Classroom Challenges Research Articles

Teaching and Learning English Language through Literacy Drive Policy in Grade 3 in Public Schools: Teachers’ Perception and Challenges

This paper investigates the place of pedagogy in language-in-education policy through an analysis of how the macro-level government policy interacts with the micro-level English language teaching practices. Since 2015, the teaching and learning of English language to grade 3 students, in all public schools of the Punjab, has been carried out through a literacy and numeracy drive called LND. The present study investigated the effectiveness of teaching English to grade 3 through literacy drive policy (LDP) of LND programme. It locates the implementation of LDP, in language in acquisition policy perspective and supports the stance that language teaching and learning is central to language planning and policy research (Johnson, 2013; Menken & García, 2010). It argues that language interventions deployed at any level of education are extension of language education policies which aim to improve the quality of education and to promote the learning of the language. Like all language in acquisition policies, LDP for teaching and learning of English is being executed in the same context of increasing the number of language users through teaching of foreign or second language (Cooper, 1989). The study investigated perceptions of teachers regarding teaching and learning of English through LDP with the notion that effective implementation of any language programme is linked with the understanding and practices of teachers who are the real implementers and final arbiters at micro level (Menken, 2008). The present study included a portion of data from my PhD dissertation. It collected teachers’ experiential standpoints to explore teachers’ awareness regarding implementation of LDP and issues they face inside the classrooms when they carried out teaching learning of English through LDP. The findings of the study revealed that teachers teaching English to grade 3 lack awareness in terms of clear understanding regarding LDP mainly because it is less elaborated and not accessible. It ultimately hindered the successful implementation and poses multiple classroom challenges.

Using Primary Sources to Improve Classroom Climate and Promote Shared Responsibility

ABSTRACT To address a deteriorating classroom climate at the midpoint of a two-semester course sequence, we employed a novel intervention: reading a research manuscript together with students as an invitation to legitimate peripheral participation in scholarly reflection on teaching and learning. This intervention resolved many student complaints about the structure and level of the course, and the manuscript’s discussion of the didactical contract helped students claim their share of responsibility for their own learning. We propose that reading research literature with students can be an effective tool for addressing classroom challenges, and recommend the didactical contract for promoting shared responsibility.

Developmental research on an interactive application for language speaking practice using speech recognition technology

This developmental research aims to (1) examine the design and developmental process, (2) investigate the nature and structure of the application, and (3) analyze the results of expert reviews and usability tests. Twenty-five participants, including a developer, an instructional designer, Korean language educators, educational technology researchers, human–computer interaction experts, and language learners, were involved in this study. This study was conducted in the following steps: (1) formulated design principles through the literature review of language instruction and learning theories, computer-assisted language learning, speech recognition technology, human–computer interaction, and scaffolding, (2) developed a functional software prototype that adopted the formulated design principles, (3) conducted expert reviews and learner usability tests, (4) revised and updated the application through the repetitive expert reviews and learner usability tests, (5) analyzed the results of the final expert review, usability test, and log data analysis, and (6) clarified the implications of the development research. The developed application shows an approach to addressing the challenges of second language classrooms that might cause a low-level of learner’s language speaking performance. This study specifically delivers knowledge about the design and developmental process of computer-assisted language learning software. This provides guidelines for educational technology researchers and practitioners who work on similar projects.

Design studio challenge, as a creativity fostering tool for product Design students

Improving students’ creativity skills is design instructors’ dream, that’s why there are many techniques to achieve that, as a design instructor you want your students to think out of the box, to be motivated and competitive, you want to make sure they make the best out of the design lecture time. Students waiting for the professor feedback on their projects would be irritating, as the time you spend with each one would mean a wasted time for the others, they would be anxious, and worried about feedback on their work, so they just sit waiting for calling their names for the follow up. Instructors’ life dream is to have great time management inside the classroom, students gaining knowledge, benefitting from lecture time, have one on one time with each student, making sure they are on the right track. Design challenges is a well-known activity in design communities, it simply aims to keep designers motivated, some time it’s time controlled, in others, its topic controlled. The research aims to discover the potentials resulting from applying design challenges in classroom while inspiring the students for design thinking, how will this be applied? is this going to improve their creativity skills? would this help the instructor for better classroom time management? The experiment is taking place during product design studio in, College of Applied Arts, Product Design Department for, the experiment is documented using videos and photos

THE ISSUES AND CHALLENGES OF MATHEMATICS TEACHING AND LEARNING IN MALAYSIA ORANG ASLI PRIMARY SCHOOLS FROM TEACHERS' PERSPECTIVES

Purpose - The Malaysian government has allocated a large budget for Orang Asli primary school education via the Department of Orang Asli Development (JAKOA) to help improve Orang Asli pupils’ academic performance including mathematics. Teachers face challenges in ensuring that Orang Asli pupils become competent learners of mathematics. Hence, this study examined the teachers’ perspectives on the issues and challenges in the teaching and learning of mathematics at Orang Asli primary schools in Malaysia. Methodology - In this qualitative study, Two Orang Asli primary schools were randomly selected from eight primary schools within an Orang Asli Settlement in the District of Sungai Siput. The data were collected via focus group discussions and interviews, which were carried out during enculturation visits and were fully transcribed and thematically analysed. The research participants were purposively selected and comprised the schools’ administrators and mathematics teachers. Findings - The results of the data analysis showed that there were two main themes, namely classroom challenges and school challenges, in determining mathematics competence among Orang Asli pupils. Classroom challenges consisted of five sub-themes namely coverage of mathematics syllabus, mathematics teaching and learning resources, pupil engagement, language barrier, and mathematics learning culture. School challenges consisted of two sub-themes namely school attendance and discipline. To enhance mathematics competence among Orang Asli pupils, it is deemed important to conduct programmes and community engagement. Significance - This study contributes to the knowledge of the teaching and learning of mathematics at Orang Asli primary schools. It is recommended that teachers allow Orang Asli pupils to take home their mathematics textbooks so that they can complete their homework at home. Teachers are highly encouraged to conduct mathematics teaching and learning activities in groups to develop meaningful and engaging lessons.

Authentic materials in online teaching to improve students involvement

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.

Decolonising development practice pedagogy: ways forward and persistent challenges in the synchronous online classroom

Although decolonisation is a pressing goal for many front-line instructors, there are few pedagogical resources for how to do this in the online environment. This article provides a set of strategic approaches that can help combat dominant power dynamics in the classroom and open opportunities for transformative learning. The research draws on instructor focus groups and student surveys from the synchronous, online Master of Development Practice programme at Regis University, USA. Six pedagogical approaches are described in light of their successes and remaining challenges: building community, learning from each other and co-creating knowledge, opening spaces for participation, de-centring Western voices and epistemologies, focusing on the critical thinking, reflection and action cycle and creating connection in virtual spaces.

Non-native Teachers’ Challenges in Target Language-only Classrooms: Empirical Implications for Language Policy

Non-native Teachers’ Challenges in Target Language-only Classrooms: Empirical Implications for Language Policy

Online Classroom Challenge during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic, which affects the world, changes how we teach and learn from traditional approaches to technology approaches. The online classroom is a way to transfer the knowledge, and skills of the lecturer to the student. There is an excellent challenge amongst the lecturer to change the face-to-face method in the online classroom. The purpose of this study is to discuss the challenge facing the online in-class lecturer during the COVID-19 pandemic. The challenges for the lecturer are teaching and learning, technology, and workload. This challenge must be managed properly to ensure the effectiveness of the online classroom and students benefit from it.

Pre-service teachers’ perspectives and attitudes towards inclusive education at a private EFL language institute in Asunción, Paraguay

Teacher’s attitudes and perceptions towards inclusive education are fairly important for it to be effective. As a result, this thesis briefly describes the importance of inclusive education and proceeds to perform a study to determine teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education in a Paraguayan educational institution. At a time when countries are changing their policies to conform to international declarations that inform inclusion, it is of high importance that those teachers’ views are taken into consideration. This is because they will be in charge of implementing this policy’s decisions and leaving them unaccounted for may stagnate any realistic achievements an inclusion approach may aim to forestall. Teachers from a private English institute, selected through purposeful sampling, were asked to complete questionnaires about their attitudes and perceptions towards inclusive education. The main criteria to include them in the study were that they must be participating in the pre-service teacher training program. The data provided insights into the way teachers understand inclusion, the support that they require in practice, and how they meet classroom challenges in practice. The study revealed that trained teachers lacked relevant knowledge on all key areas under study and this could influence the way they view inclusion. Most of the knowledge the teachers had was learnt some years back in college and most of it is outdated owing to the changing dynamics that constantly give new shapes to inclusion. The study points the need to look for ways of furnishing teachers with relevant knowledge and information that would help review their positions on inclusion.

Digitalization and the Writing Classroom: A Reflection on Clasroom Practices

This paper outlines the educational benefits of creating digital stories for a variety of academic purposes as well as the professional need for students to develop and showcase digital proficiency. Digital stories fall under the category of multimodal composition and new media studies, and they encourage students to expand their digital literacy skills while reconceptualizing ways in which traditional writing projects can appeal to a broader audience. The article also addresses some of the classroom challenges teachers may face when trying to implement the practice and some practical resources that might assist teachers to integrate digital stories into their classrooms.

Developing a Flipped Learning model for Teaching EAP Students Struggling with Multi-Level Challenges in a College Context

This article aims to understand students’ experiences regarding the implementation of flipped learning (FL) as a modern blended learning technique in teaching English for academic purposes (EAP) in a community college context in Toronto. Based on students’ views, blended learning theories, and several previous studies, the study also aims to develop a holistic contextualized flipped learning model that helps both students and teachers in the context of EAP to cope with the challenges of a multilevel EAP classroom. The study is guided by the epistemology and philosophy of the interpretive paradigm as an underpinning stance. Accordingly, the qualitative approach has been selected for determining the strategy and methods of sampling, and data collection and data analysis. Results revealed that students’ views are compatible with the theoretical views in validating the utilization of flipped learning as a modern technique in the context of EAP. However, results revealed that the development of a holistic model includes a further component-online engagement as an extension component to the model. The study offers a set of recommendations and implications for EAP teachers and instructors within the area of ELT for classroom practice.

TESTING COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING (CLT) THROUGH ENGLISH FOR TODAY (EFT) IN BANGLADESH: CHALLENGES FACED BY TERTIARY STUDENTS INITIALLY

The idea of using language as a tool of communication is the main principle of the communicative language teaching (CLT) approach. English for today (EFT) as a textbook was designed to develop the overall English language competence at a higher secondary level. This paper aims at justifying the suitability of EFT for implementing communicative language teaching in Bangladesh. This study shows English for today is not effective for creating communicative competence among its learners. Moreover, the tertiary students initially face challenges while enrolling in undergraduate programs under the medium of instruction is English. Data have been collected through classroom observation, interviews with teachers, students, and experts. Structured questionnaires for students, teachers, and experts have been used as tools for data collection. Finally, the paper concludes that revised abbreviations may be suitably adaptable to impose a communicative language teaching approach by overcoming the challenges in the large classrooms in Bangladesh.

Virtual Classroom: Prospects and Challenges of COVID 19 Pandemic in South Africa

ABSTRACT The World Health Organisation declared coronavirus as a pandemic. The whole world is facing many challenges and this has an exponential effect on our lives, most essentially teaching and learning. Before the advent of COVID 19, there was a request in the education and other sectors within the country to embrace the use of sophisticated ICT facilities as a result of the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR). The paper discusses the effect, prospect, and challenges of virtual classrooms during the pandemic. This paper employs a qualitative research approach of the interpretivism paradigm using a case study design. 8 students and 4 lecturers were purposively selected for this paper. Thematic data analysis was used. The paper revealed some challenges and prospects of virtual classrooms. The paper recommends that lecturers and students should face the realities and embrace the changes that this pandemic has brought to us since the world is going digital.

Teachers’ Reflective Practice and Challenges in an Indonesian EFL Secondary School Classroom

This study investigated the EFL teachers’ perception and practices of reflection in teaching. The study was conducted through qualitative method by purposive sampling technique. The data were collected through semi-structured interview, and documentation from seven EFL Junior High School teachers in Makassar. The results of the study showed that the EFL teachers perceived reflective practice mainly as an evaluative process to their teaching experience. They all believed that reflective practice was one of the effective teacher characteristics and useful for increasing the quality of teaching and learning. Their reflections were mostly at descriptive and dialogic level. Inadequate knowledge and workload were identified by the EFL teachers as the challenges to reflection.

Using tasks to bring challenge in mathematics classroom

Rich and challenging tasks can be the vehicle to bring mathematical challenge in classroom. Challenge emerges when you don’t know how to solve the task at first but you can figure out, that is when the solvers are not aware of certain tools to solve the tasks and they have therefore to invent some mathematical actions to proceed. Some challenging tasks in the paper-and-pencil as well as in a digital environment will be presented. The aim is to highlight their potential (i) in engaging students to actions that make sense for them from the mathematical point of view, (ii) to support students in their experimentation and development of problem-solving strategies, (iii) to foster creative mathematical thinking, and (iv) to provoke students’ curiosity as the starting point of meaning-making actions in mathematics.

Students’ Views of Classroom Debates as a Strategy to Enhance Critical Thinking and Oral Communication Skills

Background: The skills in effective communication and critical thinking are essential for nurses to apply appropriate judgments in the delivery of patient care. Classroom debates are evident to be an effective strategy that can be used to improve such skills. Unfortunately, research focusing on classroom debates to promote critical thinking and oral communication skills among nursing students has not been extensively explored. Purpose: This study aimed to explore nursing students’ views of classroom debates as a learning strategy to enhance critical thinking and oral communication skills.Methods: A descriptive qualitative research design was employed in this study. Twelve students of the undergraduate program in nursing with classroom debate experiences and willingness to participate were purposively recruited for semi-structured interviews. Open-ended questions were used, and probing questions were also generated from the participants to get more detailed information. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using the inductive content analysis. Results: The results of the study identified five themes, including the acquisition of new knowledge, awareness and responsiveness to diverse viewpoints and arguments, learning structuring ideas and appropriate ways of presentation, development of other necessary skills, and challenges of classroom debates in nursing education. Conclusion: Classroom debates promoted the development of critical thinking and oral communication skills, and offered students an opportunity to develop other necessary skills in the face of today’s complex healthcare. Classroom debates can be integrated into the curriculum and teaching practices of any nursing educational institutions.

How Insurmountable a Problem is English Orthography?

The article tackles the issue of English orthography and the challenges it presents to people with various learning disabilities. A range of experiments is reported to elicit the responses of people with dyslexia to specific problems in the traditional system of English spellings. Approaches are put forwards to deal with such challenges both in the ordinary classroom and with people with disabilities. The author urges for more open-mindedness towards the challenge of English orthography.

A Study on the Application of "Flipped Classroom" in College Students' Mental Health Education Courses

College students Internet users have basically achieved a fully coverage in our country. The flipped classroom, supported by information technology, not only conforms to the development of the Internet era, but also follows the need of college students’ psychological development of how to discriminate the "Internet me" from the "real me". As a new teaching mode, the flipped class has attracted a multitude of scholars to explore more about the teaching mode reform. Starting from the development and connotation of the flipped classroom, this paper explores the specific application and possible challenges of flipped classroom in college students' mental health courses based on the dilemma faced by the traditional curriculum model of mental health education for college students in China.

Trust and Positive Working Relationships among Teachers in Communities of Practice as an Avenue for Professional Development

This study explores trust and positive working relationships among teachers in communities of practice as an avenue for professional development in high schools in South Africa. A mixed methods research approach was employed for this study with the use of a semi-structured interview and semi-structured questionnaires as data collection instruments. Ten schools were purposively selected for this study and seventy-nine participants were selected as samples. The findings of the study show that teachers had good working relationships with their colleagues. The good working relationships they had enabled them to assist their colleagues, share their classroom challenges with them, confide in their colleagues, and they were able to get assistance from them. It was established from the study that a great number of teachers feel safe to be part of the communities of practice activities in the sampled high schools, thus, they engage in diverse of discussions with their colleagues and they were able to relate to their colleagues the difficulties they have in terms of their work. The study recommends that teachers should spend an adequate time in their meetings, see themselves as colleagues, interact as teams, and build strong ties to have good relationships and a strong level of trust among themselves.