Thongsook College BA TESOL Teaching Tips

Feb 24
3 min read

Student-teacher contracts

Giving students a chance to influence course design.

Timothy Cornwall, PhD

By having students create a contract, I get to know the students I am teaching in terms of character and ability, while they get to know who I am and what my expectations are. A student-teacher contract provides a clear commitment to how we will work together to improve their English and what this will entail in terms of content, classroom activities, assignments, and exams.

In classes in which writing is part of the course, whether the numbers are large or small, intermediate and above, I often ask students to draft a student-teacher contract for the course that all of us would be willing to sign.

This gives us a chance to get to know each other, allows me to judge their language skills, and, as they are discussing their own likes and dislikes, most students are willing to take part. In addition, when teaching in a new setting, student contracts offer a good insight into their expectations and willingness to work in class.

Contract details

In this teacher-student contract, students are to state what they are prepared to undertake during the course, including class activities and homework assignments, and, in turn, what they expect from me as the teacher.

Before we start, I review what we need to cover based on the course description or textbook selected, and I remind students that, as we might not need to cover everything, now is their chance to suggest what we should or should not cover. If a course requires a grade, I set up certain requirements that must be included in the contract, e.g., a midterm exam, a final exam, and a certain number of homework assignments.

Before they begin their group discussion, we brainstorm what might be in the contract. At this stage, my goal is to narrow their ideas down to four sections: students will, students will not, teacher will, and teacher will not.

I take these contracts seriously and expect students to do likewise and remind them that unless we both sign a contract, it will not be ‘enforced.’ Therefore, while they can make suggestions, do no homework, watch movies, and finish early, it is very unlikely I will sign, and their best choice is to be realistic about what will happen in class.

Their contracts

Invariably, the list of items suggested for a contract includes content. This can be helpful, as I often find that at least one unit in the planned curriculum has something they do not want to study, and at least one, sometimes two, units lend themselves to expressed interests. In such a case, I drop the unit they do not want to study and supplement the units or topics they do want to cover with added material.

They clearly list activities they like and do not like. Dictation and long writing assignments are usually the least popular, with speaking most popular. This is fine in many classes, but in combined skills classes, I make sure students understand that unless all four skills are included in the contract, I will not sign it.

In addition, they often describe how they would like me to behave, often reflected in varying positions on the accuracy–fluency continuum, from correct every error to correcting sporadically. While it is difficult to remember each student’s preferences, invariably, a class theme concerning error correction invariably becomes clear.

Pre-writing discussion

When their first group discussions are complete, we discuss and compile a list of the various ideas. Then, we return to the original four sections and organize their ideas into subsections that typically include content, administration, grammar skills breakdown, classroom behavior, and expectations for both parties.

Using one or two ideas from each section, we work together to make them into something we all agree sounds legal. This involves removing personal pronouns and making the document more impersonal, students hereby agree to… Tim Cornwall, hereafter known as ‘the teacher,’ agrees to…

Homework and final contracts

The students finish their contract as homework. If the class is small, I ask them to e-mail it to me so I can correct it and return it to each student, and compile all their ideas into one document, which we review during the next class.

Once we have decided that all the items in a contract are agreeable to both parties, I create a final version, which we sign in class and refer to during the course as needed.