Issues in ELT in Transitional Countries

A Presentation by Hornby Scholars from four UK

Universities

Overview

• Large Classes• A Culture of Reading• Curriculum Issues• The Balance between Language

and Teaching Skills in Teacher Education

• English Language Teacher Development and INSET in Countries in Transition

LARGE CLASSES

Number of StudentsNumber of StudentsCountries Institution

Primary/Secondary

Tertiary

SudanEthiopiaMozambiqueAfghanistanMexicoIndonesiaPakistanBrazilChile

45 - 7575-22050-12050-7030 - 405045-503545

30045-75

45-200605045-505020 - 40

Things that teachers think cannot be

in large classes

• Effective and efficient classroom management

• Monitoring individual learners’ progress

• Intensive students’ interaction

• Sufficient oral practice

• Individual presentations

• Giving feedback to individual learners

Things that teachers think can be done in large classes

• Group work• Dynamic

presentations and seminars

• Variety of group production

• Learners help each other in project work

• Variety of students and cultures

• Team competition

Students’ view of large classes

Negative • Lack of

participation• Being left out• Disturbing and

being disturbed by other students

• Frustration

Positive• Feel comfortable

- always someone else to answer questions

• Encouraging students’ group work outside classroom

Teachers’ strategies used

in large classes• Group work,

pair work and large group work

• Cooperative learning

• Project work

• Creative and dynamic teaching

• Peer to peer evaluation

• Process evaluation

Our Concerns

• How can we help teachers be aware of the possible advantages of large classes?

• How can we help teachers cope with the problems of teaching in large classes?

A Culture of Reading

PEOPLE DON'T READ ENOUGH THESE DAYS AND THIS HAS A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON THEIR PROGRESS IN

LEARNING ENGLISH

How Teachers view Reading Habits in L1 and L2 in educational

institutions around the World

OBJECTIVE OF SURVEY • To find out how teachers in

some educational institutions around the world view reading habits of learners in L1 and L2

Reading Habits Private Public

a Ss Reading habits in L1

53% occasionally

76% poorly

Accessibility to Reading materials Private Public

a Availability of reading materials

47% good

56% no access

b Solutions: leave it to institutions

47 % 40 %

Curriculum Issues

Private Public a Time

allotted forsustained silent reading

47% occasionally

44% occasionally

b Existence of a Reading Programme

53% none

68% none

Impact of Reading extensively Private Publica Differences in language

proficiency: SS who read and SS who do not read extensively

53% strongly 48% strongly

b Skills developed:Reading ComprehensionWriting

60% strongly47% occasionally

84% strongly72% strongly

c Other developmentsVocabulary DevelopmentAesthetic appreciation of textsCritical ReadingFluent Reading habits

80% strongly60% occasionally

47% strongly 60% strongly

100% strongly48% occasionally

48% occasionally88% strongly

Factors hindering reading for pleasure

• Exam-focussed institutions pressurize Ss with study load

• Exam-oriented education fosters reading for learning

• Lack of reading habit in L1, doesn’t nurture L2 reading habits

• Addiction to electronic media• Costly L2 reading materials• Absence of a reading programme

Factors promoting reading for pleasure

Ts familiarize students with reading materials

CONCLUSION:

A GENERAL ABSENCE OF CULTURE OF READING

IMPLEMENTATION OF SUSTAINED SILENT READING PROGRAMME IN A SCHOOL IN ANTOFAGASTA,

CHILEResults shown by participants:

• Better attitude towards required texts and textbooks• More interest towards reading: students who previously hadn’t done so• Ss’ experience of reading in a conducive environment motivates them• Ss show more positive attitude towards other classes.• Development of habit of reading.

Reasons for closure of SSR programme in the school• People involved not in favour of it• Lack of interest & dedication displayed by Ts who took part• Very few Ts actually read with their pupils. • Ts didn’t read so Ss didn’t read either.

How can ELT professionals overcome not only resource constraints but also systemic resistance

when promoting reading in countries in transition?

Curriculum Issues

Is there a curriculum that directs current teaching activities to the

achievement of language teaching aims?

higher authority institution developed plan – e.g. Ministry of Education

curriculum drawn by educational institution itself

coursebook is the curriculum

Where do teaching institutions stand?

Can we all participate in a

discussion?

CURRICULUM holds the overarching organising principles and goals as well as “all the aspects of the planning, implementation and evaluation of an educational program, the why, how and how well together with the what of the learning-teaching process.” (Richards and Renandya, 2002)

CURRICULUM Framework

Organisation of contentand order of what is to be taught

Direction towards achievement of aims

SURVEY

Objective

To look at how teachers in some countries regard the existence of a curriculum in their respective institutions that gives direction to their teaching activities.

RationaleTo look at what is occurring at the onset of the language teaching-learning process in

some institutions in some countries because some teachers feel there isn’t a

curriculum at all.

Format of the surveyFormat of the survey

Name of Country Private institution

Public institution

Situation A developed its own curriculum

best available teachers were hired

continuous in-service training

resources required for quality instruction were provided

coursebook was chosen according to the needs of the programme or written specifically for the programme.

Situation B

Ministry of Education program for English or any other higher institutional program coursebook is the immediate direction for teaching English limited knowledge of development of curriculum or involvement of teachers in the process best available teachers were hired continuous in-service training resources were provided for quality instruction

Situation C

• coursebook is the only direction for teaching English

• limited resources for quality instruction and achieving the best results and success in language learning

• teachers have limited power to make changes.

• there is no continuous in-service training and teacher development.

Summary of respondentsSummary of respondents

Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, England, Ethiopia, Greece, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan Spain, Sudan, Sultanate of Oman, Swaziland, Taiwan, Turkey and Zambia.

 

Private or Public

institutionSituation A Situation

BSituation

CPubli

c36 13 17 6

Private

14 7 5 2

Total : 50

20 22 8

50

• Respondents in Situation A added or took away more features• teachers were not involved in the process of curriculum development

• students’ needs are not taken into consideration

• teachers do not have the power to make changes

• lack of teacher training, in service training does not respond to teachers´ needs

• teachers have to make up for lack of resources

• coursebooks imposed by a higher body

• coursebooks written for other contextsCan we all participate in a curriculum issue discussion?

Balance between Language and Teaching

Skills

Brazil, Colombia and Ethiopia

Can you help me?

“I wish I could attend to a course or programme that would help me to develop my English language proficiency and my teaching skills at the same time. Unfortunately, most of the programmes focus on only one of the two areas.”

Maria, English teacher in Amazonas, Brazil

Balance between Language and Teaching

Skills

Actions taken in…

Ethiopia

ELIP

Colombia

ICELT

BrazilParana and Tocantins ELT Project

Commonalities in the programmes

• English as a Foreign Language• Designed for in-service trainers • Language improvement moving

towards development of teaching skills

• British Council involvement

Development Cycle for Teachers of English

Language Improvement

Teaching skills improvement

Our concerns…

• None of those programmes focus on pre-service teachers. How can we offer similar opportunities to pre-service teachers?

• How can we sustain these programmes?• What level of English should a practising

teacher of English have?• What can teachers of English do to

improve their level of English in a FL environment?

English Language Teacher Development and INSET

in Countries in Transition

The aim of this short presentation is:

• to confirm and raise awareness about the fact that INSET and teacher development is still a big challenge in many of the countries in transition (where ‘interestingly’, the situations are really similar)

• to stimulate discussion on the needs of teachers of English in these countries and actions that should be taken to provide the support needed

• teachers have had very few opportunities to widen their experience and to keep themselves abreast of changesin ELT

• Teacher development is not a ‘serious’ priority in some countries and many other issues (socio-economic, cultural and political) affect teachers’ development

The Background:

Challenges and obstacles to teacher development have included the

following:

• Lack of resources • Absence of motivation and

incentive for teachers• Inadequate organisation and co-

ordination of teacher training/development programmes

• Insufficient training sessions• Lack of continuity

What are the ways in which we

can make INSET/teacher development programmes more effective in countries in transition considering the contextual constraints?