scholarly journals Occupation and Gender Stereotypes in Primary School: The Case of the English Language Coursebooks in Greek Primary Schools

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 1135-1148
Author(s):  
Vassiliki Teliousi ◽  
Makrina Zafiri ◽  
Vassiliki Pliogou
2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (191) ◽  
pp. 246-249
Author(s):  
Marianna Chevelіuk ◽  
◽  

In public schools, the English language has long been subordinated to the classics. The first schools for the poor focused on teaching children to read the Bible. Later, they aimed to teach them the minimum skills of reading, writing, and encryption that would suit them for modest and rewarding employment in the short term before they went to work. Spoken language plays a central role in learning. By talking to their children, parents help them find words to express their needs, feelings and experiences. With the help of language, children can turn their active reaction to the environment into a more accurate form and learn to manipulate it more economically and effectively. Schools tried to make speaking a separate subject, a conversation lesson, and a period of "news"; there were many schools where the day was played in games, accompanied by conversations between the teacher and the children, both individuals and groups, and sometimes the whole class. Traditionally, one of the first tasks of primary school was to teach children to read, because reading was the key to most learning and to the possibility of independent learning. In many primary schools, reading and writing were treated as an extension of spoken language. The children were introduced to reading the daily events and the atmosphere in the classroom. Notices of return home, letters to sick children, signs to return materials and tools to the proper place - all encouraged reading and writing. The children, together with the teachers, developed homemade books, which they then read individually or in small groups. These books helped them see the meaning of reading and understand the purpose of written writings. As for modern languages, for many years in primary schools there have been sporadic, individual and rather inconsistent attempts to teach children, almost always French. The age at which boys in independent preparatory schools started Latin and French showed that there were no fundamental difficulties in learning a second language, at least for some younger students. It was unknown whether a second language could be taught to all or most children. Typically, these experiments were dedicated to the most gifted children in the fourth year of primary school, and were conducted through the appearance among the staff of someone who was well "fluent" or "loved" the French language.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-25
Author(s):  
Ahmad Jazuly ◽  
Ninuk Indrayani ◽  
Nostalgianti Citra Prystiananta

In this study, I investigated the teachers' current practice without curriculum of English lesson at primary schools and teacher's response to the new policy on English lessons in primary school. The participants of this study were 46 respondents which consist of 17 males and 29 females. The data was obtained by distributing an open-ended question to teachers who teach in a primary school in Jember district of East Java. The questionnaire was administered to the teacher to be filled in directly. The first finding showed that most of the teachers agreed that teachers should be qualified, teachers need appropriate teaching media for students, and most of the students are very enthusiastic in learning English. The second finding about the teacher's response to the new policy on English lessons in primary school showed that most teachers expected the government to return the English language policy to be taught in primary school as a compulsory subject. Conclusion, the current practices of teaching English in primary school are divided into three parts, 1) most the teachers who involve become sample in this study agreed that the teachers should be qualified in teaching English in primary school, 2) most the teachers needed teaching media appropriate for the students in primary school, 3) most the students were very enthusiastic about learning English. Keyword; Indonesian primary school, teacher, new policy.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Inayati ◽  
Erlyna Abidasari ◽  
Kharisma Naidi W.S.

Although English Language subject is no longer compulsory for primary school level in Indonesia based on the current Curriculum 2013, some regions still consider it essential for their area development and thus making it a compulsory local content subject—Batu Municipality is one of them. Therefore, more efforts are needed to assist English teachers as resources for teaching English is limited due to the lack of support from the national policy level, thus the reasoning for the current project. This paper aims to describe the process of writing and supervising of Bright English Textbook, which is a specifically targeted English textbook for primary schools in Batu, East Java, Indonesia. Qualitative descriptive method was used in this study, involving four primary school teachers as the subjects in the collaborative textbook writing project. The finding presents the step-by-step process from the description during the training process, the actual writing process, until the illustration and lay-outing process. Besides, it also describes the supervision process as well as the problems and solutions related to it. Some highlights and implications of the study are also discussed, with suggestions offered in the form of combined online and face-to-face supervision process and sufficient writing and publication ethics training provided before the writing process begins. It is expected that this study could benefit other teachers and researchers who want to embark on a collaborative textbook writing process to improve their project effectiveness.


2020 ◽  
pp. 22-51
Author(s):  
Elena S. Gritsenko ◽  
◽  
Marina V. Sergeyeva ◽  

The aim of this article is to identify how modern English-language dictionaries reflect the recent shift in the conceptualization and categorization of gender caused by the changes in gender theory, gender ideology and social transformations. The need to address this topic is driven by the fact that, in the Anglophone academic discourse and everyday life, the binary structure of the gender is no longer considered the norm and gender-neutral communication practices are gaining in scale. The study focuses on various structural components of entries from the latest editions of five major British dictionaries for EFL students (‘the Big Five’): Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (OALD), Cambridge Learner’s Dictionary (CLD), Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (LDOCE), Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners (MEDAL), and Collins English Dictionary (CED). To identify the shifts in the recording of gender relevant information, the authors analyzed the headwords of dictionary entries, definitions, illustrative examples, gender relevant usage notes, and non-sexist language guidelines. Illustrative examples were also selected from dictionary entries thematically related to issues of family, marriage and sexual relations, as well as to the topics of discrimination, debate, (in)tolerance, and prejudice. The authors used definitional analysis and semantic interpretation to achieve the aim. The findings were then compared with the results of an earlier study on the construction of gender in the first (1948) and fifth (2005) editions of OALD. The study demonstrates that in modern lexicography deconstruction of gender stereotypes has become even more pronounced than in the dictionaries published at the beginning of the century. Different elements of dictionary entries emphasize such issues as women’s rights campaigning and elimination of gender discrimination in all its forms. New types of masculinity are represented in various entry components. The ideas of gender fluidity and same-sex relations have become much more prominent than in the 2000s. Along with recording traditional gender representations, modern dictionaries tend to consistently avoid the implications of heteronormativity and heterosexuality by recognizing multiple gender identities. This tendency is registered in all structural components of the analyzed dictionaries. New types of communicative practices that stem from the changes in gender conceptualization, such as ‘preferred pronouns’ and others, are reflected in illustrative examples and by the new coinages used as headwords. The major trends affecting the way gender ideology is reflected in modern dictionaries include digitalization of lexicographic practices, increased role of corpora as a source of illustrative examples, and democratization of dictionary making process by registering new coinages, particularly gender relevant ones, submitted by the users.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Kissová

The objective of the work is the application of contrastive approach in teaching English to analyse the pros and cons of the contrastive method in teaching foreign language pronunciation to young learners compared to non-contrastive (monolingual) method used at our Slovak primary schools. This article determines the dominant influence of the learner’s mother tongue/native language (L1) in the process of learning/teaching pronunciation foreign/second  language (L2) and by using contrastive approach tries to enhance positive transfer from the L1 and the reduction of possible negative transfer from L1 to L2 using appropriate teaching techniques and effective tools. The study will be carried out on English language non-native teachers working at a public and private Slovak primary school to find out their needs in the field of teaching pronunciation (questionnaires) and will be focused on quasi-experimental pupils’ group trained separately with and without contrastive approach before recording them and analysing the results. The experimental group will be trained in cognitive contrastive approach concerning segmental, suprasegmental and prosodic phonetics systems comparing Slovak and English languages sound systems. The control group will be trained by using imitative-intuitive ways with the same texts in reading and free speaking topics as the first group. Both qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques will be used in the study and the triangulation of research methods will be finished by contend analyses of mainly used English textbooks which are mail regular sources for learning/teaching pronunciation. The most important will be the practical output for teachers and pupils in creating specially designed pronunciation concerned materials for meeting specific needs of our Slovak primary school level determining the influence and interference of Slovak mother tongue in learning/teaching pronunciation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 36-43
Author(s):  
Silvanos Chirume

This mixed-methods (QUANT-qual) study compares test performances of two classes of 52 (26 in each class) Grade 5 learners in a multiple choice Maths test written in English language (Group A) and the same test but with questions written in Shona language (Group B), respectively. The paper also examines the role of language in the development of attitudes and fear of mathematics by learners at the same primary school in Gokwe district, Zimbabwe. Results showed that there were significant differences (in favour of the English language) between Group A’s performance and Group B’s performance. Other findings were that teachers had mixed feelings towards the use of mother tongue in teaching and learning primary school mathematics, but generally agreed that the language of instruction and/or learning affect performance in mathematics, attitudes towards mathematics and fear of mathematics. The paper concludes that using mother tongue as a medium of instruction in the teaching of mathematics in the Zimbabwean junior primary schools is desirable but the feasibility could not be established. It is recommended, among other things, that there is need for further research and policy formulation on the language of learning/instruction at various school levels in Zimbabwe.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamid Ali Nadeem ◽  
Azhar Mumtaz Saadi ◽  
Nudrat Fatima ◽  
Namood-e- Sahar

<p>Language forms the medium of communication through verbal and nonverbal means which help to develop understanding. The communication and pedagogy are part and parcel of each other as well as the teaching process. The aims of teaching could not be achieved without better communication between teacher and students. The present study was thus planned to analyze the effect of PEELI (Punjab Education and English Language Initiative) training on communication skills of primary school teachers. The findings showed that the educators recruited in 2017 and 2018 have found PEELI interesting and innovative. Listening, speaking, reading and writing are the four dimensions of communication. PEELI training has assisted them in enhancing speaking and writing skills of learners. However, they feel difficulty in developing and interacting learners in listening and reading. They look for more modules and sessions to be organized to cover all the four aspects of communication to develop better interaction with learners. It is recommended to overcome the drawbacks in future training policies thus to bridge the communication gaps between teachers and students of primary schools.</p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamid Ali Nadeem ◽  
Azhar Mumtaz Saadi ◽  
Nudrat Fatima ◽  
Namood-e- Sahar

<p>Language forms the medium of communication through verbal and nonverbal means which help to develop understanding. The communication and pedagogy are part and parcel of each other as well as the teaching process. The aims of teaching could not be achieved without better communication between teacher and students. The present study was thus planned to analyze the effect of PEELI (Punjab Education and English Language Initiative) training on communication skills of primary school teachers. The findings showed that the educators recruited in 2017 and 2018 have found PEELI interesting and innovative. Listening, speaking, reading and writing are the four dimensions of communication. PEELI training has assisted them in enhancing speaking and writing skills of learners. However, they feel difficulty in developing and interacting learners in listening and reading. They look for more modules and sessions to be organized to cover all the four aspects of communication to develop better interaction with learners. It is recommended to overcome the drawbacks in future training policies thus to bridge the communication gaps between teachers and students of primary schools.</p>


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