Student teachers’ experience with improvisation activities for spontaneous speech practice in English

2021 ◽  
pp. 136216882110447
Author(s):  
Anke Zondag
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Efl Teacher ◽  
Teachers Experiences ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Excellent Method ◽  
Speaking Confidence ◽  
Efl Teacher Education

Because most real-life foreign language speech is naturally unpredictable, spontaneous speech should be practiced in the foreign language classroom. Student teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) may benefit from practising methodology for spontaneous speech practice. This article reports the findings for a study into EFL student teachers’ experiences with using improvisation activities, exploring the relevance of improvisation activities for spontaneous speech practice. The data include semi-guided texts and reluctant speakers’ interviews. The findings showed that improvisation activities facilitated spontaneous speech practice and strengthened speaking confidence through enjoyment. The ‘spontaneous speech mindset’ enabled participants to explore linguistic and creative boundaries. The study showed that application of improvisation activities is an excellent method for spontaneous speech practice in EFL teacher education.

scholarly journals Giving Voice to the Voiceless: Probing Current Issues for Student Teachers in EFL Teacher Education Program in Iran

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-154
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Karimi ◽  
Ebrahim Fakhri Alamdari ◽  
Mehrshad Ahmadian
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Education Program ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Efl Teacher ◽  
Informal Observation ◽  
Efl Teacher Education

The present study attempted to give insight into the features of an effective English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher education program by exploring student teachers’ beliefs, ideas, and the challenges they encounter during their teacher education program. The data were collected through several semi-structured focus group interview sessions with a total number of forty-one BA, MA, and PhD students studying teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) at university. The qualitative grounded theory design was used to analyze the data, and the findings of the study were corroborated with interpretations obtained from the informal observation of several university classes in a TEFL teacher education program in Iran. The inductive analysis of the data resulted in developing the following categories: the challenge of developing the ability to move back and forth from theory to practice,  the struggle to establish a professional identity, the quest for the ‘self’, less-practiced reflective practice, and the missing connection between teacher education programs and schools. The discussion concerning the challenges and issues culminated in implications for EFL teacher education programs through which they can take the issues that student teachers normally experience into account and help them pave the way for an effective EFL teacher education program.

scholarly journals Linguistic Education Under Revision: Globalization and EFL Teacher Education in Brazil

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Rachel Mendes ◽  
Kyria Rebeca Finardi
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Digital Literacy ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Information And Communications Technology ◽  
Efl Teacher ◽  
Efl Teacher Education ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Education In Brazil

Globalization brought about many changes to the current society's life and mindset and thus, some new challenges to linguistic education, more specifically, foreign language education, have emerged as a consequence of these changes. This paper aims at reflecting upon some impacts of globalization on pre-service English as Foreign Language (hereafter EFL) teacher education in Brazil. Based on the literature review, the paper addresses the changes in the concepts of language, culture and identity related to cultural hybridity and the impact of new information and communications technology on the use, teaching and learning of foreign languages. It concludes that curricula for EFL teacher education programs in Brazil should be reviewed in order to focus more on glocal knowledge and digital literacy for a 21st century aligned education.

scholarly journals Scaffolding the Learning-to-Teach Process: A Study in an EFL Teacher Education Programme in Argentina

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Gimena San Martin
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Education Programme ◽  
Learning To Teach ◽  
Language Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Education Programme ◽  
Perceived Needs ◽  
Efl Teacher ◽  
Level Of Understanding ◽  
Efl Teacher Education

This study seeks to examine how a supervisor scaffolds the student-teachers’ learning-to-teach process in the context of one-to-one tutoring sessions in an English as a foreign language teacher education programme in Argentina. The findings indicate that scaffolding implies two main phases: a diagnostic and an intervention phase. Moreover, the supervisor was found to provide contingent help, which suited the student-teachers’ perceived needs and/or difficulties. In conclusion, scaffolded help should be understood in relation to the function it serves and how it accommodates the students’ level of understanding.

scholarly journals Upgrading EFL teachers’ Quality through An Online Mentoring System, An Innovative In-Service Training Model: The Case of Indonesia

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 158
Author(s):  
Zifirdaus Adnan
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Training Model ◽  
Online Mentoring ◽  
Efl Teacher ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Service Training ◽  
The Government ◽  
Efl Teacher Education ◽  
Mentoring System

Many studies have been conducted in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher education to improve teachers’ quality, some of these have been on mentoring teachers, with the purpose of improving teaching of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). However, TEFL teaching is still problematic worldwide including Indonesia. Indonesian TEFL is seriously problematic because the expected levels of competencies are not adequately achieved. A major factor, teacher quality, is at issue. Even though the Government has provided models of training for its teachers, they have not been effective. This paper addresses this issue and proposes an innovative but cheaper mentoring system. This system also overcomes the shortcomings of the existing models of in-service training including its ad hoc nature, lack of practice and feedback, lack of the opportunity to upgrade poor English skills. The paper argues that the system can overcome these issues, and Indonesia is capable of running the system with its existing resources. The model could be adapted to address similar TEFL issues found elsewhere.

scholarly journals Student Teacher Perceptions of Pronunciation Tasks in Andalusia

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 107-125
Author(s):  
Daniel Madrid Fernandez ◽  
Stephen Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Teacher Perceptions ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Oral Communication ◽  
Classroom Activities ◽  
Retrospective Assessment ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Spoken Interaction ◽  
Instructional Settings ◽  
Key Questions

Within the development of the key competence of oral communication and spoken interaction in a foreign language, correct and intelligible pronunciation is a key concern. It is perhaps the case, however, that the time spent on enabling students to enhance this aspect of their communicative capacity has been given less systematic treatment than in other activities in the foreign language classroom. This paper discusses a number of key questions involved in the acquisition of accurate pronunciation in formal instructional settings and reports on the perceived effectiveness of activities aimed directly or indirectly at developing pronunciation. The study involves the retrospective assessment by 189 student teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Andalusia, to identify which classroom activities helped most to increase their pronunciation attainment and to examine why students in this context often fail to improve in this area.

scholarly journals Unpacking EFL textbook content: A focus on teachers’ role in the textbook-based classroom

2020 ◽  
Vol 83 ◽  
pp. 243-250
Author(s):  
Zhang Xiaodong
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Pedagogical Strategies ◽  
Language Form ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
Efl Teacher ◽  
Teachers Beliefs ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Theoretical Paper ◽  
Efl Teacher Education ◽  
Pedagogical Relationship

This theoretical paper first explores how English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teachers’ beliefs impact their delivery of textbook content. In response to this important pedagogical relationship, as well as the trend of de-contextualized teaching in EFL settings, this paper argues for the compatibility of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) as an intervention tool to shape teachers’ beliefs and facilitate their deconstruction of textbook content in terms of the co-play between language form (i.e., grammar/vocabulary) and meaning representations. The paper ends with pedagogical strategies for pre-service and in-service EFL teacher education, enabling teachers to conceptualize the dynamic relationship between language form and meaning embedded in textbook content and to enact contextualized instruction in textbook-based classrooms.

Remixing real and imaginary in art education with fully immersive virtual reality

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 415-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina Paatela-Nieminen
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Art Education ◽  
Visual Art ◽  
Real Life ◽  
3D Models ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
3D Objects ◽  
Teachers Experiences ◽  
Digital Material

This article explores digital material/ism by examining student teachers’ experiences, processes and products with fully immersive virtual reality (VR) as part of visual art education. The students created and painted a virtual world, given the name Gretan puutarha (‘Greta’s Garden’), using the Google application Tilt Brush. They also applied photogrammetry techniques to scan 3D objects from the real world in order to create 3D models for their VR world. Additionally, they imported 2D photographs and drawings along with applied animated effects to construct their VR world digitally, thereby remixing elements from real life and fantasy. The students were asked open-ended questions to find out how they created art virtually and the results were analysed using Burdea’s VR concepts of immersion, interaction and imagination. Digital material was created intersubjectively and intermedially while it was also remixed with real and imaginary. Various webs of meanings were created, both intertextual and rhizomatic in nature.

scholarly journals Project-based Learning as a Tool for Student-Teachers’ Professional Development: A Study in an Omani EFL Teacher Education Program

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 116-136
Author(s):  
Saleh Al-Busaidi ◽  
Fawzia Al-Seyabi
Keyword(s):  
Student Teachers ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Life Problems ◽  
Design Skills ◽  
Efl Teacher Education

Project-based learning (PBL) helps students gain a deep understanding of the knowledge they acquire, develops higher levels of learning, and promotes the motivation to learn. Through self-inquiry, self-planning, and investigation, students learn to be independent thinkers and autonomous learners and pursue their learning needs by seeking solutions for real-life problems. The objective of this study was to explore the extent to which PBL approach helped 146 student-teachers at the College of Education, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman, develop their course design skills. The study utilized a questionnaire with multiple sections. The students were asked for their opinion about the approach, the difficulties they encountered, and suggestions for improvement. The results revealed that the students’ responses were positive. The students enjoyed the project and agreed that it helped them gain many of the principles of courses design, as well as a host of academic skills. The students also reported a few challenges faced during the project such as needs analysis and writing goals and objectives. Teacher preparation programs in other contexts can benefit from the course design and the study findings to introduce change to their courses. Researchers and practitioners can also benefit from the challenges faced in implementing PBL in higher education institutions where one would expect students to be highly independent.

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