Week 8

It's interesting how many teachers around the world face the same challenges. Research has shown that there are alternative instructional methods that teachers need to adopt but they need both system and administrative support.


I have found that the following points that appear in the articles are also relevant in my context (among Israeli Arab English Teachers)

1) Heterogeneous teaching and learning autonomy of learner or teacher depends more on the teaching system as a whole rather than on an individual teaching situation in terms of readiness and practicability.

2) Teachers have to revert to an authoritarian system and to complete an unchangeable syllabus which corresponds with a textbook. They have to accomplish the tasks in the textbook and achieve the objectives of learning English in the national curriculum and in the school syllabus made by the Ministry of Education, but nothing else.
3) There is no way for teachers in the frontline to communicate with the policy-makers, even though the policy does not always meet the realistic needs. As a result, it is unacceptable, or even unthinkable, to adopt anything apart from the textbook in the classroom.
4) Not only could many teachers not help, finding themselves at a loss as to what to do, but also learner autonomy (developed partly by heterogeneous teaching) was perceived as students' own responsibility in the learning process. Thus, it was usually considered that learner autonomy could not be developed in the classroom.
5) An examination-dominated system has made every learner of English gasp for breath. Teachers cannot escape from this notorious system either, because they have to complete the textbook within a term, and simultaneously, devote everything in the classroom to equipping learners with the necessary skills to get a high score in tests.

6) A high score in exams is considered to indicate that both the teacher and student are "good", and the prestige of parents and schools relies heavily on students' performance. Inevitably, competition derived from tests among them makes any new teaching method or activity virtually impossible in the classroom.


Ahmad Amer