The factors contributing to language teachers’ effectiveness in an EFL learning context: A questionnaire validation study (original) (raw)

Characteristics of effective EFL instructors: Language teachers’ perceptions versus Learners’ perceptions

International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 2014

Improving the field of foreign language teaching without improving the qualities of the teachers seems impossible. This attempt, at first hand, requires recognizing the qualities of effective EFL teachers. The aim of this study was to find what foreign language instructors perceive to be the most important characteristics of a successful EFL teacher. In addition, the teachers’ perception was compared to that of learners’ to see whether there were discrepancies between the two groups’ perceptions regarding the preferable characteristics of an effective English language instructors or not. A 58-item questionnaire was administered to teachers at a prominent language institute in Iran. This questionnaire was divided into eight sections and addressed issues relating to teachers’ personal qualities, command in English, teaching methods and evaluation methods they used within the class, mastery over teaching, teacher-student relation, class management and finally language skills management. Teachers were asked to specify the importance of each item in the questionnaire using terms like not important at all, somehow important, important and finally very important. Basic statistics were used to convert the qualitative results into quantitative ones for easier comparison. Interestingly however, the study revealed that the students’ perceptions and teachers’ perceptions do not differ in major ways although there are slight discrepancies.

EFL teachers’ perceived language proficiency and teaching effectiveness

Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics

The importance of language teachers possessing high level of language proficiency has been extensively studied. On the other hand, studies related to teaching effectiveness (TE) have yet to define the concept of teaching effectiveness, and studies to relate teacher language proficiency (TLP) and TE, especially in Indonesian context are found to be scarce. In addition, the lack of both clear guidelines on how to assess TLP and current and official data of TLP in Indonesia only exacerbate this matter. Thus, the objective of this study was to find the relation between TLP and TE in the context of a language school in Bandung and the perception of its teachers on the role of TLP in the effectiveness of their teaching process. Using a mixed-methods sequential explanatory research design, the result of the data collection was then cross tabulated and analysed using Fisher-Freeman-Halton exact test. It was found that there was a strong positive relation between TLP and the two aspects of T...

An exploration of EFL teaching practices in light of teachers’ language proficiency

Elia, 2021

The influence of target language proficiency on language teaching practices is not a new area of research; nevertheless, there is still lack of knowledge since some research results have yield weak and inconclusive findings in different contexts. This research examines the relationship between EFL teachers' language proficiency and their teaching practices. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was followed and two data collection instruments were used: an English proficiency test, to determine the EFL teachers' proficiency level and a class observation scheme, to record instructional practices of seventeen EFL teachers systematically. The percentage of time spent on the different categories of the first part of the scheme and proportions of each category of the second part of the scheme were calculated to perform a Spearman correlation test. After that, a qualitative analysis of the teaching practices was conducted in order to get a deeper understanding of the quan...

EFL Teachers' Knowledge of Teaching English

There are many factors which influence the process of teaching English as a foreign language. One of the most influential in the process of teaching English is teachers' knowledge of teaching English. Knowledge of teaching English plays an important role in teachers' effectiveness and their choice of instructional practices. The total sampling of 133 Indonesian EFL teachers with different years of teaching experiences were participated in this study. After obtaining the raw data, the SPSS software (version 20) was used to analyze the data. The findings showed that the most dominant element of EFL teachers' knowledge of teaching English is teaching skills, and there is a significant influence of EFL teachers' teaching skills to their practices of teaching English. This research also indicated that there are no significant differences among the years of EFL teachers' teaching experiences toward their knowledge of teaching English.

EFL teachers’ perceptions and practices of their language assessment knowledge

Language Testing in Asia

Research on language assessment knowledge (LAK) of teachers has focused on two major topics: identifying the LAK needs of teachers and developing appropriate LAK tests. Although the prior research findings significantly contributed to our understanding of the parameters of LAK, they were mostly quantitative and did not provide much information about EFL teachers’ perceptions and applications of their LAK in a direct and face-to-face situation. Therefore, this qualitative study was designed to shed light on some key issues related to teachers’ LAK using semi-structured interviews. The issues included EFL teachers’ perception of their LAK and their utilization of LAK in their teaching. The participants were 11 teachers with a high level of LAK and 10 teachers with a low level of LAK determined by their performance on a LAK test. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and content analyzed. The findings did not reveal significant differences in the responses provided by the two grou...

Development and Validation of Language Assessment Literacy Scale for High School EFL Teachers: A Mixed Methods Approach

Teaching English Language Journal, 2021

Teachers need to keep up to date with a set of clear and common expectations and formidable challenges that arise in classroom assessment practices. Defining and conceptualizing of language assessment literacy have been the subject of much debate, especially with regard to detecting and defining the main components of language assessment literacy for language teachers (Levi literacy and define the main components of language assessment literacy based on the EFL teachers' perceptions. The proposed model consists of three elements, namely awareness of language pedagogy, assessment principles and interpretation, assessment policy and local practices. In the second stage of the present study, to ensure reliability and validity of the scale, 203 Iranian EFL teachers with the age range between 22 to 55 were asked to complete the newly-developed instrument. Finally, to measure the EFL teachers' language assessment literacy, 41 five-point Likert-scale items were developed. Based on all validation and statistical procedures, the newly-developed scale can be considered a valuable tool for measuring high school EFL teachers' language assessment literacy.

Language Teacher Candidates' Self-Assessment Process for Teaching to Young Learners in EFL Classes

Teaching a foreign language to young learners have some differences from teaching adults. Young children have concentration problems and they tend to change their mood every ten minutes and need more creative activities than adults. Therefore, foreign language teachers have to choose interesting activities for them and foreign language teacher candidates should learn the correct methods and techniques during their training period. Although some teacher candidates think the solution for training is simply to get all theoretical knowledge, some of them think that solution lies in encouraging the teacher candidates to create their own activities. This descriptive action research paper arises of a quantitative study the purpose of which is to seek the process of ELT students' development and reflection on teaching English to children. In order to find out language teacher candidates' ideas about how they improve themselves, five-point Likert scale was prepared. Data collection was achieved by giving the same questionnaires at the beginning and the end of the term at One State University, ELT students in the academic year 2015–2016. 16 male and 32 female students answered the questionnaire. The data were analysed using factor analyses and Levene Test. Findings were examined and some suggestions that focused on language teacher training candidates were put forward.

Exploring EFL teachers’ English language proficiency: Lessons from Indonesia

Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics

This paper reports on a study looking at the reading and writing proficiency and vocabulary knowledge of Indonesian EFL teachers, the relationship between proficiency and years of service, and the teachers’ own perceptions of their proficiency in English. Three proficiency tests (Vocabulary Levels Test/VLT, Reading and Writing Tests), questionnaire, and interview were used to collect data. The results point to mixed levels of English language proficiency, negative correlations between years of service and vocabulary, reading and writing test results, and that teachers themselves had difficulties in judging their own English language proficiency. Factors that inhibit the capacity of teachers to focus on their English proficiency are presented. Limitations of the study as well as implications for EFL teachers’ professional development (PD) and future research are also discussed.

Investigating Language Assessment Knowledge of EFL Teachers  İngilizceyi Yabancı Dil Olarak Öğreten Öğretmenlerin Dilde Ölçme Değerlendirme Bilgilerinin Araştırılması

The purpose of this study is to provide an overall picture regarding general and skill-based Language Assessment Knowledge (LAK) level of English teachers working in Turkish higher education context by using Language Assessment Knowledge Scale (LAKS) developed by Ölmezer-Öztürk and Aydın (2018). The scale including 60 items with four constructs was completed by 542 EFL teachers working at schools of foreign languages. The statistical findings revealed that in terms of LAK level of the teachers, the participants got, on average, 25 out of 60. The results of one sample t-test revealed that the score the teachers got from the scale was significantly lower than half of the total score. It was also found that the teachers were the most knowledgeable in assessing reading whereas they had the lowest score in assessing listening. Besides, except for being a testing office member, no significant impact of demographic features was found on LAK level of the participants. Finally, the present study offers several suggestions both for future studies and for policy makers to improve EFL teachers’ language assessment literacy on assessing each skill.

Development of Teaching Effectiveness Scale for Teachers Teaching Esl or Efl

Language teaching is called to be a foundation teaching because without learning the language effectively, the learner will not be able to learn and understand any subject. The second language also keeps the same importance because the knowledge is found in many languages and the second language plays a role in being a bridge to reach the knowledge available in other languages. In India and many other countries, the English language is taught as a second language (ESL) or a Foreign Language (EFL). English is accepted as the most spoken language around the world either as a first language as a second language or a foreign language. Teachers who are teaching English in India should competent to use it effectively otherwise the learners may not learn it as effectively as they need to be. We have developed an observation schedule for teachers who were teaching ESL or EFL in their respective classes. In this article, the procedure and steps of developing this observation schedule have be...