scholarly journals Large Classes and English Language Teaching and Learning in Public Sector Secondary Schools of Pakistan

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Shagufta Moghal ◽  
Asma Shahid Kazi ◽  
Ammaira Bukhari
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Secondary School Teachers ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Large Classes ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Teacher Student

This study aimed to explore the Pakistani secondary teachers' perceptions towards teaching English in large classes and to find out how they coped with the challenges which come with teaching such classes. The data was collected through semi structured interviews, with eight secondary school teachers currently working in the public sector schools of Lahore, Pakistan. The data was analyzed inductively through repeated engagement with the interview transcripts. Research results indicated that teaching large classes had many issues and problems, such as lack of space, facilities and resources; inability to pay attention to every student; high noise levels; time constraints; problems with assessment of a large number of students; and limited opportunities of interaction between teacher-student and student-student. The discussion highlighted the teaching and learning strategies employed by teachers in their classrooms in the Pakistani context, which include the use of pair and group work, notional time, peer correction and self-editing to improve assessment.

scholarly journals Teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) to the Students in English Language Teaching (ELT)

JET ADI BUANA ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (01) ◽  
pp. 55-66
Author(s):  
Tira Nur Fitria
Keyword(s):  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
English For Specific Purposes ◽  
Teaching English ◽  
Teacher Student ◽  
Positive Learning Environment

This article will provide 1) general overview and course design of English for Specific Purposes in the field of ELT (English Language Teaching), 2) the role of teacher and student in English for Specific Purposes (ESP), and 3) the difficulties related to teacher, student, environment and others in teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP). In the field of English Language Teaching (ELT), English for Specific Purposes (ESP) concerns the specific English language needs of the target learners/students. It refers to teaching a specific genre of English for students with specific goals which is oriented and focused on English teaching and learning. ESP is designed and developed based on an assessment of purposes and needs and the activities for which English is needed. There are many teacher’s roles, such as asking to organize courses, setting the learning objectives, establishing a positive learning environment and evaluating the students' progress. While, the learners are related to a specific interest in learning, subject matter knowledge, and well-built learning strategies. In the implementation of ELT, there are any difficulties or problems related to the teacher in teaching ESP, such as the low quality of lectures and textbooks, teachers’ improper qualification and teaching methods and lack of a theoretical framework of teaching ESP. Difficulties related to the students, such as demographic characteristics and demands of learning ESP, English proficiency, differences between different languages, lack of vocabulary, depending on the dictionary and lack of skills in using dictionary especially ESP terms. While, the difficulties related to the environment and others are lack of teaching materials, classes with a too large student number, and heavily focused on the examination.

scholarly journals Authentic materials in online teaching to improve students
 involvement

2021 ◽  
Vol 127 ◽  
pp. 01018
Author(s):  
Maria Dmitrievna Inkova ◽  
Irina Valerievna Pronina ◽  
Ludmila Petrovna Timoshenko ◽  
Daria Alekseevna Prusakova ◽  
Yana Borisovna Adasova
Keyword(s):  
Online Education ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Authentic Materials ◽  
Teacher Student ◽  
Teachers And Students

Online education is not an innovative product nowadays but when COVID-19 pandemic resulted in total lockdowns, many teachers and students registered numerous challenges in virtual classrooms among which the level of a teacher-student interaction is a focus of this paper. The research shows that isolation, distraction, and lack of immediate connection can actually pose a big problem. As a result, many students lose interest and become passive learners with poor performance. To revive scholars’ involvement research was conducted integrating authentic materials in online classes. A quasi-experimental method was used to collect data. A questionnaire among the students allowed to consider their attitude to studying online while semi-structured interviews and self-written reflections provided rich material for analysis. On the whole, the study revealed positive gains. Being a natural source of practical English, authentic materials bring meaning back into the classrooms and offer teachers an inexhaustible source of relevant language. They help regain students’ engagement if applied thoughtfully. Though there are certain difficulties, with due experience and practice they can be overcome. The results of this study contribute to providing useful guidelines for English teachers and students to enhance the efficacy of teaching and learning activities, particularly in virtual ELT (English Language Teaching) classrooms.

Blended learning: Barriers and drawbacks for English language lecturers at Vietnamese universities

2021 ◽  
pp. 204275302110482
Author(s):  
Thi Nguyet Le ◽  
Bill Allen ◽  
Nicola F Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Blended Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Learning Barriers ◽  
Teaching Time

Although blended learning (BL) has emerged as one of the most dominant delivery modes in higher education in the 21st century, there are notable barriers and drawbacks in using BL for English language teaching and learning in Vietnamese universities. This study reports on research into the use of BL, conducted through semi-structured interviews with 30 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) lecturers from 10 different universities across the two major cities of Vietnam. The findings revealed that EFL lecturers identified eight groups of barriers and four groups of drawbacks to the successful implementation of BL. The most significant barriers included: lack of infrastructure and technology, institutional policies and support; lack of knowledge, experience and investment in using BL; lack of technological competence and information technology (IT) skills and lack of teaching time to employ web-based technologies and online resources in classrooms. Meanwhile, the most crucial drawbacks were: lecturers’ workload, ineffective use of BL, time consumption and demotivation. The authors point to the underlying factors contributing to these barriers and drawbacks and make implications for how some of these can be effectively addressed through constructive changes to policy and practice.

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 Analysing the Situation of ESL Teaching and Learning in Large University Classes in Pakistan

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 250
Author(s):  
Abdul Hameed Panhwar ◽  
Shah Nawaz Barich ◽  
Syed Khuram Shahzad
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Esl Teachers ◽  
Large Classes ◽  
Language Support ◽  
Teacher Student ◽  
Large Size ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
The University

The present study is based on a chapter of the PhD project conducted by the main researcher. It aims to explore the ESL teaching and learning practices in a Pakistani university by focusing on difficulties perceived and confronted by learners and teachers, and solutions suggested by them. One of the most significant issues at the university is large classes-exceeding to 100 and more students on average. The main researcher, being an ESL teacher at the target university, faced the same problem of large size and found it difficult to teach these classes. He embarked on analysing the situation so that he might come across some solutions through the suggestions and experiences of the ESL teachers and students of the same university. The design of the study is descriptive and the results of the present study come from the quantitative data collected through student and teacher questionnaires. The Student-participants were 300 undergraduate students from various major subjects attending English language support classes and 22 ESL teachers teaching these English language support classes at different institutes of the university. The data were analysed descriptively and presented with help of the boxplots. The views, commonly held by teachers are supported by the study’s findings i.e., large classes are likely to endorse teacher-centred approaches of teaching; very little significant student-student and teacher-student interaction is practised because of the inadequate physical environment; majority of learners remain off-task and appear to be unruly and they are given little, if any, feedback on their in-class and home tasks. Conversely, many teachers and learners reported that the adoption of group/pair work is likely to be an effective technique to use in these classes. Albeit a few teachers revealed having adopted group work infrequently, none used it all the time.

scholarly journals A descriptive study on ESL learners’ vocabulary knowledge through cognitive and metacognitive strategies

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 142
Author(s):  
Aravind B R ◽  
Rajasekaran V
Keyword(s):  
Learning Strategies ◽  
English Language ◽  
Vocabulary Learning ◽  
Metacognitive Strategies ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Vocabulary Learning Strategies ◽  
Esl Learners ◽  
Cognitive And Metacognitive Strategies

The present research was carried out to study the cognitive and metacognitive vocabulary learning strategies of 36 ESL learners’. Schmitt’s Vocabulary Learning Strategies questionnaire was used to conduct the study. The study revealed the subsequent array of cognitive and metacognitive strategies employed by ESL learners. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were also conducted with 10 ESL learners’ who completed the questionnaire to get more reliable information about learners’ strategies with vocabulary learning. The findings indicated that ‘Using English Language Media’, ‘Verbal repetition’, ‘Take notes in class’ were the most popular strategies, whereas ‘Skip or pass new word’ and ‘Put English labels on physical objects’ were least used. The results of this paper provide many implications for English language teaching. Detailed explanations of the participants’ cognitive and metacognitive strategies were given in the discussion.

Teaching Writing to Tertiary EFL Large Classes: Challenges and Prospects

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 28-35
Author(s):  
Lalla Meriem Ouahidi
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Classroom Management ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teaching Writing ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Large Classes ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
Teachers Experiences ◽  
Large Groups

The rapid population growth, the excessive demand for higher education, and the increasing interest in English are behind the appearance of large classes at the Moroccan Departments of English in higher education institutions. The current study sheds light on teachers' experiences and probes into the challenges they encounter in teaching writing to large groups. Additionally, it seeks to provide some insights into how teachers approach this thorny issue. To achieve this end, the researcher opted for semi-structured interviews as a qualitative tool to cast light on teachers' perceptions of this issue and disclose the strategies they deploy to make teaching and learning of the writing skill conducive to productive outcomes. The findings reveal that university teachers face various problems in over-sized cohorts, including feedback, assessment, and classroom management. In the light of the findings, some suggested strategies will be set so that teachers working in similar contexts can implement them successfully.

scholarly journals TEACHERS AS RESEARCHERS: THE PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICES OF CANTHO TERTIARY EFL TEACHERS

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nguyen Thi Thu Uyen ◽  
Truong Vien
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Tertiary Institutions ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Research Engagement ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
High Level

This descriptive study aims to investigate tertiary EFL teachers’ perceptions and practices of doing research. The study was conducted with the participation of 67 EFL teachers from tertiary institutions in Cantho of Vietnam. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered via the questionnaire and semi-structured interviews to provide insights into how Cantho tertiary EFL teachers perceive the benefits and challenges of doing research as well as their current status of practices as researchers. The study revealed that (1) Cantho tertiary teachers held positive perceptions of conducting research in the field of English language teaching, and that (2) their practices as researchers were reported to be at a high level. Understanding these is an important part of the broader process of attempting to resolve research challenges teachers are facing and thus to encourage teacher research engagement among EFL teachers. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0887/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

scholarly journals Norwegian in-service teachers’ perspectives on language corpora in teaching English

2022 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-106
Author(s):  
Barry Kavanagh
Keyword(s):  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Education Programme ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
Further Education ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Learner Corpus

This study aims to explore potential reasons why the use of the tools and methods of corpus linguistics are not prevalent in English teaching in Norway, using the research question What do in-service English teachers in Norway find useful about corpora and what do they find challenging? The study provides interview data from in-service teachers, contributing to our understanding of the in-service perspective on corpora. The research design consists of teaching corpus use in seminars for in-service English teachers (featuring LancsLex, the concordancer AntConc and the OANC), integrated into a language course that is part of a further education programme, and semi-structured interviews with four of the students who took the course, during which they also interacted with Netspeak, SKELL and COCA. As with previous research, the in-service teachers found corpora particularly useful for teaching and learning vocabulary, and found challenges to use which are categorized here as usability (criticism of AntConc), IT challenges (a lack of IT skills among teachers), learner-corpus interaction challenges (the complexity of software and concordance lines for pupils; pupil uninterest in language), and lack of teacher need (mistakes being “obvious” to teachers in the lower years). The article discusses some implications of these findings. Keywords: English language teaching, pedagogical corpus application, corpora           

scholarly journals Foreign Language Teaching and Development of Language skills :A Pakistani Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dr. Syeda Naureen Mumtaz ◽  
◽  
Dr.Uzma Quraishi ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Foreign Language Teaching ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
English As Foreign Language

The study was attempted to explore as to what extent English language teaching in Pakistan has been able to develop language skills among the target learners. The researcher intended to evaluate the limit to which the textbook helps in generating competence of all four integrated skills, especially as laid down in the standards of the National Curriculum (2006). The purpose of this study was to create pragmatic awareness among learners, teachers and educational professionals, working in the field of English as Foreign Language. By method , it was a qualitative study, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions were the tools used to elicit the data. The participants of this research were selected from public sector schools and organizations including, teachers, policymakers, curriculum developers, subject specialists, and students to examine the effectiveness of grade VIII’s English language textbook on students’ performance . For data analysis themes were developed, coded and summarized in a descriptive mode. The findings of this study reflected that the relevant textbook does not cater to the target learners’ future academic and professional language needs. As a solution to the problems while teaching and learning English as foreign language in Pakistan; this study also offered a model to be followed by the policy makers and practitioners in order to make the existing English language textbook more effectives in terms of foreign language teaching and learning and language skill development.

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