Tertiary EFL Teachers Research Articles

Exploring tertiary EFL learners’ and teachers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of EFL writing course syllabi: Pedagogical implications

Given the importance of effective and standard syllabi in developing tertiary students’ EFL writing skills, this study aimed to analyze the perceptions of Bangladeshi tertiary EFL learners and teachers towards the effectiveness of English writing course syllabi in developing writing proficiency. The study involved 392 students and 14 EFL teachers from seven Bangladeshi universities in a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire survey using a purposive sampling procedure. The results show that both students and teachers had a negative perception of the effectiveness of most of the components of the syllabus, namely, objectives of the syllabus, content and skill coverage, instructional time, suitability, and effectivity of the instructional materials covered in the syllabus. However, students had a positive perception of the effectiveness of the writing content, while teachers had a low perception of this aspect of the writing syllabus. Recommendations call for policymakers and syllabus designers to ensure that EFL writing course syllabi include essential subject components and skills, adhere to global standards, and provide ample classroom practice time for students. The study also highlights the need for devising better syllabi to meet the needs of tertiary EFL learners' academic and professional needs and guide EFL teachers to meet the expectations of Bangladeshi tertiary EFL education.

INVESTIGATING VIETNAMESE TERTIARY EFL TEACHERS’ LEVELS OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION THROUGH THE LENS OF THE SAMR MODEL

This study investigated the integration of technology by Vietnamese tertiary EFL teachers, focusing on the SAMR model's levels: Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition. Involving seven teachers, each underwent three observations and a subsequent interview during the second semester of the academic year 2022-2023. The interviews, structured around open-ended questions aligned with the SAMR framework, aimed to elucidate the observed technology use. Findings indicated a predominant reliance on basic functionalities of tools like PowerPoint and Microsoft Word, with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) integration primarily at the substitution and augmentation levels. This suggests a foundational proficiency in ICT use among teachers, yet confined to basic applications with limited pedagogical innovation. The results highlight the imperative for targeted professional development to enhance EFL teachers' ICT skills and foster innovative teaching approaches, facilitating a paradigm shift in technology integration within educational practices.

Understanding tertiary EFL teacher learning and identity development: a cultural-historical activity theory perspective

Though current scholarship has conducted much research on teacher learning and teacher identity respectively, there are limited empirical studies examining the combination of these two constructs. This study, drawing upon cultural-historical activity theory, aims at exploring two tertiary EFL teachers’ specific learning processes and how they develop their identities through learning. Data sources include observations, interviews, informal communications and artifacts concerning the two participants’ learning and identity constructions. The findings reveal that teacher learning is an expansive learning process that starts with triggering events, and reflection permeates all the phases of teachers’ expansive learning. Besides, teacher learning is driven by multiple contradictions. Faced with these contradictions, teachers exert their agency, negotiate with significant others and cross various boundaries in their learning activities, which eventually promotes their identity development. The findings provide implications for further explorations of teacher learning and teacher identity.
 FUNDING INFORMATION. This work was supported by the [Youth Fund for Humanities and Social Sciences Research of the Ministry of Education] under Grant [22YJC740041]; [General Project of Philosophy and Social Science Research in Colleges and Universities] under Grant [2022SJYB2210]; [Chinese Scholarship Council] under Grant [202208320214]; and [Higher Education Reform Research Project of Jiangsu University] under Grant [2021JGYB081].

Investigating Chinese Tertiary EFL Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices in the Application of Learning Management Systems Using Q Methodology

The purpose of this study is to explore Chinese tertiary EFL teachers’ beliefs and practices as well as the relationships between them in the application of Learning Management Systems (LMS in short). By reviewing relevant literature, previous studies either carried out research on teachers’ beliefs and practices in the training of basic English learning skills or compared them between novice and experienced teachers. This study fills the gap of research on teachers’ beliefs and practices from the perspective of technology integration, specifically LMS application. By using the Q methodology, 38 EFL teachers teaching the same EFL course to undergraduate students at F University in mainland China were selected as research participants. After collecting research data through open-ended questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, four different types of teachers’ LMS beliefs and three different levels of teachers’ LMS practices were identified by employing Q Methodology software-PQMethod and a web application Ken-Q analysis. Through comparing each participant’s corresponding beliefs and practices, both consistent and inconsistent relationships are found. The research findings not only prove the definite connection between teachers’ LMS beliefs and practices but also reveal the discrepancies between what teachers believe and do while using LMS. In general, The research can not only offer a new methodological solution for further research on cognitive factors like teachers’ beliefs but also provide pedagogical implications to EFL teachers to promote their career development.

Exploring Nuanced Errors in Bangladeshi Tertiary EFL Students’ Writing Mechanics: A Pedagogical Implication

Background: Top of Form In order to enhance tertiary EFL students' formal writing skills, it is crucial that they develop proficiency in writing mechanics alongside their syntactic maturity. It is crucial because weaknesses in writing mechanics can significantly impact the overall quality of the content. Purpose: the present study aims to examine the nuances of the sub-categories of three major writing mechanics and thus bring up some implications for EFL teachers, syllabus designers, and material designers. Methodology: This study is qualitative in nature and collected 42 narrative essays from 42 tertiary students. The participants comprised both English and non-English majors from seven private and public universities in Bangladesh. The collected data were analyzed using Hsieh and Shannon's (2005) summative content analysis. Findings: The findings of the analysis indicate that the most error-prone mechanics for students are the correct usage of ending punctuation marks (specifically the full stop) and non-ending punctuation marks (such as commas), while the second most challenging mechanics are the correct spellings of di- and polysyllabic words. Further, in capitalization mechanics, they encounter difficulties in the appropriate use of uppercase letters. Research implications: The study concludes with pedagogical implications that tertiary EFL teachers, syllabus designers, and material designers should put more emphasis on the sub-categories of writing mechanics while designing writing tasks for tertiary EFL learners.

Exploring Academic Writing Proficiency of Tertiary EFL Learners of Bangladesh: A Pedagogical Implication

It is essential that tertiary EFL students become proficient in all key aspects of writing, such as content, arrangement of ideas, usage of appropriate vocabulary, use of language and grammatical precision, and mechanics, in order to improve their formal writing skills. As a result, the current study's objective is to assess the level of writing competency of tertiary EFL students in terms of the key writing components and to provide some recommendations for EFL teachers, syllabus writers, and material designers. This study is qualitative in nature that collected 49 narrative essays from 49 tertiary students. The participants comprised both English and non-English majors from seven private and public universities in Bangladesh. The data were generated from English writing tests where students wrote one narrative essay. The texts were then analyzed on the basis of the analytic writing rubrics proposed by Jacobs et al. (1981) to see students’ writing ability in general. The findings of the analysis indicate that Bangladeshi tertiary EFL learners’ proficiency in all the major components falls in the category of Fair to Poor. The findings also indicate that the most challenging writing skills for the learners are the use of language and the use of vocabulary. The study concludes with some pedagogical suggestions for tertiary EFL teachers, syllabus designers, and material designers. This study stands out as unique and important since little research has previously attempted to evaluate the writing proficiency levels of Bangladeshi tertiary students under the key writing components.

Teachers’ Attitudes towards the Use of Information and Communication Technology in Teaching English: Impacts of Teachers’ Characteristics

This survey was done to uncover the EFL lecturers’ attitudes (cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components) towards the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in teaching English at a university in Vietnam. In addition, the survey also investigated the influence of some teachers' demographic characteristics, including gender, prior ICT training, education level, age, and teaching experience on their attitudes. The author employed a survey questionnaire adapted from Albirini to collect research data. One hundred twelve tertiary EFL teachers answered questionnaires administered online via Google Forms. Quantitative methods and descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were utilized to analyze the collected data. Results indicated that teachers had positive attitudes towards the use of ICT in teaching English. In addition, gender, prior ICT training, education level, teaching experience, and age were found not to impact their attitudes. Finally, this study had some suggestions for future investigations into the attitudes of teachers concerning the use of ICT in English language instruction.

Teaching practices for English as foreign language at the tertiary level: A comprehensibility perspective

Comprehension is one of the most crucial factors contributing to acquiring a new language; therefore, teachers must facilitate language comprehensibility using the best teaching practices to help learners understand the target language. This study aimed to identify tertiary EFL teachers’ practices for teaching language comprehensibility to assist in highlighting the comprehensibility practices tertiary EFL teachers employ to ensure that students understand, interact with, and use the English language. To identify the extent that the teachers employ language comprehensibility practices in an EFL context, the descriptive-correlational approach was employed. A closed-item questionnaire was administered to a sample of 65 teachers in Najran University, Saudi Arabia in the academic year 2021–2022. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS v. 23) was used to analyze the data. The results showed that tertiary EFL teachers taught language comprehensibility very skillfully. Also, no significant difference in teaching language comprehensibility was found concerning the gender variable. There were, however, differences in the means of the sample’s responses towards methods of teaching language comprehensibility according to years of experience, particularly for those with the most years of experience. Considering the results, the study suggested paying more attention to integrating language comprehensibility practices in EFL contexts.

The perceptions of tertiary level EFL teachers and students to the tool mediation learning experience in reading skills: A case for cloud computing environment

The perceptions of tertiary level EFL teachers and students to the tool mediation learning experience in reading skills: A case for cloud computing environment

Algerian EFL teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards online assessment feasibility and Impediment

The current investigation revolves around online assessment feasibility and its practicability issues during the Coronavirus pandemic. Within this context, this study precisely aims at getting tertiary EFL teachers’ and students’ voices about to what extent online assessment can be ineffective or effective in an e- teaching/learning environment. To this end, a mixed-method design is used encompassing three research instruments, a questionnaire addressed to 50 second-year master didactics students at Ibn Khaldoun university of Tiaret, an interview, conducted with 5 EFL teachers from the same university, and a corpus analysis allowing for a comparative study of face-to-face and online exams’ results. The triangulated analysis of the gleaned data reveals that the majority of the respondents and the interviewees recognize the importance and efficiency of the new mode of assessment. Assuredly, the comparative study displays that online assessment was much better than paper-pen-based exams in results. Keywords: Assessment; digital literacy; e-learning; Online assessment; technological devices.

Exploring tertiary EFL practitioners\u2019 knowledge base component of assessment literacy: implications for teacher professional development

Language teachers’ assessment literacy has been a much debated subject in the educational arena recently. Teachers’ assessment knowledge base and skills, important aspects of their assessment literacy, have been extensively investigated at the school level; however, the research on this subject in the tertiary EFL context remains underdeveloped. This study reports findings of tertiary EFL teachers’ assessment literacy in terms of their assessment knowledge base in the context of Saudi Arabia. The study is informed by sociocultural theoretical background, with pragmatism as the philosophical underpinning. It uses an adapted instrument called Classroom Assessment Literacy Questionnaire, and the data are obtained from 80 questionnaire respondents. The statistical analysis of the data revealed that tertiary EFL teachers’ current assessment knowledge base is very limited and not consistent with the contemporary trends and approaches to educational assessment in terms of their preparation and readiness for the continuously mounting challenges posed by classroom-based assessments. These results indicating gaps and inadequacies in tertiary EFL practitioners’ assessment literacy have strong implications for teacher development in the area of assessment and testing at the level of policy, practice and professional development programmes.

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

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.
 
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Classroom Interaction as a Way of Developing Students’ Speaking Skill at the Tertiary Level EFL Classroom:

Teaching speaking skills through classroom interaction is usually a neglected program at the tertiary EFL education in Bangladesh. This study primarily aims at discovering the current scenario of the practices and problems of classroom interaction at a Bangladeshi tertiary EFL classroom. This study further proposes some strategies for developing speaking skills through classroom interaction. The data were collected from 110 student respondents and 11 teacher respondents of 4 universities based on the stratified random sampling. For collecting and analyzing data, a mixed-methods approach (QUAN-QUAL) was applied. The data collection methods were a questionnaire survey on the tertiary EFL students and a semi-structured interview of the tertiary EFL teachers. The results show that though students and teachers were aware of classroom interaction, very little communication actually took place in the classroom because of teachers’ monopolizing the talk time and learners’ getting little to no talk time at all. The study also exposes that most of the students did not interact spontaneously and teachers used a great deal of Bangla in the EFL classroom. These hampered students’ speaking skills development. Finally, this paper presents some pedagogical implications and offers some recommendations for the considerations of the tertiary EFL teachers, learners, and policymakers

Tertiary EFL Practitioners’ Beliefs and Attitudes Towards Professional Development in the Area of Assessment and Testing–An Exploratory Study

Professional development of teachers, the greatest strength of any educational institute, implies advancement of pedagogical, assessment and success standards. All teacher education activities whether during the pre-or/and in-service phases, should aim to bring about teacher change which refers to the procedures targeting reform in teacher beliefs, attitudes, knowledge, self-awareness, skills and practices. Since teacher beliefs and attitudes serve as an integral part of the process to comprehend how teachers conceptualise, approach and practice their work, change in teacher practices generally precede a change in teacher beliefs and attitudes. In the background of the paucity of scholarship about tertiary EFL practitioners’ beliefs and attitudes about their professional development, in general, and in assessment, testing and evaluation, in particular, the present study mainly based on interview data collected from 10 tertiary EFL teachers working in three tertiary educational institutes in Saudi Arabia aimed at exploring tertiary EFL practitioners’ philosophies and attitudes towards their PD in assessment and testing to get better insight into language teachers’ training needs. It is hoped that the findings of the study will create awareness among novice as well as experienced teachers and help their respective institutions in having better understanding about the various dynamics of teacher PD in assessment and testing.

The Impact of Tertiary EFL Teachers’ Professional Identity on Job Burnout in Hubei Province China

In order to explore the relationships of tertiary EFL teachers’ professional identity and job burnout, a quantitative survey was conducted on 565 tertiary EFL teachers in Hubei Province in central China. The results indicated that teachers with different educational background and teachers teaching different types of students experience different levels of burnout; Tertiary EFL teachers’ professional identity were significantly negatively related to their job burnout; The valence and self-presentation in professional identity can be used to predict teachers’ job burnout. Therefore, tertiary EFL teachers should try to enhance their occupational belongings so as to alleviate their current job burnout and promote their sustainable development.

Reinvention of classroom practice innovations

Experienced teachers are introduced to classroom practice innovations during in-service education and training (INSET) programmes. Teachers return to particular teaching contexts in schools and other institutions after INSET and it is here teachers implement innovations and change classroom practice. However, this implementation is not certain; teachers may reject change and discontinue innovations. Research on innovation diffusion suggests that reinvention of innovations—adapting to local situations—can increase the rate of innovation implementation. Findings from this research, on teacher change in the context of Chinese tertiary EFL teachers attending INSET, show that a teacher’s ability and willingness to reinvent classroom practice innovations are likely to have an impact on later implementation and continuation of changes to classroom practice. INSET providers and trainers should take into account the function of reinvention for experienced teachers implementing educational innovations, and encourage reinvention during and after INSET courses.

The Relationship between Tertiary Level EFL Teachers’ Self-efficacy and their Willingness to Use Communicative Activities in Speaking

This study aims at finding the possible relationship between academic self-efficacy beliefs of tertiary level EFL teachers and their willingness to use communicative activities in speaking classrooms. To do so, the data for the study were collected through two independent questionnaires; the first one was Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale developed by Megan Tschannen-Moran and Anita Woolfolk Hoy (2001). The second one was COLTAS, an attitude scale with 36 statements developed to investigate teachers’ attitudes towards some aspects of CLT which was adopted from Eveyik (1999). The samples, 40 voluntary instructors (32 female and 8 male) from Giresun University and University of Turkish Aeronautical Association. The results suggest that there is statistically a positive correlation between self-efficacy beliefs of tertiary level EFL teachers and their willingness to use communicative activities. However there was not a significant relationship between them. The findings revealed that although they did not have an effect on each other, the teachers in this study had high levels of self-efficacy and great willingness to use communicative activities in their speaking classes.

An Investigation of Tertiary EFL Teachers’ Problems in Their In-service Professional Development

The developing trend and reform in the field of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) have updated the requirements for tertiary EFL teachers. To meet these requirements, the teachers are encouraged to have their in-service professional development. However, the current situation of their in-service professional development is not as good as what has been expected. Hence, this study aimed at investigating the problems that tertiary EFL teachers may have in their in-service professional development and the suggestions that they made for helping to solve these problems. The data was collected from questionnaire and semi-structured group interview which were responded by the EFL teachers in Guiyang University of China. The findings after data analysis showed that the tertiary EFL teachers had such problems as the limitation of programs, the discontinuity of programs, the inappropriateness of programs, etc. and they suggested that the cooperation with colleagues should be employed in their in-service or on-the-job professional development.

Research on Tertiary In-Service EFL Teachers Training Mode Based on Network Technology

With the development of educational information technology, the traditional training mode cannot meet the requirement of the times. So exploring a new training mode is an imperative necessity. This paper analyzes the feasibility of tertiary in-service EFL teachers online training mode according to the responses from the investigation and interviews, and attempts to prove online training is an effective way for teachers professional development and life-long learning.

Recommendation for Sustaining the In-service Professional Development of Tertiary EFL Teachers

The increasing influence of English as a lingua franca or an international language has brought new trends of teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL). But on the way to these new trends some issues have inevitably appeared, and one of them is the continuity of EFL teachers’ in-service professional development. This study aimed to investigate the opinions of the tertiary EFL teachers on the multilayered peer coaching model (the MPC Model) that they had employed for their in-service professional development, and make the recommendation of this model for sustaining tertiary EFL teachers’ in-service professional development. The information was obtained from the EFL teachers at Guiyang University in China with the help of such instruments as observation, teacher’s diary, the researcher’s field note, questionnaire and interview, and the data were analyzed in both qualitative and quantitative methods. The results revealed that the tertiary EFL teachers had positive attitudes towards the MPC Model and it could be recommended as one of the effective tools for the tertiary EFL teachers to sustain their in-service professional development.