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Both interviewees were asked a question about how much time is spent in school.
Gatis Narvaišs stated that he spends about 9 hours on average in school and
additionally about 4 hours at home. Whereas Sarmīte Popena stated that she spends 6-
7 hours at school and spends at least 3 hours and even more correcting pupils’ tests at
home, usually during weekends. To author’s mind many teachers are running the risk
to burn out after having too long working hours. As the respondent 1 already
mentioned there are some days also for him when he gets frustrated where the reason
might be the long working hours. And the respondent 2 also mentioned that she felt
that school is disturbing her to lead a normal life.
Both interviewees were asked about the main things that are bothering their work. As
the main problems that bother Narvaiš’s teaching process the respondent mentioned
classroom restrictions, lack of teacher’s assistant, pupils’ misbehavior, lack of
communication among teachers, administration and teachers, as well as lack of books.
As the biggest problems that children create Gatis Narvaiss mentions that pupils abuse
and call names on each other. He mentions that students tend to refuse to do what they
are asked to do. Children sometimes just honestly say: “I don’t want to, I’m not going
to do it!” or when one pupil is bothering the other one, the first one asks: “Teacher,
expel him from the class!” This data is in accord with the data gained from
questionnaire (Figure 6) where teachers have answered that cussing and remarks are
bothering and disturbing their lessons.
As Popena comments the biggest problem for her is the middle age group, because in
every form there is at least one student who cannot concentrate for the lesson for 40
minutes. No homework done is the main conflict situation that a teacher mentions.
She suggests that it is hard to arrange united or right demands. Another problem that
she mentions is that children do not realize that it is their responsibility, they do not
realize that there is a reason why they are given homework. To author’s mind this
problem is one of the most common in schools when children are being irresponsible.
However teacher should still leave some time from the lesson to teach children what
the rules are, why they are asked to do specific things, and what consequences might
follow if disobeyed.
Both of respondents were asked how conflict situations appear and agreement is seen
in their answers. They state that it is the teacher’s fault if a lesson has not been
prepared for 100%. They claim that children easily feel when a teacher has a blunder,

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Popena reveals that there are always some students who will defy the teacher in those
moments. Here it is seen how big importance the respondents give to preparation to
lessons. As mentioned already before Narvaišs spends about 4 hours preparing at
home.
To the question about main pupils’ objections the respondent Narvaišs mentioned the
lack of discipline, the pupils’ loudness, that teacher does not give sufficient
instructions, that the topic is too difficult, and that they have too much homework.
Although Popena answered that she does not have such objections, sometimes there
are some minor objections about pupils’ grades, but she is able to solve them
immediately so that there are no further questions or objections. The answers of both
interviewees show that experience plays a big role in this profession. Experienced
teacher knows how to work effectively and is more efficient in solving objections,
whereas a young teacher still sees it as a struggle he has to deal with in his classes.
For future teachers Narvaišs would like to suggest to always remember that at the
beginning a lot of pupils will not like anything, they will wine that the teacher cannot
teach well. For this he suggests to read literature on changes in guidance. Secondly,
he suggests being just and equitable to each one of them. And it is crucial not to let
any small misbehavior without a notice at the very beginning – this is the time when
children are testing the limits of the new teacher. And at last he suggests that pupils
should be loved.
On the other hand Popena suggests to young/future teachers to be prepared for lessons
for 100%. She suggests to be ready to offer differentiated tasks to students who
understand everything harder or easier. Secondly she points out that teacher needs to
have strong demands. And concluding Popena insists that teacher cannot be a pal to
children. The strict distance must be kept between a teacher and students, otherwise it
will lead to major discipline and respect problems.
To author’s mind both teachers are efficient in their work. Small differences can be
noticed in their answers, young teacher still has more objections to mention than an
experienced teacher. But both of them agree that preparation to lessons is the basis
that helps to not have less conflict situations during lessons.

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 Conclusions

The aim of the Term Paper was to find out ways how to deal with students’ objections
during English classes. In order to ascertain the main problems, and according to the
questionnaire distributed in Kuldīga Center Secondary School and among
students/future teachers at the faculty of Education, Psychology and Art, LU, the main
problems that teachers have to face during their lessons are: being late, chatting,
bullying, lack of respect, lack of motivation, shouting during the lesson, refusing
during the task, sleeping, aggressiveness, disagreement with marks.

33
The best ways of dealing with misbehavior, problem situations are to, first of all,
facing the problem, staying calm and confident, and offering choice to the pupil in
order to make him be responsible for his own decisions.

Teachers are responsible for helping children develop. Their task is to help pupils
become responsible and self aware young adults.

The author’s experience shows that it is very important to set the rules before starting
the first class. Students should know the rules well. It is crucial that they understand
what consequences they can have in case of breaking the basic rules that have been
established before starting the learning, teaching process. The best case is to get
students acquainted with the rules before setting them as ground rules and to get their
approval of applying these rules to their lessons.
Therefore the best way how to deal with objections is to prevent the possibility to
cause any kind of objections. A good way is to offer a choice to a student, which leads
to student’s own decision making of what consequences he or she will take. Children
get offended when they receive authoritative attitude, they start to show their
discontent very clearly. Therefore when we teach children to be responsible we are
diminishing the risk of having a conflict situation. Children can be taught to be
responsible even without their own notice.

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