scholarly journals Pre-Service Teachers' Perceptions on the Role of English Teachers

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 58-75
Author(s):  
Angélica María Carvajal ◽  
Yolanda Duarte Medina
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Private University ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Language Program ◽  
Written Narratives ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Affective Filter ◽  
English Classroom

This small-scale research project was carried out with 15 pre-service teachers enrolled in a B.A. English as a Foreign Language program at a private university with a distance learning modality. The goal of this study was to enable pre-service teachers to express what they thought their role as English teachers should be. The researchers chose narrative inquiry as a way to hear the students’ voices and take them into account in order to promote positive changes in their teaching practice. Different data collection instruments were implemented, such as oral narratives from an unstructured interview, written narratives from tutors’ reflections in a journal, and a questionnaire to characterize the participants. The findings showed that the pre- service teachers characterized the role of the English teacher as being committed and engaged in the learning process. They also displayed an empathetic attitude toward teaching in the English classroom. Additionally, they highlighted innovativeness and open-mindedness as crucial traits for creating a positive environment in the classroom and activating the affective filter.

scholarly journals Critical Reflection on Developing and Implementing In-house EFL Textbooks

PAPELES ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (21) ◽  
pp. 11-31
Author(s):  
Astrid Núñez Pardo
Keyword(s):  
Private University ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
Dual Model ◽  
Professional Performance ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Textbook Series ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
Global Language

This paper shares a reflection based on a qualitative research case study that looked into the pertinence of developing and implementing a seven in-house strategy-based English textbook series that combines English for General Purposes (EGP) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) among undergraduates in the dual model at a private university. The study was conducted with twelve undergraduates from four majors, three English teachers and the coordinator of the Foreign Language Centre of this university, who performed the role of the researcher and materials developer. The objectives underlying this work were to develop and implement in-house strategy-based textbooks and to characterise students and teachers’ perceptions regarding their pertinence in the dual model. The information-compiling instruments used in the study were a focus-group interview (to collect students' perspectives on the relevance of merging EGP and ESP content in an English series), and field notes from the English teachers (to gather their perspectives as participants-observers of the process). After analysing the collected data, the findings of the study revealed that (a) there was an increasing awareness of English as the global language to foster academic development, professional performance and work opportunities; (b) the EGP and ESP blending was regarded as the ideal complement for dual model programmes; and (c) developing and implementing contextualised in-house materials were deemed to be a congratulatory effort in the quest of helping students learn. Developing and implementing in-house materials, in an English Programme for undergraduates in the dual model narrowed the gap between the purpose of the theory and the real needs of the business apprenticeship. Despite the achieved results regarding the pertinence of the contextualised in-house EFL textbooks, an unusual academic decision that seemed subtly supported by several EFL teachers, banned the use of the series that had served as a learning awareness-raising pedagogical resource in undergraduates under the dual model of a private university.

scholarly journals Explorations of Beliefs about EFL Teachers’ Roles from Both Teachers’ and Students’ Perspectives through Metaphor Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (29) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharihan Shawkat Azeez
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
Sentence Completion ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Teachers Experiences ◽  
Teachers Beliefs ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
The University

Metaphor acts as a window into comprehending teachers’ experiences through providing insights into complex concepts of teaching and learning. As a result, it plays a crucial role in exploring beliefs about teachers’ roles in the teaching and learning process. To elicit ideas and beliefs which both teachers and students held about the role of English teachers, questionnaires were given to 30 teachers and 85 students in the University of Duhok, English Department. The questionnaire asked the subjects to provide their beliefs about English teachers’ roles by using a sentence completion task “An English teacher is…. because….”. Eight conceptual categories are introduced from the linguistic metaphors and example metaphors for each category are given in the results tables. The eight conceptual categories include: teacher as devotee, teacher as nurturer, teachers as provider / source of knowledge, teacher as cultural transmitter, teacher as authority, teacher as guider, teacher as a friend, and teacher as a nice beautiful soul. All participants expressed the same conceptual categories, but still they use different metaphors to express their views. An interesting feature of these results is that there are some parallel and overlaps of metaphors among different subjects. The findings of this study suggested subtle differences between students’ and teachers’ beliefs. This study will benefit teachers, curriculum designers, and researchers. Researchers may carry out comprehensive studies using metaphor as an investigating tool to better understand both students and teachers’ perceptions of the teachers’ roles. The results will help develop comprehensive and inclusive methods of teaching. Larger samples with variables such as gender, age, different locations, and proficiency of participants should be taken into consideration during future studies.

Pragmatic functions of formulaic speech in three different languages

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
María-Pilar Safont Jordà ◽  
Laura Portolés Falomir
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Educational Level ◽  
Pragmatic Approach ◽  
Language Program ◽  
Pragmatic Development ◽  
Third Language ◽  
Multilingual Students ◽  
English Classroom

The study examines early multilingual formulaic speech with a focus on the English classroom. We have followed a discourse-pragmatic approach in the analysis of our data, which comprises transcripts from eight 45-minute sessions. Transcripts from these sessions involved 184 participants from two different age ranges. In this analysis, we have considered formulas produced in three languages: Catalan, Spanish, and English. Our goal is to provide further evidence for the inherent dynamism and complexity of early multilingual pragmatic development, and in so doing, to acknowledge the role of the educational level and the language program adopted in the school. Findings are partly in line with (a) previous studies dealing with the identification of pragmatic functions in the EFL classroom (Llinares & Pastrana, 2013), and (b) the peculiarities of early third language learners (Portolés, 2015). Finally, we tackle the importance of adopting multilingual perspectives in the analyses of multilingual students.

scholarly journals The Perceptions of Saudi English Teachers about their Contribution to the Development of English Curriculum in Saudi Arabia

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. p42
Author(s):  
Lujain Jaza AlSehli
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
Likert Scale ◽  
Collaborative Effort ◽  
Willingness To Participate ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
English Curriculum ◽  
Teachers Perceptions

The current research investigated the perceptions of Saudi English teachers about their contribution to the development of English curriculum with the Ministry of Education (MOE). Also, this research sought to know the role of Saudi English teachers in developing English curriculum in Saudi Arabia. To obtain teachers’ perceptions, an online questionnaire was designed via google forms with open and close-ended questions along with a Likert scale section. It was shared with the Saudi Faculty of English account on Twitter. The major cause of conducting this research was to raise the awareness of including Saudi English teachers in developing English curriculum, and to make this process as a collaborative effort among various stakeholders and English teachers. The findings indicated the absent role of Saudi teachers and the lack of their involvement in developing English curriculum in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the results showed their willingness to participate and be part of this process.

scholarly journals Vietnamese English Teachers’ Perceptions of Culture in ELT Materials in Vietnamese Universities

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Do Lan Phuong
Keyword(s):  
English Learners ◽  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Cultural Barrier ◽  
English Class ◽  
The Way

As one of the main purposes of using English today is for international communication and globalisation, English has been mainly used among bilingual speakers of English who come from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds (McKay, 2006; Sharifian, 2014). In such multinational and multicultural contexts, today English learners have to deal with not only linguistic barrier, but also cultural barrier. Therefore, it is crucially important that they are provided with multicultural knowledge and cross-cultural awareness. However, so far, there has been little research into the perceptions of English teachers towards culture used in ELT materials in EFL contexts. Therefore, the research aims to identify how seven Vietnamese teachers of English in two universities in Hanoi, Vietnam perceived culture and the role of culture in language teaching. This paper also seeks to explore how their perceptions influenced the way they taught culture in their English class and the way they adapted and developed ELT materials for their students with the hope that it will provide useful and practical suggestions for developing appropriate ELT materials for EFL teaching contexts. The research is based on a qualitative research which applies mostly in-depth, semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The data of this research reveals that most participants recognized the close and interrelated relationship between language and culture and the crucial role of culture in language teaching. They also identified the important role of English as an international language and cultural differences in ELT materials. Realizing a cultural gap in most of the materials they taught, they tried to adapt the materials based on their students’ needs. 

scholarly journals Malaysian School English Language Teachers’ Perceptions on Teaching and Learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Foo Lung Choe ◽  
Nasreen Bhatti
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Supportive Role ◽  
System Resource ◽  
English Language Teachers ◽  
English Classroom

Studies on school teachers’ perceptions toward teaching and learning have shown inconsistent results which call for further research in the area. This study was an attempt to investigate the perceptions of teachers towards Teaching and Learning of the English Language. A Likert scale questionnaire with 33 items was developed by the researchers. A randomly selected group of Malaysian School English language teachers (n = 165) responded to the questionnaire. The descriptive statistics results indicated that the Malaysian School English Language Teachers’ perceptions of teaching are mainly positive; such as having higher intrinsic interest in adopting teaching as profession, decreased tendency in perceiving Teaching as a stressful profession, understanding the significance of listening and speaking skills (commonly neglected skills), awareness of the advantages of having literature in the English classroom, showing interest in the knowledge about high frequency words and lexiles, and showing interest in knowing and understanding students’ interests and problems. However, teachers’ perceptions regarding the education system, resource adequacy, class size and in the teaching of the writing skill are negative in the analysis. The findings further indicate the teachers’ technology illiteracy and although they acknowledge the supportive role of books in teaching language skills they seem not to be positive on the use of textbooks in the English classroom. The results have interesting implications for policy makers and researchers.

Mentor teachers as leaders and followers in school-based contexts in the Republic of Ireland

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 368-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Clarke ◽  
Maureen Killeavy ◽  
Ruth Ferris
Keyword(s):  
School Context ◽  
Mentor Teachers ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Content Type ◽  
School Contexts ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
School Based ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to exploratory small-scale study is to examine the intertwined leadership and followership aspects of the roles performed by school-based mentors in the Republic of Ireland. Design/methodology/approach – In order to investigate mentor teachers’ perceptions of their role with reference to leadership and followership in their school contexts, a questionnaire was distributed to the full cohort of 56 mentor teachers who participated in the National Programme for Teacher Induction. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with four mentor teacher facilitators from different regions across Ireland who were also mentors in their respective schools. Findings – The findings from this exploratory small-scale study suggest that the hierarchical nature of the school context influenced mentor teachers’ perceptions of their leadership and followership roles. They regarded themselves as leaders in a general sense and considered that all members of staff had something to contribute to the leadership process in the school. However, the school context moderated their own perceptions about their individual approaches to leadership. Participants in this study were unclear about the term followership and were reluctant to use it. They considered themselves to be performing a supportive role in the hierarchical structure of the school context. Research limitations/implications – As this is an exploratory qualitative study with a small sample size in a country where the role of a mentor teacher in schools is a relatively new concept, the findings should be interpreted with caution. Future research would benefit from multi-method approaches to data collections that examine variations in followership perceptions from individuals prior to becoming mentors in order for comparisons to be made. Practical implications – The practical implications of this study from a management perspective suggest that followership needs to be considered very carefully in school contexts as a way of contributing to the co-construction of leadership which engages all members of staff. It is clear that there is a need to move away from hierarchical interpretations of middle management posts of responsibility. More emphasis should be placed on the ways in which teachers construct their roles within schools as this impacts upon leadership processes and organizational effectiveness. Equally important is an open acknowledgement of the tensions involved in developing such roles and responsibilities. Originality/value – Followership is not researched widely in schools, particularly with reference to the role of mentor teachers. This is an interesting group as the very nature of their work involves maintaining boundaries and managing multiple relationships. They are generally collaborative in their approach and are well placed to co-construct leadership with their colleagues and their principals with appropriate supports in the school context.

Special Education Teachers’ Experience, Confidence, Beliefs, and Knowledge About Integrating Technology

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan E. Anderson ◽  
Rebecca S. Putman
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Private University ◽  
Pedagogical Content ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Integrating Technology ◽  
Technology Beliefs ◽  
University Laboratory School

This study investigated the perspectives of elementary special education teachers regarding integrating technology into lessons. Eight special education teachers at a private university laboratory school, who varied in their levels of teaching experience and confidence with using technology, participated in the study. We interviewed each teacher three times, with two of the interviews following our observations of technology-integrated lessons. Qualitative analysis of interview transcripts provided insight into the interrelationships among teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge, teaching experience, confidence with using technology, beliefs about the role of technology in education, and perceptions of the benefits and challenges associated with using it. Teachers’ perceptions of the value of technology in special education classrooms included providing differentiation, offering varied representations of content, enhancing motivation and engagement, facilitating formative assessment, and fostering life skills. Challenges of integrating technology included technology malfunctions and lack of teacher and student technological knowledge.

scholarly journals Pre-service Teachers’ Views of Their Training: Key Issues to Sustain Quality Teacher Education

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 39-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Assunção Flores ◽  
Patrícia Santos ◽  
Sandra Fernandes ◽  
Diana Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Education Programme ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Written Narratives ◽  
Key Issues

Abstract This paper draws upon data from a broader piece of research aimed at examining pre-service teachers' views of their initial teacher education within the context of a master’s degree programme in teaching. The data were collected through questionnaires and written narratives at the beginning and at the end of the programme. In this paper, the data arising from 47 narratives at the end of the programme are presented. Five categories emerged from the qualitative data: curriculum content, teaching practice, the role of teacher educators, teaching and learning methods, the organisational aspects and structure of the programme. Although the participants identified positive aspects of the initial teacher education programme, they also stress that there is room for improvement, especially with regard to a greater coherence of the curriculum and a better articulation of its different components. Implications of the findings for enhancing the quality of initial teacher education and the role of teachers’ educators are discussed.

scholarly journals TEXTBOOK AND ENGLISH TEACHER IN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Ridha Fadilah ◽  
Ariati Mufidah
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Junior High School ◽  
Junior High ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
English Teacher ◽  
Real Situation ◽  
English Class ◽  
The Subject ◽  
English Classroom

This research is intended to describe of the role of the textbook in English class. The subject of the study was English teachers in state junior high school in Banjarmasin. Data were collected through interviews, class observation, and document analysis. The investigation found that the teachers considered the textbook both central and external books helped them in preparing the lesson. They used several strategies to adapt the textbook by adding the material and modifying the task in the book. There were three main problems faced by English teachers at state junior high school 23 Banjarmasin, limited supported kits from the book, lacks materials inside the textbook, and high language level for students used in the book. However, this research is essential to conduct to present the real situation that happened in the English classroom.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document