TESOL and Technology Studies

A Look into Literature Courses in Pre-Service Teacher Training

2021-04-29T09:42:02+00:00

This paper explored the load of literature courses in the teacher-training program at the collegiate level in Yemen. It dwells on teacher candidates’ perceptions of the current status quo of literature teaching based on the learner-centered approach and humanistic curriculum. Data were elicited through an opinion poll from a sample of senior prospective teachers (n=112) who have undertaken courses in verse, fiction, and prose embedded in the program. Findings ensued from this analysis show that the participants had a wealth of difficulties that hamper achieving the objectives of embedding literature in the program, and most of such difficulties stem from teaching inadequacies in the given context. The study brings to the foreground some insightful ideas into curriculum reform. It generally informs the curriculum designers to readdress the existing program with an eye on the underestimated literature courses. It recommends that the overhaul of the existing syllabus should be fashioned to a new purpose, a new footing and a new perspective in line with the worldwide, extemporized changes in terms of curriculum development. A balanced approach to literature instruction to link the school curriculum with what is taught at the tertiary level would be a stepping-point to an improved literature teaching scenario.

Investigating Pre-service English Teachers’ Beliefs of Sociolinguistic Instruction in EFL Classes in Taiwan

2021-04-29T09:40:00+00:00

The study investigates Taiwanese English teachers’ beliefs of teaching sociolinguistic skills. Ten EFL pre-service English teachers in teacher education programs were purposively selected via homogeneous sampling. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect the data. The results revealed that although most pre-service teachers consider sociolinguistic instruction important, they feel that they did not have adequate sociolinguistic competence, and that they lack confidence in teaching sociolinguistic skills. These pre-service teachers’ self-reported inadequate sociolinguistic competence and low confidence in teaching sociolinguistic skills could be attributed to such sociocultural factors as time constraints, exam-driven teaching culture, and insufficient exposure to the target language culture, as well as materials deprived of authentic pragmatic content. The study concludes with major findings, pedagogical implications and suggestions for future research.

Moroccan High School EFL Teachers’ Attitudes and Anxiety on Using Microsoft Teams Platform

2021-06-24T10:41:18+00:00

The world has witnessed major changes in delivery modes in education due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Being no exception, Morocco declared a full lockdown in March 2020, and this resulted in the use of online platforms to cope with the new situation. The platform that was adopted by the Moroccan Ministry of Education was Microsoft Teams (MT). Hence, the current paper investigated Moroccan high school EFL teachers’ use of the platform accounting for their age, gender, anxiety, and attitudes towards the platform. For this aim, a questionnaire adapted from Computer Anxiety Rating Scale (CARS) by Heinssen et al. (1987) was distributed to 171 EFL teachers working in different public high schools belonging to the academy of Casablanca/Settat. Results revealed that the participants’ attitudes towards the usability of the platform were negatively associated with their years of experience, and their general anxiety and power and control of the platform negatively affected the time they spent on the platform. The findings imply that anxiety should be taken into consideration as an integral component in further implementation of technology in education.

College Students' Experience in Online Asynchronous Peer Feedback in Writing

2021-06-19T14:09:13+00:00

Writing is heavy, tedious, and difficult for college students. Likewise, writing instruction is equally arduous for teachers. The implementation of online and remote classes due to the COVID-19 pandemic becomes an opportunity for students to develop writing through their peers’ feedback. This study analyzes the college students’ experience and evaluation in online asynchronous peer feedback in writing. One hundred college students in free sections from a private university responded to an adopted, modified, and validated survey questionnaire and focus group discussions to evaluate and validate their experience in online asynchronous peer feedback in writing. The survey results underwent statistical analysis using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 20, to determine the weighted mean scores. Thus, the results revealed that the college students have a strong positive experience in online asynchronous peer-feedback in writing with the course facilitator of English language-based subjects. Though online asynchronous peer feedback in writing is an established learning approach, it is not yet maximized in all or most classes of college students. Nevertheless, the study concludes that the positive assumptions, experimentations, and explorations done in online peer feedback in writing remain valuable for college students, especially in their asynchronous writing development.

English Language Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Critical Thinking within Moroccan High Schools

2021-06-11T19:58:21+00:00

This study addresses the restricted attention of critical thinking in the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) in Moroccan high schools, which is one of the new issues investigated in recent times. Many students could not think critically since their instructors could not implement critical thinking into their instructional practices every day. The primary bjective of this inquiry is to examine teachers’ attitude towards the use of critical thinking in the classroom. In this paper, the questionnaire was used to address only English language high school teachers. Descriptive statistical analysis of means, standard deviations, and percentages were used. The results showed that teachers held a positive attitude towards the use of critical thinking in the classroom. Therefore, they need not hesitate to introduce it in their teaching. Our findings strongly indicate that having an understanding of what really happened in the classroom will surely help shape the development of critical thinking in education. This suggests that further study could be carried to determine teachers’ level of use of critical thinking in Moroccan high schools.