Language Teaching In Schools Research Articles

The Degree of Native Language Teachers’ Consideration of Persuasive Writing Skills in Teaching Expression

This study aimed to examine the degree of Arabic language teachers’ consideration of persuasive writing skills in teaching expression and their differences according to the variables of gender, academic qualifications, and years of experience. To achieve the objectives of the study, the descriptive approach was applied in the form of the school survey method. The study sample consisted of 239 male and female Arabic language teachers in public schools of Najran region in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They constituted 42.7% of the study population. To collect the data, the study used a questionnaire consisting of 21 items after verifying its validity and reliability in the Saudi context. The results showed that the degree to which the Arabic language teachers consider the persuasive writing skills in teaching expression in all domains of the study instrument and the total score ranked moderate. Also, the results revealed that there were statistically significant differences in the degree of Arabic language teachers’ consideration of persuasive writing skills in teaching expression in all domains of the study instrument and the total score due to gender variables in favor of females, academic qualifications in favor of graduate studies, and years of experience in favor of ten years or more. The study recommends the Ministry of Education should work on developing the practices of Arabic language teachers for persuasive writing skills in teaching expression by providing appropriate training programs.

The degree to which Arabic language teachers in government schools in Al Balqa governorate having the skills of an interactive whiteboard from their point of view in light of some variables

This study aims to find out the degree to which Arabic language teachers in public schools in Balqa Governorate possessed the skills of using the interactive whiteboard from their point of view in light of some variables, the study sample consisted of (90) teachers who were chosen randomly.to achieve the objectives of the study, the descriptive approach was used, Where a questionnaire was prepared consisting of (34) items, distributed into three domains of interactive whiteboard skills, whose validity and reliability were confirmed.The results of the study showed that the degree to which Arabic teachers possessed interactive whiteboard skills was moderate, and the results showed that there were no statistically significant differences in the degree to which Arabic language teachers possessed interactive whiteboard skills attributed to gender, directorate or experience, and the results showed statistically significant differences in the degree of teacher possession is attributable to the educational qualification variable.

USING COMPUTER AS A LEARNING TOOL AND ENGLISH TEACHERS’ ‎ATTITUDES ‎

The implementation and utilization of ICT in education has become an important for all countries ‎in the globalization era. Technology applications have significantly contributed to improve and ‎develop educational institutions. Therefore, the issue of using computer became an important ‎and confronting large numbers of English language teachers in the worldwide. This study ‎investigated and evaluated the attitudes of English language teachers in Iraqi secondary schools ‎towards using computer tool in their classes. As well, the study explores the relationship between ‎both teachers’ competence and access to computer and teachers’ attitude. The study findings are ‎showed that the majority of English language teachers have positive attitude towards using ‎computer in their teaching. Moreover, the analysis revealed that the males had more positive ‎attitude than females. Furthermore, the study proved the low access and competence of English ‎teachers have affected using the computer in the classroom.‎

Bilingual English Teachers' Perspectives on 'English-only' Policies in an EFL Setting

Various language policies are implemented for foreign language teaching in educational institutions. One of these language policies is the monolingual approach called "English-only", which requires only the target language to be used in the classroom. This policy is largely implemented in private institutions in Turkey. Studies about teachers’ perspectives on the English-only policy are relatively less. Hence, this research aimed to explore what the perspectives of bilingual EFL teachers working in schools where the English only policy is implemented are and what the effects of such practices are on their teaching methods and professional identities. A case study research design under a qualitative approach was adopted to explore eight bilingual EFL teachers’ perspectives on language policies implemented in kindergarten and primary school of the private education institution where they worked. The results varied according to the professional background of the teachers and the department they worked. While language teachers who worked in kindergarten favoured the policy despite reacting negatively to the strict policies implemented by the school, primary school language teachers showed explicit resistance to the implementation of the English-only policy. Moreover, all the teachers expressed their uneasiness about being assigned fake English names and associated this with the impact of neoliberalism and other ideologies prevailing in the linguistic market on private institutions in Turkey.

ANALYZING WHAT PERMANENT ACADEMIC CLASSROOM ACTIVITY OF ENGLISH TEACHERS TELL US ABOUT THEIR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT NEEDS: PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN FOCUS

The present study analyses what permanent academic classroom activity tells us about the professional development need of English language teachers in primary Schools. Teacher classroom observation was used as data gathering tools for the study. As a result, four English language teachers were involved in the study. The study was conducted in selected primary schools in North Showa Zone of Orimia Regional State. The four teachers involved in the study were observed three times. The results of the study reveal that teachers lack English language proficiency. Their classroom English lacked quality to use the target language. So, they needed to develop their English language proficiency. The result of the study further showed that the teachers needed to develop their pedagogic skills. The pedagogic skills the English language teachers needed to develop were lesson opening, lesson running and lesson ending strategies. Similarly, the teachers needed professional development on the areas of language use and transitioning and questioning strategies. Based on the finding of the study, it was suggested that English language teachers in primary schools needed to get further professional development program that addresses their linguistic knowledge and skills need areas so that the teachers improve their proficiency in the target language and enhance their skills in teaching

Examining Teacher Opinions of Age and Duration of English Language Support in International Schools

International school educators hold various opinions about language acquisition. These opinions are often formed during their training and previous teaching experiences in their home countries. This quantitative cross-sectional survey-based study explored and compared the opinions of 283 English as a Foreign Language (EFL), Primary, and Secondary English teachers in international schools in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and South America. The study examined the age EFL students should begin receiving EFL teacher support and for how long. The study revealed statistically significant differences between EFL and Primary teachers concerning the age for EFL students to begin receiving support from an EFL teacher. Further revealed were significant differences between EFL and Secondary English teachers concerning the duration of EFL support. Overall, participants' opinions about the duration of EFL support are well below previously reported data, which is troubling since EFL students in English-medium international schools are learning English for academic purposes.

Providing in-service online language training for primary teachers of English as a Foreign Language

Abstract This report assesses the use of a Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) to provide an in-service language training programme for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in a primary school in Shanghai, China. The 12-month oral English training programme featured unique in-depth university-school collaborations, tiered project management and flexible self-directed learning experiences by the participants. This programme was a piloting project aimed at exploring an effective way of workplace language training and usefulness of Moodle-LMS’ potential in providing a flexible and interactive learning environment for training primary school language teachers.

Teachers’ perceptions and the implementation of the adapted communicative approach in Libya

This study instigates the teachers’ perceptions towards the implementation of the adapted communicative approach to teach English language in Libyan high schools in the city of Khoms. The participants were six teachers of different gender-based high schools. The study followed a pure qualitative method to collect and analyze the date, and the data were collected using an open-ended questionnaire. The findings reveal that the majority of English language teachers in Libyan high schools in Khoms city have positively perceived the implementation of the communicative approach (CA) to teach English language in their high schools’ contexts. They agreed to the majority of the questionnaire’s items such as: the CA emphasizes the communication in the target language and emphasizes that the learners need meaningful communication. All the participants said that they modify the principles of the communicative approach to meet the students’ needs and goals and most of them have agreed that the allocated time is not enough to complete the lesson in the classroom. This study draws out the pedagogical implication that the implementation of the adapted CA to teach English language in high schools in Libya can be quite adaptable, especially when the teachers have to fulfil the students’ needs.

Teaching Challenges of English Second Language Teachers in Senior Secondary Schools in the Ohangwena Region, Namibia

The study investigated the teaching challenges faced by English Second language (ESL) teachers in Senior Secondary Schools in the Ohangwena Region, Namibia. The study used the mixed methods research approach to collect data from a sample of 60 ESL teachers currently teaching in the eleven Senior Secondary Schools in Ohangwena Region. The research participants were selected using the purposive sampling method. Data were collected using questionnaires, focus group discussions and observations. The study found that ESL teachers in Ohangwena Region encounter challenges such as lack of resources for teaching and learning ESL, overcrowded classes, absenteeism by learners, lack of parental involvement, learners’ lack of motivation, learners’ poor altitude, lack of support from advisory education officer, lack of refresher workshop and learners’ lack of exposure to English language programs. To minimize the identified challenges, the participants highlighted the need for the provision of adequate resources such as ESL textbooks and buildings to accommodate all the learners, involving parents in their children’s education, reducing the teacher-learner ratio in the classrooms, organizing capacity building workshops for ESL teachers, and changing the medium of instruction for junior primary grades from Oshikwanyama to the English language. The study recommended that government should improve the teaching resources and infrastructure as well as provide refresher workshops to enhance the ESL teaching conditions in the study area.

Teaching English literature in general educational institutions in Ukraine

This article deals with the role of authentic children’s literature in foreign language teaching. The acquisition of a foreign language is a long and complex process in which language learners encounter a myriad of teaching methods and strategies. The importance of the study lies in the fact that literature, which is a crucial element of language and culture learning, is relatively neglected in foreign language teaching in schools. The aim of this paper is to explore, analyse and present, based on the scientific literature, the role of authentic literary works in language teaching, highlighting the advantages and at the same time describing the disadvantages and the difficulties encountered so that teachers can better adapt if they wish to use this approach in their own pedagogical repertoire. Literature contributes to a deeper knowledge and acquisition of the target culture and different languages and thus plays an essential role in the process of foreign language learning. Authentic, i. e. original, English-language literature provides teachers with an excellent opportunity to use appropriate language samples and examples to demonstrate real language use. The main purpose of using literature in foreign language classrooms is to promote learners’ overall language skills [5; 6; 17; 21]. Literary texts contain many examples of real-life language that are not found in textbooks. At the same time, literature is often criticised as being inappropriate to learners’ language level, challenging both syntactically and lexically. The literature analysis and its synthesis are presented in detail in the article. This paper also introduces prominent scholars in the field and analyse the latest research on the study of literature in the English classroom in primary and secondary schools. Finally, conclusions are drawn, and the case for further study of the issue is argued.

A Study on the Teaching Ability and Training Needs of Native Chinese Language Teachers in Maroua Secondary Schools, Cameroon

A Study on the Teaching Ability and Training Needs of Native Chinese Language Teachers in Maroua Secondary Schools, Cameroon

“Who to Cultivate?”: A Study on the Changes in Primary School Language Education Goals in the Curriculum Documents

What kind of person is the root of education? What kind of person embodies the essence of education and the direction of education? The goal of education cannot be solved without specific courses and disciplines. This study is carried out to characterize the Chinese curriculum standards (syllabus), review the founding of New China over 70 years of primary school Chinese curriculum, and outline an education picture from the “curriculum” itself to “individual students,” from “single” to “compound,” and from “present” to “future.” It has been concluded that the pursuit of national characteristics, the exploration of a wholesome personality, and the prospect of new people of the times are the internal evolution logics of primary school Chinese education.

“I feel like it’s giving me a lot as a language teacher to be a learner myself”: Factors affecting the implementation of a multilingual pedagogy as reported by teachers of diverse languages

To boost the foreign language learning process, language teachers need to know how to implement a multilingual pedagogy, that is, they should be able to draw on their and their students’ knowledge of other languages during lessons. This qualitative study explored the extent to which 21 foreign language teachers in Norwegian and Russian upper-secondary schools were willing and able to implement multilingual teaching practices and the factors that they thought affected this implementation. The findings revealed three main factors, namely, their language knowledge, their positioning as language learners, and the level of support they received, which the participants reported as strongly influencing the extent to which they were able and willing to draw on their and their students’ multilingualism as a pedagogical resource. The findings also indicated that participants did not implement multilingual teaching practices differently based on the languages they taught, although there were differences between the participants from Norway and Russia concerning the teaching of English. The study has important implications for research on language teaching and learning in multilingual environments, educational institutions, and teacher development programs.

FOREIGN LANGUAGES IN SCHOOL EDUCATION: EUROPEAN AND UKRAINIAN TRENDS

The paper deals with the trends in foreign languages teaching in school education of Europe and Ukraine. The methods of description, comparison, analysis are used in order to specify the features of the issue. The international surveys of Eurydice, Eurostat, the OECD’s PISA and TALIS with the participation of the European Commission developed the main indicators that ensure the systemic nature of language training in the school sector. They encompass foreign languages in the curriculum, the range of languages studied, Content and Language Integrated Learning, expected levels for the foreign languages, qualification of foreign language teachers, transnational mobility of foreign language teachers, language support for newly arrived migrant students. The level of knowledge of modern foreign languages is determined in accordance with the Common European Framework of References. Taking into consideration the European policy of the development of the multilingual society through the individual competence in two foreign languages the European countries introduced the suggested approaches at the school level and created a comparable language-learning environment. It has determined similar and different trends in language education in schools. Ukraine has started introducing the common indicators to develop its own environment for language learning in school education withing the New Ukrainian school reform. It needs further studying and improving law, and education sectors under the conditions of current situation.

Refleksje nad pożądanymi kierunkami zmian… w szkolnym kształceniu polonistycznym (głos w dyskusji)

The author describes desirable paths of changes in Polish language school education. Base for the analysis is the research conducted in 2017 on students’ attitude towards Polish language as a subject, as well as students’ works created during the distance learning in 2020. According to the author, any changes in the curriculum should be preceded by research conducted on students in order to determine their needs and skills. Addressing changes to unspecified target is the main reason for ill-success of the reforms which were introduced during the past 20 years. Polish language teaching in schools of each level should be more focused on enhancing students’ linguistic skills. The changes should also include the sphere of literature, culture, and media knowledge. The author points to the fact that the reform should involve also teachers-to-be and the way they are prepared for teaching, as well as further education of Polish language teachers.

Challenges in Implementing the CEFR in English Language Classrooms

The adoption of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) in the English Language Education Roadmap 2015-2025 is a reform effort to enhance the standard of our students’ English language proficiency level. While it is a commendable initiative, its implementation in schools has received mixed reactions especially from teachers who are confronted with a number of challenges. Hence, this study was carried out to investigate the nature of challenges encountered by English language teachers in implementing the CEFR in their classrooms. Data for this study were collected from questionnaires gathered from 117 English language teachers in primary schools in Johor Bahru district. The findings revealed the challenges were related to teachers’ English language proficiency level, designing class activities, students’ participation in class, the textbooks used, teachers’ workload, and students’ proficiency level. The challenges were found to be inter-related and could be traced to lack of CEFR-related training, insufficient teaching and learning materials, constraint of time, and the policy which does not allow for students to be streamed based on their proficiency level. All this seemed to make it more difficult for the teachers to implement the CEFR successfully.

Problem of Competence Approach Realization during the Process of Students’ Language Training at Secondary Schools

In the article the author investigates the problems of forming of communicative competence in secondary schools. The concept of communicative approach is analyzed in the scientific literature, defined the importance of communicative competence of pupils of secondary schools, focuses on issues of competence of language education, including pupils’ poor motivation training . The author analyzes the process of formation of communicative competence in the context of the current Ukrainian language policy, focuses on the communicative approach as one of the priority and emphasizes the importance of the relationship between school language education and real needs of our society. The author notes that modern communicative focus of the educational process in educational institutions will create opportunities to realize value, development and educational aspects of the Ukrainian language as a school subject. In modern teaching methodology the implementation of communicative approach ensures the creation of a special space for child’s training; in which any pupil choose his own way of activity. Linguistic competence is a broad term which includes linguistic or grammatical competence, sociolinguistic or socio-cultural competence. Linguistic and communicative competence must combine to produce, general, overall, language proficiency which can be referred to as integration Although language competence does not determine the success of communication, but creates the conditions for participation in the communication process, which affect both extralinguistic (psychological, social, national, history, age, etc.) and intralinguistic (complexity of the language system) factors.

Professional Development of In-Service Teachers: Use of Eye Tracking for Language Classes, Case Study

This article presents a study on in-service professional development of Lithuanian secondary school language teachers. The motivation is based on the understanding of language education as a highly interactive, complex process that requires a teacher’s digital literacy skills combined with integrated instructional approaches. This requires the implementation of a set of professional development activities. As a research methodology, we use a mixed method approach based on collecting eye tracking data in the first phase and, then, focus on comparative teacher self-reflection using data analysis and qualitative interviews. Finally, based on the collected qualitative and quantitative data, educational experts develop and present recommendations on the scope and direction of professional development. As a result of this study, a comprehensive set of the eye tracking data from the experiment involving 93 participants in total and 23 recorded lessons is presented. This includes variables such as number of visits, time to first fixation, number of fixations, and fixation duration vertically and horizontally. The discussion presents the results of the qualitative part of the study, including comprehensive teachers’ feedback. In conclusion, an integrated training program for in-service language teachers is presented, including an eye tracking experiment that provides data for extensive self-reflection and feedback.

Division of International Special Education and Services (DISES) Information Brief February 2021

Division of International Special Education and Services (DISES) Information Brief February 2021

A Comparative Study of the Teaching Methodologies Employed by English Language Teachers in Private and Public Sector Schools

The aim of the study was to make a comparison between the teaching methodologies employed by English language teachers at public and private sector schools at primary level. Foreign language teaching methodologies has become a much-discussed phenomena and has been given immense importance from the last few decades, however, it still needs development in teaching practices. The data for the present study were collected in the form of semi-structured interviews, which were related to the objectives and research questions. The target population of the study was primary level teachers of Lahore, Punjab (Pakistan), while the sample of the study was comprised of primary level teachers of a public and private sector school in Lahore. The results of the study indicated that the teachers of the public sector schools were mostly relying on the structural methods of language teaching, whereas the teachers of the private sector schools were using blended methods.