scholarly journals Evaluation of the “Traveler” English Textbook Series in Saudi High Schools: English Teachers’ Perspectives

Author(s):  
Norah Mesfer Al-Alyani

The current study is an evaluation of the “Traveler”, the English Language curriculum that is taught in the high schools in Saudi Arabia and adopted by the Saudi Ministry of Education (MOE). Through this study, the researcher focused on whether this curriculum fulfils students’ needs. In order to achieve this goal, an 18-statement, five-pointed Likert questionnaire, developed by Leitz (2005), was used. The questionnaire was based on three dimensions: subject matter and content, activity and tasks, and skills. The participants of this study were (104) female teachers who were randomly selected from different Saudi high schools. The results showed that (59.6%) of the teacher stated that the subject and content of the book are not relevant to the students’ level as English language educators, (46.2%) of teachers stated that the textbook does not give activities balance, and (49.2%) stated that the materials provide suitable balance of the four language skills. The study conducted some recommendations for the EFL teachers, textbooks evaluators, and the Saudi MOE to investigate the educational textbooks considering the results of evaluation..

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdullah Deyap Arar Alenezi

This study aimed at evaluating the EFL textbook ` Get Ready 1&2` used in the fourth grade of primary school from the perspectives of male and female teachers in Arar city in Saudi Arabia. The textbook was published by Macmillan, and it was specially developed for use within Saudi Arabia’s cultural environment and for both boys’ and girls’ schools. The Ministry of Education has started using this textbook in schools in the current academic year 2013/2014. This study will focus on teachers’ perspectives, and it will be a macro evaluation. The researcher designed a mixed method study by gathering both quantitative and qualitative data. The researcher distributed a close-ended questionnaire consisted of 55 items and nine categories for 30 teachers to gather quantitative data and carried out an interview with five male teachers to gather qualitative data. The study evaluated the textbook in terms of the layout and design, objectives, skills, supplementary materials, topics and content, cultural values, structure and vocabulary, activities and tasks, and teachers’ manual. In general, the findings of the study revealed that teachers were satisfied about the textbook in all of the nine categories with some demerits. The cultural values category got the highest mean score of 4.54 out of 5.00 whereas the skills category got the lowest mean score of 3.47 out of 5.00. In the light of these findings, the researcher reports some recommendations to address the drawbacks of the textbook and other problems that have an impact on properly delivering the textbook.


Author(s):  
Erda Wati Bakar

The Common European Framework of Reference for Language (CEFR) has become the standard used to describe and evaluate students’ command of a second or foreign language. It is an internationally acknowledged standard language proficiency framework which many countries have adopted such as China, Thailand, Japan and Taiwan. Malaysia Ministry of Education is aware and realise the need for the current English language curriculum to be validated as to reach the international standard as prescribed by the CEFR. The implementation of CEFR has begun at primary and secondary level since 2017 and now higher education institutions are urged to align their English Language Curriculum to CEFR as part of preparation in receiving students who have been taught using CEFR-aligned curriculum at schools by year 2022. This critical reflection article elucidates the meticulous processes that we have embarked on in re-aligning our English Language Curriculum to the standard and requirements of CEFR. The paper concludes with a remark that the alignment of the English curriculum at the university needs full support from the management in ensuring that all the stakeholders are fully prepared, informed and familiar with the framework.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 63-76
Author(s):  
Nicolas Hurst ◽  
Carla Franco

The early learning of English in the state school network in Portugal has been the subject of a wide debate, which has not been exhausted by the introduction of English teaching as a curricular subject in the 1st cycle, in 2015, and which has helped to develop the intercultural awareness of a greater number of children. The new programmes and guideline documents emanating from the Ministry of Education, where objectives and areas of learning have been redefined, have been discussed and changed since the supranational imposition of the Common European Framework of Reference in 2001, with increasing allusions to the intercultural domain in learning English. Likewise, all the academic literature, from authors such as Byram (2006; 2009) and Guilherme . (2006), points to the centrality of intercultural competence in the learning of citizenship and curriculum construction since the first years of schooling. This article seeks to analyze the extent to which these intentions and visions of the “Intercultural Domain” have been incorporated into the reference curriculum documents and, in turn, will be structuring the experience of learning the English language by Portuguese children


Author(s):  
Mohammad Ahmad Bani Amer ◽  
Majid Mohammad Al-Khataybeh

This study aims to investigate whether or not the goals of English language curricula for secondary stage have been achieved from the perspectives of EFL teachers and supervisors in Jordan. The participants were 101 EFL teachers and 8 supervisors in Al_Karak educational directorates of Education during the first semester 2020/2021. The researchers designed a questionnaire consisting of fifty-nine items in four areas: listening, speaking, reading and writing skills, used to collect the data for this study. The findings of this study showed that English language teachers and supervisors were mostly satisfied with the goals of English language curriculum for secondary stage. The means for all the areas according to English language teachers was 3.31 while the means for all the areas according to English language supervisors was 3.27. This implies that English language teachers and supervisors were satisfied with the goals of English language curriculum for secondary stage.


Author(s):  
Ahmad F. Alnwaiem ◽  
Abdullah M. Alazemi

Knowledge of pre-service teachers' difficulties and the obstacles they face during their practicum is supremely important to designing and implementing a successful field experience. Based on this, the current study explored and discussed the most frequent problems that Kuwaiti English language pre-service teachers face during their practicum course. The purpose of this research is to learn more about the challenges and obstacles that female pre-service Kuwaiti English language teachers (n = 45) may experience throughout their practicum period. To achieve the intended outcomes, the study used a qualitative approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with female pre-service English language teachers at the college of Basic Education in Kuwait. The College of Basic Education plays a key role in providing qualified female teachers to the Ministry of Education through a training program that prepares potential English instructors to fulfil the career requirements of English instructors. According to the findings of the research, different issues have been aroused by the participants as they have complained about some aspects of the practicum course, including preparing lesson plans and workload, relationship with colleagues in the department, classroom management (especially dealing with students who have special cases), and academic supervisors. Interpretations of the results and recommendations are discussed in relation to the context of the study.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khawlah F. Aljouei ◽  
Yasser A. Alsuhaibani

The aim of this study is to evaluate the Traveller textbook series from teachers’ perspectives. Areas of evaluation are the textbooks’ activities, skills, and appropriateness. The study implemented a mixed-methods approach using two instruments: content analysis, and questionnaire. The data collection of the content is carried out by analyzing the content of the six textbooks, from Traveller 1 to Traveller 6; the questionnaire themes were used for the content analysis. 94 teachers responded the questionnaire. The results show that textbook is effective according to the layout, accessibility, activities and skills but teachers hold mixed perspectives regarding its appropriateness. Moreover, results revealed that there might be an association between the teachers’ attitudes and the teachers’ training and class size.


Author(s):  
Tahani R. K. Bsharat ◽  
Fariza Behak

This study stresses the global impact of Microsoft teams’ app in enhancing teaching-learning English during the Coronavirus (COVID-19). As one of the preventive steps for transmitting coronavirus infection, the introduction of lockdown and social distancing has been implemented, resulting in complete paralysis of global activities. There exists a shift from the usual learning practice to online learning, especially the complete shutdown of the education system to comply with the academic curriculum. This can be cited with more online courses, workshops, meetings, etc. It should be remembered that, during this crisis, the world is fully dependent on information technology. The present research offers, therefore, an insight into the impact of Microsoft teams’ app in enhancing teaching-learning English during Coronavirus (COVID-19). Thus, the sample was chosen conveniently from the population of English language teachers and included (25) teachers, 56% of them were females, 52% ageing 31 to 40 years old, with 48% indicating a teaching experience over ten years questionnaire consisted of (15) items of one dimension developed by the researchers based on their experiences and the available literature, In addition, the teachers indicated that the most significant feature of Ms. Teams is that it enables students to share files and share content and that it includes screen sharing options that allow teachers the freedom to display what they choose during a class, indicating that it creates an interactive atmosphere between students, teachers and the community inside and outside the classroom. Furthermore, the researchers recommended using Microsoft teams’ app and giving the English language teachers, students, and parents online workshops on how to use the app, also for the ministry of education to adopt the app.


2021 ◽  
pp. 14-27
Author(s):  
Minoo Alemi ◽  
Hessameddin Ghanbar ◽  
Atefeh Rezanejad

The present study examined the manifestations of Iranian male and female EFL teachers’ use of humor in the classroom environment. To this end, a qualitative study with 30 participants was implemented in two English language institutes in Iran. Equally, 15 male and female EFL teachers were selected by convenience sampling and their classes were audio-recorded and later transcribed for the examination of the types of humor they used and their frequency. Wanzer, Frymier, Wojtaszcyk, and Smith’s (2006) method of humor analysis and categorization of appropriateness was exploited for the analysis of the types of humor collected from the participants of the study. The results suggested that the use of humor by male teachers was more frequent than that of female teachers. It was revealed that 57% of the humor production was by male EFL teachers and 43% was produced by female EFL teachers. The results revealed that the most frequent humor type in male teachers’ classrooms was “funny comments” (27%), with “teasing students” (3%) being the least frequent one. In the case of appropriate humor use, similarly, female teachers used “funny comments” (52%) as the most frequent one, while there was no instance of “providing humorous examples”. Considering inappropriate humor use, both male and female teachers used “funny comments” (45%) as the most frequent type. The findings of the present study can be of use to EFL teachers and suggests the need for workshops and training courses on the integration of humor into EFL classes.


Author(s):  
Maryam Hammad Abdallah Almousah

The aim of the present study was to uncover obstacles of teaching English at the secondary level in the Directorate of Education in the Aqaba Governorate from the point of view of the subject’s teachers. To achieve the goals of the study, the researcher used the descriptive approach. The study tool was a questionnaire distributed to a sample of (65) teachers, who represent (81%) of the study population. Using the statistical program (spss), the results of the study showed that the total degree of obstacles has obtained a total average of (4.242), and at the level of the two axes: the axis of administrative obstacles got a mean average of 4.43) followed by the technical obstacles axis, with an average of (4.055) and all of them with a degree (High). The results showed that there are statistically significant differences between the views of male and female teachers in technical and administrative obstacles. In light of the results, a number of recommendations and proposals were presented to overcome the obstacles facing instructors of English language teaching at the Directorate of Education in the Aqaba Governorate, and all the directorates of Jordan.


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