THE REFLECTIVE ASSIGNMENT ON THE READING THE CASE FOR TEACHERS’ CLASSROOM ENGLISH PROFICIENCY

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL 97 Vo Van Tan, District 3, HCMC, Vietnam ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET AND REPORT – MTESOL017A Student name and number: Tran Tuan Khanh - 1781401110010 Name of Coursework Subject: Theories of Language Teaching and Learning Title of This Item of Work: THE REFLECTIVE ASSIGNMENT ON THE READING: THE CASE FOR TEACHERS’ CLASSROOM ENGLISH PROFICIENCY Name of Lecturer: Nguyen Dinh Thu (PhD TESOL) Due Date: 26/02/2018 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP: I certify that the above assignment is my original work; it is based on my own research All sources used by me have been documented No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement This piece of work has not previously been submitted for assessment in this or any other subjects or courses at this University or elsewhere Date: …………………………… Signature: …………………… Student HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL 97 Vo Van Tan, District 3, HCMC, Vietnam Student name: Tran Tuan Khanh Student number: 1781401110010 Name of Coursework Subject: Theories of Language Teaching and Learning Title of This Item of Work: THE REFLECTIVE ASSIGNMENT ON THE READING: THE CASE FOR TEACHERS’ CLASSROOM ENGLISH PROFICIENCY Name of Lecturer: Nguyen Dinh Thu (PhD TESOL) Due Date: 26/02/2018 CONTENTS Introduction Summary of The article Critique and Response 4 Questions Conclusion REFERENCES 10 Introduction As English has been more and more popular and becomes an important factor in almost all fields, many questions and problems in language teaching has arisen, especially How teachers teach English effectively? To answer this question, many people have considered the teachers’ ability towards any fields they teach is the most important factor This means a good Math teacher must be a Math specialist, a good politics teacher must be a good politician or a good English teacher must be native-like Basing on this view, many programs have been launched in order to develop teacher’s general english fluency For example, in Vietnam, the National Foreign Language Project, known as “NFL 2020” or “Project 2020” aims to improve both student and teacher English proficiency but the effect is still questioned and controversial On the other hand, other scholars focused on different approach which emphasizes the Teachers classroom English proficiency or English-for-Teaching rather than General English Proficiency only This approach is clarified by Donald Freeman with the article “The case for Teachers’s classroom English Proficiency”1 Summary of The article The article demonstrates that the regular attitude which gives prominence to the effect of general English proficiency towards classroom language teachers need in order to teach is not sufficient and persuasive Therefore, Teachers training course which concentrates on general English proficiency of the teachers does not directly address the teachers’ particular professional needs Moreover, the act of trying to find problems in teaching quality just ends up in judgements on teachers general English proficiency, not on How teachers use the language on their own job The demonstration has been clarified by unveiling the improper basement of the equation of general English proficiency with Classroom Teaching Competence The article is publised on RELC Journal 2017, Vol 48(1) 31-52, access on sagepub.co.uk/journalspermissions.nav First, the idea of ‘Native-speakerism’ has equated language competence with effective classroom teaching This idea asserts that ‘native speakers’ is the best model and teacher of English will bring up “Western culture” for both English language and the teaching methodology (Holliday, 2005) It means ‘native speakers’ are good English teachers because they can interpret cultural and linguistic knowlege into both the content and processes of classroom teaching In fact, Jenkins (2000) and Braine (1999) have argued that linguistic, sociolinguistic or pragmatic terms understanding cannot determine ‘native’ standard Furthermore, this point of view has overemphasized the importance of context on learning process When Native-speakerism connects content knowledge with pedagogy and with teacher identity towards a goal of learning that students are able to use the target language like natives It has implied that teaching causes learning Second, the role of language use is mischaracterized towards Teaching performance As the CEFR - The Common European Framework for Languages (2001) has become one of the most popular measurements in English language proficiency determination, Teacher performance is currently measured by this tool It has been argued that the function of CEFR is just intended to determine how good a language learners/users use the language in social contexts However, English teaching performance requires language use in teaching context It is supplemented by the ideas of purpose and use in Language for Specific purposes (LSP) approach to materials development and teaching English for specific purposes (LSP) course is defined by Trace et al (2015) as courses which content, objectives, materials, teaching, methodology and assessment practices all have their root from specific and target language use with a certain set of specialized needs While general English provides language resources for the teacher, it might not be the key for them to unlock their teaching performance development Finally, the idea that general English proficiency is the language resource needed for ELT teachers to their job and should support the individual teacher’s purposes in classroom teaching has leads to insufficient thinking At first, it turns back to the idea of ‘nativespeakerism’ that when some people reach the ‘native’ standard of language, they are wellprepaired to teach Secondly, with this idea, the contribution of teacher’s language use in the classroom to student learning is understandable to a certain extent Conceptually, the more regularly teachers use the target language, the more authentically students can use However, for this language use, research also specified concrete practices that teachers can use to support students language learning but these practices are not innate for ‘native speaker’ Third, the assumptions that general English proficiency directly and automatically qualifies some to teach as well as the teacher’s general English proficiency directly and automatically improves student learning outcomes has contributed to creating a situation that undermines sense of teaching competence for the majority of ELT teachers around the world To build up the new approach for the improvement of English teaching, Freeman has suggested the construct of English-for-teaching which is defined by Young et al (2014) as The essential English language skills a teacher needs to be able to prepare and enact the lesson in a standardized (usually national) curriculumn in English in a way that is recognizable and understandable to other speakers of language The construct framework is constituted by three functional areas including managing the classroom, understanding and communicating lesson content, assessment and giving feedbacks This new approach asserts that English-for-Teaching is not only a specific form of English that teachers use in teaching, but using that language is also not simply derived from general proficiency English-for-teaching combines linguistic resources with methodology so that by using that language, teacher is enacting efficient forms of instruction 3 Critique and Response Throughout the main points declared by the article, I appreciate the study and agree with the idea to change the way we think about how to enhance the teaching performance of English language teachers by some reasons The first reason is the recognition of Teachers as reflective practitioners As teaching is seen not just as a series of predetermined and presequenced procedures but as a context-sensitive action grounded in intellectual thought Teachers are seen not as passive transmitters of received knowledge but as problem-solvers possessing “the ability to look back critically and imaginatively to cause-effect thinking, to derive explanatory principles, to task analysis, also to look forward, and to anticipatory planning” (Kumaravadivelu, 2003) Accordingly, it is not equitable to evaluate teacher ability on their general English skills or general English fluency but on their problems solving skills during handling classes The solution teachers select to support each types of learners to learn or deal with special situation in classroom is more important than how fluency they are with their own English skills which are not a prerequisite language learning outcome Another reason is the debate on the idea that considered Teachers as passive techinicians In this approach, the teachers play their role in the classroom as a conduit, transfering information from one end of the educational spectrum to the other without any significant changes in the content This traditional approach to language teaching base on the theory that while theorist conceive and construct knowledge, teachers understand and implement knowledge without any new updates, reflections or contribution to enlarge that knowledge Therefore, if teachers are “native-like” speakers but they just take advantage of their knowledge about general English language regardless of the language required in Teaching, they are only passive technicians This approach is considered “so passive, so unchallenging, so boring that teachers often lose their sense of wonder and excitement about learning to teach” (Kincheloe, 1993) On the other hand, the reflective approach to language teaching is more supportive for the need of a training course for teachers to improve Classroom English proficiency indirectly by other activities In the book named “training foreign language teachers: A reflective approach” (1991), Michael give advices on the application of reflective approach to various fields of teacher development, such as classroom observation, microteaching, and teacher educationn With the same study range, Jack Richards and Charles Lockhart (1994) introduce second language teachers two ways of exploring and reflecting upon their classroom experiences, using a carefully structured approach to self-observation and self-evaluation Furthermore, Freeman (1998) demonstrates how practicing teachers can transform their classroom work by doing teacher research He provides teacher-research cycle mapping out the steps and skills associated with each part of the research process These studies have provided evidence on the essentials of many skills teachers need for to facilitate their teaching performance, not just basic language skills The next reason is based on constructivism theory of learning For this theory, learning is defined as a process that involves active construction not passive acquisition (Duffy, T M., and D J Cunningham, 1996) Under constructivist theory, the integration of new knowledge chunks needs to be process by students’ reflection on what they are learning Stimulus-response teaching environment not cause such learning, this style of learning occurs in a classroom which appreciates reflection and abstract thingking (Von Glasersfeld, 1983) Students need to aware of both what they are learning and how they are learning Hence, absolute basement on teacher’s language fluency role on students’ language learning is flawed when students need to be selfdependent on their learning Teachers, when act as a facilitator, need to acquire English used for Teaching that best support as a tool to motivate learners Additionally, the construct of English-for-teaching is vital for English teachers by some inferences from studies Firstly, constructivist teaching asks teachers to respond naturally to student confusion and discovery (Schifter, 1996) That means teachers should acquire Englishfor-teaching to use their language properly for different classroom situation from asking questions, giving feedbacks, processing on testing, introducing new class activities, etc These language is not the same as what people have been known as General English Another aspect we need to include is the challenge for teachers as they need to constantly nourish a creative mind in exploring new ways of teaching methods and language By these updated solutions they can link precommunicative activities, in which learners are focusing on form, with communicative activities, in which learners are trying to conveying meaning for its own sake (Klapper, 2006) To overcome this challenge, teachers might not exclude the self updating of English-for-Teaching Another inference from this quote has reminded us about a state of flux of language teaching: “Teaching is an art as well as a science [ ] There can be no “one best method”, however much research evidence supports it, which applies at all times and in all situations, with every type of learners Instead, teachers ‘read’ and interpret the changing dynamics of the learning context from moment to moment, and take what seem to them to be appropriate contingent actions, in the light of largely implicit, proceduralized pedagogic knowledge” (Mitchell, R., Myles, F., Marsden, E., 1998) When handling these changes, teachers applied English-for-Teaching on three functional areas as stated in the latter article In spite of my agreement on the proposal of English-for-Teaching idea from the article, I have to argue on the negligence of general English fluency role on language teaching While general English fluency is not totally related to English-for-Teaching, it is a minimum requirement for a teacher of English However, at first we need to determine what is general English fluency In Vietnam, the CEFR has been used to measure English performance of both teachers and learners For different thresholds, teachers must acquire certain grade in this framework Thus, general English fluency will be considered differently for different classes This kind of fluency is not equal to “native-like” Specifically, teachers who would like to teach English must posess at least the fluency in four skills in order to answer students’s questions about the language knowledge as well as determine whether students’ language use is right or wrong, natural or translate words by words, easy to understand or not, etc For this reason, if teachers themselves not good at their own language skills, they cannot help learners to be good language users As a contribution to the article content on English-for-Teaching course, many studies have shown the other factor which is essential for good language teacher - Beliefs First, Pajares noted that teachers’ beliefs have a greater influence than the teachers’ knowledge on the way they plan their lessons, on the kinds of decisions they make, and on their general classroom practice (Pajares, 1992) Moreover, Davis and Andrzejewski (2009) asserted that beliefs perform their effect in a way which is similar to “lens on a manifying glass” They become a primary instruction towards the interpretation of what may be ambiguous or unfocused and a tool to make it clear because Teachers explain vague situations in ways that are consistent with their beliefs Beliefs also serve as a foundation for setting goals and standards also base on beliefs by framing what is viewed in detail and focusing on teachers’ attention and energy Finally, Garton (2011) concluded that teachers’ beliefs in teaching and learning have a great influence on their teaching These assertions contributed to the plausibility of the article as teaching performance is affected by other factors-beliefs rather than general English fluency, which is build up during their teaching experience and even the learning progress These partly encourage the viewpoint that it is exceedingly necessary to develop both English-for-Teaching and others factors to improve teaching performance Questions • • • How a course of English-for-Teaching establish? What will be included in the syllabus of English-for-Teaching courses? If a teacher who is not good at English but he/she would like to become a Teacher of English, he/she can teach English after finishing English-for-Teaching course? Or he/she needs to attend both a general English class and English-for-Teaching class and have been acknowledged by both of these classes? • In fact, there remains the conflict between the people who have acquired high level of English proficiency (IELTS 8.0, 8.5) but they are not good at teaching and the others who can teach very well but cannot pass IELTS 7.0-8.0 Specifically, the first subject is the one who can the test and use target language fluently but they not have the ability to explain what they have known to help the others understand The second subject is the one who can explain and transfer what they knew to the others effectively but they are not very good at using the target language Hence, How can we eradicate this conflict? Do we need to design different training courses for these two subjects? For example, with the first subject, we design an English-for-Teaching course with concentration mostly on three functional areas including managing the classroom, understanding and communicating lesson content, assessment and giving feedbacks as specified in the article For the second subject, we design another English-for-Teaching course which focuses primarily on skills of English Conclusion To sum up, after reading carefully the article and other sources from the learning materials of this course, I have changed my viewpoint about teaching and learning In the past, I totally believe that the one who is good at general English (language use) is of course a good teacher During my experience as a teacher of English and observation to native English teacher class, although I have seen many classes are run poorly by the native speaker, I consider that as a western style of teaching and somehow this poor performance is created from the language gap of the students as they cannot understand what the native speaker said However, now I realise that this is mainly from the lack of teaching skills and the ability to smartly choose the suitable language for different classroom circumstances The teachers with general English fluency should not use what they knew or regularly spoke with their students They need to sort their language out to maximize the learning opportuity of the language students REFERENCES Braine, G (1999) Non-native Educators in English Language Teaching Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Crick, R (2006) Learning Power: What is it? In Learning Power in Practice: A Guide for Teachers London: Paul Chapman Publishing Davis, H and Andrzejewski, C (2009) Teacher Beliefs The Gale Group Duffy, T M., and D J Cunningham (1996) Constructivism: Implications for the design and delivery of instruction In The handbook of research for education and technology Indiana University Europe, C (2001) Common European Framework for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Freeman, D (1998) Doing Teacher Research: From Inquiry to Understanding Heinle ELT Garton, S., Copland, F., & Burns, A (2011) Investigating global practices in teaching English to young learners London: British Council Holliday, A (2005) The Struggle to Teach English as An International Language Oxford: Oxford University Press Jenkins, J (2000) The Phonology of English as an International Language: New Models, New Norms, New Goals Oxford: Oxford University Press Kincheloe, J (1993) Toward a critical politics of teacher training Westport, CT: Bergin Klapper, J (2006) How students learn languages: Insights from SLA In Understanding and Developing Good Practice Birmingham: CiLT Kumaravadivelu, B (2003) Conceptualizing Teaching Acts In B Kumaravadivelu, Beyond methods: Macrostrategies for Language Teaching (5-22) Mitchell, R., Myles, F., Marsden, E (1998) Second Language Learning Theories Routledge Pajares, M F (1992) Teachers‘ beliefs and educational research: Cleaning Up a Messy Construct Review of Educational Research, 62(3), 307-332 Richards, C., J and Lockhart, C (1994) Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classrooms UK: Cambridge University Press Schifter, D (1996) A Constructivist perspective on teaching and learning mathematics In C T Fosnot, Constructivism: Theory, perspectives and practice ed New York: Teacher's College Press Trace, J., Hudson, T., and Brown, J., D (2015) An overview of language for specific purposes In J H Trace, Developing Courses in Languages for Specific Purposes Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Von Glasersfeld, E (1983) Learning as constructive activity In J C Herscovics, Proceedings of the 5th annual meeting of the North American Group of PME ed Montreal Wallace, M J (1991) Training Foreign Language Teachers: A Reflective Approach UK: Cambridge University Press Young, J., W., Freeman, D., Hauck, M., Garcia G, P., and Papageorgiou, S (2014) A Design Framework for the ELTeach Program Assessments Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service  ... proficiency or English -for- Teaching rather than General English Proficiency only This approach is clarified by Donald Freeman with the article ? ?The case for Teachers’s classroom English Proficiency? ??1... teacher English proficiency but the effect is still questioned and controversial On the other hand, other scholars focused on different approach which emphasizes the Teachers classroom English proficiency. .. Coursework Subject: Theories of Language Teaching and Learning Title of This Item of Work: THE REFLECTIVE ASSIGNMENT ON THE READING: THE CASE FOR TEACHERS’ CLASSROOM ENGLISH PROFICIENCY Name of