An analysis of the role of teachers in oral English classes in Chinese middle schools
Abstract
The increased advancement in technology has turned the world into global village. Large percent of people rely on the internet for their daily activities ranging from food shopping to business interaction at global levels. However, even with the increased advancement in technology, classroom teaching in China is still the main avenue for people to learn English. The main method of teaching is the traditional exam oriented method. The traditional relationship of the English teachers and students in language class is a simple process which entailed pass information and to receive knowledge. This occurs in more than two thirds of Middle school in Shanghai, China. Consequently, the learners oral English has continued to deteriorate in the past few years. The aim of this paper is to analyze the middle school student’s mode of English and teaching and learning by evaluating role played by their teachers. This paper will give a careful analysis on the student learning in order to give emphasis on the necessity of changing role English teaching and learning.
An analysis of the role of teachers in oral English classes in Chinese middle schools
Table of Contents
1.1 Justification and rationale
2.1 Notion or role in English Language Teaching (ELT)
2.2 Traditional teaching roles
2.3 Paradigm of change: More focus to the learner
2.3 Task Based Language teaching approach (TBLT)
3.1 Selection of research methods
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Language education is an integral political project. It is the most basic strategy for ensuring all-round development in rural areas of China. Middle schools English teaching as well as learning plays a vital role in the whole process of language learning. A solid foundation in middle school is essential in helping the students in their future learning process. Until today, there is little empirical research on English learning in middle school in China. However, the teaching modes and patterns commonly used in the learning institutions is text-book centered, teacher centered and grammar centered. During the teaching and the learning process, teacher is the core center as learning is dominated by approximately 41.3% of the entire learning processes. In terms of homework, 46% of it is written and will only give 6% oral communication exercises (Zhang, 2010).
Generally speaking, English teaching and learning in China middle school comprises of listening, speaking, writing and reading. Little attention is paid in listening and comprehension it is not often included in exams. In most cases, the teachers have English pronunciation problems.
The traditional relationship of the English teachers and students in language class is a simple process which entailed pass information and to receive knowledge. This occurs in more than two thirds of Middle school in Shanghai, China. In this kind of relationship, the teacher is considered as the authority, which is emphasized by the Chinese culture where the youth are expected to be respectful to the elders; with the advancement of the Chinese society, the traditional role of Chinese language teachers is undergoing numerous controversies. The aim of this paper is to analyze the middle school students learning as characterized by the role played by their teachers. This paper will give a careful analysis on the student learning in order to give emphasis on the necessity of changing role English teaching and learning (Willis and Willis, 2010).
1.1 Justification and rationale
The increased advancement in technology has turned the world into global village. Large percent of people rely on the internet for their daily activities ranging from food shopping to business interaction at global levels. However, even with the increased advancement in technology, classroom teaching in China is still the main avenue for people to learn English. China Daily article 2010 estimates that the number of English learners in China is about 400 million. This is approximately a third of the China’s population (Zhang, 2010). The society has placed high importance to studying of English as it plays a vital role for any person planning to pursue their education further. Evidently, people with good command of English are better competitors as compared to their peers.
Belief is a central factor that influences a human way of thinking and their behavior. Teacher’s beliefs significantly influence their teaching practices and will often influence the student’s success. Therefore, exploring the Chinese middle school teacher’s beliefs and practices facilitates in the understanding of their role when teaching English (Zheng, 2008). However, before on considers what entails the role of a language teacher, it is imperative to look at the traditional role of English teachers. This is important because it will facilitate the identification of factors that needs to be reformed, and to consider to what extent the change will be acceptable in Shanghai Middle schools in China.
The study theoretical framework is based on cognitive theory. This theory posits that the learner is actively involved during the learning process. The theory also contributes to the notions regarding declarative knowledge as well as the procedural knowledge. According to this theory, it is important for a learner to become an active, planful and constructive participant. One of the ways that a learner becomes involved in learning process is by controlling their learning process using the appropriate learning strategies. The student’s behaviors and thoughts will help them learn and retain their information.
An analysis of the role of teachers in oral English classes in Chinese middle schools
1.3 Research questions
In the proposed research study, the research questions are as follows:
- What are the traditional and the new roles of teachers in oral English classes in Shanghai middle schools (China)?
- What is the impact of the changes during English teaching in middle schools in Shanghai China?
These research questions are vital as they focus on the various aspects of Language teaching in Shanghai middle schools, which have not been covered exhaustively in the available literature. This will help in identifying effective strategies that can be integrated in language teaching and learning systems of the middle schools in Shanghai.
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
As a multi lingual country, China linguistic society is complex. However, the main foreign language being promoted in China is English as it is the key to the current trends of modernization. English is highly regarded in political, military and economic terms as it facilitates the nation building. Although English has been the priority of foreign language in China, its real status today remains questionable. For instance, in schools, English has fewer contact hours a compared to other subjects. For a long period of time, research in English education have focused on education reforms established, policy planning and language, pedagogy and teachers beliefs and perception (Zhang, 2015).
Kaplan and colleagues reinforces the benefits of facilitating changes creating awareness of learning English at community level rather than focusing on policy making. This underlines the necessity of bottom up responses to English learning policies (Kaplan et al. 2011). In primary setting, English taught is simple and interesting. The teachers tend to lay more emphasis on visual teaching. In middle school learning, the children are expected to memorize definition as well as English principles. The children are expected to do a lot of exercises with the aim of making them grasp large variety of the language rules. The study focuses on their performances and tends to ignore its application and development of the language in the future (Brown, 1987).
Generally speaking, teaching English language often rely indoctrination in the classroom study, which is supplemented with continuous supervision by the parents and the teachers. The students are expected to recognize the learning theories, finish the different language tasks and exams that usually advocate for only one single authoritative answer; which should help the students attain the top grades. This type of teaching strategy often holds back the students ability to develop creative thinking capacities (Rogers, 1969; In Cai Xi, 2008).
The typical traditional English learning and teaching methods adopted by most middle school in Chinese lay emphasis on the teacher as the child is made to believe that the teacher is the authority. The students are also expected to buy many authority books as recommended by the teacher. However, the students will not read the instructions unless they are told that it will be included in the final exam. The students will do plenty of exercises and will try to recite them. It can be summarized that the Chinese English learning is just a set of presentation which has been prepared by the teacher, and is passively presented to the students. The role of teacher in Language learning is of great importance in the recent years. This is because language teaching is a complex issue that encompasses psycholinguistic, linguistic, curricula and instructional dimensions. Therefore, a successful language comprises of the student, appropriate teaching materials and the students; which are largely lacking in the type of English teaching and learning in Shanghai middle schools (Arnold, 1999).
The main purpose of using language is to communicate one’s need, feelings, thoughts as well as ideas to the others. Empirical studies show that most of primary graduates fail to learn language skills that are vital during communication. To understand any foreign language, one needs to comprehend strategies that can be discussed explicitly. In this regards, children need to be taught about different reading strategies such as scanning, skimming and location of information in the text which can solve different reading problems. All learning experiences do not imply that they need learning unless there are subsequent opportunities for reflection (Oxford & Shearin, 1994).
An analysis of the role of teachers in oral English classes in Chinese middle schools
In any teaching- learning situation, the role of a teacher in the classroom is of importance as it is central to the way in which the child’s learning environment evolves. In addition, the role played by the learner in the classroom is also hinged on the teacher’s roles during teaching. Therefore, English teachers are expected to be clear about their roles in classroom in order to eradicate chasm that could exist between the teacher’s perception and what they actually practice. In this context, when I discuss the roll of teachers in the classroom, I have a restricted view on the roles of a teacher by only focusing on what they are expected to do inside a classroom and excluding out the societal and institutional roles and responsibilities.
2.1 Notion or role in English Language Teaching (ELT)
According to Dorneyi and Murphey (2003), the term role is a technical term that originates from sociology; it implies a shared expectation of hoe a person is expected to behave. It describes what people are expected to perform. In the domain of English Language Teaching (ELT), there are many potential roles for language teachers as suggested by methodologists. The roles of language teachers includes a) the various functions that teachers are expected to fulfill, b) the extent of control that the various teachers have over the learning process, c) the teachers responsibilities in determining the content of what is being taught and d) the interactional patterns that have been developed by learners and teachers (Jian, 2008).
According to Little Wood (1981), the role of a language teacher is generally acting as a facilitator of learning and not just as an instructor. According to Littlewood, a teacher’s role entails both the sub roles of a) classroom overseer, b) classroom manager, c) consultant and d) adviser. In some cases, the teacher is a co-communicator with learners. According to Tudor (1993), the role of a teacher should be examined using the notion of a learner centered classroom. This is kind of learning that focus in active involvement of the students in the learning process. Hammer (2001) describes the teacher’s role of facilitator in a broader way than Littlewood. He points out that the ultimate role of a language teacher is to facilitate progress in learning and understanding the language. Harmer uses terms such as organizer, assessor, controller, tutor, observer, participant and promoter to describe the role of teachers in the classrooms (Kind, 2009).
However, before on considers what entails the role of a language teacher, it is imperative to look at the traditional role of English teachers. This is important because it will facilitate the identification of factors that needs to be reformed, and to consider to what extent the change will be acceptable in Shanghai Middle schools in China.
2.2 Traditional teaching roles
The main features of traditional language teaching method is that it is mainly teacher-centered. The teachers always hog the limelight. They lecture particular topics at length, and the students are expected to listen to their teachers with rapt attention. This is the methodology that has been applied in language teaching and learning in China, and many countries. Following this approach, the teachers teach discrete points about grammar and phonology in separate lessons. Most teachers focus mainly in formal feature of language at opportunity cost of encouraging the students to make use of the language in a creative manner. This kind of teaching involves repetitive practices, and numerous mechanical drills as well as the memorization of the grammar rules for the exam purposes by the students. This approach is what Wilkins (1976) referred to as a synthetic approach, where different parts of the language are taught separately, and using a step by step such that the language acquisition is a process where there is gradual accumulation of parts taught until the whole language structure is built up (Rodriguez, 2010).
An analysis of the role of teachers in oral English classes in Chinese middle schools
This kind of approach is supported by the belief that the purpose of teaching is to simplify the learning process, and one way of doing is to breakdown the learning contents into smaller parts, and then presenting them in a graded manner and sequentially. This kind of linear approach of language teaching and learning has been described by Nunan(1996), where the teaching approach is likened to wall construction. In this case, the language wall is created using one linguistic brick at a time. The foundation of the learning should begin with the easy grammatical bricks in order t form a firm foundation for the more difficult ones. The task for the learner to is fix the linguistics bricks following the right pattern and order. This is because if the bricks are not in the right order, the wall erected is bound to collapse in its own ungrammaticality. The teacher’s main role and responsibility is to help the learner construct the “linguistic wall.” This is because the teacher is the sole organizer and controller of the classroom learning process as well as the evaluator of the learner’s performance. Therefore, tradition role of English teacher is a very dominant role which is based on supposition that the main source of linguistic knowledge is from the teacher. The student on the other hand is perceived as a receptacle that required to be filled with linguistic knowledge from the teacher.
This kind of teaching and learning is considered by Freire (1982) as the banking system. This is because the learners are likened to the bank accounts into which cash deposits is done regularly, and is made to be drawn later for certain purposes such as examination. Therefore, the onus lies on the person making the deposits as they are responsible for the money earned and maintaining of the bank accounts in order to make the knowledge increase. Through this analogy for traditional approach of language learning and teaching in classroom inevitably imply that the teacher is very important in the learning process (Brown, 1987). The teacher bears the burden of the entire class on the teachers back and the students merely listens to the teacher, repeat the aspects taught, and to respond to the teachers directions accordingly. Hence, the learner is reduced to a passive role, with no control over the methods or the content. The teacher has authoritative role (Xu, Wang, & Case, 2010).
However, believing that learning process depends on eloquence of a teacher is a fallacy. According Kumaravadivelu (2006), teaching process however purposeful does not automatically result into learning. This is because learning is a personal construct that is normally controlled by the learner. Therefore, the teacher can only establish and maximize the learning opportunities that involve the learners during the teaching process because learning and teaching are collaborative in nature. This is contradictory to what have is widely accepted in China- the Sacrosanct- a method of teaching that basically involves knowledge transmission and learning accretion.
2.3 Paradigm of change: More focus to the learner
As indicated, the traditional method for Language teachers makes them all powerful authority during the learning process, and it sometimes obliterates the existence of a learner. This kind of learning and spoon feeding method was objected by Dewey (1938) where he pointed out the relevance of learner when involved as an active agent during the learning processes. He laid foundation of what is currently known as “learner centeredness.” This term has gained tremendous attention in English teaching community to develop means of permitting learners to have more active role during their study. However, the product has not been well manifested in Shanghai middle schools in China (Apelt and Koernig, 1997).
The learner centeredness ELT concepts arise from several innovative perspectives. These include the humanistic approaches which believe in giving equal rights and attention to the child’s intellectual and emotional development. It is also drawn from the communicative language teaching which was established in the 1970s which contraindicated the most prevalent structure oriented methods of teaching and supports other teaching strategies that makes language teaching to be more flexible as well as responsive to a child’s communication needs.
An analysis of the role of teachers in oral English classes in Chinese middle schools
2.3 Task Based Language teaching approach (TBLT)
This paradigm basically is an off-shoot of communicative teaching of language. It is a new expression of learner-centeredness. The basic conceptual basis for TBLT is “learning by doing” or “experiential learning.” TBLT breaks down the hierarchies of the traditional teaching method as they act by completing communicative interaction using strategies of learner. According to Nunan(2004), interactive communication in classroom work helps the students to comprehend, manipulate and communicate effectively in the targeted language. This is because their attention focuses mainly in mobilizing the language knowledge in order to express their meaning, and to convey the intended meaning.
In this kind of language teaching and learning, the role of the learner involves getting hands on practical experience during the communicative processes. This does not imply that the teacher’s role is diminished (Adamson, 2004). In this case, the teacher role is meditational role. This encompasses wide range of responsibilities that differ from the traditional approach of the teacher as a disseminator of information. Through this process, the teacher becomes the mediator and a true facilitator as well as the disseminator of information. This implies that the teacher becomes a true facilitator as he or she guides the learners through the dialogic communication (Vygotsky, 1978; Tudor, 1993).
In this process, the teacher’s main role of being an instructor altogether is not shunned, but it becomes restricted. The teacher is therefore a guide and an advisor whose role is the advise their learners by monitoring their weaknesses and strengths. The teacher also plans their future by stimulating the learner’s intellect, as well as presenting the new language as well as giving them motivation.
In this regards, it is important to understand that as much as teachers have the mandate to teach, they should not have control over the person learning natural processes and abilities of acquiring their foreign language and in attaining their communicative ability. Therefore, the teacher’s main role is to establish a classroom environment that is conducive for learning English language. The learner’s communicative skills are only developed if motivated. Therefore, the teachers are expected to facilitate the learning process by developing diverse communicative activities which are interesting as well as challenging to the learners (Dornyei, 1998).
In the westernized countries, there is an evident shift seen from the Shanghai teacher-dominated system to the student centered one. This affective factor plays a crucial part for the bidirectional communication between students and teachers. This has also been observed in most of college teaching in China. In the past, China colleges also adopted the traditional teaching strategy where the language learning was a result of imitating the teacher and practicing to perfection (Bell, 2010). However, more and more college teachers in the colleges understand the importance of affective factors during the English teaching and learning processes. In this regards, the college teachers have adopted measures that improves the student’s positive affection towards learning English, which helps improve the learner’s participation in class. This has led to a shift from the established teacher- instructing towards to the student-centered teaching.
Fehr and Russell (1984) define affect as the feeling that is concerned with the students attitudes towards something of the application of it. Anorld (1999) describes affect as the aspects of feeling, mood, attitude or emotions that influence a behavior. From the aspects of language teaching, Walter and Heike (1997) indicates affectivity as the totality of all instructions towards language which influences the students attitudes towards learning (Dong, 2006).
Pine and Boy (1997) states that students normally feel the emotional structures of their teachers long before they perceive the impact of the intellectual knowledge being delivered. This indicates that teacher’s performances normally influence their student’s affective factors. Therefore, if a teacher does not provide a warm atmosphere at class, they are likely to interact with low spirit students who make learning difficult. Therefore, teacher role is very important during language teaching and learning. According to Yan and Zhang (2002), the basic roles of a teacher are being a lecturer, facilitator and teacher. Lecturers are those who consider only their professional skills and totally ignore their teaching methodology. Teachers are those who have the professional skills as well as appropriate teaching methodology but totally ignore the learners. Facilitators are teachers who usually take characters of their students, and takes time to make them understand their affective states as well as the learning process with the aim of improving their self consciousness (Damasio, 1994; Boody, 2008).
Using these definitions, it simply indicates that lecturers lack flexibility in their teaching and there is very little interaction between the students and the lecturers as if the two entities are separated by one large invisible wall. Therefore, it is important for the teachers to identify strategies that will transform the burdensome classroom into a more dynamic one. As facilitators, the teachers are required to break down the invisible wall to ensure that there is communicative interaction. The two groups must be changed into a harmonious group to ensure that both the learning and teaching process proceed smoothly with no tension. Without any doubt, such type of teaching is successful as they explore the psychological feelings of the attentive learners, and skillfully manipulate the students to ensure that they love their language classes by making them participate actively (Gage & Berliner, 1991; Bernat & Gvozdenko, 2005).
To become effective facilitator, the teacher is expected to be humanistic teacher. This implies that their behavior should be democratic as his or her teaching must be student centered in which the teacher acts both as the encourager, organizer and also a guide. According to Rogers (1969), learning process combines affection and intelligence that promotes the development of the whole person. They are expected to treat the students as people who have specific needs that must be met. The students must also be provided with emphatic understanding and trust. Gage and Berliner (1991) student’s feelings are very important during the learning process.
The second role of teachers is motivation of the learners. This is because it provides the impetus to initiate the learning process of Foreign and also works as the driving force that sustains the tedious learning process. This helps the students to learn from the experiences, and to keep collecting these experiences in order to make them develop to their full potential. However, there are increased concerns on teacher’s motivational needs as they tend to have a direct influence to the language teaching and learning processes. This is a knowledge gap that needs to be explored further (Morowitz, 1982; Li Wangyue 2008).
Evidently, in the history of language teaching in the Chinese education, the main traditional mode has been exam oriented. This type of education treats the exam as the key goal and is rarely concerned with the learning capacity or even the student’s skills. It equips them with knowledge that will enable them pass college entrance examination. Literature indicates that the main reason why these types of education have become as rampant as it is shaped by the Chinese culture (Dobbin, 2010). The old examination system in china was the imperial examination system in the feudal china (AD 605-1905); which was the predecessor of the exam oriented education. This type of education in the past has greatly contributed Chinese economy, politics and culture. Likewise, the culture of exam oriented education, the students in middle school and colleges are expected to take plenty of examinations as well as exercises which tend to occupy most of the students time hindering their individual skills development (Burden, 2006). After they take part in the college entrance exam, only a small fraction of the students get selected for various colleges or universities; majority of the youngsters steps into the society without any advancement of student’s professional skill (Pine & Boy, 1997; Li Wangyue, 2008).
An analysis of the role of teachers in oral English classes in Chinese middle schools
The advantage of the traditional mode of education is that the students tend to attain higher marks and good performance at international level and hardworking learners and teachers. However, there are far more demerits that merits for this type of education systems to the learner and the entire whole society. To begin with, exam-oriented education makes the students to be mentally ill and physically ill. In order to score higher in exams, it is usual for the schools to add more hours and classes blindly to the students and to the teachers. This makes schooling become more overloaded and a burden both mentally and physically. In addition, the teaching method is simple as it gives a single lecture to all learners simultaneously and using similar teaching method. It is important to note that not all students have the same level of understanding the education content. Even worse, the entire country utilizes similar English resources in middle schools in China. Under this approach, the students becomes nothing but the as the test machine. Consequently, the student’s skills and abilities are not well explored (Richards and Rodgers, 1986; Brown and Miller, 2006).
Secondly, the education under this traditional mode is associated with poor quality outcomes. In basic education, the intellectual education, skills, and learners abilities are disjointed. Therefore, the end products of the students are often one sided in terms of physical education, moral education as well as aesthetic education in labor skills. Lastly, this mode of education nurtures plenty of what can be termed as “educational failures.” In this mode, the students understanding and knowledge is judged using their scores. If the student academic performance is poor, then the schools are said to not educate the students as expected. More teaching hours and classes are added in order to improve the performance (Diekinson, 1987; Deng, 2007).
In this regard, it is right to state that the schools are not educating the students in accordance to their needs or personality. Instead, they are forcing them take the same course over and over again, which only increases the problem instead of addressing them. Further, the students are negatively represented as compared with other middle schools in Western countries as they are generally branded as “ academic underachievers.” When categorized as poor students or education losers, they are perceived as problem citizen, resulting in many social problems. These experiences demonstrates failure in this traditional mode of education as it brings growing burden for the Chinese future generation as it only provides opportunities as well as protects the rights of the good academic achievers, whilst a large of the above average youngsters are weeded out, thereby speeding up the social problems, leading to community injustice (de Jong & Harper, 2008).
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
In order to test how English process is conducted at the grass root level, it was necessary to collect opinions from the middle school English teachers in order to find out if implementing the proposed change in Shanghai Middle school English teachers will improve the students learning outcome. It was also important to hear the opinions of these teachers on traditional mode of teaching, and to gather their responses so that they can reflect advice to the policy makers, and address the community’s query as well as satisfy the student’s expectations as well as the learning process. In order to attain this, the general research question is:
Do Shanghai Middle School English teachers support the idea of transforming the traditional education mode from student centered/ exam oriented to Task Based Language teaching approach (TBLT)?
The specific research questions include;
- What are the perceived challenges that hinder smooth transition from the tradition teaching mode to the new quality oriented education?
- What are the exact problems in practice?
- How can these challenges be addressed?
This research focuses in listening to teacher’s opinion, and in also collecting detailed practical solutions as well as the detailed challenges.
3.1 Selection of research methods
Methodological triangulation was applied in this research study. The research method that was used is the qualitative method that will be applied is the use of interview, which will be used mainly to collect the teacher’s opinions and other measurable variables. Interview tool is used due to its phenomenological exposure as well as its framework (Pring, 2000). Interview lies within the interpretive philosophy. The merits of interview are that it has adaptability. This implies that the researcher has the ability to follow up ideas of the interview, as well as improve the research questions so that they can obtain responses as well as investigate the feelings as well as the motives of research. In addition, the interview provides extensive opportunity for providing personalization. On the other hand, the interview is expensive in terms of labor power, time and money. In addition, the phenomenological nature of this method of research focuses on identifying the subjective consciousness as well as stressing the importance of interpretation of the study in light of its subjective meaning. In this context subjectivity is well outlined by the epistemological nature of the interview process as each of the participants has their own belief which could introduce bias.
Due to the aforementioned characteristics of an interview, it is important to control the bias and the anticipated uncertainty; this is why questionnaire was conducted. The advantage of using questionnaire is that it aids in gathering of data that have in-depth answers. In addition, the method is cost effective in terms of time and money. The questions are standardized and they have transparent and common meaning making it best for statistical descriptions and for enquiring factual matters. However, this method faces limited opportunities for the respondents as its response rate is relatively low. Undeniably, both these research tools have their own merits and demerits in this research; however, to reduce these risks of potential bias, triangulation method will be implemented.
3.2 Research Process
The research process was divided into three broad parts: Four ELT teachers were chosen randomly form four different Middle schools using the Municipal education department. The questionnaire were designed, and sent online to all Middle school teachers in Shanghai China, and the first 100 replies were gathered and analyzed to see if the answers had similar solutions as well as opinions as indicated by the participants interviewed. If more issues were identified, they were used to supplement for the interviews. There was no specific criteria for selection of the participants only that the participant was English teacher in middle schools in Shanghai. The questionnaire was sent by email to all English teachers in Shanghai. Only the first 100 valid questionnaires were picked for analysis.
3.3 Data collection
Each of the questionnaires had 32 questions that consisted of multiple question and short answer questions. The names of the participants were coded. The support mainly queried for specific ideas that revolved around the exam oriented type of education and the current type of education, the differences in performances, and in the connection between utilization of knowledge. The data collected was analyzed in charts in a way that would facilitate the identification of the problems as well as addressing the challenges identified. Although it is unrealistic to solve the all the problems seen in education practice, this research aimed at providing as many solutions as possible.
3.4 Reliability and Validity
This study aims to ensure that the research is as reliable as possible. The data collection process, categorization process and the data analysis process will be done in an open, explicit and consistent manner as guided by Simpson and Tuson (1995). The triangulation process also ensured that the research findings are consistent, valid and reliable.
3.5 Anonymity
Due to the specific purpose of the study, the teachers and the educational institutions that took part in this survey were made anonymous. This principle of confidentiality was extended so as to ensure the accuracy of the study findings, and to comply with the ethical standards. In addition, this aimed at encouraging more teachers to participate and to have higher response rates of the questionnaires.
An analysis of the role of teachers in oral English classes in Chinese middle schools
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS
Common themes emerged through the answers obtained from the interviews and questionnaires. However, due to variation in internal and external factors, the ideas and perception generated were not uniform. The interview consisted of 4 stages that were linked to each other. In the first 2 questions, they addressed the purposes of the teaching modes. Two thirds of the participants claimed to value the exam results, which automatically led to the discussions of the exam oriented teaching approach. In the second part, the teacher’s opinions on the traditional teaching mode were explored. This included the source of inspiration and teaching. The obstacles faced during this teaching practice were assessed, which has successfully led into thinking about the new interventions that could be appropriated to replace the old teaching method. Therefore, themes on new ideas and quality education emerged naturally during the interviews. The main purpose of the interview was to investigate the impact of teaching practice reformation from the practitioner’s voices. The issues related to schools gaps, parents, school entrance grades and examinations were evaluated.
All the respondents indicated that they follow the syllabus for middle school English teaching. The requirements included teaching the learners the language so that they can understand the Basic English spoken in classroom during presentations. The syllabus requires students to have extensive listening hours of approximately 120 words per minute and extensive listening that totals to 40 hours. The syllabus also requires the students to be able to make up basic dialogues and to read passages effectively. The syllabus requires the students to read over 400, 000 words within a time limit of 3 years. The students should also basically have the ability to write messaged and articles using appropriate grammar. This is a little too much for the middle school learner, which often results to poor practical and academic outcome.
During this analysis, my main concern was to evaluate if the middle school teachers focused so much on exams during their teaching process. As predicted, most of the responses indicated that examination in these schools occupied a vital position in the current education system. From this analysis, I found that the teachers valued their student scores, and it was their main motivation for teaching. However, a third of the participants agreed that student scores largely depend on the student’s efforts and the teaching approach. All the participants agreed that they utilize the exam-oriented method of education as it is the most reasonable in Shanghai middle schools. This uniformity made it clear that the traditional teaching method in Chinese middle schools was the exam oriented method of education (Borich, 1988; Gerard 1998).
According to the interviewees, the main cause for the poor performance is because the Shanghai Middle school learners are faces with unrealistic societal expectations for academic success. This is because all the Chinese society believes that education is intended to make their children become useful people in the society as it instills moral qualities. Learning English language is associated with exclusive monetary success which will help glorify their family. Therefore, the patients are expected to be obedient listeners and faithful followers of their teachers, as well as maintain a passive role in the learning process. In this case, the student’s acts as empty vessels that awaits for wisdom to be filled with wisdom. According to one of the interviewee:
This kind of learning encourages the students to possess a conservative and introverted approach, making them to remain reluctant as they continue to engage in independent thinking. These methods tend to reinforce passive learner stereotype. In my teaching practice, I concentrate more on intensive reading as the main basis for language, especially to ensure that the students grammatical structure in preparation for the examination. Like most of the other teachers, I do not pay attention to communicative skills. Rote learning and memorization is the basic Language learning and acquisition technique
The interview revealed that the teachers in regular and key schools held contrasting opinions about the traditional teaching method. When asked about their opinions on exam oriented type of education, teachers from key schools supported this traditional mode of education whereas the regular school re-analyzed the questions. When asked to present their difficulties experienced using the traditional type of education, the a third of the interviewee thought middle school students normally have little exposure to English due to the environmental factors. When questioned about the new education mode, the interviewed teachers demonstrated different degrees of understanding. Some believed that the best teaching strategy is one that cultivates the students learning abilities. Others believed that the best teaching strategy is one that enhances the development of overall qualities and talents to ensure that the students’ abilities are all-rounded. Although most of the teachers were well informed about the pros of integrating new teaching mode into practice, most of the teachers had no other choice but went back to the exam oriented teaching practice as the students language knowledge was evaluated using students scores in one exam. This indicates conflict between academic requirements with teaching innovations.
One of the interviewee stated that he believed good Language teaching practice was one that helped the students understand what he had taught easily, correctly and quickly. Therefore, he spent little time in planning on how to utilize his teaching materials and opted to imitate the teaching strategies of the teachers who had taught him in the past, particularly those he believed that helped him pass his examination. From these findings, it is evident that the Chinese society for English Language skills as well as their teaching reforms gradually influenced this teacher’s understanding about appropriate teaching practice. According to him, the education system should play a major role in raising awareness on the fundamental element of teaching English, which has been neglected in most of the schools teaching practice. The teacher stated that it is time to shift from the teacher’s centered as well as the textbook centered type of education. The teacher also admitted that he has never thought that there are many issues that must be evaluated during the teaching practice;
An analysis of the role of teachers in oral English classes in Chinese middle schools
When I reflect to my teaching method, I have made many mistakes in teaching and in understanding the concept of teaching. What most of us do is to just pass knowledge to students logically and clearly to make them pass exams. In my case, I am more concerned in making teaching process interesting and ways to make it easier for the learners to understand what they are being taught. I admit that I see the outer surface of teaching, neglecting the student’s needs, and the close connection between teaching and learning.
Nearly 75% of the teachers stated that they give their English lessons as strictly indicated by the text books. The survey indicated that only 38% of the teachers used only English in their classes, the rest would often use Chinese language in their classes. During the learning process, the teacher was the core of English teaching session. Approximately 41.3% of the teaching process comprised of teacher’s explanation, 38.7% students exercise and 22% student-teacher interactive session. In terms of homework design, approximately 46% of the teachers mostly gave students written homework, and less than 6% oral assignments. Only 9% of the participants gave dictation and recitation work. The interviewee indicated that English level of most Middle school students in Shanghai is considerably low, which acts as an obstacle for the learning process as the teachers found difficulty in identifying the most effective strategies to apply with these learners in order to influence their teaching efficiency and quality. According to one of the interviewee
English language learning and teaching faces great challenges because the society demands more students with English practical talents. In my opinion, the traditional teaching method is less workable. Consequently, most of the learners in colleges with good English grades still experience serious communication issues. Each time the students talk about these embarrassing moments, I realize that there is a gap in my teaching practice. However, the schools regulations and tradition exam makes me concentrate in improving the learners written skills and ignore the oral communication part.
From the results of individual interviews, several issues arose which made me re-evaluate the implementation of reformation of the various education mode. It is evident that there are gaps in policy implementation in shanghai Middle schools. For instance, in some schools, the old teachers had fewer opportunities for refresher skills trainings as the younger teachers. This is unfair to these old teachers as they felt left out. This also influenced the learners creating a language knowledge gap within schools. In several schools, the new mode of teaching is prohibited in graduating classes due to pressure of college entrance examination. This indicates that the education department might establish a “win-win” situation that can be established between the traditional college entrance exam and the new teaching mode that is quality oriented. This is important because each of the students have their own reception as well as intelligence level. Therefore, the new style of education can be suitable for student’s varying personality. The teachers must never stop improving their teaching practices and plans in order to make them as comprehensive as possible- which from my observations, it is a big challenge.
The questionnaires were separated into four main parts that had questions similar to the interview which included the general information about the various teaching practices, their experiences with the traditional exam oriented practice from the teachers, their opinion on the proposed new mode of teaching practice that is quality oriented and the implementation of the policy. The main aim of this study was to collect data from 100 language teachers from Shanghai middle schools, analyze the findings and summarizing the outcomes so that a summary of evidence based practice could be established. Using the analysis of the questionnaires, one could see if the interview results were valid and common. Further experiment would be applied for any unexpected questionnaire data.
The questionnaires were emailed to the teachers from various middles schools in Shanghai. The teachers were not compelled to answer the questionnaires as they were asked to reply anonymously if they wanted so. Among the teachers emailed, approximately 64% of them have working experience of more than 10 years. This was done purposefully because these teachers may have witnessed the various reforms and their implementation process across the decade, which would make the results to be effective as compared to the young teachers. The teachers were strictly working middle schools in Shanghai. Generally, the participation of the teachers was somewhat wide spread and balanced.
As shown in the pie chart A below, approximately a quarter of the teachers uniformly agreed that the determined student’s English knowledge using exam scores. This implies that the student’s performance is their working aim. Approximately, only 6% of the teachers bothered to mark homework as most of the teachers attached importance to the exams.
Chart A: important part of teaching according to the respondents
As indicated in the fig 1.1 (see in the appendix 1), 54% of the respondents indicated that their main method of teaching was the exam oriented education mode. These findings confirmed the interview responses. Nearly half of the teachers had neutral opinion regarding exam centered education, 76% of the respondents agreed that using the quality oriented mode of education to replace the traditional exam oriented teaching practice will help improve the quality of English learning in Shanghai Middle Schools.
The questionnaires (See appendix 2) contained open ended questions. From the study findings, 95% of the teachers knew about the new mode of teaching that is quality oriented and reformation policy. No teacher seemed to oppose integration of the new teaching process which was very encouraging. Nearly 85% of the participants expressed their understanding of a quality oriented teaching method. The ideas presented are similar to those generated from the interviews which included ideologies such as encouraging or appreciation of education, cultivation of students as well as their social environments as well as their diversified life. It involves establishing of teaching methods that will make the learners utilize their knowledge and apply the skills acquired into practice.
An analysis of the role of teachers in oral English classes in Chinese middle schools
About 80% of the experienced respondents indicated that they are yet to apply the quality oriented mode of education because the student’s exams score is still the measure of their academic performance. Most of the teachers said that changing this tradition is hard as the entrance examination still remains the biggest obstacle. Therefore, giving into reformation was putting the children future at risk. Therefore, only less than 30% of the teachers would support this teaching practice; and an average of 48% of Middle schools in Shanghai avoided the quality oriented mode of education. The survey found that the English teacher at middle school faces challenges in Shanghai middle schools because parents of the learners pay little attention to English teaching and seldom supervise their children when doing their assignments. In addition, there is no atmosphere of learning in these middle schools. According to one interviewee;
One cannot hear the students practice English or even see them reading English books unless in English lesson. Even during the English lesson, the sole and the primary auxiliary equipment for learning English is tape recorder. Most of the students lack adequate access to multimedia.
According to the interviewees and questionnaires, English is the most important foreign language in China. The new college entrance exam lists English as one of the three vital subjects. It is taught in early childhood education and in Kindergarten. English Language is the most important general requirement for the colleges. From these responses, it is evident that the educational background of English Teachers in Shanghai middle school is yet to meet the demand for the relevant international standards; which is explicitly indicated in the findings of the teachers who responded to the survey. The main problems with middle school teaching in shanghai is high-student teacher ratio, lack of well trained English language teachers, and presence of test oriented teaching and learning processes. Therefore, it is important for the educational system to devote them to support the implementation of quality oriented language education in Shanghai region as well.
CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION
English language teachers in Shanghai have been facing numerous challenges which act as obstacles when applying new education mode. The teachers think that improving the new mode of education and use of the college entrance examination system is challenging but can be realized and it can be achieved in the future. In the previous years, the thought of retention or abolition of college entrance exam system has been controversial in China (Gower et al., 1985; Goodnough, 2006). In this research, it is evident that most of the teachers (especially those teaching graduating classes) face high pressure of the exam , which made the teachers to put the quality oriented education reform as a second option (Zheng, 2008). Nearly half of the participants argued that their school abolished the reformation in graduating classes. Most of the teachers expressed their hopes in adopting the new quality oriented type of education if there implementation process is emphasized (Hittleman & Simon, 2006).
The history of education in China indicates that learning is perceived as “process of accumulating knowledge for long-term purpose than as a practical process of using knowledge gained to construct immediate responses ( Hughes, 1989; Hu, 2002).” This implies that the Chinese society perceives their children education as a means of saving their money in the bank, and the reward is good grades from the students. Therefore, the most preferred mode of teaching is the epistemic and mimetic model. This is a type of education that lay emphasis on knowledge transmission, a concept which is often equated to study of books. The focus of teaching in this society is not on ways the teachers and learners can establish a mutual relationship, but rather, it is an extant authoritative knowledge which is internalized and transmitted in the most efficient and effective way (Rossner et al, 1990; Borg, n.d.).
The main strategies and mode of teaching is often employed by the students when learning English is that of a passive learner. Various research have indicated that the English teaching strategies consist that of intensive reading and teaching of the basic components of language and extensive use of translational ,materials to correct the mistakes of both written and oral language (Farrell & Richards, 2007). The main approach of English language teaching in China involves curious combination of “grammar- translation method (GTM) and audio-lingualism (ALM)” which is often characterized by comprehensive study of comparison between two linguistic, translations, as well as the memorization of the language structural patterns as well as the vocabulary (Tchudi, Stephen & Mitchell, 1989; Chen, 2008). Less emphasis is put on verbal habits as focus is out in written language. Generally, it is agreed that the learning strategies used by most of the teacher’s conflict with those required by quality oriented and learner centered teaching method. Therefore, is quality oriented method compatible with GTM and ALM? According to Rao (2002), English teaching and learning in China “needs to be modernized, not westernize “(p.100).
English language is a critical function in most Nation’s education. In most of the schools, English language is the main medium of instructions. In this context, teachers are recommended to use fluent English to create stories and to give explanations so that they can help the learners construct their meaning and help them to gat meaningful connections. The teachers are highly recommended to focus on their class management by thinking about their class more carefully, thinking about language more carefully and to organize their instructional practices accordingly. This will help accommodate all their learners’ educational needs (Boody, 2008).
In defining the English language teachers role in implementing the quality oriented education, several challenges have been highlighted by various other studies, which have pinpointed that English language has a lower status as compared to the other subjects. The reasons that underlie the perceived status include lack of recognition and uniformity in the TESOL, and low involvement of teacher in policy decision making at both the district and school levels (Figueiredo & Afonso, 2006). Research indicates that there are wide differences in English the role of English teachers in different contexts that are caused by the increased heterogeneity of the English learner’s population at the local as well as the state capacity (Ma et al. 1989; Guan & Jones, 2011). For instance, the number or English teachers and bilingual facilitators have is not equal the English teacher population, resulting into a limited work force. The administration of many schools also has a major influence on the success of the English language in their schools. An administration that champions their English language teachers helps establish an environment that promotes quality oriented and learner centered type of education (Zhang, 1987; China 2012).
Although several teachers in the interview described that their institutions have established structures that allow them to have an expert role in their middle schools, most of these structures are not pervasive. In most cases, English teachers main responsibilities and roles remain undefined, which makes the teachers to offer services that do not less to their set objectives. For instance, if an English teacher is coteaching with a content area teacher, the English teacher is often given the role of an assistant, which makes them fail to use their expertise as they would want (Burnaby & Sun, 1989; Deterding, 2006).
An analysis of the role of teachers in oral English classes in Chinese middle schools
The communicative approach of English teaching method was officially introduced throughout the country by the Ministry of Education by the Chinese government. The new syllabus and English text books guidelines required the English teachers to teach communication in their classrooms (Geng, 2007; Xu, 2010). This version of quality oriented education was weak as it laid emphasis on the importance of giving learners with opportunities to practice English for their communicative purposes and aimed to integrate characteristically activities into a wider program English teaching. Despite the fact that the government dedicated funds and efforts towards improving the communicative learning conditions, this method of teaching is still experiencing some obstacles which make its use to be somewhat limited. Research indicates that there is a place for communicative language teaching in China, but its implementation has resulted into a lot of pedagogical issues (Eagan & Weiner, 2007; Gao, 2009).
For instance, oral English is an important aspect for Middle school children who aim to further their studies in China. However, there is increased controversy on who should teach oral English in the Middle schools, a native English speaker or a bilingual Chinese English teacher. Good oral language teacher should be a good language speaker (Hu, 2002b). These are the main factors that are put into consideration when recruiting teachers in most of the middle schools in China. However, it is important to note that other than speaking English, possessing high fluency and accuracy of the language, a good English teacher is one that has a good understanding of the students, and is able to apply the mastery teaching techniques. These are the type of teachers who will help these students to perform well in their oral classes and to gain confidence in their mastery of the language ( Hu, 2005; He & Li, 2006).
Evidence based research indicates that several aspects should be put into consideration when evaluating teachers for English language teaching. To start with, the teacher’s English proficiency should be evaluated. This involves analyzing the teacher’s ability to read, write and speak English. It involves accuracy in pronunciation, knowledge of English customs, culture and the cross-cultural influences. The teacher should have good mastery in linguistics and improve their essence in language acquisition and in their ability to initiate, sustain the basic communicative activities and in the right manner (Hui, 1997; Huang 2007). The teachers teaching effectiveness should also be high. This includes their ability to make an appropriate lesson plan that focus in teaching the children based on their needs, and while aiming at specific teaching strategies. It is important for a language teacher to have an open attitude towards the foreign culture, and to share what they know with the students in order to make the learning process to be more interesting (Horn et al., 2008; Newton et al. 2010).
English language teacher should change their concept of teaching in order to succeed in oral English classes. The oral English learning is achieved main through practicing and nit teaching. This implies that use of language tends to be more important than knowing about the usage if that language. This indicates that children should be given enough time to practice by communicating with each other during their learning processes. If the teacher realizes this, then their oral classes will be student centered and more activity oriented. This encourages the students to speak the language as often and more fluently as they could. The implies that the students should be guided to do some group work or pair work to help them gain more knowledge about English and the effective means of expressing themselves.
According to the evidence based research, the first time the English teacher meets his students, he should try to get to learn the student’s interests and needs so that he or she can make an appropriate teaching plan, one that will make the topics discussion interesting for class discussion. This is important because if the students show interest in the discussion, it facilitates better relationship between the two parties (Ministry of Education of the PRC, 2012). Example of doing this is asking the students to make short talk or the teacher can design some form of questionnaires from which he or she can learn the student’s likes and dislikes about the subject, their attitudes towards specific English subject and their problem in their study life. Use of questionnaire is better because it is a way to learn the student’s problems in depth and a way to store the answers for a long time and to refer them when necessary (Jin & Cortazzi, 2006; Lim, 2011).
When using the text books, the English language teachers should ask the students to read them before class, which will help the students to go through them before class and to help them in making some situation practice as well as improve their communicative interaction during the role play(Kachru, 2005). While doing so, it is important to create some information gap and to do exercises. This achievable by assigning each student with a role card so that each may know what to for themselves without necessarily knowing about the other peoples role. The students should practice to make use of expressions so that they can learn on ways to use the expected expressions during communication). This will help the students learn how to express their ideas (Middle Kingdom Life, 2012).
In order to aid the students to speak appropriately and accurately, it is important for the teachers to work with the students in order to correct the student’s errors. Research indicates that it is not advisable to correct the student’s errors when they are speaking as it reduces their self esteem. The teacher is advised to note down the errors made by each of the student, and if they are common problems, then the teacher can make them language points as she asks the students to practice more. If the errors are pinpointed at the end of a performance, then the teacher should not down them and correct the students at the completion of the exercise. It is also important for the teacher to exchange the activities in order to make the students not to get bored, cheering up the students will help them work effectively (Taylor 2002, Xu, 2010).
The main question of concern in this study is “is Shanghai middle school English teachers well equipped for this challenge?” Evidence based research indicates that only well prepared teachers can meet the needs for this special population. Although it has not been well explored, it is evident that the teachers are not well prepared for the changing demographics of the class. Approximately, 58% of the teachers in Shanghai have been reported to have never participated in professional developmental training which would help them address the needs of English language teachers. In absence of this training, teaching English as a language skills and academic content is now a responsibility for all school teachers. Therefore, the main stream teachers of English need additional skills that will help them understand the basic constructs of bilingualism as well as other language development (Bernat & Gvozdenko, 2005). This will help improve the student’s language proficiency, culture learning and the role of the second language. Training teachers will help them develop the ability to make learners comprehend content, develop respect and integrate the first language. This will help the students to acknowledge how culture and language intersects with their classroom participation. In addition, the training will help the teachers to understand the needs of the students as well as their different levels of training (Xu, 2010).
The use of visual and audio aids can help the students improve their language. The most common type of audio aid used in Chinese classrooms is use of radio. Other effective teaching tools include; Cable television, audio tapes, video tapes as well as other interactive computer softwares are the most common methods of delivering oral English academic content in middle schools. This is associated with heavy burden on English learners, who often are still in the process of developing their language proficiency through their second language. Unfortunately, not many teachers are willing to apply effective listening strategies as they are often not included in the English language curriculum (Pan & Block, 2011). This is because it is usually assumed that there are many opportunities for students to hear English being spoken throughout the day, and that type of exposure will improve their ability to comprehend the language. However, for many schools, this is not the case. In most of the schools where listening is a main focus of lessons in the language classrooms, it mainly entails evaluating students ability to listen to information, comprehend the content and to answer the questions appropriately. There lacks provision of any specific instructions in strategies as well as skills that are necessary in accomplishment of these tasks. Middle school students often need strong oral comprehension skills so that they can access the oral content of their academics (Xu, 2010). The teachers should help develop interest to listen to the special English programs and watching of English teaching programs. This will help with the student’s pronunciation and well as innotation, thereby making the students to broaden their knowledge about the western culture (Rao, 1996; Pan & Block, 2011).
Research indicates that listening is an integral part of second language learning procedures. It is defined as an active process through which the listeners start to constructs the meaning of the oral information. According to Nagle and Sanders model of listening and comprehension processes, the learners uses both the controlled and the automatic processes to synthesize their meaning. This implies that the listener is engaged actively in construction the meaning based on the contexts as well as the sources of the inputs. There are a number of studies that focus on teaching strategies that successfully helps the learner to construct the meaning effectively. There are number of studies that focus that have identified listening teaching strategy as an effective tool that helps the learners to improve their oral language. The earliest strategy conducted on foreign studies was conducted by Rubin and colleagues on middle school Spanish teachers who applied listening strategies in video comprehension. They study applied varying amount of strategies in delivering language information. Although the study found no significant differences between the control and the treatment groups, the research found out that the group that had video listening had improved comprehension as compared to the other groups. The study findings were replicated by Rubin’s and Thompson who conducted a longitudinal study in a classroom based of foreign learners. The team taught university students who were learning Russian foreign language. The tutors applied cognitive and metacognitive listening strategies. The study conclusion found that the students in treatment group had improved ability to comprehend the video text as compared to the students who only received instructions on listening strategies. These studies indicate that use of metacognitive strategies helps improve the student’s ability in learning and listening. The study findings concluded that systematic listening strategy helps improve the learner’s ability of comprehending the source input (de Jong & Harper, 2008).
An analysis of the role of teachers in oral English classes in Chinese middle schools
Research indicates that integration of literacy-related instructional strategies are important as it facilitates the learners understanding across the content areas. Although the curriculum have established strong emphasis on language, it is widely acknowledged that implementation of oral language in most of the learning institution has been a challenge, and there is sufficient evidence that some of the teachers could have struggled to implement these components because there lacks a clear underlying frameworks. In order to establish a structured approach for the teachers, research suggests an effective oral language oral language. This mainly consists of five components including a) promotion of auditory and memory, b) Development of speaking and listening skills, c) establishing an effective language learning environment, d) teaching vocabulary and the conceptual knowledge, e) teaching of various spoken texts, f) development of listening and speaking skills (Pan & Block, 2011).
The early years of a child are a time in which the children use their language learnt to not only their world, but to many other purposes. This type of language knowledge is referred to as pragmatic knowledge. One of the components of this pragmatic knowledge is the conversational skills. Research indicates that the children develop conversational skills which influence their interaction with others. To an extent, children tends to pick up this kind of knowledge naturally but the child’s environments including parents and teachers plays an integral role in assisting the child’s ability in maintaining good conversations, and in developing their speaking and listening skills (Guan & Jones, 2011).
Conversing with the young adults is not the only method of increasing their vocabulary. The strategies applied by the teachers when reading and interacting with the students also play an integral role in building up their word backs. To assess the children’s language comprehension ability, it is important to ask for open ended questions. In most of middle school institutions, the teachers talk in English lesson mainly focuses on tasks such as correcting mistakes and giving of instructions . Approximately 80% of this talk consists of low-level questions that help the students to recall the taught information instead of developing open ended questions that requires the young minds to critically think (Chen, 2008). A very important strategy during oral classes is giving the students ample time to formulate their answers and the teacher’s response to the students. In this context, it is important for the teachers to develop attentive body language by ensuring that they expand their children responses, ask for clarification and that they apply reflective listening techniques in order to support the student’s participation. Conversation is a two way communication experience. Understanding oral language is emphasized by receptive language and increased listening ability. The ability to listen is a major component in language learning processes. It is the main method that the children take information through interpretation of what they hear. Therefore, the first strategy for language teachers is to teach the students to be excellent listeners. The primary mode of helping the student participate as listeners in conversations is for the teachers to develop a good listening and speaking techniques (Zhang, 2010).
Teaching a variety of spoken text is an important element of language learning. The main purpose for language is to facilitate communicate needs, ideas, feelings and information. There are many theorists that have described the different purpose of language, which all fall in different categories. One of such theorists is British Linguist Michael Haliday who established 7 functions of language which are commonly referred to as Halliday’s Functions of language. These includes instrumental, regulatory purposes, personal, Heuristic, imaginary and and interactional. There are a variety of oral language genres that can be used by the teachers to address the language function important in social and academic contexts. This is important for a learner to understand and to learn and to know a range of oral language texts that operate in varying contexts (Bell, 2010). Therefore, the teachers should establish classroom structures as well as procedures which allow students to develop their understandings of various forms applied in oral language texts as well as establishing opportunities for learners to purposefully practice.
In addition, it is important to establish a friendly classroom environment that is supportive, and one that nurtures the various communication styles that are accepted, accommodated and are valued. This implies that teachers should design teachings as well as learning activities that are differentiated in a way that draws learner’s interests, skills and knowledge. The teachers should also support students by helping them establish strategies and to apply these strategies when listening and speaking for various contexts. This is important as it provides authentic purposes and audiences when speaking and listening, which makes the learners to be enthusiastic and confident communicators. An effective learning environment is established by focusing on key elements including; a) physical environment, opportunities for communication and the classroom culture. The physical environment is established by enriching the classroom surroundings and other existing multiple opportunities that facilitate oral interaction and skills development. This includes providing adequate facilities such as headphones, CD player and CDs, which provides opportunity for pupils to listen to various audio recordings. This can also be promoted using hand held Dictaphones which normally enable the students to record speaking and to share their experiences with others. Research also indicates that use of songs, chants and poems helps the learners to practice the patterns of rhythms and language. Improving the classroom culture is facilitates by teachers ability to remain culturally competent, support social talks and in providing opportunities for the learners to review their speaking and to reflect on their listening skills. These two activities helps establish opportunities that can be applied to model good listening to the children by providing opportunities that learners can use to experiment with language and in providing specific language to the child (Guo and Li, 2012).
Auditory memory is also an important aspect of language learning. The auditory memory involves the ability for the learners to assimilate the information that has been presented orally, and to process the context, store it and to recall what has been heard. It essentially involves learners tasks of listening, attending, processing and recalling the information taught. This can be a challenging task for most students especially those who have learning difficulty. Any weakness in auditory memory could have serious implications of learning because the pupils, especially those with learning difficulty (Pan & Block, 2011). This is because the students will only pick up some of contexts in class lesson. Auditory memory weakness is easily be undetected by a teacher. This is because such students seems to be very attentive as their eyes focus on teacher, which makes the teachers assume that they have learnt and taken in what she/he has taught. In reality, these students may not have absorbed or made out sense of what has been said. Although the students could remember a word here and there, they truly not understand the information that has been orally presented to them (Guan & Jones, 2011). Learners with auditory memory deficiencies have difficulty in comprehending oral presented directions. They tend to think that they have understood directions about completing the tasks, but when engaged in tasks, they will ask for help from their teachers. Students with auditory weakness have difficulty in developing a good understanding of English words or in remembering terms and information that have been orally presented. The students have difficulty in processing and in recalling information they have read. It is important for the teachers to focus on these types of learners by teaching them on strategies that will help them listen and process information. If one does bit attend or listen to their silent input of words, it will make it difficult for them to process the information. This implies that silent reading is also a form of listening (Pan & Block, 2011). Another issue that teachers should focus on is the classroom management. This is important in order to help the teacher engage the students during the learning processes and to provide opportunities for feedback using activities that will bring students abilities into full play. This element is lacking in most of Shanghai Middle schools English learning processes. The physiological element of the teachers and learners is an important factor that should be put into consideration when recruiting English Language teachers. The teachers are expected to have confidence and patience as the students’ learning abilities are unequal. They should have high level of imagination and creativity (Xu, 2010). The teacher must be sympathetic, friendly and most importantly in good terms with the students by encouraging them where necessary. Notably, oral language is a complex communication interaction of the teacher voice tone, non-verbal expression, and style intonation. The spoken language is not truly taught. Most people learn to speak it by listening. Id their oral language experiences is unsuccessful, people become inept and inarticulate with their communication. Therefore, learning skills of oral English is closely associated to how well they are practiced. Therefore, oral English teachers should focus their attention by making the classroom to be a better place where the language is strongly supported (Farrell, 2007).
An analysis of the role of teachers in oral English classes in Chinese middle schools
Conclusion
As indicated English is the most important foreign language in China. It is listed as one of the most important 3 subjects in the college entrance exam. Learning of English language begins from early childhood education in Kindergarten. It is one of the main important general requirements for the colleges in China and abroad. From the study, educational background of English Teachers in Shanghai middle school is yet to meet the demand for the relevant international standards.
Students are required to have good oratory skills when joining the college. There is a lot of research that have been done both in China and abroad. This study utilized interview and questionnaire to get useful insights of English teaching in Shanghai middle schools. However, due to limited resources, there are several limitations that were experienced in this research. To begin with, the scope of sample size was limited. Although the study painted the picture of language learning system in Shanghai middle schools, the study findings cannot be generalized as the study sample does not represent the general population in China. Future studies should include a larger population size in order to gain more information.
Evidently, most of language teachers in Shanghai middle schools apply the traditional mode of exam oriented model of education. This is driven by the fact that student’s scores in their exam papers is the only measure of their knowledge. Changing this tradition is difficult because of the biggest obstacle- the college entrance examination. The teachers believe that not focusing at student’s performance jeopardizes student’s future, which makes them avoid the quality oriented model of education. The other challenges observed are the cross-cultural challenges where by the parents are not supportive as they are expected. Only a small fraction of parents supervise or help their children with their oral assignments. This creates poor atmosphere of learning both in school and at home. Consequently, it is difficult to see the student read or practice English language or on their own. The main problems with middle school teaching in shanghai is high-student teacher ratio, lack of well trained English language teachers, and presence of test oriented teaching and learning processes. Therefore, it is important for the educational system to devote them to support the implementation of quality oriented language education in Shanghai region as well.
From the study, there is an opportunity for us English teachers to practice quality oriented education. It is our responsibility to identify the students learning needs and to address them. It is important for all language teachers to make the learners the center of conservation in order to boost student’s achievement. The language teachers in these education facilities are well positioned to broaden their interactions and conversation in order to identify the most effective strategies that can be applied to develop student’s skills in all English domains. This involves engaging with the students, which will help the learners develop their critical thinking abilities. This way, the students develops capacities to synthesize materials presented through diverse media. It is important for the language teachers design strategies to address the aforementioned challenges so that they can facilitate higher level of interaction. As language teachers, it is important to learn ways to weave together language as well as the content objectives.
An analysis of the role of teachers in oral English classes in Chinese middle schools
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Appendix 1
| Participants
(100) |
Strongly
agree |
agree | Neutral/don’t know | disagree | Strongly disagree |
| Do student exam score influence your method of teaching and teaching objectives? | 5 | 25 | 60 | 10 | – |
| Does your main method of education involve the implementation of an exam oriented type of education? | 3 | 23 | 63 | 11 | 0 |
| Have you ever considered quality mode of education that is exam centered? | 8 | 40 | 32 | 20 | 0 |
| Would you recommend the replacement of the old mode of exam oriented method with the new student centered method? | – | 75 | – | 25 | |
| Are you aware of the government reforms policy? | – | 90 | 5 | 5 | – |
| Do you support the teaching reform policy?
|
25 | 67 | 8 | – | – |
| Do you apply these reforms into practice or do avoid them in graduating classes?
|
– | 48 avoid | 11 | 41 |
Appendix 2
Interview for English language teachers
Please take some time to answer the questions as carefully and completely as you can. No personal identification of your response is necessary.
- What is your main objective for teachings?
- Describe the attributes of an English language teacher/ Explain your beliefs
- What is the teacher-student relationship at your place of work?
- What is the role of texts and education materials in English language learning and teaching processes?
- Which lesson is very successful when you teach?
- Are you satisfied with your teaching method? If not what aspects of the teaching are you not satisfied with? What is your advice?
We appreciate your responses. These responses will remain confidential
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