scholarly journals Constraints on innovation in English language teaching in hinterland regions of China

2020 ◽  
pp. 136216882097985
Author(s):  
Neil Murray ◽  
Antony J. Liddicoat ◽  
Gavin Zhen ◽  
Penny Mosavian
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
English Language ◽  
Time Pressure ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Eastern China ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Chinese Government

Since the start of the twenty-first century, English has come to be seen by the Chinese government as a linchpin of its continued economic and political influence. Its resultant efforts to promote innovation in English language teaching align with the aspirations of a population, many of whom regard competency in English as a determiner of opportunity and success in their careers, and thus a vehicle through which to provide a good quality of life for themselves and their families. However, despite government-driven initiatives to improve English language education, change has been slow to materialize, especially outside of the main urban areas of Eastern China. Here, we report on a study that sought to explore the constraints governing attempts by teachers of English to innovate in universities located in some of the so-called ‘hinterland’ regions of Southwestern China. Key determinants that emerged, and which we discuss, included time pressure and competing priorities; scepticism towards new ideas; lack of investment in resources; the primacy of the textbook; students’ language proficiency; and opportunities for professional development. Together, these findings indicate the need for a change of culture if innovation is to be welcomed, both in principle and in practice, as a driver of positive change in the teaching of English in these universities. Teachers, their line managers, and university senior managers need to feel willing and able to engage freely in constructive and informed discourse, and in doing so consider recalibrating institutional priorities, thereby helping reconcile the pressures and tensions currently experienced by English language teachers and which impede progress.

scholarly journals English foreign language teaching anxiety of Indonesian pre-service teachers of undergraduate internship program

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 222
Author(s):  
Huyi Intan Sari ◽  
Choiril Anwar
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Time Management ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
Teaching Anxiety

Anxiety is a topic mostly investigated in the field of foreign language education. Unfortunately, the main focus of the studies on the aforementioned topic has primarily been provided in relation to anxiety suffered by students not teachers. Anxiety in speaking English while teaching has been proven to be a separate obstacle to the success of the language teaching and learning. This still happens to teachers who even have years of teaching experience. This study aims to investigate the English language teaching anxiety as experienced by the pre-service teacher at the department. The FLTA questionnaire consisting of 27 out of 45 items was adopted to collect data. Since this study was carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic, the questionnaire was distributed to the participants via email. The analysis was then made by implementing the qualitative descriptive approach and simple quantification to support the description. The results show that there were five factors of anxiety occur during the program. They were teaching inexperience, self-perception of language proficiency, fear of negative evaluation, lack of student�s interest, and difficulty with time management. These findings are expected to become a reference for the efforts of developing an internship preparation program.

scholarly journals Arab English Language Teaching Candidates Climbing the IELTS Mountain: A Qualitatively Driven Hermeneutic Phenomenology Study

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Al-Issa ◽  
Ali Al-Bulushi ◽  
Rima Al-Zadjali
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Hermeneutic Phenomenology ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Structured Interviews

As a high-stakes international language proficiency benchmark, the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) requires different and special Language Learning Strategies (LLS), which pose numerous challenges to its takers. Some Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) majoring in English Language Teaching (ELT), have therefore, failed to achieve an overall score of Band 6 on the IELTS as a language proficiency requirement and a condition mandated by the Ministry of Education for selecting English language teachers among. This qualitatively driven hermeneutic phenomenology study, hence, discusses this issue from an ideological perspective. The study triangulates data from semi-structured interviews made with six fourth-year ELT Student Teachers (STs) at SQU and the pertinent literature. The critical discussion revealed various ideologies about the powerful impact of the IELTS on the STs’ English language development. The findings have important implications for the practices of the teachers in the Omani ELT school system and elsewhere.

scholarly journals A Critical Investigation of English Language Teaching in Bangladesh

English Today ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 43-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Mosiur Rahman ◽  
Ambigapathy Pandian
Keyword(s):  
World Bank ◽  
Curriculum Reform ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Language Education ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Traditional Grammar ◽  
Economic Constraints

The 2016 World Bank report on worldwide per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) identified Bangladesh as a lower middle-income country based on its consistent GDP growth throughout last decade (World Bank, 2016). To maintain this growth rate and meet the radical demand for human resources in increasingly globalised world markets, the country needs to communicate more effectively with the outside world. Inevitably, this means improving the quality of English teaching and learning. The significance of English, as the globallingua franca, to Bangladeshi learners is at its zenith. In this developing country, however, economic constraints mean that funds allocated to education are limited compared to many other Southeast Asian countries (Habib & Adhikary, 2016). Even given the generally low level of educational standards in Bangladesh (Islam, 2015), the standard of English language teaching and learning has decreased alarmingly in recent years (Hamid, 2011). English language education in Bangladesh has always been problematic, despite various attempts to initiate curriculum reform. As Hamid & Baldauf (2008) point out, the first of these major shifts in the ELT curriculum took place in the mid-1990s, when the traditional Grammar-Translation Method (GTM) was replaced with a curriculum based on a Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) model. The principal objective of this article is to review the major problems associated with ELT in Bangladesh that have hindered the implementation of the new CLT curriculum from the perspective of teachers, and eventually to make recommendations for more effective ELT curriculum reform.

scholarly journals Counteractive Measures for the Tribulations Faced by Intermediate Students of Selected Colleges of Lucknow, While Teaching and Learning English

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 516
Author(s):  
Mohammad Owais Khan
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
College Education ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Intermediate Students ◽  
Learning English

The present study attempts to highlight the issues related to the Tribulations and Counteractive measures for teaching and learning English to Intermediate students of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (UP), India. The language policy in intermediate college education emerged as a social and personal problem. The quality of English Language teaching in majority of Indian Intermediate Colleges presents a very appalling picture. Teachers’ language proficiency, exposure to language and teaching materials is major concerns for quality English language learning. In reality intermediate students’ situation in UP is very difficult. They don’t have good opportunities as the big cities’ students have. These students consider English as a subject not as a language. So they focus only on examination not on the learning. This is an area which needs proper investigation. This study and the remedial measures suggested at the end will hopefully help students and teachers in learning and teaching English easily and appropriately. The study will also be useful for teachers, scholars, course designers and material producers of English language teaching.

scholarly journals |Vol. 6| No. 1|Year 2019

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 188-192
Author(s):  
Editorial Team
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
English Education ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Language Education ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Multilingual Education ◽  
Learning Language ◽  
Language Teaching And Learning

Edukasi: Jurnal Pendidikan dan Pengajaran provides a vital forum for exchanging ideas in order to enrich the theories and practices of English education in Indonesia and across the globe. The journal focuses, but not limited to, on the following topics: English language teaching, language teaching and learning, language teaching methodologies, pedagogical techniques, teaching and curricular practices, curriculum development and teaching methods, program, syllabus, and materials design, second and foreign language teaching and learning, language education, teacher education and professional development, teacher training, cross-cultural studies, bilingual and multilingual education, translation, language teaching for specific purposes, new technologies in language teaching, and testing and evaluation. It provides an academic platform for teachers, lecturers, and researchers to contribute innovative work in the field.

scholarly journals Students’ Understanding on Spoken Discourse in The Context of English Language Teaching (ELT) at University

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 265
Author(s):  
Dias Andris Susanto ◽  
Masitoh Oktavia ◽  
Lina Tri Astuty Beru Sembiring
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Language Education ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
English Language Education ◽  
Study Program ◽  
Spoken Discourse ◽  
Key Terms

Abstract. This is a case study on students’ understanding towards a subject of discourse analysis at English language education study program at University in Indonesia. The goal of this study is to describe the definitions, the examples, and the applications of spoken discourse analysis on their context of English language teaching (ELT). The writers used qualitative research approach to analyze these data through implementing Atlas.ti8 which is known as the tool of analyzing the field qualitative data. The sample was the students of 7th grade semester consisting 30 people. In collecting the data, we used online direct interview in the classroom and by time they replied the questions on the time using the google form by Microsoft. In analyzing the data, we used atlas.ti.8 online to draw the result of the research as followings; that students’ understanding about the definitions of spoken discourse analysis have some various key terms like; -a research method of spoken language, -knowledge of language, how language used, study of language, and study of the texts. Then, its examples are; they can picturize as; speaking on the phone, conversation, interview, putting markers, turn taking, group of discussion, using advertisement, people interaction, joke, speech, also transferring information. Moreover, its applications are such as; communicating with teachers/parents, interacting with students/people, go to the market, baby crying, ceremony, and communicating with friends. The conclusion is that spoken discourse analysis has been understood by students even though it is not easy to define, giving example and declaring the application in the real context English language teaching. Keywords: students’ understanding, spoken discourse analysis, ELT

scholarly journals Cram Schools in Japan: The Need for Research

2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Lowe
Keyword(s):  
Education System ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Language Education ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Japanese Education ◽  
English Language Education ◽  
Specific Field ◽  
Cram Schools ◽  
Cram School

The private juku (cram school) industry is an enormously profitable and influential area of education in Japan, including in the specific field of English language teaching (ELT). However, while much research has been carried out in other areas of ELT in Japan, juku have largely escaped the attention of researchers. This paper attempts to argue the need for more research into English language education as it is practiced in juku. The article first situates juku within the Japanese education system, and then illustrates the extent to which juku have been under-researched when compared to other ELT contexts in Japan. The author advocates the need for more research into ELT to be carried out in juku, and finally suggests some areas into which this research could be conducted. 学習塾産業は大きなビジネスであり、日本の英語教育に大きな影響を与えている。ところが、高校や大学などでの英語教育に関する研究は多くなされているが、学習塾での英語教育の研究はされていない。本論では、初めに、学習塾の現状を説明し、次に、どれだけ学習塾の英語教育の研究が不足しているか説明する。最後に、学習塾の英語教育の研究の必要性を訴え、より多くの研究がこの分野で行われるべきであると論じる。

scholarly journals Students’ perspectives on technology integration in ELT

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 95-106
Author(s):  
Renu Singh
Keyword(s):  
Technology Integration ◽  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Qualitative Research Design ◽  
Ict Infrastructure

Technology integration in English language teaching (ELT) has changed the mode of classroom instruction at school. The use of modern technologies at public secondary schools within Nepal is a big challenge. This study explores students ‘perspectives on technology integration in English language teaching at public secondary schools in Nepal. The study was framed under qualitative research design that used focus group discussion to gather data from the six groups of students in the Kathmandu valley. The thematic analysis of their views under different categories revealed that the ELT with technology integration is a dire need for developing students’ language proficiency. Additionally, the results show that the learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) are aware of the advantages of teaching with technology but the insufficient ICT infrastructure at school and the lack of EFL teachers’ professional skills and knowledge of integrating technology into their daily pedagogical practices are main obstacles of technology integration. The study points out implications for ELT practitioners, researchers, policy makers of ICT in education along with stakeholders.

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