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NATIONAL EVALUATION OF NOVICE ENGLISH TEACHERS’ LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY : NECESSITY OR INTRUSION?

MARTIN WEDELLSCHOOL OF EDUCATION

What do I know about language teaching / teacher education?

7 years living and working as a language teacher in Kenya, Saudi Arabia and UK

12 years living in China and Hungary planning, designing and teaching on pre-service language teacher education programmes at 4 different universities.

14 years at Leeds working with language teachers/ teacher educators / policy makers in/from Korea, China, Taiwan , Japan, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Burma, Nepal, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Turkey, Cyprus, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia, and teaching the Language Teacher Education modules on the MA TESOL.

My experience has been

that the outcomes of PRESETT for English teachers worldwide are rarely what is hoped-for.

Trainees’ language proficiency at the conclusion of the teacher education programmes is very often disappointing.

In a world in which the whole purpose for including English as a compulsory part of the school curriculum is to enable learners to develop communication skills, English teachers’ poor personal proficiency is one important factor contributing to the generally disappointing outcomes of school based English language education.

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Today – ‘lecture phase’

• look (briefly) at historical trends that have led to greater demands for institutional ‘accountability’

• look (briefly) at the ‘historical development’ of ideas about (language) teacher evaluation, and how evaluation of (trainee) English teachers’ language proficiency can be seen as a logical result of current trends.

• consider how / whether other countries formally evaluate trainee English teachers’ language proficiency

• look at research evidence from different contexts suggesting that personal language proficiency has an impact on teachers’ overall feelings of self efficacy, and so on what they feel able to do in their classrooms

Today – ‘workshop phase’

work together to discuss questions like:. what aspects of language teachers’ self efficacy may language

proficiency affect?

how may these effects influence what teachers are likely to do/avoid doing in language classrooms?

how may what teachers do /do not do in the classroom affect the range and types of experiences that learners have in the classroom?

. how may the experiences that learners do/do not have in the classroom affect their chances of meeting curriculum goals?

in order to draw shared conclusions about whether the national evaluation of trainee English teachers’ proficiency is a necessity or not?

Education systems in context

National Economic context

National Political context

Funding, resourcing, curriculum aims for the

Education System -

What is expected of universities-schools-

heads- teachers-learners

National Social context National Cultural context

Changing contexts changing expectations

Trend in most socio- political contexts since 1980s, has been to adopt a market driven model of economic growth.

Education is expensive and one effect of such a model has been the move towards developing means of ensuring greater ‘accountability’ from schools ( and universities) – entailing the development of

" process[es] by which school districts and states attempt to ensure that schools and school systems meet their goals" (Peters 1992: 189)

Accountability usually ‘measured’ in terms of learners’ academic achievement.

Evaluating teachers/teaching is part of ‘accountabilty’ trend.

(Language) Teacher evaluation

Evaluating teachers has been an educational activity since Socrates (Danielson and McGreal 2000)

BUT there was a long gap….. ………………………………. …………….Until 1940s and 50s, when systematic research into what makes ‘good teachers’ / what is ‘good teaching’, began.

Ideas about what good teaching/teachers might be like, of course has always mirrored ideas about learning/ learners

The behaviourist age

Behaviourist ideas broadly believe that all behaviours (such as learning and teaching) can be described scientifically through external observation of the visible without considering the influence of hypothetical internal and invisible constructs such as thoughts and beliefs.

1950s- Teacher traits- personal characteristics- Voice-appearance-warmth-enthusiasm

1960s - 80s Teacher effectiveness research- look at what teachers do in classrooms – what behaviours correlate with learner achievement?- develop a set of ‘fundamental teaching skills’ –develop rating scales to evaluate teachers against those skills

Good Language Teachers

Mostly based on asking language learners and showed that language proficiency was seen as one important factor

Eg: Girard (1977- French learners of English), teaches good pronunciation, explains clearly, speaks good English,

Eg: Brosh (1996)

• knowledge and command of the target language;

Teacher Evaluation – context universal- Evaluation fairly simple - based on visible behaviours / learner outcomes in ‘objective’ tests

Cognitive-constructivist-sociocultural ages

1990s onwards

• Learning has come to be seen as a far more complex, cognitive, interactive, individual, socio-culturally situated process

• The goals of ‘school’ education have moved from mostly enabling traditional, memory-based, learning of factual knowledge

• to developing learners’ abilities to use what they ‘know’ to ‘do’ things – think for themselves-solve problems-make connections-create new (personally-relevant) knowledge

From

- know about the structures of English in order to be able to to form correct sentences

To

– be able to use what you know about to ‘do’ things in English – become a ‘competent communicator’- someone who is able to create new, personally meaningful, utterances (Cook 1990).

The goals of learning English

(English) Teacher evaluation becomes more complex

If ‘good’ learning (of English) is understood to mean more than memorising knowledge as facts / information

Then ‘good’ teaching (of English) cannot any longer be just a process of effectively transmitting the same knowledge to all learners-

Instead it also involves on-going teacher learning of the skills needed to guide / scaffold / support different learners’ as they develop their ability to ‘do different things’ with what they know.

Teacher evaluation more complex, since ‘facilitating /scaffolding /support’ skills are difficult to define, evolve over time through experience and vary with context

A good English teacher

One aspect of a good English teacher that can potentially be evaluated in a context universal way is whether novice teachers’ language proficiency (and knowledge about language) is adequate to enable them both to

Share their knowledge about the language and how it ‘works’ ( the grammar / vocabulary ) in ways that make sense to learners… And

Support learners’ attempts to develop the ability to use this language knowledge for their own purposes

So an increasing concern with evaluating trainee English teachers’ language proficiency worldwide..

Oman, Mexico, MalaysiaInternational tests

Oman : teachers now are required to show an IELTS exam certificate of no less than 6.0 to be able to join Omani government schools as full-time teachers

Mexico: The teachers that train at universities are expected to achieve a language level of CEFR B2/C1. The exam they use to assess level is an adapted TOEFL.Malaysia In 2012 MOE has made it compulsory for the trainers in teacher education

institutes, teachers in school (both primary and secondary) and final year trainee teachers (TESL) to sit for Cambridge Placement Test (CPT). They are expected to achieve C2 (Mastery) (90-100%) OR at least C1 (Effective proficiency) (75-89%). Those who get B2 (Vantage) (60-74%) and below are expected to re-sit the test and attend English Language proficiency courses.

Hong Kong, Vietnam, Pakistan, China: Their own tests

Hongkong: Language Proficiency Assessment for Teachers (English Language) (LPATE) devised to provide an objective reference against which the language proficiency of primary/secondary English teachers can be gauged. Participating candidates are assessed by three pen-and-paper tests, a speaking assessment, and in their use of classroom language.

The high percentage of failure shows that the test is an effective tool for keeping the incompetent away from the classroom South China Morning Post 27. May 2013

Vietnam and Pakistan

Vietnam: There are new (2013) English language proficiency standards for teachers. Primary teachers need to get B2, lower secondary B2, high school C1, and university teachers C1 or C2 if they are teaching an English major programme. The current test is a hybrid developed by one of the Universities in Hanoi based on a mix of IELTS and TOEFL. Pakistan: according to new policy (2013) all candidates should be TEFL qualified if they want to be English teachers in primary and secondary state schools. They have to pass a National Diploma exam in English at the 50% + level.

China

In universities ( including Normal Universities), all students majoring in English have to take a national exam in the last year: Test for English Majors Grade Eight (TEM-8).

Nowadays many state primary and secondary schools include TEM-8 score in the selection criterion. Some major schools explicitly state in their requirements that only graduates with TEM-8 scores over 60 will be considered as candidates. But for ordinary schools and difficult schools, this criterion seems more flexible.

Burma ,India, Tanzania , Argentina NO additional national language proficiency tests

Burma there's only one exam which decides if education college graduate or university graduate can become a government school teacher. When they take the exam, English is one of the papers. Pass mark is 40 out of 100. However, due to shortage of teachers, it can be sometimes go down to 30 or 25. In some areas, teachers' language skills can be very limited.

India For teaching English in secondary (V-XII) candidates need to have B.Ed degree and also honours/masters in English literature in order to teach ESL. Unfortunately teachers coming from vernacular background often lack fluency in spoken English. However they are fluent in writing English.

Tanzania

Like the primary teachers, the Tanzanian secondary teachers who teach English do not undertake any other special exam or qualification for teaching English as a subject after their graduation. Secondary teachers who teach English are either graduates from Universities holding Bachelor Degrees or hold a Diploma from teachers training colleges.

Argentina

In general, most state teacher training schools in Argentina (both at university and tertiary level) begin instruction at a B1-B2 level (CEFR), that is (pre-) intermediate. By the time students graduate, they are expected to have a achieved level C2 (proficiency). To date, there are no official (national) tests for pre- or in-service teachers and exam modality depends on each individual institution. Rumour has it teacher assessment will be implemented in the near future.

Aim of learning English in Chile

The proposal states that the objectives of the course is to contribute to the students to acquire basic communicative skills in the language. They are expected to learn the English language in a contextualized and meaningful manner through authentic and communicative tasks that promote naturalness and spontaneity in English, and contribute to the development of the four language skills (listening, reading, speaking and expression written) and to further develop fluency and pronunciation…... (New curricular motion - optional-English 1 to 4th grade- MinEduc website)

Aim being met?

…the teaching and learning of English within the Chilean state schools system needs to be improved so that students leaving school can function in English. Grammar continues to dominate ELT in all areas: initial teacher training curricula and consequently classroom teaching and learning. A hitherto large proportion of teachers of English within the system who lack appropriate levels of English themselves, poorly resourced schools with large class sizes and a lack of motivation to learn English exacerbate the problem.(2004:1)

It is not unusual to find qualified English teachers in the state sector whose grasp of the language is at best rudimentary and who consider it normal to deliver the whole class in Spanish using a methodology firmly rooted in the Grammar Translation tradition. This is the challenge facing the present and future Chilean governments. (Connelly 2013)

Novice (English) teachers: In at the deep end

Teaching the only profession that makes same demands of novice as experienced practitioner (Peacock 2001) . The public expect that a new teacher is capable of doing their job.

So any country needs novice English teachers who can immediately begin to support learners’ achievement of national English curriculum aims in the classroom.

Research suggests that language teachers’ perceptions of how able they are to support the learners they will find in their classrooms ( their feelings of teaching efficacy) are linked to their feelings about their language proficiency.

Teaching Efficacy

Bandura ( 1997) Self efficacy - people's beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance

Self efficacy ( for English teachers) = how ‘capable’ teachers feel of using the teaching approaches that they have been encouraged to use to help their learners become ‘competent communicators’ (achieve curriculum aims).

Teachers with a high sense of teaching efficacy believe that all students can be teachable if the teacher considers learners’ needs and interests, uses imagination and is flexible.

Conversely, teachers with a low sense of teaching efficacy believe that there is little they can do to teach unmotivated students.

Teachers’ beliefs about their teaching efficacy will influence the kind of learning environment they create, and how they organise and support learning.

Supporting evidence 1. Venezuela

(Chacon 2005) 104 secondary EFL Teachers in a large urban area. Survey using a ‘Self Efficacy scale’ and Interviews with 20

It is important to note that EFL teachers’ confidence about their capabilities to teach English affects their perceived efficacy to bring about student change. Lack of competency in English influences teachers’ self-efficacy because in analyzing the teaching tasks, teachers will make judgments on their teaching competence to teach students speaking, listening, reading, and writing in English. 269

EFL teachers’ confidence about their capabilities to teach English affects their perceived efficacy to bring about student change.[…] Thus, lower efficacy in teaching English would lead teachers to put less effort in motivating students to learn and value English learning. Conversely, if teachers’ perceived efficacy in English is high, they will be more likely to engage students in mastery experiences that lead to use English as a means to communicate:269

Iran

Eslami and Fatahi 2008. 40 EFL teachers from secondary schools in Tehran . Questionnaires

The most important finding was the positive relationship between perceived level of language proficiency and sense of self-efficacy. The higher the teachers' perceived proficiency in language skills, the more efficacious they felt.

Moreover, the higher the teachers' sense of self- efficacy the more tendency they had to use communicative-based strategies in their classes and inclination to focus more on meaning rather than accuracy

Turkey

Yilmaz 2011 looked at the relationships between Turkish primary and secondary school teachers’ perceptions of self-efficacy, English proficiency, and instructional strategies

Results indicated that teachers' perceived efficacy was correlated with their self-reported English proficiency

Korea-Taiwan and Japan

Butler (2004) 522 primary teachers in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan, were given two questionnaires, one that asked them to rate the importance of various aspects of the English curriculum for achieving curriculum goals, second survey to self assess own proficiency vs the level needed to successfully teach English at the primary level.

The second survey showed consistent gaps in all three countries between the teachers’ self-assessed language proficiency (referred to hereafter as self-assessed current proficiency) and the proficiency they believed would enable them to teach elementary school English most effectively (referred to hereafter as desired proficiency).These gaps appeared when overall English was considered as well as when the linguistic skills were examined separately.(257)

So What?

Evidence from very different contexts suggests that teachers are very aware of their own language proficiency and that their perceptions of their proficiency influences the decisions they make about what they do and do not do in the classroom.

Personal language proficiency is NOT the ONLY factor to influence what teachers do and do not do in the classroom, but is ONE important factor.

So how might English teachers perceptions of their own language proficiency affect what happens in their classrooms ?

Questions arising

1. What differences might be visible in English classes taught by trainee English teachers with higher and lower perceptions of their own language proficiency, for example in terms of the :

• aspects of language / skill development that are emphasised? • range / types of teaching methods / approaches they use?• way grammar and vocabulary are taught?• way textbooks are used ?• types / range of topics and activities used?• balance between individual-pair-group-whole class working?• openness to /interest in/ consideration of learners’ needs and interests?• extent to which learners are encouraged to (begin to) be ‘autonomous’?• balance between use of L1 and L2 in the classroom? • purposes for which L1 and L2 are used in the classroom?• opportunities provided for learners’ free use of L2 in the classroom? • responses to error / mistakes?• focus and format of learner assessment? Any other differences………………………………………………????

Teachers who believe that their own language proficiency is HIGH

More Likely to

Teachers who believe that their

Less Likely to

own language proficiency is LOW

Low sense of own proficency likely to:

Stay in comfort zone…grammar .. Assign grammar tasks to keep the SS baffled.. Especially if sense that SS know more than them..

Stick to textbook…as ,the bible, Limiting range of . Materials SS have access to

Teachers completely control lessons (for own neds)??) and not consider SS needs.. Interests or develop SS autonomy

Copy what other (unconfident??) teachers are doing

Use L1 to teach grammar as forms

Keep teacher fronted- whole class- few opps top collabaorate- emph receptive skills

Controlled use of language.. Patterns drills .. Predictablity

Limit range of inputs

KEEP CONTROL

High sense of own proficiency likely to

Teach gram in L2 ( mostly) in context

Take note of learners as people with expereinces and interests

Range of tasks and techniques

More interssting and varied activities.. Uncontrolled use of language not a threat..

HIGH proficiency more likely to

• Use L2 most of the time in the classroom

• Teach grammar and vocabulary in context

• Recognise that learners are different

• Provide a range of /contexts topics/activities to stimulate language use ( using learner experiences/interests when possible)

• Encourage learner initiation of ideas/opinions – (autonomy?)

• Provide opportunities for ‘uncontrolled’ language use

• Vary classroom working according to task/activity focus- whole class-individual-pair-group

• Use learners’ ability to express meaning rather than just accuracy of form as an important measure of progress

• Develop a relaxed classroom atmosphere

LOW proficiency more likely to

• Use L1 in the classroom

• Teach grammar and vocabulary in a decontextualised manner with a focus on correctness rather than meaning

• Stick closely to limited range of materials- the textbook?

• Take little or no interest in learners as individuals with experiences/interests.

• Avoid oral activities- or limit them to very controlled use of language

• Stress accuracy and over fluency in assessment –error correction

• Discourage learner initiation

• Maintain teacher fronted-whole class working

• Maintain formal classroom atmosphere

Evaluating trainee English teachers’ language

proficiency : necessity or intrusion?

Implications for teacher education

If we want our trainees to leave/graduate able to pass whatever test is decided, and feeling that they have a high level of personal language proficiency

Implications for the language training parts of the Language teacher curriculum

What form do these take at the moment?

Is what we currently see happening in trainee language classes more like the HIGH or the LOW proficiency classrooms?

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There are some very innovative approaches to trainees’ language development already happening at some Chilean universities.

National evaluation may speed up the need for curriculum changes elsewhere

Any change means ‘work’ and effort

But …if it leads to a new generation of confident HIGH proficiency teachers, able to help their learners feel that English classes are interesting and worthwhile..

The effort will be worth it!

Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman.

Brosh, H. 1996. Perceived Characteristics of the Effective Language Teacher. Foreign Language Annals May 1996: 125-136.

Butler,Y.G. 2004 What Level of English Proficiency Do Elementary School Teachers Need to Attain to Teach EFL? Case Studies from Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. TESOL Quarterly 38/2: 245–278,

Chacon, C, 2005. Teachers’ perceived efficacy among English as a foreign language teachers in middle schools in Venezuela. Teaching and Teacher Education 21: 257–272

Connelly, T. 2013 . ELT in Chile: A critical perspective. Santiago. British Council

Cook,G. 1990. Discourse. Cambridge. CUP

Danielson,C and McGreal T.L. 2000 Teacher Evaluation. Princeton. Educational Testing Service

Eslami, Z & Fathami, A. 2008 Teachers’ Sense of Self-Efficacy, English Proficiency, and Instructional Strategies: A Study of Nonnative EFL Teachers in Iran. TESL: EJ Volume 11 /4. http://tesl-ej.org/ej44/a1.html (accessed 25.11.2013)

Girard, D. 1977. Motivation: the responsibility of the teacher. ELT Journal, 31, 97–102.

Ministry of Education Chile and British Council . 2004. Initial (Pre-Service) Education for Teachers of English: What can be learned from the International Experience? Santiago

Peacock, M 2001 Pre-service ESL teachers' beliefs about second language learning: A longitudinal study System 29/2: 177–195

Peters,M. 1992.Performance indicators in New Zealand higher education : Accountability or control? Journal of Education Policy,7/3 :267-283.

Yilmaz, C 2011. Teachers' perceptions of self-efficacy, English proficiency, and instructional strategies Social Behaviour and Personality. An International Journal. Volume 39/1.

References

m.wedell@education.leeds.ac.uk