scholarly journals Secondary English Language Teacher Capacity: Insights From Bangladesh

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 163
Author(s):  
Shakila Nur
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
English Education ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
English Teacher ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Teacher Capacity ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Secondary English

Like other developing, non-English speaking countries in Asia, Bangladesh has shown a phenomenal attention towards English education through the school curriculum. The attention is demonstrated by revisiting and revising pertinent curriculum, personnel, materials, methods, and assessment policies of English education. This paper, within an exploratory, qualitative case study paradigm offers a modest, interpretive inquiry into secondary English teacher capacity, in terms of their recruitment, training and class performance. The data were collected from semi-structured interviews with secondary English teachers, school principals and teacher trainers, and classroom observations of secondary English teachers. The findings identified a set of generic issues around secondary English teacher capacity. These included inadequate provision of teachers, stigmatised practice of teacher recruitment, limited attention to teacher training and their impacts on the overall quality of English education. Reflecting upon the findings, the paper concludes with a set of recommendations for secondary English personnel policy and practice, which could be a point of reference for Bangladesh and beyond.

scholarly journals Quality Teaching Practice: Value Education in the Language Classroom

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tan Yuan Yi ◽  
Norhanim Abdul Samat
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Analysis Tool ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
English Teacher ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Language Classroom

The latest Malaysian Educational Blueprint (2013-2025) asserts the importance of producing value-driven Malaysians through education. English language teaching should be aimed beyond producing more proficient users as it possesses a nature that is particularly suitable for value incorporation. This research aims to investigate how English teachers communicate values to students, the kinds of values communicated and whether the values communicated are stipulated by the Ministry of Education. This research utilized a qualitative case study approach on two respondents, an experienced English teacher and a novice English teacher. Their lessons were videotaped, transcribed and coded based on a set of established analysis tool. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted to further understand the values depicted by the respondents. The results of the research show that teachers consciously incorporated values through selected topics, tasks and explicit moral statements. They subconsciously transmitted values through classroom rules and regulations, curricular substructures and expressive morality. It is found in this research that teachers applied much more subconscious approaches to communicate values than that of conscious ones during teacher-student encounter, with classroom facilitation being used as the medium most frequently. The kinds of values communicated included spiritual, intellectual, esthetical, positive, interactional, citizen, economical and modernized values. About half of the values communicated were stipulated by the Ministry of Education. This research provides new insights into how Malaysian English teachers can improve the quality of their teaching by harnessing the full potential of a language classroom to educate values.

scholarly journals Factors affecting the quality and efficacy of an ELT-INSET: A case study of Bangladesh

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-66
Author(s):  
Shakila Nur ◽  
Megan Short
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Professional Competence ◽  
English Education ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
Quality Parameters ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Quality Issue ◽  
Teacher Trainers

Given the integral role of English teachers in promoting quality English education, English language teaching in-service teacher education and training (ELT-INSET) plays a crucial role in developing quality and professional competence of English teachers. It is in this regard, when the inevitability of ELT-INSET is growing worldwide, our article identifies quality parameters of an ELT-INSET conducted in Bangladesh. This qualitative case study was conducted as part of a doctoral project employing semi-structured interviews with one ELT-INSET programme coordinator, three teacher trainers and 12 trainees (English teachers) of an ELT-INSET. The cross-case analysis of the interview data identified six factors adversely affecting the quality and efficacy of the ELT-INSET. The factors included the absence of needs analysis culture, an ineffective trainee selection mechanism and proper monitoring system, the quality issue of teacher trainers, contents and materials, the lack of required logistics support and finally, the bureaucratic power-coercive ELT-INSET management. The article, by shedding light on those findings, finally informs the policymakers with some implications with which to develop their policy and to enhance and ensure the quality and efficacy of ELT-INSET programmes. The implications might also be applicable irrespective of INSET for other subjects and polities with the same context beyond Bangladesh.

scholarly journals Teaching and testing of English listening and speaking in secondary schools in Nepal: Pretend for praxis?

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 17-32
Author(s):  
Kesh Rana ◽  
Karna Rana
Keyword(s):  
Private Schools ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Secondary English ◽  
Reading And Writing ◽  
Written Examination ◽  
Listening And Speaking ◽  
Speaking Skills

Secondary English course requires testing of four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing independently. Secondary Education Examination (SEE) board conducts a written examination, which includes reading and writing skills, through different centres and English teachers are responsible to test students’ listening and speaking tests in their own schools and submit grades to District Education Office. Semi-structured interviews with secondary English teachers in private schools and school graduates investigated how the teachers practice listening and speaking skills in the classrooms and administer aural-oral tests. Findings indicate that private schools in the capital city have mandated English-only for communication in school premises with an expectation to develop students’ English language proficiency. Teachers focused on centre-based written examination and less emphasised the teaching and testing of listening and speaking skills. Teachers’ random assessment of students’ aural-oral skills without formal tests supported in declining the teaching of these skills. This article suggests that for realizing the examination effective, sustainable system needs to be developed for teachers to teach all language skills equitably.

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 The peace tree in ELT: A problematizing exploration

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-57
Author(s):  
Yeraldine Aldana Gutiérrez
Keyword(s):  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Knowledge Construction ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Situated Knowledge ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Alternative Reading

The English language teaching (ELT) field has undergone transformations regarding its views on knowledge and language. Although instrumental perspectives situate English teachers in a passive, receptive and technical position, their research and pedagogical work displays an interest in extracurricular phenomena about Peace Construction (PC) in ELT. This qualitative exploratory study aimed at unveiling possible connections between PC and ELT in Colombia. Documental revision and semi-structured interviews were applied with 4 English teachers. Findings discuss an organic metaphor as facilitating “teachers’ situated knowledge construction” (Serna, 2018, p. 585). Thus, a critical reflection is developed on how ELT and PC may articulate one another towards an alternative reading on their possible relationality or the reduction of the canonical distance imagined between these two fields, in order to acknowledge their interconnection. Conclusions around the multifaceted transdisciplinary ELT field are presented.

scholarly journals Microteaching Guided by an Expert Secondary English Teacher: The Effect on Pre-Service English Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge

Pedagogika ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 139 (3) ◽  
pp. 111-135
Author(s):  
Siti Aimah ◽  
Dwi Rukmini ◽  
Mursid Saleh ◽  
Dwi Anggani Linggar Bharati
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Content Knowledge ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
English Teacher ◽  
Single Group ◽  
Secondary English ◽  
Pedagogical Content ◽  
Series Design ◽  
Equivalent Time ◽  
Before And After

This study aims to determine the effect of microteaching guided by an expert secondary English teacher on pre-service English teachers PCK, focusing on the changes before and after expert-guided microteaching. The equivalent time-series design involves a single-group, repeatedly assessed, with the treatment introduced between the measurements. Expert-guided microteaching significantly affects pre-service English teachers’ PCK and triggers them to know what to teach and how to teach for students.

One educator, four perspectives

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 260-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Stearns-Pfeiffer
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
English Education ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
Classroom Teacher ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Secondary English ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Standards Implementation ◽  
The Usa

Purpose – The author of this paper aims to reflect on the past 14 years of English education in the USA and the resulting effects of state standards and standards implementation on secondary English teachers. Design/methodology/approach – Controversy surrounding standards implementation often includes balancing the struggle between teacher autonomy and district-mandated curriculum. The journey described here includes four roles in education: first, an undergraduate in a teacher education program at a state university; second, a classroom teacher learning to create pacing guides based on the standards; third, a graduate student writing a dissertation about standards implementation; and, fourth, a teacher educator who works with pre-service and practicing teachers. Findings – Educators at all levels must determine how to best navigate standards to help students succeed in the classroom, and what teaching practices must endure even in the face of increased standardization. Originality/value – Lack of curricular autonomy and few teacher-centered professional development opportunities during early standards implementation experiences led the author to understand the importance of a workshop model of standards implementation for teachers. In addition, strong support for reading and writing workshops in the secondary English Language Arts classroom is also provided, including the specific Common Core Standards met during these classroom activities.

scholarly journals Educational Policy: Voices from Local English Teachers and Students towards National Exam in Yogyakarta

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 217
Author(s):  
Laser Romios ◽  
Nindya Primandita ◽  
Novilda Angela Saragih
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
School Level ◽  
Learning Activity ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
The Government

<p class="AbstractText">This study is aimed at exploring the voices of English teachers and students of a state senior high school towards the National Exam policy and its implementation in Indonesia. Several theories of psychology and language learning were applied in this study as the theoretical framework. This study used a descriptive qualitative method. The participants were chosen by purposive sampling technique. The data for this study were garnered through a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) conducted to the selected twelfth-grade students and semi-structured interviews done to two English teachers. Both data were analyzed descriptively. Upon the analysis, two paramount themes prevailed: (1) the negative response towards the implementation and accuracy of National Exam (NE) policy in Indonesia; and (2) unintended impacts of NE policy on teaching and learning activity, students’ motivation, and English Language Learning and Curriculum. This study offers information for the government as the policymaker, school leaders, teachers, and researchers to understand how the NE is implemented at the school level.</p>

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