Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
Djillali Liabes University Sidi Bel-Abbes
Faculty of letters, Languages and Arts
Department of English
Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the
Degree of Magister in Didactics
Submitted by: Supervised by:
Miss. Bentamra Soumia
Prof. Melouk Mohamed
Members of the jury:
• President: Prof. Bedjaoui Fewzia ……….Professor UDL
• Supervisor: Prof. Melouk Mohamed ………....Professor UDL
• Examiner: Dr. Benaissi Fawzia ……….M.C.A UDL
Academic year: 2014/2015
Investigating CBA Applicability in Algerian Secondary
Schools: Congruency between Textbooks and Programmes
right now, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to express my deep and endless love to you just as you did with me when I was all alone abroad, to a Paradise angel Bentamra Kaouther. May
your soul rest in peace.
To my parents, Abdelkader and Baghdad Fatima whose dept is ever dischargeable, for whom I have been trying so hard, nothing just to make them proud and thank them for giving me the chance to dream and pursue my dreams. To my family, brothers and sisters. To my brothers in law, Jalal and Hocine, and nephew and niece Abdelkarim and Isra’. To all who hold BENTAMRA, BAGHDAD and DAHLAB family names. To my dear friends Meriem,
Imene, Fatima and Abdelkrim. To all Didactics Magister student colleagues.
To the beautiful Touta, sweet Arije, charming Mehdi, Salssabil, Loudjaine, Djinen, Roaaya and adorable Israa’.
First, and for most I would like to thank Prof Melouk Mohamed for opening the door of opportunities to us and express my deepest gratitude for being his student. His assistance, guidance and availability are things to be grateful for my whole life. I would like to thank members of the jury Dr Benaissi Fawzia and Prof Bedjaoui Fewzia for having devoted time and efforts in reading and correcting this work. My sincere gratitude goes to Mr Boukhorss Djillali, Mohammed Boumedien school Head Master, Chaa Youcef Moahmed Khemisti Head Master, and Bentamra Abdelkader , Maghili school Head Master for giving me the chance to conduct the research in the institutions they supervise.
Special thanks go to teachers of all secondary schools who did not hesitate in contributing to this research with everything they could provide. Dr. Yasmina Djafri, a lecturer in the University of Mostaganem, and Prof Benabed Ammar, Head of the department of English in the University of Tiaret, are people whose help and guidance enlightened my way and encouraged me to keep on going, so a thank you would never be enough for them.
I am wholeheartedly overwhelmed by the St Giles International College administration members who have helped me all along my stay in London and even after coming back home. I would like to thank Mr Garth Cadden, head of Teacher Training, on behalf of all the other members and course tutors for their help and assistance by answering my e-mails and phone calls in spite of their busy schedule not forgetting to mention Miss Heather Divine, the administrative agent, who never left me with an unanswered inquiry or even a simple wondering. Finally, I would like to thank Mrs Eileen Tudor for making my stay comfortable in the UK.
Abstract
Living in our contemporary world one should cope with the unprecedented changes of its issues and requirements. This means to master English and computing. Indeed, globalization urges universal communication. This latter happens through English language being an international language spoken by around 508 million people in various fields of life and for different purposes. Therefore, English imposes its teaching in countless educational systems. Thanks to its vitality it came to be proved, according to certain parameters that determine the importance of a given language over the others, as worth including in the educational system of countries throughout the world including Algeria.
The present research is an attempt to understand the way English is being dealt with as a second foreign language in Algeria. This involves the way it is taught, learned and used beyond classroom walls in social life where language occurs as a medium of social interaction. The research process will include approaches, aims and principles alongside the investigation of English teaching and learning realities in Algerian secondary schools. Therefore, this work deals with the current approach applied in ELT in Algeria, namely CBA, its principles and the overall aims to be achieved by both teachers and learners. A further research objective is to measure congruency between first year textbook and syllabus content being the medium to meeting teaching and learning objectives.
Deeper insights to the notions “implementation” and “application” will be presented as related to CBA introduction to the Algerian educational system. This aims to result with a better understanding of CBA objectives and outcomes achievement. a comparison between TEFL in Algerian schools and TEFL abroad will be drawn on the basis of approach adopted, methodologies and techniques used in teaching. Therefore, the work will be divided into four chapters. The first chapter serves as an introductory chapter giving an overview being the mirror of the research that reflects on it as a whole piece. The second one will be devoted to literature review of previous studies and findings in the same field. However, the third one covers data collection procedure, data analysis as well as data interpretation and findings. Finally, the fourth chapter is devoted to suggested solutions aiming at crowning this research with pedagogical implications that serve to bring about changes to the educational system.
List of abbreviations and acronyms
CAE: Certificate of Advanced English
CBA: Competency-Based Approach
CBE: Competency-Based Education
CBLT: Competency-Based Language Teaching CBT: Competency-Based Teaching
CCQ’s: Concept Check Questions
Cert: Certificate
CLT: Communicative Language Teaching
COW: Concept Oral Written Cv: Curriculum Vitae
EAP: English for Academic Purposes.
EFL: English as a Foreign Language
EG: “économie et gestion” “Economy and management”
ELL: English Language Learning ELT: English Language Teaching
ESL: English as a Second Language
ESOL: English of Speaker of Other Language
ESP: English for Specific Purposes
GTM: Grammar Translation Method
ICQ’s: Instruction Check Questions
ICT: Information Communication Technology
IWB: interactive white board (also, smart board)
L1: mother tongue/native language
L2: second language/foreign langauge
MFP: Meaning Form Pronunciation
TESOL: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
TV: television
UK: United Kingdom
USA: United States of America
List of tables Chapter one:
Table 1.1: Significant dates in the history of St Giles ……….….13
Table 1.2: First year scientific stream timetable of English subject, Mohemmed Boumedien secondary school ……….…..25
Table 1.3: Second year scientific stream timetable of English subject, Mohemmed Boumedien secondary school ……….……..25
Table 1.4: Second year foreign languages stream timetable of English subject, Mohemmed Boumedien secondary school ………..…..25
Table 1.5: Third year foreign languages stream timetable of English subject, Mohemmed Boumedien secondary school ………....25 Table 1.6: First year scientific stream timetable of English subject, Mohemmed Khemisti secondary school ……….…..26
Table 1.7: Second year scientific stream timetable of English subject, Mohemmed Khemisti secondary school ……….…..26
Table 1.8: Second year foreign languages stream timetable of English subject, Mohemmed Khemisti secondary school ………26
Chapter one:
Figure 1.1: Kachru’s inner, outer, and expanding circles ……….9
Figure 1.2: World English and English proficiency circles ………..9 Figure 1.3: St Giles centres foundation in the UK and overseas ……….14
Chapter two:
Figure 2.1: Competencies underlying speaking proficiency (Canal & Swain 1980)…………43
Figure 2.2: Stages of the writing process………..45
Chapter three:
Figure 3.1: Components underlying classroom management ………..56
Chapter three:
Bar-graph 3.1: respondents’ distribution according to gender………....53
Bar-graph 3.2: respondents’ age average ………...54
Bar-graph 3.3: respondents’ professional status ………...55
Bar-graph 3.4: respondents’ intellectual degrees ………56
Bar-graph 3.5: respondents’ professional experience ……….57
Bar-graph 3.6: respondents’ distribution over streams ………...57
Bar-graph 3.7: respondents’ distribution over levels ……….58
Bar-graph 3.8: Approaches in favor of use ………59
Bar-graph 3.9: Respondents’ introduction to CBA………. 60
Bar-graph 3.10: Approaches effectiveness on the class performance ……….62
Bar-graph 3.11: Roadblocks to CBA application ………63
Bar-graph 3.12: Respondents’ viewpoints about textbook rubrics’ effectiveness …………..64
Bar-graph 3.13: Respondents’ viewpoints about rubrics ambiguity ………...65
Bar-graph 3.14: Syllabus, CBA objectives and time congruency school 1 ……….65
Bar-graph 3.15: Syllabus, CBA objectives and time congruency school 2 ……….66
Bar-graph 3.16: Syllabus, CBA objectives and time congruency secondary school 3 ………66
Bar-graph 3.17: Respondents’ suggestions to remedy the overloadedness of syllabus and time limitation ………..67
Bar-graph 3.18: Respondents’ views about CBA contribution to ELT enhancement ……….68
Bar-graph 3.19: Respondents’ suggested approaches in ELT ……….70
Bar-graph 3.20: Frequency of learning easiness ……….71
Bar-graph 3.21: Frequency of appreciating English class ………...71
Bar-graph 3.22: Comfort in classroom ………72
Bar-graph 3.23: Sitting in classrooms ……….73
Bar-graph 3.26: Frequency of understanding ……….75
Bar-graph 3.27: Strategies used to cover understanding ………76
Bar-graph 3.28: Types of tasks that pupils are good at ………..76
Bar-graph 3.29: Pupils’ opinions about the use of the textbook ………77
Bar-graph 3.30: Frequency of English use in real life situations ………...78
Bar-graph 3.31: English use in pupils’ future life ………..79
Picture 4.1: Listening and speaking rubric, “At The Crossroads”, Secondary Education, Year One, p 16. ……….. 109
Picture 4.2: Listening and speaking rubric, “At The Crossroads”, Secondary Education, Year One, p 17……….. ..110
Picture 4.3: The IWB used in Teacher Training Course, St Giles International College …..113
Picture 4.4: American English at State, educational web page, Social Network, Facebook..122
Picture 4.5: Grammarly, educational web page, Social Network Facebook……….. 123
Picture 4.6: American English at State, educational web page, Social Network Facebook...124
Dedications ………...I
Acknowledgments ………....II
Abstract ………III List of abbreviations and acronyms ……….IV
List of tables ………VI
List of figures ……….VII
List of bar-graphs ………..VIII
List of pictures ……….X Table of contents ………XI
General introduction ………1
CHAPTER ONE: RESEARCH DESIGN AND EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS 1.1 Introduction ………5
1.2 The international status of EFL ………..5
1.2.1 Economics ………..………6
1.2.2 Information exchange ………..………...6
1.2.3 Travel ………..………7
1.3 EFL, ESL, ESOL & ELF ……….7
1.3.1 English as a Lingua Franca ………...8
1.4 Teaching English in Algeria ………..10
1.5 Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages in St Giles London Central ………...11
1.5.1 English language and teaching accreditation ………11
1.5.2 History of St Giles ………12
1.5.3 St Giles timeline ………...12
1.5.4 St Giles International Statement of Educational Purpose ……….14
1.5.5 Communicative Language Teaching in St Giles ………..15
1.5.7.1 Entry requirements ………...18
1.5.7.2 The course programme ………18
1.5.7.3 Teaching practice ……….19
1.5.7.4 Written assignments ………19
1.5.7.5 On-going coursework assignments ………..20
1.5.7.6 Test ………...20
1.5.7.7 Other Teacher Training course running at St Giles ……….21
1.6 Limitation and delimitation of the study ………21
1.7 Significance of the study ………22
1.8 Fields of the study ………..23
1.9 Population targeted ………24
1.10 Tools and procedures ………...24
1.11 Roadblocks and reviews ………..27
1.12 Conclusion ………...28
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE 2.1 Introduction ………..29
2.2 Origins of the competency-based approach ……….….29
2.2.1 Definition of the CBA ……….….33
2.2.1.1 Competence ……….…34
2.2.1.2 Competency ……….…34
2.2.1.3 Knowledge transfer ………..……35
2.2.2 Competency-Based Language Teaching ………...36
2.2.2.1 Programmes and syllabus design ………..36
2.2.2.2 Teacher’s role within the CBA ………37
2.2.2.3 Learner’s role within the CBA ……….38
2.3.1 Issues related to teaching English in the Algerian secondary schools …………...…..40
2.3.1.1 Teaching aims and learner’s needs ………..40
2.3.1.2 Large classes ………41
2.3.1.3 Absence of communication ………..41
2.3.1.4 Concentration on marks ………...41
2.3.1.5 Humble teaching material ………....41
2.3.1.6 Teacher’s dilemma ………..…….42
2.3.1.6.1 Teaching the four skills ………...42
2.3.1.6.1.1 Teaching speaking ……….………….42
2.3.1.6.1.2 Teaching listening ………..43
2.3.1.6.1.3 Teaching reading ………44
2.3.1.6.1.4 Teaching writing ………45
2.3.2 EFL objectives in the Algerian educational system ……….45
2.3.3 CBA objectives ……….47
2.4 Conclusion ……….47
CHAPTER THREE: DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF THE FINDINGS 3.1 Introduction ………48
3.2 Description of research tools ………..48
3.2.1 Observation ………...48
3.2.2 Questionnaires ………..49
3.2.2.1 Teachers’ questionnaire ………...49
3.2.2.2 Pupils’ questionnaire ………49
3.2.3 Interviews ………50
3.3 Data analysis and interpretation of the findings ………...50
3.3.1.2 Number of pupils ………51
3.3.1.3 Discipline ………51
3.3.1.4 Materials ………..51
3.3.1.5 Tests ……….52
3.3.1.6 Libraries ………...52
3.3.2 Data analysis of questionnaires ……….53
3.3.2.1 Data analysis of questionnaires directed to teachers ………53
3.3.2.2 Data analysis of questionnaires directed to pupils ………...70
3.3.3 Data analysis of interviews carried out with teachers ………...80
4.1 Conclusion ………...100
CHAPTER FOUR: REFLECTIONS ON THE MAIN FINDINGS AND PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS 4.1 Introduction ………..101
4.2 Summary of the main reflective findings ……….101
4.3 Measurement and diagnosis of the main dysfunction in CBA in Algerian secondary schools ………102 4.3.1Teacher Training ………..102 4.3.2 Teacher’s role ………..107 4.3.3 Learner’s role ………..107 4.3.4 Materials ………..107 4.3.5 Textbooks ………108 4.3.6 Language laboratories ……….112
4.3.7 Further books and referencing ………....114
4.4 Pedagogical implications and further suggested research areas ………..114
4.4.1 Pedagogical implications ………114
4.4.1.3 Teacher training course ……….115
4.4.1.3.1 In-service training course ………115
4.4.3.1.2 Pre-service training course ………..116
4.4.3.1.3 What makes a good teacher? ………118
4.4.3.1.4 What makes a good learner? ………119
4.4.3.1.5 The difference between natives and non-natives (Algerian) teachers of English………120
4.4.1.4 Review textbook ………121
4.4.1.5 Design a literary stream textbook ………..122
4.4.1.6 Include CD’s in reviewed textbooks ……….122
4.4.1.7 Include up-to-date means in teaching ………...122
4.4.1.8 Lighten syllabus ………126
4.4.2 Further suggested research areas ………126
4.5 Conclusion ………...126 General conclusion ………128 Bibliography ………..131 Books ……….131 Articles ………...132 Webliography ……….132 Appendices Appendix I: TESOL course timetable ………133
Appendix II: Reading list ………...137
Appendix III: Foreign language journal ……….139
Appendix IV: Observation journal ……….145
Appendix V: Learner profile assignment ………...152
Appendix VIII: Teaching practice Reflections ……….166
Appendix IX : Turioals 1 & 2 ………...167
Appendix X: Pupils’ questionnaire ………171
Appendix XI: Teachers’ questionnaire ……….….173
Appendix XII: Interviews directed to teachers ……….….179
Appendix XIII: New Headway teacher’s book ………..…183
Appendix XIV: New Headway pre-intermediate students’ book ………...…...184
Appendix XV: Secondary education year one textbook appendices ……….…185
General Introduction
For communicative purposes, English is imposing its teaching all over the world including Algeria. Being the language of trade, business, technology, thus, communication it is needed in most fields of life, therefore education. Teaching English as a Foreign Language is not such an easy task to do. Put simply its reality in the Algerian context which social background has not been really bounded to the language. Hence, teaching English according to the contemporary notion, that is teaching English from a communicative point of view related to real life role situations in our country, has many demands that rely as a burden especially on the teachers’ shoulders.
Foreign language pedagogy has struggled a lot to make language teaching successful. The reign of translation, rules obedience, and inhibition caused by stressing errors and mistakes is over with the traditional way of understanding language. Thanks to new demands and modern views that see language more than storage of rules and words learned by heart, language namely, English, is being taught on the basis of content rather than form. One is required to construct meaning without really worrying about grammatical mistakes as long as what he/she says conveys a message. In this respect, a modern view and a new notion of language teaching was adopted which is “communication” as the core of the “change”. As the name suggests there should be a change to give a chance to let improvement be.
This notion of communication was the spirit of a major paradigm shift within language teaching in the twentieth century. The beginning of this shift was marked by CLT (communicative language teaching) which principles could clearly be seen in latter communicative approaches such as content-based teaching (CBT), which is regarded as a logical development of some of the core principles of CLT, and task-based teaching (TBT) on the other hand which is regarded as a recent version of a communicative methodology that, as professionals claim, aims at reconciling methodology with current theories of second language acquisition. Indeed, fitting methodology with theories of second language acquisition is the key that guarantees success in learning process. For this reason language teaching witnessed lately another shift by the adoption of a new approach seeking to better the outcomes as far as language learning is concerned.
CBA (competency-based approach) is the current approach being applied to language teaching or more precisely being implemented since it carries out new concepts as compared to former approaches, yet keeping communication as one of those concepts. The introduction of CBA aims, as in previous shifts, at enhancing language teaching and learning. However, this latter is different as is gave more importance to the learner without neglecting the teacher. Being learner-centered, CBA is not just a shift in language methodology, but a shift in roles of major participants as well. These participants are the teacher and the learner who share, this time, the responsibility of the learning process and outcomes. The teacher is no longer the controller he is a guide, a prompter and a facilitator whereas the learner works in collaboration with peers and his teacher to make learning successful which is, according to CBA principles, much related to real life role situations.
As a matter of fact, to make language learning successful in Algeria, particularly English is a challenging task as it is a foreign language that has no social background or socio-cultural bridges with our society. In fact French, due to historical reasons, has been occupying a high social status and enjoys much popularity among Algerians which makes it preferred over English. This is mainly why English teachers are struggling to make CBA happen since it requires making English in use in social life. Furthermore, both implementation and application of CBA were not really carried out as it should be. Lack of teacher training is one of the major problems that prevent success achievement and reaching expected outcomes. CBA is an efficient approach in its nature as it is proved to be successful abroad which makes us wonder why it is not the case in Algeria.
Embracing CBA represented a huge step towards enhancement in language teaching and learning. By nature it was thought to be the stepping stone to success; however outcomes are not really satisfactory for both teachers and parents. This step required a major ingredient which is “change”. This change is not seen in the educational context, one of the examples that illustrate the case is teacher and learner roles. This shift towards learner-centeredness handled responsibility to the teacher and learner, teacher by being a facilitator by first place, resource, and an organizer. On the other hand, the learner should go through a process of personal appropriation, questioning his own convictions, revise his prior knowledge, cooperate with peers, and search for information and seek consultation. In our case (Algeria) none of the participants (teacher and learner) is conceptualizing his role but few exceptions. The teacher is always a controller who imposes the way of learning forgetting the idea of giving “equal” opportunities which entails dealing with mixed ability classes, i.e. teaching
both clever hard working learners and those with humble potential. So basically, if change is not there, thus CBA is not working and eventually outcomes cannot be seen which is our case to discuss. The purpose of this study is to measure the extent to which the implementation of CBA was appropriate, and whether applicability of this approach is successful in high school education.
Carrying out the notion of change, CBA should be introduced smoothly and slowly to the educational system. However, this was not the case, the approach was brought in a form of document passed by the ministry of education and given as rule to obey. Thus, our proposed study aims at investigating if roles of participants are being well performed. That is to say if teachers perceived their so-called “less” responsible role and if learners are handling the responsibility they have been given to make learning happen.
All in all, the major purpose of the study is to find the hole that is preventing success of CBA and bring what is taught in EFL classes outside school doors as a major ingredient to guarantee a fruitful work. Examining the reality of English teaching in high school education from a practical point of view will requires answering the following questions:
-Was the competency-based approach implemented according to its roots and principles?
-If so, to which extent is its applicability successful and how does the textbook serve the program being applied?!
-Is there a logical relationship between first year textbook, syllabus content and time devoted to English appealing to CBA objectives?
So as to answer the proposed research questions and meet our objectives, that aim at finding the dysfunction of CBA and if possible a suggested remedy, we hypothesize that:
-Competency-based approach was not introduced as it should be to make the step towards the change realizable, it was immediately applied without preparatory tools and materials rather than implemented.
-Its applicability is successful to a low extent with the lack of teacher training and introductory phases the principles are misapplied and mal-used. Congruency between textbooks and programs is to be doubted.
-The relationship between the first year textbook, syllabus content and time devoted to English subject is to be questioned since CBA objectives are not being achieved
These hypotheses will be confirmed/disconfirmed by the end of the research after having collected and analyzed data. This will involve different participants from different educational settings to enrich the investigation that will result in reliable findings.
1 Chapter one: Research design and educational settings
1.1 Introduction:
The Algerian educational system has witnessed several shifts in approaches adopted to teaching and learning. As a result, foreign language pedagogy has long struggled to find a suitable approach to meet teachers’ as well as parents’ expectations concerning learners’ outcomes achievement. Recently, under the framework of educational reform, a new approach has been adopted, the CBA, which is meant to enhance teaching and learning methodologies and outcomes including foreign language subjects, namely English language which is our case to discuss. This language is enjoying much popularity being an international language. It has gained a social status in our country after having long been over bared by French; the first foreign language.
The present study aims at investigating English language teaching and learning effectiveness with regard to the approach being applied. That is to clarify whether this approach, as promising, has brought about change to ELT towards better levels. Furthermore, it deals with tools and techniques that are particular to this approach and their efficiency in goal achievement. The overall aim of this study is to review the textbook as means of syllabus or programme application.
Since this latter is the teachers’ as well as the learners’ means to reach the set out objectives, the analysis will not be specific to textbook or syllabus each alone, but rather to the two if they practically go hand in hand leading to success. But before speaking about the situation of English language teaching in the Algerian educational context, let us first get a more general and a broader view about the language. This involves the status of English as an international language and its different roles and uses.
1.2 The international status of EFL:
By the end of the 20th century English has already gained an important international status and found its place as being a genuine Lingua Franca, which is a language that is widely used for communicative purposes between people who do not share the same L1 or even L2. Harmer (2007) stated “There is something awe-inspiring about the way English use
has grown in the last few decades.” Kachru (1983) had written about that same phenomenon
“growth of English use” saying “One might hazard a linguistic guess here… If the spread of
English continues at the current rate, by the year 2000 its non-native speakers will outnumber its native speakers”.
Two years later, he has estimated that there were between 320 and 380 million people speaking English as a first language, and about 250 to 380 million people using English as a second language. Harmer (2007) had written
“Kachru’s guess was absolutely right, but on a much greater scale than
he might have supposed. Estimates vary, but the ration of native speakers to non-native speakers is anywhere between 1:2 (Rajagopalan 2004) and 1:3 (Crystal 2003a), and this gap is widening all the time.”
This is a strong confirmation that English has been enjoying a very high international status being used all over the world as a second language, foreign language or a Lingua Franca in different aspects of life such as business, trade, politics and even education. Since it is the language of technology, it is imposing its teaching all around the world for developmental exchanges. Not only for technology reasons that English has gained this popularity, but rather several reasons and various needs in life that helped boosting English spread around the world.
1.2.1 Economics:
In this respect Harmer (2007) states “military prowess may account for the initial
establishment of a language…but it is economic power that ensures its survival and growth.”
Indeed, countries that have economic power seem to dominate language use since people will be sort of obliged to use its language for economic purposes. Harmer sites the spread global commerce as a major reason for the growth of English having the United States as a world economic power that dominates language use.
1.2.2 Information exchange:
The first and main reason for English growth in this field is absolutely Internet as a major channel for information exchange. Since its roots are drawn back to the USA. Harmer (2007) advocates that there was kind of predominance of its use during its early days. Another and not less important reason is academic discourse which, most of the time, takes place in English. Again, Harmer (2007) gives the example of English as Lingua Franca in conferences and journal articles in diverse fields such as astrophysics and zoology that use English as a default language.
1.2.3 Travel:
English is the preferred language for both air traffic and sea travel communication. As the world is witnessing more and more openness of its parts one on another, much travel and tourism is going around where people for sure need to communicate using a unique language. That language is most of the time English. It might not always be the case as Harmer (2007) states that there are multilingual tourism workers in different countries, but still most airports around the world use signs and announcements of their own language and English as well being a global language.
1.3 EFL, ESL, ESOL & ELF:
English is a very rich language in terms of acronyms such as ESP (English for specific purposes) which is used for different aims in various fields such as Nursing, Law, Business, and Technology. It is of course different from general English that is taught in most schools being state or private schools. The teaching of English involves generally two fields where its status differs; EFL (English as a foreign language) and ESL (English as a second language).
Harmer (2007) states that EFL students study the language “to use it with any other
English speakers in the world-when the students might be tourists or business people”. That is
to say, using of English in social interaction does not necessarily involve living in an English speaking community. On the other hand, in an ESL situation, people who study the language are living in a target language community (Britain, the USA etc.). In this respect Harmer advocates that in such a situation the purpose of studying the language is to “survive and
prosper in that community, doing such things as renting apartments, accessing the local health services etc.”
It seems to us that this distinction will make a course content of an EFL lesson different from that of an ESL one. However, Harmer (2007) suggests considering two ideas that might change the understanding of this distinction to be rather two similar teaching/learning situations. First, English is the language of communication in many countries (English or non-English speaking countries) since they are multilingual. Does this make it a foreign or a second language? Second, many EFL students are using English as a language of communication in global context such as Internet (social network: Facebook, Skype etc). This makes them part of a global target-language community.
Thus, for Harmer this shifting makes it the same learning situation through his words:
“With the picture shifting like this, it makes sense to blur the distinction
and say, instead, that whatever situation we are in, we are teaching ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages)”.
He further adds “This does not mean we should ignore the context in which
language-learning takes place, but it does reflect a more multilingual global reality.” Both cases, being
similar or different, will be sharply noticed to be different from the next term to be introduced which is ELF (English as a Lingua Franca).
1.3.1 English as a Lingua Franca:
As we have seen, English is not only used by a native speakers, it has spread to be a global language used for international communication. Under the umbrella of international wide spread, a new kind of English has recently emerged as part of World Englishes1. It is ELF (English as Lingua Franca). Conversations taking place in an ELF context has been studied by researchers among who Barbara Seidlhofer. She carried out her study at the University of Vienna where she has noted a number of characteristics that are particular to ELF speakers:
• Non use of third person present simple tense –s (she look very sad)
• Interchangeable use of the relative pronouns who and which ( a book who, a person which)
• Omission of definite and indefinite articles where they are obligatory in native-speaker English, and insertion where they do not occur in native English.
• Use of an all-purpose tag question such as isn’t it? Or no? instead of shouldn’t they? (
they should arrive soon isn’t it?)
• Increasing of redundancy by adding prepositions (we have to study about…and Can
we discuss about…?) or by increasing explicitness (black color versus black and how long time? Versus how long?)
• Heavy reliance on certain verbs of high semantic generality, such as do, have, make,
put, take.
• Pluralisation of nouns that are considered uncountable in native-speaker English
(informations, staffs, advices)
1 A term used to emphasise the range of different varieties of English that have developed since the nineteenth
centry.
8
• Use of that clauses instead of infinitive constructions (I want that we discuss about my
dissertation) Seidlhofer (2004:220)
Jenkins (2006) points out that even though non-native speakers of English are conforming to a native English standard, they seem to be getting along well with the language being successful communicators. In this sense, she considers them expert speakers and suggests
“The need to abandon the native speaker as the yardstick to establish
empirically some other means of defining an expert (and less expert) speaker of English, regardless of whatever they happen to be a native or non-native speaker”
To illustrate what Jenkins suggests, her point will be contrasted to Kachru’s classification of different speakers of English using the following two figures:
Figure 1.1: Kachru's inner, outer, and expanding circles Figure 1.2: World English and English proficiency circles
This leads us to conclude that EFL, ESL, EAP, ESP and many other situations of English language learning may result in ELF. Thus, Jenkins in her suggestion seems to support the notion of fluency over accuracy encouraging communication to take place adding that such expert speakers seemed to be negotiating meaning in a cooperative learning atmosphere which was not the case when communicating with native speakers.
After having introduced different contexts where English learning may take place, it is time to introduce our case study, its settings, population, tools and procedures while being carried out. In the following sections, the status of English, its teaching and learning outcomes
expandi ng 100-1000 outer 150-300 inner 320-380 low proficiency inner high proficiency 9
are all presented. A small part is also devoted to a situation where English occurs as a foreign language but taught abroad by native speakers, in London.
1.4 Teaching English in Algeria:
Teaching English in Algeria, in secondary schools particularly, is taking place under the CBA since 2002. This approach is different in being learners-centred as it stresses competency in learners. Its objective is what learners are expected to do with the language at the end of a course rather than just learning a target language. This makes it an outcomes approach which is another characteristic that distinguishes it from former approaches.
Stressing the four skills, reading, listening, speaking and writing, requires extra care and very specific lesson objective that should be set out according to the learning outcomes. This has brought the use of ICT’s in the field of teaching especially when it comes to a listening lesson. However, one of the shortcomings of this approach is the absence of material needed such as language labs. We notice that many lessons do have listening scripts that should be presented in a good model (native/near native speakers), and should be performed in language labs. However, they are being held in ordinary class settings using the teachers’ reading skills which are sometimes or most of the time very humble English.
In addition to this, the procedure adopted in lessons does not fit with the content itself; important phases are being skipped regarded as minor which are in fact major to meet the objective of the lesson. For instance, pre-teaching vocabulary in a reading lesson facilitates the comprehension of the text and makes answering the questions easy. And even before this, a context should be provided to make learners interested in reading; this is summarized in what we call a gist task.
Another example is that of grammar lessons. Grammar seems to be boring to most if not all learners. Learning language is much easier when adding fun to learning, thus grammar should not be given as a raw material. We should provide a context to move learners’ attention from focusing on rules and structure to the concept itself. This will result in effective learning by developing a skill while teaching grammar and establishing concept. This will become clearer in the next section where a model of a teacher training course in England will be presented.
1.5 Teaching English to Speaker of Other Languages in St Giles London Central:
St Giles is a college in central London that has been providing English courses and Teacher Training for 60 years. Students come from all over the world. It is recommended by Cambridge University for different teacher training courses such as TESOL, DELTA and CELTA. These courses are needed for every qualified person2 who aims to teach English in England or elsewhere. Their diplomas are internationally recognized thanks to the quality and variability of teaching methods they provide.
The college is known for its international reputation for high quality teaching and success. It provides exciting, fast-paced, and student-centred English language courses. It is located in different parts of the world covering UK, USA and Canada. In UK, there are four colleges in four different areas two of them are located in the capital London. The first one is Britghon, the second Eastbourne, the third London Highgate and the fourth one is London Central. The Teacher Training Course took place in London Central where another part of this work was carried out.
This college adopts the CLT to language teaching as the major approach. Neverthless teachers are prevented to adapt and adopt from other methods and approaches to bring what is useful to learners. The notion of learner-centredness is one of the most important principles of the college. Being it in lesson or task design, it should be based on students and their needs. For clearer views a brief presentation of CLT is needed at this level.
1.5.1 English language and teaching accreditation:
St Giles International is fully accredited and regularly assessed for the teaching of English by the British Council in the UK, the CEA in the USA, and Languages Canada in Canada. These are major independent bodies that control quality standards in language centres in the UK, USA and Canada. The US centres are also members of AAIEP. The St Giles UK centres are members of English UK and were all inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) in March-April 2013, and are listed by UKVI as Highly Trusted Sponsors (HTS).
2Should have a university degree or standard of education equivalent to that required for entry into higher education.
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1.5.2 History of St Giles:
St Giles International was founded in 1955 by Paul Lindsay and his wife Diana. Paul trained to be a teacher and started his career teaching English and French to native English speakers at a north London polytechnic. Wanting to earn some more money for his upcoming marriage, he took a summer job at an English language school on Oxford Street. The school was bursting at its seams with foreign students and he was excited by the demand for learning English. So he saved up £100 and rented a small room in a back street of Soho, London, and launched a school of English.3
4Since then, St Giles has grown into an international organisation with 7 year-round centres in the UK, USA and Canada, as well as Junior Summer Courses in the UK, USA and Canada and year-round schools in Brazil. Paul Lindsay, the founder of St Giles, said:
"We were established a long time ago, but I am very pleased that all of the St Giles centres are today up-to-date and young in outlook, with vigorous lively teachers and administrative staff. Although we have all the latest electronic equipment, interactive whiteboards in the classrooms, self-access centres, new digital Language Labs, we haven’t overlooked the importance of good teaching. Our teachers are constantly updating their commitment to learner-centred learning and therefore the top priority of putting the student’s needs first.
We have every right to be proud of our high standards and our reputation. It is to the great credit of Mark Lindsay and all our wonderful staff that St Giles is celebrating its 55th anniversary. We look forward to many more anniversaries!"
1.5.3 St Giles Timeline:
Here are just a few significant dates that represent the most important events in the history of St Giles. This includes the foundation of new centres within the UK and overseas. Different sites that centres have occupied since foundation are also presented to distinguish between new centres and centres that changed location.
3, 4 www.stgiles-international.com
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Dates Acts
1955 The first St Giles School of Languages opened in Soho, London 1963 St Giles opened a branch in Canterbury
1969 St Giles Brighton first opened as the Brighton Overseas Students Centre at 69 Marine Parade, Brighton
1975 St Giles Highgate opened at 51 Shepherd's Hill, London 1978 St Giles Eastbourne was founded
1982 The first overseas branch of St Giles opened in San Francisco, USA 1986 St Giles Brighton purchased a new building in Marlborough Place 1987 St Giles Westminster opened in Northumberland Avenue, London 1991 St Giles San Francisco moved to larger premises on Hallidie Plaza
1993 St Giles Westminster moved to a bigger building in Great Russell Street and was renamed St Giles London Central
1997 St Giles London Central moved to its current location at 154 Southampton Row 2001 St Giles opened its first centre in Brazil, in Sao Paolo
2004 St Giles Campinas opened
2005 St Giles opened a Summer Course for young learners in Southampton. (Since then it has opened 8 more in the UK, as well as 5 in the USA and 2 in Canada)
2006 St Giles San Francisco moved to a new building located on Market Street
2006 St Giles took over the Canadian Business English Institute (CBEI) and opened St Giles Vancouver
2009 Giles San Francisco expanded into a second building, nicknamed 'NOMA' (North of Market Street) opposite its current building, 'SOMA'
2011 New York City year-round center opened on Fifth Avenue
table 1.1: significant dates in the history of St Giles
1955 Founded 1975 1982 2006
1969 1978 2001 2011
Figure 1.2: St Giles centres foundation in the UK and overseas
1.5.4 St Giles International Statement of Educational Purpose:
This statement includes what the schools’ principles, purposes and promises are. They set their learning objectives clear for participants of whatever course (General English or Teacher Training course). They also mention the boundaries of commitment and responsibilities.
“We treat students as individuals with personal experience and knowledge that they can bring to their course.”
“We offer a multi-national, multi-cultural learning environment that reflects the global use of the English language in the 21st century.”
“We aim to make the lessons as learner-centred as possible. Our lessons are planned but the course content and programmes respond to students’ needs.”
“We aim to make our courses interesting, relevant and enjoyable and believe that this makes learning more effective.”
“We aim to make our courses practical so that students use the English language for meaningful communication rather than merely studying it.”
“We believe that learning is a joint effort between our teachers and learners.”
New York city year round centre opens on Fifth Avenue St Giles opens
its first centre in Brazil St Giles Eastbourne is founded St Giles opens Brighton Overseas studentscentre St Giles opens in Vancouver First St Giles school of languages open in Soho, London First overseas branch opens in San Francisco, USA St Giles Highgate opens in London 14
“We expect students to contribute to their lessons, to attend 100% and work hard.”
“As students learn in different ways, we embrace different learning styles and teaching approaches.”
“We believe that smaller class sizes lead to better teaching and learning so we have an average of 10 and a maximum of 12 students per class.”
“Learning English does not end when the student leaves St Giles. We provide the student with advice and training to enable them to continue their studies beyond their course with us.”
“Student welfare is important for effective learning. We ensure that students know they can approach any member of staff when they have questions or problems.”
“We foster a safe and respectful classroom learning environment that is free from racist, sexist, and homophobic behavior or content.”
Reviewed on 02.05.2013
1.5.5 Communicative Language Teaching:
The origins of CLT can be traced back to the late 1960’s when the changes of the British language teaching tradition marked the history. Until that time, situational Language Teaching had been the major British approach adopted to teaching English as a foreign language. By the mid 1960’s as the linguistic theory underlying Audiolingualism was rejected in the USA, British applied linguists began to question the theoretical assumptions underlying Situational Language Teaching. in addition to this, the changing educational realities in Europe also contributed to give birth to a new approach in language teaching which was CLT.
As the name suggests, CLT views the theory of language as communication. After all the major goal of language teaching is to develop what Hymes (1972) referred to as “communicative competence”. As mentioned by Richards & Rodgers (2002) “...this theory of what knowing a language entails offers z much more comprehensive view than Chomsky’s view of competence, which deals primarily with abstract grammatical knowledge” . For Chomsky a linguistic theory is mainly:
“...concerned primarily with an ideal speaker-listener in a completely homogeneous speech community, who knows its language perfectly and is unaffected by such grammatically irrelevant conditions as memory limitations, distractions, shifts of attention and interest, and errors (random or characteristic) in applying his knowledge of language in actual performance” (Chomsky 1965:3)
Chomsky claims that language theory should be based on accuracy and it is all about being competent enough if not perfect from errors of whatever kind. However, Halliday (1970) suggest a theory (functional account of language use) in CLT supporting what Hymes said arguing that “Linguistics...is concerned...with the description of the functions of
language, and therefore all components of meaning, brought to focus” (Halliday 1970:145).
Widdowson (1978) also supported the view of seeing a language as communication. He presented in his book Teaching Language Ad Communication a view of the relationship between linguistic systems and their communicative values in text and discourse. A very pedagogically influential theory of communicative language teaching is that of Canal & Swain (1980) where they provide four dimensions of communicative competence they believe is necessary in language learning; grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence and strategic competence.
Thus, most linguists and applied linguists agreed that language entails mainly communication. This led to major shift in pedagogy of second and foreign language teaching that became to adopt communication as a core principle in teaching approaches. Then CLT was founded based on a new notion, communication, as the effective approach to language teaching.
1.5.6 Why CLT not CBLT?
Inspite of being more recent and popular than CLT, CBA is not adopted in St Giles College. A short number of questions were asked to Mr Garth Cadden5, the college Head Master, to clarify what approach is in use and why. These questions are as follow:
1/”What approach do you adopt to TESOL in your school?”
2/”Why do you adopt the Communicative Approach rather than the Competency-Based Approach inspite of the fact that this latter is more recent?”
5 Head of the Teacher Training at St Giles International College
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3/”You do give a lot of importance to the notion of learner-centredness which is the core of CBA not CLT. Then, why rather CLT is adopted?”
4/ “I was thinking that your objective is to respond to the students' needs and interests that are mainly speaking the target language fluently and for that they need communication. So, can you say that the selection of the teaching approach depends rather on learners’ needs and expectations than the approach itself being successful or popular?”
Mr Garth answered to the first question “we use the Communicative approach”.
His answer to the second question was “it is this approach that, in my opinion, forms the
basis of how we teach as it places the focus on the learners using the language to communicate, which is surely the key. It also helps to avoid overly teacher-centred lessons”.
He answered the third question saying “Aspects of Competency-Based Language Teaching
(CBLT) may well feature depending on the language skills that are being taught. As I am sure you know, it first emerged in the USA in the 70s and has most recently been used since the 1990’s to give language skills to refugees there.”
His answer to the last question was “Within this, other methods and approaches may be used
by teachers at different times in their lessons in order to meet their learners’ needs.”
To sum up what Mr Garth said, effective language teaching starts with focusing on learners as they have particular needs and are expected to reach particular achievements. The selection of a “good” approach as well as the flexibility with teaching methodologies and being eclectic giving teachers the chance to bring all what’s in favour of meeting the lessons’ aims are all important decisions to be made really carefully. This is without neglecting that students are always the most important aspect to consider when planning and performing a lesson.
The above provided presentation of St Giles college is an introduction of what is coming in chapter three as this school Teacher Training course TESOL represents part of this research. It was an exit from the current educational situation trying to have different views by comparing situations where English stands as a foreign language. Coming back to the way research was conducted, here are the different tools and process of the study.
1.5.7 What is a TESOL course?
A TESOL course provides a theoretical and practical English teaching experience. People who wish to join this course have to apply online and fill in a test sent by an administrative agent before doing the interview with one the St Giles responsible (tutors) for this course. If they succeed they will be told immediately to prepare themselves and pay for the course fees. They will also be introduced to the timetable and see if they can catch up with they have to do as they are required to be committed until the end of the course. Once accepted, trainees will receive an e-mail including a pre-course task, a pre-course reading list (books and references) and a booklet with the school’s regulations and detailed description of the course.
The Trinity Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (Trinity Cert. TESOL) is awarded by Trinity College London, and is recognised by the British Council and by language schools worldwide as a suitable initial qualification for teaching English as a foreign language. St Giles offers the course as a full-time four week intensive programme of study. It is available in two locations in the UK: Eastbourne and London Central. A part-time programme of study is also offered at London Central College.
1.5.7.1 Entry requirements:
No teaching experience is necessary, but candidates should have a university degree or standard of education equivalent to that required for entry into higher education. Non-native speakers of English are welcome provided that they have a high level of English: CEFR Level C1. Good language awareness is essential. Candidates should be at least 18 years old for Trinity TESOL Courses. Following the initial application, all candidates are sent a pre-interview questionnaire and test. Then, successful candidates will be pre-interviewed personally by one of the Teacher Trainers who will assess their suitability to start the course. This will include a written task which is sent to be filled and brought on the day of the interview.
1.5.7.2 The course programme:
The Trinity Cert. TESOL course includes five units of study:
• Unit 1: Teaching Skills
• Unit 2: Language Awareness (including grammar, vocabulary and phonology)
• Unit 3: Learner Profiles
• Unit 4: Materials Assignment
• Unit 5: Unknown Language (experience learning a language unknown to you)
The work for Units 1, 2, 3 and 5 is marked by the internal course tutors and Unit 4 by an external Trinity moderator. This unit is about designing student’s own material (task) for the lesson and use it in the class. This is not the whole thing, the trainee have to complete a proforma given by school that covers the effectiveness of the task with his/her learners, objectives behind designing such a task and how it would be adapted for future lessons. To gain the certificate the trainee must pass all components. Trinity College London awards a Pass or Fail grade.
The course is divided between morning and afternoon classes due time devoted for each course. Theoretical courses about language take place in the morning and teaching practice in the afternoon. Teaching takes place every other day where teacher trainees take turns in teaching two different levels pre-intermediate and advanced level. Trainees are divided into two groups; blues and yellows. The blues teach the pre-intermediate level over the first two weeks. Meanwhile, yellows should be teaching the advanced level. During the second two weeks (week three and four) trainees switch groups to gain a new teaching experience.
1.5.7.3 TeachingPractice:
Trainees will be expected to teach for a total of six hours, working with classes at two ability levels. Assessment is continuous and based on their overall performance by the end of the six hours. The length of lessons is between 20 and 40 minutes. When time is up, tutors will stop supervising even if trainees commit a mistake or practise good skill they won’t be graded on it. Time is really important.
1.5.7.4 Written Assignments:
Trainees will be asked to complete two written assignments; one will focus on adult learning, assessing individual learners' needs and providing them with one-to-one lessons; this is called Learner Profile Assignment (LP). The other will involve creating their own teaching materials, using them in teaching practice and evaluating them. These include self-evaluation, reflection (about the lesson), material used and the tutor’s feedback. All these documents are included in the index.
1.5.7.5 On-going Coursework Assignments:
Trainees are expected to complete two coursework assignments, one Observation Journal and one Unknown Foreign Language Journal. The first one includes observing five lessons performed by confirmed teacher in that same school. Each lesson covers a number of questions and deeper insights should be included. It has to reveal a good sense of awareness and critical thinking.
The second assignment entails observation of trainees’ course provided by school. The course is about a foreign language to all trainees. This language is chosen before starting the course by asking trainees what languages they are familiar with. It helps them feel the way their learners might feel toward English being a foreign language to them. The Unknown Language Journal should also include deep insights of the trainees experience learning a foreign language in five lessons. Questions for each lesson are stated but again further views and comments are welcome.
1.5.7.6 Test:
A language awareness test is given at the end of the course. It covers all language awareness courses provided including grammar, phonetics, phonology and even methodology tips such as ICQ’s and CCQ’s. It should be finished within 90 minutes.
There are two tutors in charge of this course. They give classes in the morning and observe trainees in the afternoon. Feedback is given at the end of each lesson, and trainees who are free from teaching have to observe their teacher trainee colleagues and give them feedback as well. The first two lessons are not graded. Starting from the third lesson onward, grades are given on the basis of learning outcome achievement and methodology adapted to teaching. This included following the tutors’ pieces of advice using techniques learnt in morning classes.
Lesson plans start to be designed from the third lesson on until the end of the course. The learning outcomes are given by the tutors until the last supervised lesson when trainees have to come up with the learning outcomes themselves. Lessons that should be taught are decided by tutors as well but trainees are free in choosing any kind of tasks they feel is effective to their lesson as long as they stick to the learning outcomes. Lesson plan proformas are provided by school along with other documents that are presented in chapter three.
The timetable is really busy and as the course advanced it got more and more serious. There is a number of documents that trainees have to prepare in addition to their lesson plan. All this is included in the appendices where detailed course documentation is provided. The timetable is also included in the appendices to give an idea about the intensity of the course that started on Monday the 17th of November 2014 and ended on Friday the 12th of December 2014.
1.5.7.7 Other teacher training courses running at St Giles:
• TEFL courses • CELTA courses
• Trinity Cert.TESOL (part time) • Delta module 1
• Delta module 2 • Cambridge ICELT
1.6 Limitation and delimitation of the study:
This study is concerned with investigating CBA applicability in Algerian secondary schools as a whole system and in particular with the relationship between the textbook and program of first year pupils –as far as English subject is concerned-. Thus, carrying out such study starts at a general level with observation as a research tool, with different levels and streams in two distinct secondary schools. Then, it will progress being narrowed to first year pupils’ textbook and program.
This division of research is meant to move from general to precise, i.e. investigating first, CBA applicability including authentic material, ICT’s, teacher training and all what is required to make CBA happen. Then, when the approach applicability is investigated and functions as well as dysfunctions are diagnosed, we can move forward to a more detailed research that covers textbooks and programmes analysis as related to each other and to time devoted to finish the syllabus and reach the teaching/learning aims and objectives.
This division is meant to facilitate research process and clarify ELT situation in secondary schools which helps the researcher diagnose the dysfunction is localized at what level. The results are expected to show whether it is happening at a general specific, or even at both levels. The first part of research as mentioned before will be carried out with observation of both teachers and pupils in classroom performance.
This will cover how the daily lessons are going on, what material is being used, and what strategies teachers are using with different classes. Variability in Algerian classes makes this process take time for the first thing to notice is overloaded classes, thus mixed abilities are the first challenge for teacher. The researcher must be really careful during this phase since no mistakes or errors are tolerated to the significance of results. There should be exactness, critical eye as well as thinking to collect data that is reliable to the study.
This phase involves different levels from first to third year pupils, and different streams varying from scientific to literary and foreign languages. After having observed the process and English language lessons and how they are being taught, a questionnaire will be conducted targeting pupils aiming at answering different questions that serve to lead us to answer our research questions.
This will include interrogation about timing, pace, settings and of course the textbook use. Seeing the answers from the pupils’ sight will provide us different ideas from that of the teacher’s or professional sights. In other words, we are trying to involve the pupil as being an important participant in the teaching/learning process and the centre of the approach. Thus, such a piece of research must devote a section and a chance to pupils to say what they think and want just as given to teachers.
1.7 Significance of the study:
The present research attempts to investigate the TEFL reality in the Algerian educational context meanwhile measuring the extent to which the current adopted approach, CBA, is being applied and how well it is working. It aims at finding the hole in the implementation and application of CBA as well as a remedy to what is dysfunctioning and pulling back the enhancement of English language learning in the Algerian schools.
A comparison will be drawn in chapter three between two different secondary schools; rural and urban. This research was carried out in two different settings to gather as much as reliable data from teachers and learners having different learning styles and strategies. It will enable us to diagnose different obstacles preventing teachers and learners to meet their teaching/learning objectives. When it comes to teacher representative population, a third school will take part in this research to make the sample representative and data reliable resulting in genuine findings.
This research aims as well to analyze the textbook and the syllabus relationship. It targets to measure the effectiveness of these two materials in meeting the set out coals and objectives. As there will be much to do, research was limited to first year textbook and programmes. The choice fell on this document after having conducted mini-questionnaires with teachers asking them which textbook seems the most way too far from being helpful in achieving teaching/learning aims.
1.8 Fields of the study:
As mentioned above the research takes place in two different secondary schools separated by about 8 kilometers of distance. The first one is located in Mostaganem town, whereas the second one is found 8 kilometers far from Mostaganem town in a village called “Hassi Mameche”. The field covers two areas with different setting to be able to diagnose as many ambiguities and obstacles as we can.
These are both learning and teaching obstacles met while trying to make learning happen. Furthermore, so as to make the findings reliable, a third secondary school was brought to the picture considering the teachers’ point of view by asking them to complete the questionnaires and interviews that were sent in a kind of a printed document. This school is situated in Adrar, a Town that belongs to the Algerian Sahara. Teachers welcomed such a request with opened arms and contributed with a great deal to this study.
As mentioned before, part of this research was conducted in London in St Giles International College. It lasted for four weeks that represent the period of an intensive TESOL course. This course can be carried out in the semi-intensive or part-time mode which takes twelve weeks. However, due to time limitations the choice fell on the intensive course. A description of a TESOL course was provided earlier in this chapter. The aim of this phase of research was to compare teaching English in Algeria and teaching English by native speakers where in both educational settings English stands a foreign language.
This answers basic questions like “what is the difference between a native and a non-native speaker teaching English as a foreign language?” or “what methodologies, methods, techniques and tips do native speakers use to facilitate English learning?” It helps also answering more complex questions about the best approach used in English teaching, the way to deal with dilemmas through dealing with the most common ones and especially how learners feel towards a language they totally ignore.
1.9 Population targeted:
The population of the study can mainly be divided into two parts; teachers and pupils. Teachers belong to three different secondary schools differing from north (rural and urban areas) and south in the Sahara. This added a very rich diversity in terms of opinions regarding CBA in use in different contexts. This fact will be very helpful in making standardized and general suggestions and implications that can suit different settings.
The teachers’ population included 12 teachers who accepted to be involved in the study. The pupils’ population was of course much wider gathering 7 different classes from the two secondary schools located in Mostaganem (town and village). They were first, second and third year pupils. However, since time constraints were an issue to care about, only an example of each year could be dealt with. That is to say, two first year scientific classes, two second year scientific classes, two second year foreign languages classes, and one third year foreign languages classes.
Comparison will be drawn on general issues concerning CBA as a teaching approach. This aimed at investigating the sense of learning responsibility, consciousness and learners’ motivation towards English subject. Later, when the research becomes deeper, only first year textbook and syllabus will be analyzed. This was following the findings of data collected after having discovered that teachers find a lot of ambiguity and difficulty working with this textbook.
1.10 Tools and procedures:
As mentioned earlier in this chapter, the research adopts three different tools; observation, questionnaires and interviews. This triangulation is meant to provide reliable data that will be used in answering research questions and confirming/disconfirming research hypothesis. The first tool is observation. On January 5th, 2014 the permission of attending English classes to observe teachers as well as learners was officially signed by both head schools in the two different schools of Mostaganem. Indeed, the observation stage started in the second trimester of the academic year 2013/2014 and lasted for the whole period until exams were on.
Timetables were provided by the administrations which helped us decide what teachers, streams, and levels to attend with dividing time devoted for this phase into two parts. One allotted to downtown secondary school, and the other part to the village school. Contacts with teachers of Adrar where intermediated by the school headmaster who received
