UNIT 1 Fundamentals

Unit 1: Fundamentals
A teaching professional who is good or a good teaching professional? Welcome to our first unit which represents
the first step towards the precise identification of these two. Or… are they the same?
Competencies:
By the end of this Unit, students will be able to:

 Describe what ethics, values and morality mean regarding English language teaching accurately and
confidently.
 Illustrate the ways in which ethics and values are manifested in commonplace human activity.
 Explain the relationship between ethics/values and language development and teaching.
Content of the Unit:
1. Introduction
2. Ethis, values and morality
3. Assessment Plan
4. Forum
5. References
Estimated Time
 4 hours.
Assessment Plan
In order to successfully complete your work on this Unit you will be asked to do two assessment tasks:
Unit # Final Task; this task represents 5 points of the overall grade. You will submit this
task through the UAS platform.
Unit # Discussion FORUM, this forum represents 5 points of the overall grade. You will
complete this forum on the UAS Platform.
Suggestions:
You are expected to complete all of the tasks in the study materials and make notes on the margins
1. Introduction
The boundaries separating the concepts of ethics, values and morality are a
bit complicated to precise. However, since they are part of our everyday life,
the road we’ll take to describe them will be full of familiar elements making it
a lot easier to relate the concepts to our personal and professional
experience.
2. Ethics, values and morality.

Before we start this section of the study material, check on the statements
you agree with (there are no wrong answers):
1. As long as my students have a solid grasp of the course contents,

my teaching practice will be considered successful, even if I don’t
remember any of my students’ names.
2. My development as a professional is measured by my grasp of the
language as well as my grasp of the teaching techniques.
3. My teaching is always neutral. Therefore, controversial topics
should not be part of it even if they are of my students’ interest.
Was it easy to determine whether you agreed or not? Was it difficult? Was it
common sense? The elements you used to decide are deeply intertwined
and rely heavily on your own personal reconstruction of what ethics, values
and morality are to you.
If you checked on any of the boxes, it means you are possibly taking into
consideration only one of the aspects (the technical element) embodied
within teaching.
Now let’s move on to our first task.
Task 1) For this task you will have to…

Step 1) read the following definitions in order to provide your common sense
with some theory to support your previous decisions. As you read, underline
the words or phrases, in each of the definitions, you consider to be important.
Morality: it’s a group or beliefs, precepts and practices about what is
A precept is a
principle used to considered as humanly correct behavior within a determined space-time
regulate behavior. context (Martínez, 2010).
Ethics: it’s second order knowledge, given the fact that it does not intend to
guide directly the actions of people by proposing concrete precepts of
behavior; it provides rationalized reflections about known precepts in order
to find their sense, if they have it, and from that point, provide criteria to
differentiate the valid moral precepts from the ones that aren’t (Martínez,
2010).
Values: The beliefs which help a person decide what is good and what is
bad, what is right and what is wrong. Beliefs are both individual and social.
They are individual in that all values are expressed by and through particular
people… but strong social forces affect individual beliefs. As a result, values
only become interesting when they are put into practice in social settings –
when our inner beliefs are converted into actions that affect others
(Johnston, 2003:6 in Hall, 2016).
Step 2) Write in the box the words or phrases you consider to be essential
to each definition.
Morality
Ethics:
Values:
By now, the boundaries of each concept might be a bit clearer. Let us now
go to our second task.
Task 2) Watch the following video up to minute 02:25, and analyze Mr.
Barthes’ responses while taking into consideration the three definitions
above (i.e. morality, ethics, and values). After watching the video…
Taken from ++++++
Step 1) provide (in the box below) one written example of morality, one of
ethics, and one of values (from the video).
Your examples must be conceptually supported. In other words, how is each
example related to its conceptual definition? Therefore, some of the key
words you wrote down in step 2 from task 1 must also be present in each of
your examples.
Morality
Ethics:
Values:
It’s very likely this is your first attempt at describing what morality, ethics
and values mean.
Our next task will be a piece of cake…
Task 3) Let’s watch a second video and analyze how values or the lack of
values are manifested in common human activity. You will focus your
reflection on how appropriate or inappropriate George Constanza’s behavior
was. Was his behavior correct or incorrect?
Step 1) Write on the box below a short paragraph -4 or 5 lines- about his
behavior. Explain it from the values perspective (what he did or didn’t do) as
well as his ethical perspective (the reasons behind his actions).
Evidently, George did not follow many of the “non-written” moral principles
established by society, or… do you think he did the “right” thing?
It’s time to go to our next task.

Task 4) As you most probably noticed by now, we’re going to lead in the
task with a couple of reflection questions. Do you think teachers should be
seen as “an example” to their students? Should teachers be accounted for
passing on values or promoting ethical issues?
Step 1) Read the following quotation as you will need it to answer two more
questions.
Values are inherent in teaching. Teachers are by the nature of their
profession ‘moral agents’ who imply values by the way they address pupils
and each other, the way they dress, the language they use and the efforts
they put into their work.
National Curriculum Council (1993).
Step 2) Agree or disagree with the following statements. Your answers
should reflect your ethical views. In other words, explain why you think
they’re right or wrong.
Statement 1:
Teachers should be expected to exercise some positive influence over
the quality of a student’s attitudes and conduct.
Statement 2:
Teachers are “moral agents”.
Statements adapted from Arthur, J., Davison, J. and Lewis, M. (2005, p. 30)
3. Summary and Conclusions
As you most probably noticed, defining ethics, values and morality is as
simple as deciding what is “right” or what is “wrong”; after all, that’s what we
did all along the unit tasks. Simple, isn’t it? It is, as long as you remember
that morality is to society, what ethics is to the person and values are
basically “good” thoughts put into action.
4. Assessment Plan
End of unit 1 task.
Welcome to the End of Unit Task. In this task, you are expected to put into
practice all of what we have seen in this Unit. Remember, this task should
be uploaded through the UAS Platform in the assignment icon.
Remember, this task should be uploaded to the UAS Platform before

Sunday at 10:00pm.
Step 1) Choose 3 scenarios from the list below. Identify and reflect on the
ethical and moral issues involved.
Step 2) Write your own response to the 3 scenarios you chose.

 Your responses should demonstrate a solid grasp of the central concepts
in the unit. In other words, you must display a clear understanding of the
boundaries differentiating morality, ethics and values.
 Each of your written responses should be 45 to 60 words long.
 Submit in a word document.
1. If you found that a colleague was showing considerable favoritism to

a particular student.
2. You discover that a colleague is negligent or incompetent in a part of
his/ her teaching duties.
3. A colleague is seen stealing from a school fund.
4. You believe a teacher is far too strict and uses excessive sanctions
against his/her students.
5. You are asked to follow a school policy that names students who
have failed their exams in front of the rest of their class.
Adapted from Arthur, J., Davison, J. and Lewis, M. (2005)

Step 6) Submit everything before Saturday at 10:00pm
Your tutor,
Juan Carlos López Gil
Discussion FORUM
Welcome to the FORUM.
In this FORUM, we are going to share our insights about the conceptual
contents as well as the general contents within this unit.
Step 1) Recall your experience. If you didn`t complete the end of Unit task,
do it during this week in order to participate in this discussion.
Step 2) Write a description of who you are as a TEACHER. Of course

you can include some personal references about your life outside the
classroom in order to better illustrate some of your points. My intention
is to create a general awareness on the three main concepts of the unit from
an academic position. (100 to 110 words).
Step 3) POST your description. Label it: SELF DESCRIPTION + your name.
Due: Wednesday
Step 4) READ your partners’ self description and REPLY to AT LEAST

TWO. Label them as: REPLY 1 and 2. Due: Thursday and Friday. No replies
will be accepted on Saturday.
 We might have a laugh from some of the posts or replies, however, it is
extremely important to use a RESPECTFUL tone in our replies. Of
course, we should be open to criticism as long as it provides positive
growth.
Step 5) ANSWER the replies you received. Label it: Answer to + your
peer´s name. Due: Saturday before 10:00pm. This step should not be done
before Saturday.
Your tutor,
Juan Carlos López Gil
5. References
 Arthur, J., Davison, J. and Lewis, M. (2005). Professional

values and practice: Achieving the standards for QTS.
New York: Routledge Falmer
 Johnston, B. (2008). Values in English language
teaching. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates,
Inc.
 Martínez, E. (2010). Ética profesional de los profesores.
Bilbao, Spain: Desclée De Brouwer.
 National Curriculum Council (1993). Spiritual and moral
development. London: HMSO. In Arthur, J., Davison, J.
and Lewis, M. (2005). Professional values and practice:
Achieving the standards for QTS. New York: Routledge
Falmer.

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Unit 1: Fundamentals

By the end of this Unit, students will be able to:

Content of the Unit:

2. Ethics, values and morality.

1. As long as my students have a solid grasp of the course contents,

Now let’s move on to our first task.

Task 1) For this task you will have to…

It’s time to go to our next task.

Remember, this task should be uploaded to the UAS Platform before

Step 2) Write your own response to the 3 scenarios you chose.

1. If you found that a colleague was showing considerable favoritism to

Adapted from Arthur, J., Davison, J. and Lewis, M. (2005)

Juan Carlos López Gil

Welcome to the FORUM.

Step 2) Write a description of who you are as a TEACHER. Of course

Step 4) READ your partners’ self description and REPLY to AT LEAST

 Arthur, J., Davison, J. and Lewis, M. (2005). Professional

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