English Teacher Education and Training via Technology Enhanced Teaching in Bangladesh
Md Golam Jamil, Bangladesh
Md Golam Jamil is a senior lecturer in English (on study leave) at BRAC University, Bangladesh, and a fulltime PhD student at the University of Southampton, UK. Previously, he worked as a teacher trainer and a materials developer (paper-based and computer aided) in BRAC, Bangladesh's largest non-government organization, and taught English at a government college. He studied English Language, English Literature, and English Language Teaching (ELT) both at home and abroad.
E-mail: golam.jamil@bracu.ac.bd, mgj1g11@soton.ac.uk
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Problems of traditional teacher training
English teacher training in Bangladesh
BRAC’s interventions
Teacher training elements in CAL: My observations
Recommendations
Conclusions
References
Although research shows the limited effect of traditional teacher training on classroom practices (Westbrook et al., 2009), both pre- and in- service training are still considered inevitable in teacher development initiatives. More precisely, pre-service training is expected to enhance teachers’ knowledge of subject-matter, and in-service training aims to reshape their teaching skills (Farrell and Oliveira, 1993). This can cause problems if it demands multiple outcomes from a single training session (Avalos, 2000). Indeed, evidence shows that incorporating a language improvement scheme into training sessions can be widely problematic (Cullen, 1994). Traditional English teacher training programmes in Bangladesh also face these kinds of difficulties.
English teacher training programmes in Bangladesh mainly deal with three elements: the teachers’ English language ability, teaching skills, and the knowledge about the contents of the lessons of the prescribed text books. The amalgamation of these three components is a core problem of these training programmes because the triple set of expectations is diverse and extremely difficult to fulfil. Moreover, here in Bangladesh, most rural high school teachers come from a very poor educational background and it is really difficult to complete their training within the limited span of time available through this type of training.
Building Resources Across Communities (BRAC) has been providing subject-based, in-service training to teachers of English, Mathematics, General Science and Values Education in Bangladesh since 2002 through its Post Primary Basic and Continuing Education (PACE) programme. The training consists of two residential modules (for English the number is three), each consisting of 18 working days. The modules are also followed in the schools by BRAC Education professionals. Most of the participants in this programme come from rural secondary high schools and do not have any prior pre- or in- service training. By December 2007; 17,714 teachers from 2,044 schools had taken part in at least one training module under this programme (See www.brac.net for more details).
Additionally, in 2007, PACE began piloting its Computer Aided Learning (CAL) programme at seven rural high schools. Under this project, two English and two Mathematics teachers in each school have been using CAL materials in a technology-supported language learning class. The teaching materials are based on the Bangladesh NCTB (National Curriculum and Textbook Board) syllabus and designed as supplementary materials for use with NCTB student textbooks. The materials are thus prepared to be utilized with the help of a computer, speakers, a multimedia projector and a screen for projection into specially designed classrooms for the students of class IX-X. These classes generally contain 40-60 students who are about 15 years old and have finished at least eight years of formal schooling.
For English, the contents of these audio-visual materials are chosen from the NCTB ‘English for Today: IX-X Book’ and are stored on compact discs (CDs). Teachers take their CAL classes playing these CDs in the special classroom by following the built-in instructions (written and audible), for an example, ‘using the given points write a letter to your friend describing your own school’. Besides, every lesson provides a set of lesson specific students’ objectives, a list of new words to teach/ learn and a few key questions about the topic to discuss. Students are thus engaged with very different classroom materials and activities during the CAL lessons. A seven day, hands-on, training course on multimedia applications is provided to CAL teachers before they start teaching these classes. The main purposes of this training are to familiarize teachers with basic computer applications and let them operate a few computer assisted teaching/ learning materials. The training is designed not only for the teachers of a particular discipline. It, in fact, aims to equip the participants with essential computer skills for teaching other subjects, such as, English and Mathematics.
While working as a Teacher Trainer and CAL Materials Developer in the PACE programme, I have observed that the CAL materials contain sufficient teacher training elements to adequately replace or certainly supplement the traditional subject-based in-service teacher training programmes. Firstly, CAL materials possess the potential to develop teachers’ language as they can supply both the audible and visible inputs (such as, vocabulary, sentence patterns, descriptions and examples) of English which are required to be learnt by the teachers for teaching English lessons. Secondly, the guidance and instructions supplied within CAL materials can develop teaching skills along with content knowledge of the teachers within an informal English teaching/ learning environment. It is found that the instructions of a CAL lesson can help teachers understand the lesson objectives, can propose suitable classroom activities (such as, group work, pair work, chain drill, choral drill, individual reading, group writing etc.), can link the lesson activities in systematic order, can aware teachers to be time conscious and can suggest for an appropriate home work (for the extended learning) for the students. Additionally, by learning essential words and comprehending the texts and contexts through the audible descriptions, pictures and video clippings; the teachers can enhance their knowledge on various contents provided in the lessons.
I have found that the problem-solving elements, the audio-visual stimuli and, most importantly, the interactive nature of CAL lessons help teachers to get exposure to authentic English and to use the materials efficiently in teaching. I also assume that, when teachers are preparing, teaching and reflecting on the CAL materials, they are also learning informally. I am classifying this type of learning as ‘informal’ since it is not based on any direct instructions and it does not ask teachers to attain any prescribed learning objectives. This informal learning occurs within the real, day to day work context (Marsick and Volpe, 1999; Enos et al., 2003). Besides, this type of classroom-based teacher training endorses teachers’ individual needs as it allows them to apply their own teaching strategies. Additionally, through this type of teaching a teacher can be educated and trained by gaining the knowledge of the contents, by following the guided (not controlled) instructions of the lessons, and by implementing the learning in real teaching. Moreover, teaching with CAL can ensure an overall standard of English teaching as it is based on a set of carefully prepared teaching/ learning materials which are tested by experienced material developers and teacher trainers. It will not be irrelevant to mention here that teaching with CAL materials is widely flexible and ‘informal’ in nature which is essential for a successful teacher training. According to Elliott (1991: 106); the personal professional development is an ‘individualistic and possessive process of acquiring techniques’ which can be accomplished by CAL teachers through personal experiences and from practical circumstances.
Although teaching with CAL materials seems very helpful in training English teachers indirectly, I believe that the effectiveness of these materials for informal teacher training can be enhanced further by adding a few extra guidelines while designing them. Inspired by Gobiowska’s (1985) doubts regarding the effectiveness of traditional teacher training and also by Elliott (1991) and Karasavvidis (2009) regarding the various aspects of technology enhanced teaching, I offer some suggestions in the following section.
a. Fuller lesson notes for teachers
The primary aim of the CAL materials mentioned above is to teach English to the learners in classrooms. My suggestion is that, in addition, essential ingredients can be included to ensure that informal English teacher training can take place. To this end: --- The CAL materials need to incorporate sufficient guidance for the teachers with all the lesson activities as teachers feel more confident when they have suitable instructions ready for using.
- The lessons should include more video clippings, graphical representations and relevant images to provide better explanations about contents to the teachers. The video clippings should have subtitles so that teachers can comprehend the narrations before using them for teaching.
- The time allotted for each lesson should be based on practical circumstances. It has been observed that most of the CAL lessons require more than two classes (each is about one hour long) to complete. For this reason, the lessons need to be divided into two or three parts with the intention that each one can conveniently be taught in one class.
- In some lessons there should be some homework for the students so that they can practise English outside the classroom. This extended learning practice will also help teachers to reinforce their own learning while checking students’ work and giving feedback on it.
- Although there might be a high demand among teachers for a Teachers’ Guide (TG) to teach CAL lessons, instead of such a book more instructions for teachers can be included within the lessons. This is because I and my teacher trainer colleagues have seen that teachers often face difficulties using a TG as they fail to relate the instructions written there with the relevant lesson activities.
b. Involvement of teachers on producing materials
It is found that teachers who understand the complex teaching/ learning process and who use diverse teaching strategies can monitor the learning gains of the students (Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training, 2005). Therefore, to ensure the effectiveness of CAL lessons, different ideas and suggestions regarding CAL materials can be collected from the practising teachers.
c. Adding a reflection component
According to Whitehead (1998), activities for teacher professional development should provide more support for teachers on their journey to self-understanding. So, I recommend that CAL teachers could be encouraged to write ‘Reflective Journals’ on a regular basis describing their own experiences of CAL teaching. They could then organize regular group discussions for sharing their experiences referred to in their ‘Reflective Journals’. It is important to recognize that discussions about personal professional development experiences and their relationship to the classroom practices may influence these teachers’ self-understanding and motivate them to get more ideas to develop their selves (Elliott, 1991). For this reason, a forum can be formed with the teachers so that they can try to get better understanding over the English lessons and find appropriate teaching approaches by discussing and sharing their teaching/ learning experiences. Besides, these teachers can observe the CAL classes of their colleagues. Their own classes can also be observed by the skilled teacher trainers who can give effective feedback on their teaching.
My interest in informal in-service English teacher training schemes is broadly inspired by having reflected on the perceived advantages of technology enhanced teaching in the high schools of rural Bangladesh. Additionally, I favour a school-based teacher development scheme. Although I have found that BRAC’s existing CAL materials require more adjustment to practical situations, by maintaining a few guidelines more effective CAL lessons can be produced. I anticipate that these carefully prepared new CAL materials will be able to enhance students’ learning and teachers’ teaching capacities simultaneously and to a great extent. This informal approach would also have long-lasting impact on teachers’ development as it would provide continuous food for thought parallel to regular classroom teaching.
I respectfully suggest that CAL material developers explore the scope for designing CAL lessons better suited to provide informal teacher education and training to the English teachers of Bangladesh. I also feel the needs of involving the English teachers in the materials development process which may bring more productive outcomes (Kadepurkar 2008). However, to get a better result the teachers have to play a great role. In fact, they need to be highly motivated to learn from their CAL teachings and should try to create interest about the lessons among students by the lively use of the technology aided teaching/ learning materials (Harmer, 2010).
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Avalos, B. (2000). ‘Policies for teacher education in developing countries’ in International Journal of Educational Research, vol. 33, pp. 457-474.
BRAC. Education. Secondary Schools. [Online] Available at: www.brac.net [Accessed 10 January 2010].
Cullen, R. (1994). ‘Incorporating a language improvement component in teacher training programmes’ in ELT Journal, vol. 48/2, pp.163-64.
Elliott, J. (1991). Action research for educational change, Milton Keynes, Open University Press.
Enos, M.D, Kehrhahn, M.T., and Bell, A. (2003) ‘Information learning and the transfer of learning: How managers develop proficiency’ in Human Resource Development Quarterly, Vol. 14, pp. 369-387
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Harmer, J. (2010). ‘Open Letter’ in The Teacher Trainer. vol. 24/1: 18.
Kadepurkar, H. (2008). ‘When teachers write coursebooks’ in The Teacher Trainer. vol. 22/3: 10-15.
Karasavvidis, I. (2009), ‘Activity Theory as a conceptual framework for understanding teacher approaches to Information and Communication Technologies’. in Computers & Education, vol. 53, pp. 436-444.
Marsick, V.J. and Volpe, M (Eds). (1999). Informal learning on the job. Advancing in Developing Human Resources. Williston, VT: Berrett-Koehler.
Westbrook, J. et al. (2009). ‘Becoming a teacher: ‘Transitions from training to the classroom in the NWFP, Pakistan’ in International Journal of Educational Development, vol. 29, pp. 437-44.
Whitehead, J. (1998). Developing research-based professionalism through living educational theories. Keynote presentation to the “Action Research and the Politics of Educational Knowledge Conference”, Trinity College, Dublin, 27 November. Reprinted in J. McNiff G. McNamara & D. Leonard (eds.). (2000). Action Research in Ireland. Dorset: September Books.
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