A culturally-adaptive Iranian version of the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction to investigate English teachers’ interpersonal behaviour

We investigated Iranian secondary-school English teachers’ interpersonal behaviour with a validated culturally-adaptive Iranian version of the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction. Data were collected from 971 Iranian secondary-school students (398 students participated in the pilot study and 573 students in the main study) and 55 Iranian secondary-school English teachers (23 teachers participated in the pilot study and 32 in the main study). The construction of the instrument started with an open-ended questionnaire followed by semi-structured interviews to prepare items for the questionnaire. Next, expert judgement, pilot administration of the questionnaire and statistical analyses ensured its reliability and construct validity before final administration of the questionnaire to the main participants followed. The study supported the validity and reliability of the questionnaire and confirmed its usability in the Iranian secondary-school context. Furthermore, the results indicated that the students perceived their English teachers as being Tolerant and Authoritative, showing higher degrees of friendship, leadership and understanding behaviour and relatively low levels of uncertain and dissatisfied behaviour. The results showed a discrepancy between students’ perceptions of actual and ideal teacher interpersonal behaviour. Also students’ perceptions of their actual teachers’ interpersonal behaviour were significantly different from those of the teachers’ self-perceptions. One important implication of this study is that the QTI can be used in secondary-school contexts as a valuable feedback instrument to encourage teachers to reflect on their performance and improve their interpersonal behaviour as a part of their professional development.     

What do distance language tutors say about teacher motivation?

Research into motivation in education mainly centres on students’ learning motivation. This article reports on an interview study of teacher motivation with the aim of investigating the effects of student-related factors and tutors’ personal factors on the motivation of language tutors in the distance learning context. Findings from the study indicate that external sources of influence include students’ engagement in learning English, motivation to learn English, progress made, foundation in English and appreciation of tutors’ teaching, while tutors’ internal factors are their self-efficacy in teaching, reflection and self-initiated professional development, interest in the profession of teaching English as well as their sense of achievement. Analysis of the data also suggests that more concrete measures are needed to counteract the demotivating effects from these two dimensions. Implications and suggestions are discussed with regard to enhancing tutor motivation more effectively.     

Integrated language and content instruction in Qatar Independent schools: teachers’ perspectives

The aim of this study is to explore teachers’ attitudes towards the shift to English as a medium of instruction in Qatari Independent schools. It focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of this approach for teachers and students, and the challenges they face in the process of its implementation. Data for the study were collected by means of a questionnaire and follow-up interviews. Findings point to teachers’ beliefs that while the approach has benefited them and their students, it is a challenging process. The challenges teachers face are organizational in nature relating to ineffective planning for the introduction of the change, lack of teacher preparedness for its implementation, and parents’ resistance to this change. These results have implications for teacher training in the Qatari context and for planning of the introduction of change in English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language contexts.     

Structuring professional dialogue through protocols: a study among elementary English teachers in Taiwan

This study focuses on the integration of protocols into elementary school English teacher’s professional dialogue and discusses the influence of protocols on teacher’s teaching and learning. Based on the analysis of documents, observations, and interviews, this study concludes that the introduction of protocols to elementary school English teachers led them to discuss their classroom practice and gain professional learning in instructional strategies and student learning during the professional dialogue. However, English teacher’s lack of experience in using protocols led to interruptions during the professional dialogue. Suggestions for effective protocol-based professional dialogue are provided.

     

Collaboration to teach English language learners: opportunities for shared teacher learning

This study examines collaboration between English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teachers and content-area elementary school teachers, and makes the case for conceptualising teacher collaboration as an opportunity for shared teacher learning. Using a sociocultural theoretical lens, this study examines how three pairs of elementary teachers and ESOL specialists used and constructed tools for collaboration, which mediated and made visible teachers’ learning processes. Employing interpretive enquiry and cross-case analysis, we examined data from classroom observations, teacher co-planning sessions and interviews with teachers. Findings demonstrated that collaborating teachers used tools to articulate and reconceptualise teaching goals, co-construct knowledge and ultimately transform teaching practices to meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students. This study has implications for teacher education and ongoing professional development, by shedding light on the potential affordances of collaborative tools for teacher learning. Findings suggest that teacher education could harness these opportunities for learning by incorporating collaboration between ESOL specialists and content-area teachers as an integral part of preparing more qualified teachers to work with culturally and linguistically diverse students.     

Nurturing learning or encouraging dependency? Teacher constructions of students in lower attainment groups in English secondary schools

‘Ability’ or attainment grouping can introduce an additional label that influences teachers’ expectations of students in specific attainment groups. This paper is based on a survey of 597 teachers across 82 schools and 34 teacher interviews in 10 schools undertaken as part of a large-scale mixed-methods study in England. The paper focuses on English and mathematics teachers’ expectations of secondary school students in lower attainment groups, and explores how low-attaining students are constructed as learners who benefit from specific approaches to learning justified through discourses of nurturing and protection. The authors argue that the adoption of different pedagogical approaches for groups of low-attaining learners to nurture them may in some cases be fostering dependency on teachers and cap opportunities for more independent learning. Furthermore, more inclusive whole-school learning-culture approaches may better allow for students across the attainment range to become independent learners.     

Fostering students’ creativity via educational robotics: An investigation of teachers’ pedagogical practices based on teacher interviews

This study explored how educational robotics (ER) was implemented in classrooms to foster creativity among elementary school students and identified challenges associated with its implementation. Twenty-six teachers at different elementary schools were interviewed. In-depth teacher interviews and grounded theory were used to collect and analyze the interviews. We found that the intended creative learning outcome for students was mastery of the developmental process of creativity. The teachers generally reported using a four-phase instructional framework consisting of eight sub-phases and targeted teaching strategies to support students’ learning outcomes. Challenges included insufficient appropriate learning materials, a lack of expansive learning activities and tasks and limited opportunities to engage students in the process of design thinking and developing metacognitive abilities. The findings have practical implications for teachers and researchers who are interested in developing pedagogical practices (PP) incorporating ER to support students’ creativity. The study also has theoretical value, offering insights into teachers’ PP in implementing ER.     

高职学生行业英语自主学习能力动态研究

通过问卷调查和访谈,对高职学生的行业英语自主学习能力展开了动态考察,并基于教师和环境两个因素探讨了其变化的归因情况。两次问卷数据对比显示,学生的行业英语自主学习能力存在提升的趋势,教师因素和环境因素对学生的自主学习有促进作用。访谈结果表明,教师教学理念和教学方法的更新以及自习环境和实践环境的建设有助于学生行业英语自主学习能力的提升,具体体现在行业英语学习兴趣的提高、自主学习意识的提升以及自我效能感的强化等方面。由此可见,教师合理有效的介入和理想的学习环境是促进学习者自主学习的必要条件。     

Why do final-year student teachers skip classes? A Chinese perspective

The lack of deep engagement in academic studies is strikingly noteworthy in current higher education; however, the problem of absenteeism has not yet received sufficient attention in the field of teacher education globally, in particular in the field of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher education at tertiary education level. The reasons for student absenteeism have been left unattended, which may cause the underlying crucial issues to be overlooked. Therefore, this longitudinal study investigated a cohort of 300 final-year Chinese EFL student teachers’ perceptions for their reasons for skipping classes. Questionnaires, semi-structured group interviews and class observations were employed complementarily to gather data. The main reasons for absenteeism are students’ obsession with employment, a series of curricular and pedagogical shortcomings and students’ limited self-discipline and management. Programme-wide support is necessary to address final-year student teachers’ concerns about employment prospects, and, most importantly, enhance their learning motivation and self-regulation abilities.     

Studying English with Thai and native‐speaking teachers

This research examined how students in foundation English classes perceive their Thai and native‐speaking teachers. The researchers surveyed students at five universities and compared a group of 600 students studying with native‐speaking teachers with another group of 600 students studying with Thai teachers in order to investigate three areas: (1) students’ previous background in English‐language learning, (2) students’ general opinions and preferences for studying English with Thai or native‐speaking teachers, and (3) student perceptions of studying with their current English teachers. Overall, most students had similar backgrounds and thought positively about their classroom teachers. However, there were differences in students’ teacher preferences for studying English; students more commonly preferred the type of teacher that was presently teaching them. This suggests that the type of teacher in the classroom does have some effect on students’ preferences and should be considered a factor when analysing research related to native‐speaking and nonnative‐speaking English teachers.     

Factors Influencing Entering Teacher Candidates’ Preferences for Instructional Activities: A glimpse into their orientations towards teaching

The present study was designed to identify and characterize the major factors that influence entering science teacher candidates’ preferences for different types of instructional activities, and to analyze what these factors suggest about teacher candidates’ orientations towards science teaching. The study involved prospective teachers enrolled in the introductory science teaching course in an undergraduate science teacher preparation program. Our analysis was based on data collected using a teaching and learning beliefs questionnaire, together with structured interviews. Our results indicate that entering science teacher candidates have strong preferences for a few activity types. The most influential factors driving entering science teacher candidates’ selections were the potential of the instructional activities to motivate students, be relevant to students’ personal lives, result in transfer of skills to non‐science situations, actively involve students in goal‐directed learning, and implement curriculum that represents what students need to know. This set of influencing factors suggests that entering science teacher candidates’ orientations towards teaching are likely driven by one or more of these three central teaching goals: (1) motivating students, (2) developing science process skills, and (3) engaging students in structured science activities. These goals, and the associated beliefs about students, teaching, and learning, can be expected to favor the development or enactment of three major orientations towards teaching in this population of future science teachers: “motivating students,” “process,” and “activity‐driven.”     

Student teachers’ practice and experience with differentiated instruction for students with higher learning potential

This article presents a qualitative study concerning student teachers’ understanding of differentiation for high-achieving secondary school students with higher learning potential. Predominantly using focus group interviews of Norwegian student teachers (N = 322), this study identified their understanding of the use and value of differentiation, drawing from their teaching practice and experience. This study supports the notion that student teachers lack confidence in enacting differentiation, despite being aware of its importance, when working with these students. We contend that teacher education needs to pay more attention to helping student teachers effectively differentiate to meet the needs of high-achieving students with higher learning potential.     

Exploring teachers’ beliefs about teacher learning in professional learning communities and their influence on collegial activities in two departments

Factors leading to successful professional learning communities (PLCs) have been widely discussed in the West, but little is known about how/whether teachers’ beliefs contribute to PLCs in the Chinese context. This qualitative case study aimed to investigate teachers’ beliefs about teacher learning in PLCs and their influence on collegial learning activities in two departments of a Hong Kong secondary school. Semi-structured interviews and observations were employed to collect data. The findings indicate that teachers in the Chinese Department believed that learning could be achieved in PLCs and their practices of collegial activities were conducive to teacher learning. Conversely, teachers in the English Department did not believe that interacting with colleagues would foster learning and their collegial activities yielded limited accomplishment in teacher growth. It is suggested that teachers’ beliefs play an important role in facilitating or impeding reform initiatives on teacher development. Implications for teacher education and further studies are discussed.     

Assessment for learning in constrained contexts: How does the teacher’s self-directed development play out?

This qualitative case study explores how a teacher directed himself in implementing assessment for learning (AfL) among his students in a constrained context (i.e., a lack of institutional support in offering effective teacher education programs). The data included a Chinese college English writing teacher’s reflections over two courses, interviews, and dialogues with the students, coupled with field notes. The qualitative analysis shows that in a constrained context, self-directed AfL was buttressed by the teacher's existent pedagogical knowledge. In the process, the teacher’s self-agency empowered him in synergizing existent knowledge with external resources and revamping his teaching based on the students’ needs as reflected through AfL. These student-centered practices contributed to reduced complexity of AfL implementation, and yielded a more or less beginning cycle: the students echoed the teacher’s purpose of assessment, which considered knowledge appropriation as pivotal, and the teacher felt professionally rewarded from self-directed development using assessment-based information to improve his instruction and benefit his students.     

Facts,Knowledge, and Skills in the Humanities

Abstract

English language learners (ELL) are students with a primary language spoken other than English enrolled in U.S. educational settings. As ELL students take on the challenges of learning English and U.S. culture, they must also learn academic content. The expectation to succeed academically in a foreign culture and language, while learning to speak and comprehend the language itself, would be a stressful and challenging task for almost anyone. In comparison with non-ELL students, ELL students tend to demonstrate lower levels of academic achievement. The current study examined ELL students' perceptions on teacher power and its' influences on self-perceptions of learner empowerment. Quantitative data was collected measuring perceptions of teacher power use and self-perceptions of learner empowerment. Qualitative data consisted of twenty in-depth interviews with ELL students illuminating their perceptions of teacher power and its relationship to their perceptions of learner empowerment. Differences were found by language in coercive, legitimate, and expert teacher power. Four themes emerged from interviews; what good teachers do, what bad teachers do, what teachers should know, and understanding ELL students. Implications for educators and future research are discussed.     

多媒体在农村英语课堂生成精彩

在中国农村,由于地域影响,缺乏学习英语的大环境,课堂不仅是教师激发学生学习兴趣,激励学生积极参与学习的主要平台,也是学生接触英语,学习英语的重要阵地,更是教师开发并提高学生自主学习能力与创新能力的主要场所之一。因而要求精心设计多媒体课件,激发学生的求知热情,发挥学生的主体性,挖掘学生的创新能力,实现快乐阅读,寓教于乐。     

Veteran teachers and technology: change fatigue and knowledge insecurity influence practice

In recent years, a significant problem that has manifested in the quest to capitalise on the pedagogical potential of technology in schools is that veteran teachers are unwilling to integrate these resources into their practices. Given that veteran teachers comprise up to 40% of teachers, their lack of use is important. This paper aims to shed light on the issue of detachment by presenting empirically based findings of a five-year, grounded theory examination of the technology practices of a small group of veteran teachers. Data included classroom observations, teacher interviews and document analysis of teacher and school planning documentation, student focus groups, interviews with teaching colleagues and key school technology personnel observation. Analysis included the application of the teachers’ data to a framework of dilemmas teachers encounter when expected to change their practice. In using this process, change fatigue and knowledge insecurity (brought about by cultural and political changes to their contexts) were prominent factors which contributed to the teachers’ lack of technology use. Identifying their challenges opened scrutiny to the myriad of factors they drew on when making decisions about how and whether to use technology in their practice. The longitudinal analysis of the data showed that as these dilemmas alleviated, the teachers became more committed to educational technology. The findings inform how we can move forward from the issue of veteran teachers’ lack of use of technology to how to support this group in the development of their practices. In particular, the need for a re-imagining of professional learning to one which focuses on reshaping cultural and political aspects of technology practices. This includes changes to the management of technology-related policy changes as well as facilitating learning communities that promote a valuing and sharing of relevant knowledge amongst teachers and students.     

Teacher feedback to student oral presentations in EFL classrooms: a case study

Whilst much research has been conducted on teacher feedback in various teaching and learning contexts, little is known about how teachers give feedback on student oral presentations to enhance students’ oral communicative skills in second-language (L2) education. Drawing on data from semi-structured interviews, this case study investigated the methods used by an experienced Chinese teacher of English as a Foreign Language to provide feedback on student oral presentation tasks. Data analysis revealed that the teacher gave oral comments mainly on pronunciation, content and logical thinking, and focused on PowerPoint design in his written commentary. The analysis also revealed that the teacher used the specific pattern of ‘praise-criticism-suggestion’ to comment on the students’ oral presentations. Relevant pedagogical implications for L2 teacher feedback practices and teacher-education programmes are discussed in the paper.     

Aesthetic Learning,Creative Writing and English Teaching

My article argues that the concept of ‘aesthetic learning’ can be helpful for English teachers on two levels. First, it can be a useful identity for English teachers and students to adopt, based upon my own experiences as a secondary English teacher, creative writer and PhD student. Second, I argue that ‘aesthetic learning’ is an effective and productive way of analysing some of the learning processes that happen in the English teacher’s classroom. In order to arrive at these conclusions, I examine my own creative writing, teaching and learning processes from which I extrapolate the notion that we are all ‘aesthetic learners’ in the sense that we learn to appreciate the qualities of the worlds we inhabit, whether these are actual or virtual. Throughout, my own writing, learning and teaching are used to illustrate my argument. In particular, the article seeks to re-position my own teaching in secondary schools within the context of ‘aesthetic learning’.     

英语话语结构实证研究

随着高等教育规模逐步扩大,一些专科院校升格为本科院校,使得教师的教学方式和英语话语作出了相应的调整和转型。教师英语话语直接影响到不同英语水平学生的学习效果,因此,既要培养学生树立良好的学习习惯,培养他们对英语学习的兴趣,又要加强英语教师的进修培训和知识更新,接受新的本科教学方法,不断提高教学水平。