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Issue 1, January, 2017 MoRCE-Net ELT News
MoRCE-Net
ELT News Amina Aghris Promoting the Learner Centered Approach in the
Moroccan EFL Classroom
Teacher Learning Communities to Enhance Teachers’
Continuing Professional Development :
Exploring the experience of TLCs in Souss Massa Daraa Academy
Connecting Classrooms Project : Zagora’s Experience
Corpus Linguistics in Language Teaching
Connecting Classrooms Project:
An Important Stage in my Professional Development.
Teaching Collocations for EFL Learners:
Challenges and Practical Solutions
Character Education
A Model for Active Reflective Teaching
An Investigation of Democratic Leadership Style in
Moroccan Educational Sector:
A Case Study of Oued Sakia El-Hamra High School Staff
Teaching Reading in the 21st Century and the Integration
of ICT in EFL Moroccan Classrooms:
The Case of High School
Lahcen Tighoula
Mohamed El Maanaoui
Younes Tai
Mohamed Bakkas
Ait Taleb Abdelaziz
Jamaati Zakaria
Driouch Aziz
Mohammed Mansouri
Hassan Ait Bouzid
Sidi Mohamed Hamdani
Teachers’ Magazine, issue No 1, January 2017
Fatimaezzahra Abid
Issue 1, January, 2017 MoRCE-Net ELT News
2
Moroccan Resource Centers of English Network
(MoRCE-Net) is a network whose main interests re-
volve around implementing learner-centered activities
and creating professional collaboration and
development opportunities. It is a platform for joining
efforts among teachers, educational professionals and
institutions interested in creating resource centers and
English clubs.
* Created in Agadir on December 13th, 2011.
* Organised its first national conference in 2013.
* Has regularly organised its annual conference.
* Launched the 100 Resource Centers Project across
the country.
* Published its first student magazine in 2014.
Purshased its headquarters in Agadir in 2016.
The first English Resource Centers started in the mid-
1980s in some secondary schools in a few cities
around Morocco following initiatives launched by
Moroccan and foreign teachers of English. The
ministry of National Education had sent letters ap-
pointing Moroccan teachers to serve as coordinators
of the Centers.
* Contributing to the improvement of teaching and
learning English in Morocco.
* Supporting the orientations of the Ministry of
National Education and implementing its programs
relating to teaching and learning English and con-
tributing to school life activities.
* Creating spaces for cooperation, exchanging educa-
tional resources and sharing experiences and expertise
related to the teaching and learning of English.
* Offering opportunities for life-long professional
development to teachers of English.
* Encouraging educational research and production of
pedagogical materials in the field of teaching and
learning English.
* Setting up favorable environments for students to
learn English actively and independently .
* Creating opportunities for collaboration with
partners sharing the same objectives in Morocco and
abroad.
* Newsletters
* Students’ magazine
* Teachers’ magazine
* Resource centers magazine
* Online resources
* Pedagogical documents.
* Creating resource centers and English clubs
* Organizing forums and conferences for the teaching
and learning of English
* Organizing events, competitions and contests for
learners of English
* Organizing language camps for students
* Organizing in-service trainings programs for teachers
* Organizing enhancement programs for interested
students.
* Email: [email protected]
* Website: www.morce.net
* Mailing address: P.O.Box: 385? Awifaq Bensergaou,
Agadir 80000, Morocco.
* YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/
channel/UCOx0QNAn4rt_-ymqtgLFLWQ
* Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MoRCE-
Net-186558924803726/
About MoRCE-Net
Historical Background of Resource Centers
Mission
Publications
Activities
Contacts
Issue 1, January, 2017 MoRCE-Net ELT News
3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to deeply thank all the
individuals who have contributed to this
magazine either directly or indirectly and
throughout its long gestation. Special
thanks should also go to MoRCE-Net
previous board members for their
valuable assistance in the editing of the
present issue.
Issue 1, January, 2017 MoRCE-Net ELT News
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Amina Aghris
Lahcen Tighoula
Promoting the Learner Centered Approach in the
Moroccan EFL Classroom P 6
Teacher Learning Communities to Enhance Teachers’
Continuing Professional Development :
Exploring the experience of TLCs in Souss Massa Daraa
Academy P 14
Connecting Classrooms Project :
Zagora’s Experience P 23
Corpus Linguistics in Language Teaching P 29
Connecting Classrooms Project:
An Important Stage in my Professional Development P 33
Teaching Collocations for EFL Learners:
Challenges and Practical Solutions P 37
Character Education P 45
A Model for Active Reflective Teaching P 49
An Investigation of Democratic Leadership Style in P 60
Moroccan Educational Sector:
A Case Study of Oued Sakia El-Hamra High School Staff
Teaching Reading in the 21st Century and the Integration
of ICT in EFL Moroccan Classrooms: P 76
The Case of High School
Mohamed El Maanaoui
Younes Tai
Mohamed Bakkas
Ait Taleb Abdelaziz.
Jamaati, Zakaria.
Driouch, Aziz.
Mohammed Mansouri
Hassan Ait Bouzid
CONTENTS
Sidi Sidi Mohamed
Hamdani
Fatimaezzahra Abid
Issue 1, January, 2017 MoRCE-Net ELT News
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If You Can Read This, . . . !
In accordance with its vision and goals as stipulated in its mission statement and constitution, MoRCE-Net has been doing its best to help EFL educators provide quality instruction; and thus prepare our students for a fast-changing world, where both teacher and learner roles are being constantly reconsidered and redefined.
As stated in our 2016-2017 action plan, the second issue of our students’ magazine, Blooming Minds, came out this past October. Thumbs up for both the magazine committee(s) –not to forget the team that worked on the first issue- as well as for all the young creative minds from all over the country that contributed to the said product! A quick overview of both issues can attest to the high quality of our students’ creativity and open-mindedness of our young leaner community.
It goes without saying that such high-quality productions can but stem from well-qualified instruction. Reliable research has evidenced that teachers who are inclined to succeed and grow professionally tend to constantly reflect on their approaches and practices. Prominent teachers, however, go beyond mere reflection and share their expertise and insights with colleagues and other peers from the ELT corps.
MoRCE-Net teachers’ magazine has been designed precisely for those professionals. We, therefore, are all kindly invited to use this space as a platform to either formally publish our ELT-related productions or just informally think aloud or simply speak our minds!
A few years (not to say decades to frighten some souls!) ago, we were invited to a national professional development event where instructors across generations and backgrounds met and shared views and aspirations. Part of the registration procedure included a step where participants were asked to select from sets of round metal badges with different colors that had various quotations on them. One set ran out quickly. It read: “If you can read this, then thank your English teacher!”
So why not seize this precious opportunity and quickly run to, talk, phone, email, post or google English teachers that quickly come to our minds at this very moment. Tell them ‘thank you’ for not just teaching us the language words or rules, but also for guiding and inspiring us; and above all helping us become what we are now; that is, creatures that are able to put down on paper abstract notions that they confine in their brains and let strong feelings off their chests!
Happy Reading
E DIT OR IA L
Abdellatif Zoubair
Arbi Mchiche
Mohammed Hassim
Samira Idelcadi
Salaheddine Belaasal
Zakaria Jamaati
Editors
Issue 1, January, 2017 MoRCE-Net ELT News
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Amina AGHRIS
Ph.D student,
EFL Teacher, Kalaat Sraghna
Abstract
A shift of focus from the traditional approaches of language
teaching, that are based on transmitting knowledge to the
learner, to alternative approaches that enable students to become
active and responsible learners highlights the importance of
adopting a learner-centered approach that positions the learner
at the heart of the learning process. Thus, implementing learner
centeredness in language education can facilitate the promotion
of learners’ autonomy, independence and lifelong learning.
Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to present a brief review
of the concept of learner centeredness, underline the importance
of implementing the approach in language education, report on
the findings of a small scale research study that was conducted in
order to investigate teachers and students’ attitudes towards the
appropriateness and the implementation of the learner-centered
approach in the Moroccan EFL classrooms, and draw practical
implications for promoting learner centeredness in the Moroccan
EFL learning contexts.
Issue 1, January, 2017 MoRCE-Net ELT News
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Introduction
Promoting learner centeredness is a
desirable educational outcome necessary for
the effectiveness of the teaching-learning
process. Unlike traditional approaches, the
learner-centered approach gives great
importance to the learner as an integral part
of the teaching-learning process. Not only
does the learner centered approach enable
students to become active learners with more
responsibility for their own learning, but it
also empowers their own choices based on
their learning needs and interests.
I. A Brief Review of the Literature
A. The Learner- centered Approach
In this approach, teachers are no more
considered as mere instructors and givers of
information but rather as facilitators of
learning. Teachers are encouraged to take
into consideration their students’ needs and
interests while devising or planning their
lessons. They are also called upon to actively
engage students in creating their own
learning. On the other hand, learners are
viewed in the learner-centered framework as
active responsible participants in learning and
producers of knowledge as well.
The rationale behind the learner-centered
approach is to help students become more
responsible for their learning. According to
Ouakrime (1991: 43) adopting learner-
centered approach is meant “to produce
“(…) independent learners, with enough AIR
in their lungs to successfully sail through their
language learning journey,” that is to help
learners develop autonomy, independence
and a sense of responsibility for their learning
(1991: 43). Dr. Meziani (1991: 23) argues that
teachers cannot “teach learners everything
they need to know,” they should be given
some opportunity for active long-life
learning. For this reason, “teachers need to
teach not only specific language skills but also
learning skills”.
B. Defining Learner-centeredness
The learner-centered approach is an
approach that positions the learner as an
equal partner in the teaching-learning process.
Cannon & Newble note that “Learner-
centeredness is both a concept and a practice
in which learners and teachers are equal parts
of learning and teaching processes” (1989: 16-
17). Moreover, learners’ needs are put at the
centre of the learning process. Based on
Weimer’s words, Matsau defines learner-
centeredness as a focus on “ students’ needs,
what and how they are learning and the
conditions that contribute to their
learning” (2007: 21). Learner-centeredness
provides learners with a sense of autonomy
and skills to process information, solve
problems, make decisions and become
responsible for their own learning. Thus, it
assumes that learners go through experiences
that foster their autonomy and develop their
responsibilities.
C. The Learner Centered Approach in English
Language Teaching
In order to help students become effective
learners, Ouakrime (1991) suggests that it is
important “that learners are made aware of
the potential usefulness of learning the target
language for their immediate needs and the
more long-term plans they may have for their
Issue 1, January, 2017 MoRCE-Net ELT News
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future lives and careers.” Being learner-
centered means students’ being able to “see
learning the language as part of their
educational experience that aims at helping
them acquire new knowledge and adopt
positive attitudes towards this
experience.” (47)
The learner-centered approach in
language teaching requires a shift to
communicative language learning. It aims to
develop a communicative and authentic
environment where language learners have
the opportunity to negotiate meanings and
develop their communicative competence.
Therefore, “we should see English as a means
of education relating closely to the
development of the learner’s cognitive
ability, rather than as simply the inculcation
of a specific series of linguistic skills” (McLean,
1980: 272).
In the same regard, Chen, J (2007) claims
that “EFL teachers should take responsibility
for teaching learners how to learn efficiently
and effectively by giving support to more
effective learning strategies.” This requires
teachers to introduce suitable strategies to
meet the needs and learning styles of learners,
and help them gain responsibility for their
learning. Once this is achieved, learners will
be able to “take an active involvement in
classroom activities, and this will undoubtedly
achieve considerable outcomes in language
learning and contributes to a pleasant
environment” (2007: 58).
D. The Learner Centered Classroom
The creation of a learner-centered
classroom depends on five main practices as
articulated by Harris & Cullen (2010): balance
of power between teachers and learners,
focus on relevant content of the subject
matter, the role of the teacher as a facilitator,
fostering responsibility for learning among
learners, and using effective assessment and
evaluation (65-66).
1.The Role of the Learner
The ultimate aim of learner-centeredness is
to make the learner responsible for his or her
learning. This is because “Learning is most
effective when the learner is the initiator of
the learning process” (McLean, 1980: 271). In
learner-centeredness, students learn primarily
because of what they bring to their classroom
experience in terms of their perceived needs,
motivations, past experiences, background
knowledge, interests and creative skills.
Learners are not blank sheets that need to be
filled with accumulated knowledge, but
rather active individuals who have to take
part in constructing knowledge. That’s why
“learners need to have some AIR in their
lungs; that is they should be autonomous,
independent and responsible
learners” (Ouakrime, 1991: 91).
2. The Role of the Teacher
Many education systems are based on the
authoritarian style of teaching and “only
when the teacher’s authority recedes can the
learner be thrown back on his own
resources.” Khalil Gibran states that “if a
teacher is indeed wise he does not bid you
enter the house of his wisdom, but rather
leads you to the threshold of your own
mind.” Here McLean infers that “teaching is
not so much a process of cramming outside
knowledge into the learner’s mind as drawing
out the knowledge that each of our students
has within him” (1980: 270-272).
In learner-centered classrooms, the teacher
organizes learning activities with meaningful
themes which are relevant to learners, helps
learners develop a sense of critical and
conceptual thinking, provides opportunities
for students to choose their own projects and
work at their own pace, provides
opportunities for collaborative learning,
varies the use of instructional strategies and
methods to match student needs, encourages
shared decision making, and more
Issue 1, January, 2017 MoRCE-Net ELT News
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importantly encourages learner autonomy and
responsibility (Meece, 2003: 114).
3. Role of Materials
In learner-centeredness there is a “clear
need for the content of language-teaching
materials to involve the learner to relate to his
needs, interests, and moral concerns” (McLean,
1980: 271). Following Krashen (1981), Kisserli
infers that materials needed for a learner-
centered syllabus must be “comprehensible
(…) appealing to learners, challenging, varied
and authentic.” He also advises that the mere
focus on classroom materials is not enough
and that learners have to find outside-
classroom materials. “This search for materials
best suited for them will increase their sense of
self-directed learning” (1991: 38-39).
E. Appropriateness of the Learner
Centered Approach in the Moroccan
EFL Classroom
The learner-centered approach is sensitive
to the notion of context. “The culture of the
learning context is as important to learning as
the content and the methods
used” (Milambiling 2001 cited in Brown,
2003: 50).Thus, consideration of learner-
centeredness in the Moroccan EFL classrooms
has to be analyzed. It is true that the
Moroccan EFL education is moving toward a
learner-centered approach, and this is evident
in the communicative approach adopted for
teaching English. The issue of learner
centeredness has been raised in the Moroccan
Association of Teachers of English (MATE)
conferences since 1988 and 1991 in which
discussions were held about having the learner
the focus of language education. Besides, the
Moroccan Resource Centres of English
Network (MoRCE-Net) has the concept of
promoting learner-centeredness among its
main objectives and activities. Yet, the
question that needs considering is to what
extent the learner-centered approach is
effective in the Moroccan EFL classrooms?
II. Objectives of the Study
This study is meant to emphasize the
importance of learner-centeredness as an
essential approach of teaching and learning
that has to be adopted in the Moroccan EFL
classrooms. The ultimate objective of this
study is to raise awareness among teacher and
student respondents about the importance of
learner centeredness for students’ educational
development. A second objective is to
investigate attitudes of teachers and students
towards the appropriateness and the
implementation of the learner-centered
approach in the Moroccan EFL classrooms.
And the third objective is to provide some
suggestions for implementing learner
centeredness in the Moroccan EFL classrooms.
III. Research Methodology
This study combines two research methods
and gives equal priority to both the
quantitative and qualitative research methods
of investigation. In order to carry out this
study two research instruments were used for
data collection, namely the questionnaire and
the interview. Besides, the population samples
targeted for this study included both teachers
and students of English. The sampling method
used was convenient sampling, it had been
chosen due to the accessibility of subjects and
their willingness to respond.
Student-respondents ranged from
undergraduates, B. A. graduates and Master
students. Students were from two universities;
Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdallah University,
Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences, Dhar
Mehraz, Fes, and Mohamed Fifth University,
Faculty of Letters and human Sciences, Rabat-
Agdal. High and middle school teachers, who
participated in the research, taught in different
parts of Morocco: Fez, Taza, Ouazane, Arfod,
Taounate, Missour-Outat Lhaj, Taza-Ajdir, and
Beni Mellal-Zaouit Cheikh. 50 students’
questionnaires and 13 teachers’ questionnaires
were analyzed, and interviews were
conducted with 38 students and 8 teachers.
Issue 1, January, 2017 MoRCE-Net ELT News
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IV. Results of the Study
A. Teachers’ Attitudes toward the
Learner-Centered Approach
1.Understanding of the Learner-
Centered Approach
The results obtained from both teachers’
questionnaires and interviews reveal that the
teacher respondents understand the learner-
centered approach. 100% of the respondents
stated that learner-centeredness is about the
focus on learners and learner’s responsibility,
and 84.61% related this concept to interaction
between learners and cooperative learning. The
respondents believe that the teacher’s role is a
facilitator of learning and a guide rather than
an instructor. Besides, most teachers opted for
the ability to think critically, participation,
discussion, interaction, preparation and
collaborative work as characteristics of effective
learners.
2. Students Responsibility
While about half of the respondents agreed
to place responsibility in the hands of learners
to manage their own learning, the other half
disagreed to do so claiming that learners are
not well qualified and cannot handle such a
responsibility. However, teacher respondents
know how they can make learners more
responsible and suggested problem solving
activities, critical thinking, and collaborative
work as essential activities for developing
responsibility and creativity in learners.
3.Learners’ Individual Differences
Most respondents asserted that they do not
get to know learners’ individual differences
since there are large classes and few hours of
teaching. Nevertheless, about 92% of the
respondents admitted that learners’ life
experiences can bring something new to the
learning process.
4. Methods of Correction
69.23% of the respondents use peer-
correction and 53.84% use self-correction as
methods of correcting learners’ mistakes. They
generally use teacher-correction as a last resort.
By doing so, they give a chance to learners to
correct themselves and benefit from their
friends’ knowledge.
5. Materials
As to the materials, the respondents said that
they are not sufficient, most schools lack audio
and visual materials. The only available
material is the textbook which does not
provide enough opportunities for developing
learners’ skills. Therefore, the teacher
respondents admitted that they do their best to
provide other materials which can help in
diversifying the lessons and the activities used.
6. Appropriateness of the Learner-
Centered Approach in the Moroccan EFL
Classroom
Concerning the appropriateness of the
learner-centered approach in the Moroccan EFL
classroom, about 53.85% of the teacher-
respondents believe that it is appropriate for
the Moroccan context. It is difficult and
challenging but it would yield positive results if
implemented, especially for Moroccan
university students. Those who considered it as
inappropriate believe that large classes, lack of
materials, teachers and students’ unwillingness
along with the current infrastructure of schools
hinder its implementation.
B. Students’ Attitudes toward the
Learner-Centered Approach
1.Effective Learning
Generally, learners are aware of what
constitutes effective learning. Learners admit
that their teachers engage them in the learning
process through various methods of teaching.
Almost all students asserted that their teachers
give them the opportunity to participate, and
share their opinions. According to the
respondents, teachers correcting students’
mistakes
Issue 1, January, 2017 MoRCE-Net ELT News
11
in a constructive way that causes no
embarrassment. Rather, they thought such a
novel way of correcting mistakes is likely to
make students want to learn more.
2. Students’ Preparation
Students are aware of the importance of
preparation for their courses; they know
what to do beforehand and how they can
enrich the discussion by reading materials and
searching for more information on the subject
matter. Most respondents stated that they
prepare lessons that they are most interested
in.
3.Assessment
As deduced from the collected data most
students are eager about taking part in
assessment. They want to do so in order to
know both their strengths and weaknesses
and on that basis improve their performance.
4. Becoming Autonomous Learners
Concerning learner-centeredness, data
gathered suggest that learners have the
potential of being autonomous but with the
aid of teachers. Despite not being taught in a
fully teacher-centered context, learners still
show some dependence on the teacher to
help them and guide them in the learning
process. This is especially common among
undergraduates who prefer teachers to be
facilitators of learning, yet expect them to
keep their traditional role as instructors. In
general, students, especially master students,
showed willingness to adopt learner-
centeredness and abide by its principle since
they are in a level that allows for
autonomous learning.
5.Students’ Desires
Most students-respondents consider a
facilitator of learning as the best role of the
teacher. They want their teachers to take
students’ different styles and needs into
consideration. They want to have a say in
decision making concerning their methods of
learning, and they want to be helped by their
teacher to develop more intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation.
It is worth mentioning that learner-
centeredness is already implemented in some
courses. Although not all teachers use it in the
undergraduate level, quite a few use it in
master’s programs. Master students represent
the category that knows the importance of
learner-centeredness and it is the one that
encourages and approves of the
implementation of such an approach.
V . Implications for Implementation
The results obtained from this study
suggest that many measures should be taken
in order to improve the quality of Moroccan
Education and establish learner-centeredness
in the educational system.
A. Decrease Reliance on the Teacher
Learners are aware of the importance of
being effectively engaged in the learning
process, yet they rely a lot on their teachers.
So, it is suggested that this reliance decreases
if learners want to achieve high quality
performance.
B. Assume Independent Roles
Learners may consider practicing what
they think are the roles of learners, and take
their studies seriously. It is true that teachers
have an essential role in the teaching-learning
process, but students need to assume their
role as independent learners capable of
meeting the demands of their educational
system.
C. Motivate Students
Learners are not helpless in the way they
study. Most of the student-respondents have
the potential to work effectively, assume
responsibility, take part in decision making
and contribute in the improvement of
Issue 1, January, 2017 MoRCE-Net ELT News
12
education in Morocco. Therefore, it is
preferable that teachers motivate their
students and give them more opportunities
for being active contributors to the learning
process.
D. Consider Students’ Needs
Teachers need to figure out solutions to
overcome the obstacles that hinder the
implementation of learner-centeredness. They
can develop interesting methods of teaching
by considering students’ different styles and
needs. They can also give students a space
for fruitful discussion and feedback. Teachers
are equally encouraged to share the
outcomes of assessment with students and
enhance their critical thinking abilities.
E. Implementing Learner Centeredness
It is the role of both learners and teachers
to promote learner-centeredness in all courses
and especially in the EFL classrooms. This is
along with the aid of decision makers to
provide more effective materials, develop the
context of learning and improve the
infrastructure of schools, and more
importantly reduce the number of students in
each class. Besides, more teaching trainings
should be provided in order to help teachers
get used to the learner-centered approach.
Conclusion
The outcome of this study confirmed that
both Moroccan teachers and students have
generally positive attitudes toward the
implementation of the learner-centered
approach with the hope to improve the
context of learning and education in general.
It is worth mentioning that the findings of
this study are by no means generalizable since
the study has been limited only to two
universities and a limited number of teachers
and students. However, it is high time the
learner-centered approach started to be
implemented in the Moroccan EFL
classrooms. Regardless of the obstacles that
may inhibit the implementation of the
approach, it would prove to be effective if
teachers and students collaborate together to
meet the demands of learner-centeredness,
try to overcome difficulties and invest effort
and time to make it a reality in the Moroccan
EFL classrooms. This is not to say a farewell
to the teacher-centered approach, but to take
from both approaches, and combine their
advantages so that education in Morocco
could witness more promising results in the
future.
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Proceedings of the 12th MATE Annual Conference,
Tetouan, 43-50.
Ramsey, V. J. & Fitzgibbons, D. E. (2005). Being in the
Classroom. Journal of Management Education. 29 (2),
333-356.
Schuh, K. L. (2003). Knowledge Construction in the
Learner-Centered Classroom. Journal of Educational
Psychology, 95 (2), 426-442.
Weimer, M. (2002). Learner-Centred teaching: Five
key Changes to Practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Webliography
Altan, M. Z. & Trombly, C. Creating a Learner-
Centered Teacher Education Program. Retreived April
18, 2011 from http://eca.state.gov/forum/vols/vol39/
no3/p28.htm
Chen, J. (2007). How to Adopt Learner-Centered
Approach in Chinese EFL Context. The International
Journal of Language Society and Culture. 22, 57-61.
Retreived April 17, 2011 from http://
www.educ.utas.edu.au/users/tle/JOURNAL/
issues/2007/22.7.pdf
Matsau, M. A. (2007). Investigating the Learner-
Centred Approach in Language Teaching in Lesotho.
(Master Thesis). Victoria University. 1-185. Retreived
April 17, 2011 from http://wallaby.vu.edu.au/adt-
VVUT/uploads/approved/adt-
VVUT20071030.140534/public/02whole.pdf
Nonkukhetkhong, K. Baldauf, R. B Jr & Moni, K.
(2006). Learner-Centeredness in Teaching English as a
Foreign Language. Teachers’ Voices, 19 (21), 1-9.
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espace.library.uq.edu.au/
eserv.phppid=UQ:8562&dsID=K_B_MThaiTESOL06.
Issue 1, January, 2017 MoRCE-Net ELT News
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Lahcen Tighoula
ELT supervisor,
Essmara
Abstract
This article summarizes a part of my research paper on the role
of teacher learning communities in enhancing teachers’
continuing professional development, conducted to obtain my
ELT supervisor credential, 2012/2014. I begin the article with a
general background to TLCs, and then provide an overview of
the experience of establishing TLCs in Souss Massa Daraa
academy. I conclude with ways of improving TLCs and
recommendations for various parties.
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Background for TLCs:
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those
who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
Alvin Toffler, author and futurist
Teacher learning:
Central to TLCs is the concept of teacher learning. Research shows that for teachers to be
effective and cater for the job, they should themselves believe in the process of change
(Greene.M.L, 1992). In other words, teacher effectiveness is dependent on teacher beliefs and
attitudes. We cannot possibly expect to change the beliefs and practices of teachers if they
haven’t taken the decision to learn (Ibid).Two important questions that follow are:
What is the nature of teacher learning?
How can teachers learn effectively?
Dana and Yendol-Hoppey (2008) identify three types of teacher learning:
The traditional conception of teacher training tends to content itself with the first level of
knowledge (knowledge for practice). Wald and Castleberry (2000: 7) call this the “training
food chain”: the institution decides on the content of the training and hires an expert, the
teacher implements it in class and then students are tested to see how much they absorb. Such a
model hasn’t proven to assist teachers in meeting the increasingly challenging nature of today’s
complex classes. (Wald and Castleberry, 2000: 8).
The current trend is that in order to achieve effective professional development, all the three
types of teacher knowledge need to be developed (Dana and Yendol-Hoppey, 2008). In other
words, teachers at times need to be updated with skills and knowledge (first level), but should
be allowed to test out what they learn and consider the reality of their classes (second level).
Most importantly, opportunities should be created for them to collaborate and engage in action
research (third level).
One framework that has recently been advocated for effective teacher learning is the
establishment of teacher learning communities:
knowledge for practice knowledge in practice knowledge of practice
In-service days, “sit-and-get
workshops: teachers learn a new
pedagogy by an outside expert
and are expected to implement it
in their classroom (which is not
always easy). The expertise of
the teachers is generally not rec-
ognized or shared.
Knowledge gained as a result of
testing out the knowledge for
practice. Teachers learn from
reflecting on their practices and
experiences, from collaboration
with colleagues, peer-coaching
and mentoring.
Gained by systematic inquiry into
one’s practices and knowledge, as
well as those of others. By collabora-
tively problematizing teaching and
learning, teachers broaden their
knowledge of their classes and ana-
lyze the wider context to identify fac-
tors that inhibit learning (eg. Socio-
cultural or political factors).
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“Professional learning communities serve to connect and network groups of
professionals to do just what their name entails – learn from practice. They meet on
a regular basis and their time together is often structured by the use of protocols to
ensure focused, deliberate conversation and dialogue by teachers about student work
and student learning.”
Dana and Yendol-Hoppey (2008)
“Ongoing teams that meet on a regular basis, preferably several times a week, for the
purposes of learning, joint lesson planning, and problem solving”
NSDC, 2009b: 01, cited in Hunzicker, (2010: 07)
From the above quotes, we deduce three main roles of TLCs:
They facilitate structured professional networking;
They enable mutual learning among teachers;
They generate focused conversation about learning and instruction.
In the literature produced in North America and Canada, a TLC is also called a professional
learning community (PLC) (see Hargreaves et al, 2010; Hunzicker, 2010; Tarnoczi, 2006;
Wald and Castleberry, 2000). The only difference is that a professional learning community
is a general term meaning a community of professionals learning collaboratively. A TLC, as
the term suggests, is restricted to teachers. In this article, TLCs and PLCs will be used
interchangeably.
TLC-related concepts:
The available literature relates the origins of teacher learning communities to four main
concepts: enquiry, reflection, collaborative professional development, and the school as a
social system.
Inquiry: as early as 1929, John Dewy argued that “educational practices provide the data,
the subject matter, which form the problems of inquiry.” Dewy called for a
democratic approach towards educational research, by arguing that educational
practitioners and all the educational community have to address the common
challenges.
Reflection: We can say that a teacher is reflective when s/he analyses his/her own actions
and their effects on the others, and therefore move gradually from novice to expert
(Thomas and Montgomery, 1998).
Collaborative professional development: defined by Johnston as “any sustained and
systematic investigation into teaching and learning in which a teacher voluntarily
collaborates with others involved in the teaching process, and in which professional
development is a prime purpose”.
The school as a social learning system: learning comes out of an interaction between what
an individual knows and what the community has established as common knowledge
(Vickers, 1987; Wenger, 2000). For example, when a teacher joins a school, s/he
brings some experience, but also has to learn from the knowledge base of the school
community: how they deal with problems, approach students, or manage resources.
This way, the school becomes a social system where learning is an interactive
engagement that fosters belonging.
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Therefore, any community of professionals which embraces and fosters the above
concepts can be called a learning community.
The diverse approaches to TLCs in three delegations of SMD academy:
To explore the experiences of establishing TLCs in Souss Massa Daraa region, I
interviewed three supervisors in Agadir, Taroudant, and Tiznit. They generally hold
common beliefs about TLCs and, at the same time, quite different views about their
implementation.
The supervisor in Agadir, Mr Abdellatif Zoubair, adopts TLCs as the main framework for
teacher professional development. All pedagogical meetings are organized in the form
of a TLC. All teachers of English are considered members of a TLC. In my interview
with the supervisor, he stated that, throughout his 25 years experience in educational
supervision, he has realized that the most effective tool to real professional
development is engagement in a reflective and collaborative practice. His evaluation
of supervision showed that the training sessions led by the supervisor are generally
ineffective. In his view, recommending a certain teaching strategy, demonstrating it
does not mean that teachers will automatically implement it. This means that
transforming teaching practices must necessarily go through changing attitudes and
convictions; and this cannot be done without an active engagement of teachers in
their own professional development.
The TLC meetings in this delegation are run in a democratic and participatory manner,
which is a positive aspect. Also, there is a good level of professionalism as far as
organization is concerned. The venue is appropriate and comfortable for holding TLC
meetings. Timing is handled very well, and attendance is normal. Also, teachers
exchange ideas, reflect on their practices and discuss practical teaching techniques.
The ELT supervisor in Tiznit, Mr Tayeb Idihya, opted for a different approach. He did not
adopt TLCs as the main framework for professional development. He considers that it
must be voluntary and completely autonomous. That’s why he didn’t use to attend
the TLC meetings regularly. He left it to the TLC members to decide on the venue and
time of holding the meetings. TLC leaders give brief accounts of their work to other
teachers during pedagogical meetings.
The ELT supervisor in Taroudant, Mr Mohammed Hassim, has recently adopted a
modified version of the TLC model in his supervisory area. Rather than turn all
pedagogical meetings into TLC meetings, he made membership in learning
communities optional, but strongly recommended it and provided all the support for
TLCs. For him, a TLC is a team that has a specific project and follows an action plan to
complete it. He set up the project teams on a voluntary basis and provided a set of
projects based on the needs of teachers. For example, one team has been working on
testing and assessment, which, for the supervisor, is a real problem in the area. Each
team is composed of less than ten teachers, and a coordinator manages
communication and makes sure the agenda is being followed and the end product is
presented on time. The product in the case of the testing and assessment team is a
booklet that contains tests, quizzes for all levels, and which respect the standards and
Issue 1, January, 2017 MoRCE-Net ELT News
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and criteria. The team coordinator presents an update report in each pedagogical
meeting. When all teams finish their work, usually at the end of the academic year,
the teams present the end products to the other colleagues.
What we have here are three approaches to the implementation of TLCs: 1- a systematic
adoption of the model as the main official professional development framework, in
the case of Agadir delegation; 2- limited experimentation of the model as a marginal
self-development framework for teachers in the case of Tiznit, and; 3- a pragmatic
adaptation of the model to serve the supervisor’s educational project in his area, the
case of Taroudant.
Agadir delegation is relatively easier to manage, in comparison with Taroudant and Tiznit
delegations, which are geographically scattered. The supervisor has managed to find a
very suitable venue for TLC meetings, which is a spacious training center in the city
centre. Also, the supervisor believes in the central role of reflective practice and thinks
the TLC members can help each other cope with the technical aspects of classroom
teaching. This encourages and motivates teachers to take the lead and assume
responsibility for their own CPD. These factors actually facilitate holding TLCs and
provide a favorable atmosphere for collegial work. Most importantly, the TLC
members have a shared vision about what constitutes effective teaching.
The supervisor in Tiznit delegation holds very positive attitude towards TLCs and their
importance in enhancing professional practice and nurturing educational leadership.
His style is based on providing moral support for TLCs but granting them autonomy
from the official work of the supervisor. This way, TLCs work outside the pedagogical
meetings and are not necessarily in line with the supervisor’s agenda and project.
The approach of the supervisor in Taroudant draws from an evaluation of his previous
experience of implementing TLCs in Zagora, which is relatively smaller and less vast
than Taroudant. The objective of the supervisor has been to keep the spirit of TLCs as
teams of teachers who work collaboratively to achieve common goals, and ensure
that they serve the supervisory project, which is based on evaluation of teachers’
needs. Thus, TLCs work in parallel with the supervisor within a non-directive
participatory leadership style. In this approach, although membership in a TLC is not
mandatory, the supervisor adopts a motivational approach by constantly giving the
floor to team leaders to update the other teachers during the pedagogical meetings
about the progress of the TLC. The sense of achievement which is reflected in the
project-based TLC work, the supervisor hopes, would encourage more and more
teachers to join the teams later. The approach here is relevant, motivational and
pragmatic.
Teachers’ perspectives explored:
To have an overall evaluation of the TLCs experience in SMD academy, a questionnaire
was sent to Agadir TLC members (81 teachers) and a sample of TLC participants was
interviewed. I held semi-structured conversations with the following teachers: Mr
Abeljalil Elhariri, Mr Hamid Elouardi, Mrs Widad Tazi Chibi, Mr Salaheddine Belaassal,
and Mrs Soumaya Amgoune. These teachers hold very positive attitudes about TLCs
Issue 1, January, 2017 MoRCE-Net ELT News
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and are aware of their role in enhancing teacher collaborative professional development
and promoting reflective practice. The interviews revealed a few elements that need
improvement, especially the need for more peer-observation, more analysis of
learning artifacts, and more care for the needs of middle school teachers.
How to Improve TLCs:
In their evaluation of building a learning community for pre-service and in-service
teachers, Watson and Steele (2006) concluded that while learning communities have
benefits, they face a major problem: rigid attitudes of some teachers who hold views
that are not consistent with the objectives of a community. They concluded that
building a successful learning community needs time.
Tarnoczi (2006) warns TLC leaders against a mechanical view of teacher education, by
embracing “unifying rituals” and standardizing the teaching practice in a way that
excludes individual differences. Wood and Whitford (2010) also contend that
professional learning communities should avoid turning teachers into technicians and,
on the contrary, should promote teachers as professionals who develop knowledge
and share it. In order to improve TLCs, they suggest some changes. Teachers’ work
should be more open to critique and easily monitored. Also, they have noticed that
TLCs need to train teachers to grasp the goals and priorities of the educational system,
so that they can respond to the changing student needs. Most importantly, learning
communities need to cultivate a culture of accountability for student results. In order
to do this, TLC members should collect student data and continuously scrutinize it so
that they can deal with learners’ difficulties and needs.
A more useful proposition for improving professional learning communities is Easton’s
(2009) recommendation to use protocols in a more systematic manner. These are
guidelines for professional conversation, based on norms that the PLC members agree
upon in order to make communication effective. Easton elaborated on four types of
protocols:
protocols for examining student work:
protocols for examining professional practice:
Protocols for addressing issues and problems:
Protocols for effective discussions:
Dana and Yendol-Hoppey (2008: 45-47) argue that it is essential for TLCs to study
student data, since the aim is to improve learning. They think that TLC leaders can do
this by “insisting that student data is a regular artifact of the regular group meetings.
Data includes, but is not limited to, standardized test data, formative assessment,
summative assessment, authentic assessment, performance-based assessment, student
work, and attitude/surveys.” They insist that teachers should be encouraged to bring
both good and bad data, and share it with colleagues for scrutiny. This, they suggest,
Issue 1, January, 2017 MoRCE-Net ELT News
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can be done in the work of a workshop.
From a leadership perspective, Fullan (2008) called for extending professional learning
communities to the whole school staff, by using the capacity of the members of these
communities to build others’ capacities. In other words, they should not contend
themselves only with what happens in meeting rooms, but involve the members of
the school community in embracing the shared vision and working together to
implement it. Such “collective leadership” (Fullan, 2003), has been confirmed by
research. For example, in a study of 90 schools in 45 districts, Leithwood and Mascall
(2008) found a significant proportion of variation between collective leadership and
student performance. A similar study done by Printy (2008) confirmed the same
results. This tells us that TLCs, as frameworks for collaboration, can be improved by
strengthening shared leadership and extending this mechanism to the whole school
community.
Practical Implications and recommendations:
Implications for Teachers
Joining a teacher learning community has many invaluable benefits. Teachers who are
members of TLCs build trust within the group and share their successful practices as
well as their problems and grievances with the current school system. Members also
develop a sense of camaraderie that leads to more socialization. TLC members also
develop effective leadership. By taking turns to lead TLC sessions and facilitate
dialogue, teachers gradually improve inter-personal communication skills and learn
how to solve problems in a collegial manner. This increases self-confidence and helps
teacher leaders to qualify for further leadership tasks beyond TLCs. Teachers should
seize the opportunity of being a TLC member to bring their teaching problems to the
table and get help from colleagues. They should open to criticism. An important
recommendation for teachers is to focus on student learning while planning for TLC
meetings. This can be done using multiple techniques. First, teachers working in the
same school should carry out peer-observation in order to identify, explore and
analyze their teaching practices and identify strengths and weaknesses. Peer-
observation should be done within an action research scheme, so that theory is
brought at the service of practice. Second, teachers should keep a teaching journal or a
professional portfolio to document and reflect on their action research projects and
peer-observation activities. Setting up a resource centre is also important as a platform
to provide learning opportunities for students and also for teachers in the same school
to build a learning community. The resource centre can have the double function of
supporting learning and holding meetings of the school-based TLC.
Implications for supervisors:
Supervisors can benefit from establishing TLCs by having their teachers develop levels of
trust in sharing their practice and enhancing their teaching practice to improve the
students' learning. Supervisors may not be ideal facilitators or TLC leaders themselves,
as their presence may limit open discussions. By sharing the leadership in TLCs,
supervisors can delegate more work to senior teachers who may coach other teachers
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in TLCs and in the schools. Eventually, teachers may become more self-directed in their
professional learning. For novice supervisors or those who are new to their
supervisory areas, it is not advisable to start TLCs right away. They should take some
time to know the teachers very well and evaluate the context to determine whether
or not a TLC has the necessary conditions to succeed. As for the supervisors who
know teachers well and have a positive evaluation of the context, setting up a TLC is
highly recommended for the benefits already stated. Starting with a pilot group is
helpful to ensure the first experience is successful and motivating for other teachers.
The pilot group should be made of volunteers who are highly motivated.
In parallel with teacher learning communities, it is recommended that supervisors help
teachers and schools set up resource centers, as they focus mainly on student learning
and help incorporate formative assessment and learner-centered activities as tools for
improving instruction. When resource centers are well-established, they can become
the backbone of TLCs, as spaces for teacher collaboration that focuses on improving
learning.
Another recommendation for supervisors is providing incentives for TLC members in the
form of end-of-year certificates of participation, mentioning TLC members and
leadres’ contribution in their official appraisal reports.
Implications for Schools:
Schools may be positively influenced by the improvement in both teaching and learning.
Students may benefit from the various teaching techniques learned by the teachers and
from the fact that teachers work together for their benefit. Especially when TLCs
adopt a project-based approach which focuses directly on learning and produces
concrete outcomes, students could benefit from improved teaching materials, and
innovative learning contexts, such as English clubs, resource centers and ICT platforms.
Schools, therefore, should support TLCs when they are established, by providing
logistical and administrative help. They should also facilitate setting up school-based
TLCs when teachers decide to create them.
Implications for ministry training program unit:
A 21st century motto for education is that the quality of an educational system depends
on the quality of its teachers. Up to now, unlike in other countries such as the UK, we
do not have an official program for continuing professional development in Morocco.
The ministry relies on providing in-service training which usually has a top-down
nature. The content of the ministry’s in-service training programs is always pre-set, and
the teachers’ needs are not carefully considered. The supervisors are supposed to help
teachers develop professionally, but there aren’t clear mechanisms to do so, and the
resources are not provided for teachers to pursue lifelong learning under an
accountability system. It is high time we started empowering teachers and supervisors
by working on a national framework for continuing professional development.
Teacher learning communities might be adopted in this regard.
Issue 1, January, 2017 MoRCE-Net ELT News
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REFERENCES:
Dana, N.F. and Yendol-Hoppey, D. (2008).The Reflective Educator’s Guide to Professional Development,
Corwin Press, California.
Dewy, J. (1929).The Sources of a Science of Education. New York: Horace Liveright.
Darling-Hammond, L., & Richardson, N. (2009). Teacher learning: What matters? Educational Leadership.
Dufour, R. and Eaker, R. (1998) Professional Learning Communities at Work: Best Practices for Enhancing
Student Achievement, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Alexandria, VA.
Fullan, M. (2008), What’s Worth Fighting for in the Principalship, Second edition, Teacher’s College Press,
New York and London
Greene.M.L, (1992) Teacher supervision as professional development: Does it work? Journal of curriculum
and supervision, Winter 1992, Vol 7, No 2, 131-148
Hargreaves, A.Lieberman, A. Fullan, M. and Hopkins, D (2010).Second International Handbook of
Educational Change, part 1, Springer, London and New York.
Hawley, W. and Valli, L. (1999).The Essentials of Effective Professional Development: a New Consensue, In
Darling-Hammond, L. and Sykes, G. Teaching as the Learning Profession. Handbook of Policy and
Practice.In Fleming, J. and Kleinhenz, E (2007).Towards a Moving School, Australian Council for
Educational Research, Victoria.
Hunzicker, J. (2010). Characteristics of effective professional development: A checklist. Online
Submission.Retrieved from ERIC database.
Johnson, E.K (2006). The Sociocultural Turn and its Challenges for Second Language Teacher Education,
TESOL Quarterly, 40(1), 235-257.
Johnston, B. (2009). Collaborative Teacher Development, in Burns, A. and Richards, J. (2009). The
Cambridge Guide to Second Language Teacher Education, Cambridge Uiversity Press, New York
Johnson, E.K (2009). Trends in Second Language Teacher Education. In Burns, A. and Richards, J. (2009).
The Cambridge Guide to Second Language Teacher Education, Cambridge Uiversity Press, New York
Leithwood, K. and Mascall, B. Collective leadership effects on Student Achievement. Educational
Administration Quarterly, 44 (4), 529 – 561.
McLaughlin, L.W. and Talbert, J.E (2006). Building School-based Teacher Learning Communities, Teachers’
college press, Columbia University, New York and London
National Staff Development Council (2009) NSDC Standards: Learning.
Printy, S.M. (2008).Leadership for Teacher Learning: a community of Practice Perspective. Educational
Administration Quarterly, 44 (2), 187 – 226.
Skerrett, A. (2010). “There’s going to be community. There’s going to be knowledge”: Designs for learning
in a standardized age. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26.
Tarnoczi, J. (2006). Critical Reflections on Professional Learning Communities in Alberta, ElectronicJournal
of Sociology (2006), http://www.sociology.org/content/2006/tier2/tarnoczi.html
Vickers, G. (2010). Insights into appreciation and learning systems.Chapter 2 in Blackmore, C.
(2010).Social learning systems and communities of practice.Springer.The Open University. UK
Issue 1, January, 2017 MoRCE-Net ELT News
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Mohamed Elmaanaoui
ELT supervisor trainee
0. Introduction
In recent years, like other Moroccan high schools, students at Sidi
Ahmed Bennacer High School in Zagora have benefited from
effective projects and programs. These include YES program,
Techgirls program, Access and Connecting Classroom Project
(CCP).
This article provides an overview of the CCP work carried out
over the period of one year with groups of students in Sidi
Ahmed Bennacer High School ( SABHS).It first introduces the
rationale of CCP.Then it reports on some of the International
School Award (ISA) activities conducted in SABHS. Finally, it
shows the impact of ISA activities on teachers, students, and the
local community.
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1. Rationale
CCP is a British Council global programme in so many countries. In Morocco,
the first initiave was carried out during the school years 2009-2012. Jointly
with the Moroccan Ministry for Education and the British Council, North
Yorkshire Local Authority launched this programme to match the needs of
Moroccan primary and high schools.This project started in two Regional
Academies for Education and Training: Gharb Chrarda Beni Hssen and Souss
Massa Draa (SMD). There were twelve clusters of schools in SMD Regional
Academy which created partnerships with clusters of schools in the UK.CCP in
SMD was effectively supervised by two main cluster coordinators :
Mr.Mohammed Hassim and Mr. Abdellatif Zoubair.
The programme has three major components. These embrace professional
development for internationalising education, collaborative curriculum
projects and International School Award (ISA).
At the end of the programme, CCP clusters in SMD managed to submit their
portfolios of evidence to the British Council in Rabat. Portfolios encompassed
at least seven main activities and two or three supplementary activities; all of
them had an international dimension. As a result of their systematic and
regular work, eight CCP clusters in SMD won ISA. Among these clusters of
schools is Sidi Ahmed Bennacer High School in Zagora.
2. ISA main activities
2 .1. Career Fair Event
The students are constantly working toward their Baccalaureate exams in
order to pursue a higher education, but rarely have any of them visited a
university campus or interviewed someone who works in the field they
eventually wish to enter. The Career Fair provided them with the opportunity
to interact with successful professionals and current university students, most
of whom had already attended a similar event at Sidi Ahmed Bennacer High
School. Along with United States Peace Corps Volunteers, these alumni
conducted presentations and workshops over the course of two days, sharing
their expertise, personal and educational experiences, tips for success, and
recommendations for the future generation. The four hundred students in
attendance built resumé-writing skills, practiced interviewing, and learned
Issue 1, January, 2017 MoRCE-Net ELT News
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professional etiquette for the workplace. These practical skills will be of vital
importance to the students as they pursue further education and careers after
graduating from high school
2.2. American Football
The purpose of this activity was for the pupils to become exposed to a sport
from another country. This activity provided pupils with the opportunity to
learn an American sport and interact with a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer who
facilitated the 3 -day training sessions. Additionally, physical health and exercise
were promoted to both genders of pupils as they played the sport together. At
the end of the activity, there was a high interest level of 10 pupils, which
resulted in continual practices after school. Also, in partnership with the U.S.
Embassy and the Ministry of Youth and Sports, 7 pupils (4 females and 3
males) participated in a 10-day American Flag-Football Camp that took place
in Tigrigra, Morocco. Youth from Bouarfa, Goul-mima, Errachidia, Tinjdad,
Erfoud, Azrou, and Tigrigra participated in the camp. Participants had the
privilege of learning from 10 U.S. Peace Corps volunteers. The focus of the
camp was to increase the knowledge and technical skills required of the sport
as well as promote the game with the hope that youth would be inspired to
form their own American Flag- Football teams in their hometowns. At the end
of the camp, the pupils expressed the desire to start their own Flag-Football.
2.3. Together for Humanity
Part of being a global citizen means having the skills and training necessary to
help others. In this activity, students learned how to act knowledgeably in
emergency situations in order to potentially save themselves and others. After
an initial safety lesson, pupils researched how to behave in life-threatening
situations on their own and then put their knowledge to the test. In a practical
demonstration, students replicated real-life emergencies, such as finding
someone unconscious, injured, drowning, or electrocuted, and showed their
peers the techniques necessary to save the victim's life. Under the supervision
of staff members, students broke into pairs to practice what they had learned.
The two hundred students who participated in this event gained the practical
knowledge and confidence to act capably in an emergency and potentially
save someone's life.
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2.4. International Sun Day
The sun plays an important part in the lives of Zagora's citizens. Located in the
Sahara Desert, Zagora experiences the brutality of the sun's heat, particularly
during the summer, but can also benefit from scientific research focused on
harnessing the sun's power for positive application. Students learned about the
solar system, and then small groups researched and presented on a particular
aspect of solar energy.
Students had the opportunity to visit the Electricity Plant for the Zagora
Province. After the pupils’ presentations with the staff, the plant's director
taught them about electricity and solar energy, stressing the importance of
renewable and alternative energy. He treated the students to a practical
demonstration of solar energy, showing them a solar panel that caused an
attached bulb to light and mobile phone to recharge. In this manner, students
were able to experience the effectiveness of solar power firsthand in their own
community.
2.5. Earth Day
Earth Day is an international day of environmental awareness. Most
importantly, participating students were taught about environmental issues that
directly impact them locally and how they can make a difference. They learned
the "3 Rs" - Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle- and how to imple-ment these
techniques in their everyday lives.
Members of the United States Peace Corps and the local society Association des
Arts Plastiques Zagora taught the youth how to recycle rubbish into art,
painted murals at the Women's Center, and facilitated skits that emphasized the
importance of environmental conservation.
In addition, a group of students from Bedale High School working in
conjunction with Sidi Ahmed Bennacer High School investigated the use and
storage of water in the United Kingdom and compared it to how water is
stored in Morocco. Students documented how much water they use and how
to reduce waste. This type of awareness is vital, as it can be implemented on a
personal level with potential for a large impact.
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3. Impact of ISA activities
ISA activities have certainly had a long- lasting, deepened and broadened
impact on countless promising students in Zagora, particularly at Sidi Ahmed
Bennacer High school.Also, teachers involved in these activities have learned a
lot from the project. The administrators and the community have positively
been affected by the outstanding outcomes of the project.
3.1 Teachers
ISA award is valid for three years (2012-2015). Thus, teachers involved in ISA
activities have become highly motivated to work with international partners
on various projects. To illustrate, teachers of science won an international
award thanks to an effective tree planting day. Teachers of physics continue to
carry out activities with partner schools internationally. To put it simply, as a
result of this project, teachers are :
identitying areas for professional development
benchmarking their teaching practices with partner school, Bedale High School
in the UK
demonstrating their dedication and commitment to make projects successful.
thinking of the sustainability of CCP
3.2 Students
CCP students in Zagora have really benefited from this outstanding project.
There were 14 ISA activities which were done during the school year 2011-
2012. These provided learners with adequate life and knowledge skills.They
lived out their dreams and explored their potential. Zagora Festival of
Students’Talents organised on June 2nd , 2011, was an enjoyable experience for
CCP students in that the event gave them a sense of achievement and sustained
their motivation. Local CCP show and Regional show, organised in Zagora and
Agadir in April, 2012, were also great opportunities for CCP students to
develop their linguistic skills and display their talents. Academically, students
passed natinoal exams successfully and their English marks were really high.
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3.3 The community
CCP activities were not confined to the walls of the school. So many activities
were organised at Dar attaqafa ( the house of culture).Over 400 people
attended events such as Zagora Festival of Students’Talents and Career Fair
Event. The outcome of success of these events was phenomenal. Days after the
events, when we encountered local people, they were excited and expressed
their desire to send their kids to take part in such activities.
Conclusion
In this paper, I have given an overview of the work done within Connecting
Classrooms Project in a remote area called Zagora. I have also shown its impact
on teachers, students and the whole community.
It will be interesting to conduct research on how extraordinary programmes
such as CCP have a deep impact on learners from underprivileged background
and impoverished areas.
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Younes Tai
Ph.D student
Since the 1960s, electronic corpora have come to prominence as
a resource used by linguists. While their use remains a source of
debate and controversy to this day, their contribution to
linguistics in general, and English linguistics in particular, as well as
to language teaching, is now widely acknowledged. Corpus tools
have not only strengthened the position of descriptive linguistics,
but have also enhanced theoretically oriented linguistic research.
This contribution has been felt most strongly in English linguistics,
as it was pioneering work undertaken on English language
corpora, such as the Brown corpus (Francis and Kuãera 1964),
which set the agenda for much of the work that has been
undertaken using corpora since then. In this article I will examine
the nature of corpus linguistics, review the general contribution
of corpora to linguistic theory and then explore in more depth
the contribution of corpora in the study of language change and
the teaching of English as a foreign language.
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Before the existence of corpora, linguistic description relied very much on
native-speaker intuition and introspection. Native-speakers normally describe
what they know about language, or what they perceive language to be, rather
than how language is used. Examining specific instances of language use gives
insights into how language works which would never have been obtained by
simply introspecting about the language system. Such insights result in our
construing the linguistic system in a different way. So far, corpus-based studies
have focused on four main types of description and analysis: lexical
collocation by examining the frequency and context of occurrence of linguistic
items, syntactic patterning based on co-occurrence of grammatical word-class
tags, genre analysis based on the co-occurrence of groups of linguistic items and
processes and discourse structure and cohesion in spoken and written English.
The findings of the studies, particularly word-based studies, have important
implications for second or foreign language teaching.
In EFL and ESL situations, learners do not have the same amount of exposure
to the target language as they do in L1 situations. Therefore, it is safe to
presume that in most cases they are unlikely to acquire the language efficiently
without systematic guidance on linguistic forms. By focusing on words which
have a high frequency of occurrence and by concentrating on the usual rather
than the exceptional, teachers can help learners acquire the language more
efficiently, especially at elementary and intermediate levels. The findings of
corpus analysis can be used as a basis for selecting and sequencing linguistic
content, as well as for determining relative emphases. A number of studies
have observed discrepancies between corpus findings and the selection of and
emphasis given to linguistic content in ESL and EFL textbooks and curriculum.
As early as the sixties, George (1963, cited in Kennedy 1998: 283) studied a
corpus of English that was based on written texts and found that the highest
frequency of occurrence of the simple present is not to indicate habitual
actions, such as "I go to school by bus every day" (5.5%), but rather the actual
present, such as "I agree with you" (57.7%) or neutral time, such as "My name
is Mary" (33.5%). His findings converge with a more recent grammar of
English compiled by Mindt (2000) based on corpora totaling 240 million
words of spoken and written English. Mindt found that the three prototypes
which make up the majority of all cases of the present forms of verbs are the
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extended present, the actual present and the timeless present. This is contrary
to the emphasis given to the habitual present in most ESL and EFL textbooks as
the major function of the simple present.
Holmes (1988) compared a corpus analysis and a textbook analysis of epistemic
modality and found that, like most textbooks, important epistemic uses of
modal verbs are under-taught and that lexical verbs expressing modality, such
as appear, believe, doubt, and suppose, nouns such as possibility, tendency, and
likelihood, and adverbials, such as perhaps, of course, and probably, tend to be
given little pedagogical attention. Ljung (1991) compared the EFL textbooks at
upper secondary level in Sweden with the Cobuild corpus and found that 20%
of the most frequent one thousand words in the learners' texts did not occur in
the most frequent one thousand words in Cobuild. Biber, Conrad and Reppen
(1994) examined the structural options for postnominal modification and the
attention given to these options in popular ESL and EFL textbooks. They found
that typically more pedagogical attention was paid to finite and non-finite
relative clauses than prepositional phrases as noun modifiers, in contrast with
their analysis of the Lancaster Oslo/Bergen (LOB) corpus, which shows
prepositional phrases as noun modifiers occurring far more frequently than
relative clauses. Kennedy (1998) observes that similar incompatibility can be
found in the pedagogical focus on grammatical quantifiers such
as all and every in many textbooks to indicate the concept of totality when in
both written and spoken corpora totality is much more commonly lexically
marked, such as entirely, completely, whole, throughout.
Globally, the contributions that corpus linguistics is making to the teaching of
languages include the following:
New reference materials that give information about patterns in language use
and describe how native speakers make choices between seemingly
synonymous words and structures.
Classroom materials that reflect how people actually use the language and give
students practice with features rarely covered in textbooks.
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Computer-based analysis activities for ESL classes that have students act as
language researchers.
investigations of varieties of English as a Lingua Franca, discovering what
language features are consistent and which vary among speakers;
Testing applications, making sure that language used in tests reflects the
situation that it is testing (for example, does the TOEFL test cover language that
is used at universities in the US?)
In brief, studies of applications of corpus linguistics to second/foreign language
teaching and learning have emphasized the importance of adopting a data-
driven approach to language learning so that learners go through a process of
self-discovery. The discussion in this article attempts to show that it might be
equally important for teachers to go through this process of self-discovery and
to experience formulating generalizations about linguistic patterns that they
have observed so that they try to grasp the grammar as much as linguistic
researchers do.
References:
Conrad, S. (2005). Corpus linguistics and L2 teaching. In E, Hinkel (Ed.),
Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (pp. 393-409).
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Eribaum Associates.
H. Douglas Brown (2007) Principles of language learning and Teaching, Fifth
Edition. San Francisco State University .
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Mohamed Bakkas
EFL supervisor trainee
Teaching is known to be a complex and tiring activity. The more
one teaches, the more experienced one becomes. Yet, the needier
one is likely to feel towards professional development, as well.
Thus, in-service training is of crucial importance. Attending
different meetings and workshops is necessary for one’s progress.
MATE has been a leader in providing its members with rich
opportunities for improving their teaching practices. This is best
summarized in a saying that has it: “The most important thing
about teaching is that you never stop learning.” Within the
umbrella of the new educational reform especially the crucial
role of projects in the success of the teaching process, CCP has
offered me the support to go on learning and learning.
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Connecting classroom project has offered me so many chances of training,
exchange and sharing experiences with colleagues from different corners of our
region. This report is organized in such a way as to include three main parts.
The first one deals with the effect of the workshops I attended. The second is
concerned with the influence of CCP on my school and teaching. The last one
focuses on the impact of my visit to Rosset school on my teaching, students
and school.
To start with, the workshops I was present at in Agadir were of paramount
importance. Firstly, they allowed me to be in touch and learn from different
leaders in the field of teaching /learning. Secondly, they were a chance to meet
colleagues from various delegations of the region.Thus, a crucial opportunity to
share and exchange experiences. Third, the topics chosen during the trainings
were also significant. Assessment for learning was one of the most important
ones. Fourth, project work has helped us collaborate to achieve the same ends.
I do admit that at the beginning, the CCP was ambiguous as the picture was
unclear. Yet, after the continuous meetings the picture became brighter and
brighter. It has to be admitted that we have learnt a lot from S. Cowton.
However, I must admit that the extra time we, CCP trainees, spent together as
teachers after the workshops and sometimes till after midnight did help us a lot
decipher, demystify and master the requirements of the project. We used to
teach each other techniques and ways to do the same thing in faster and more
productive ways. One day, I still remember, we asked our colleague Mr.
Asabban to spend some time with us after the workshop in order to tutor us in
some ICT skills that we needed badly for our projects. He taught us how to
upload, download or change the size of a picture. His work was very fruitful.
Furthermore, I would like to stress that our cooperation tremendously helped
us overcome the hard problem we faced when dealing with FRONTER, the
platform we used for sharing projects among the schools. Besides, CCP
introduced me to project based learning methodology and its various benefits ;
and of course, project work has become an integral part of my teaching
practices ever since. We have also learned new techniques in assessing our
teaching and learning to cater for different learners in our classrooms. In a
nutshell, the workshops and training sessions have helped me both personally
and professionally.
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Second, CCP has definitely affected my teaching positively. It has allowed
me to implement assessment for learning (AFL) in my classroom. It has made
me responsible for working with my students in projects that are carried out,
negotiated, finalized and ultimately shared among the students. It has
permitted me to develop my teaching techniques and vary testing means. My
students were given a chance to engage in authentic and meaningful
communication with native speakers via emails or postcards. And that is an
example of a realistic and meaningful learning experience that is highly sought
after in a foreign language classroom. This project has made my school learn
from the experience and success of other schools. It has also made me work
with other active clubs at our school. The coordinators were so kind to help us
with some statistics and their work to be shared with the English partners. The
purpose, of course, is to develop learning and enhance its quality.
Finally, and most importantly, the Rosset visit had been a dream which
came true. I was so surprised to see how simple the English system was. The
school was clean, neat and well-organized. The staff was very friendly and
helpful. The number of students, the equipments and displays on walls were
very great and amazing. They were educational and informative as well. Of
course, the continuous teaching system was so tiring and hard to me. To leave
home at 7:00 and come back at 18:00 was exhausting but rewarding. I had the
opportunity to meet different gifted teachers teaching different subjects and
learning from each one of them. Of course, I will never forget the experience
of teaching various subjects for the first time in my life. Cases in point are:
Moroccan geography, music, couscous and drugs. My contact with my partner
started with postcard exchange and agreed to focus on new ideas. Moreover, I
have learnt that our country is very rich in terms of human capital. It only
needs some brush up to grow up. The light timetables and well-designed
programmes, dedication, availability of equipments as well as teacher assistants
make their jobs light and easy. The following points summarize what I have
learnt from the Rosset trip:
It is needless to say that any partnership has its main impact on both the
partners. As a Moroccan participant, my students and I have learned the
following:
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*Learning more ICT skills,
*Communicative writing,
*More cultural understanding,
*Autonomous learning,
*Study skills,
*Developing critical thinking,
*Catering for multiple intelligence needs,
*Offering a global dimension to education,
*Knowing oneself better,
*Comparing and contrasting different values and views,
*Striking a balance between learning and teaching,
*Professional development: benefiting from various interesting workshops, …
In sum, the CCP experience has been enriching, successful, amazing and
fruitful. I would like to thank the project coordinators in our region the deeply
respected supervisors Mr. Zoubair and Mr. Hassim. My gratefulness should go
to my colleagues at Souss Mass Draa clusters as well.
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Ait Taleb, Abdelaziz. EFL teacher
Jamaati, Zakaria. EFL teacher
Driouch, Aziz. EFL teacher
1. Introduction:
Last year, shortly before students started their preparation for the
National Baccalaureate Exam (Grade 12), one of the students
approached one of us asking him a question that puzzled us
deeply. The student bursting with frustration and confusion,
asked: “Teacher! How am I going to study collocations for my
exam? Are they vocabulary or grammar and do they have any
rules?” This student’s question has been the starting point of a
deep reflection regarding the way we .teach collocations.
Actually, throughout our teaching experience, we have noticed
the extent to which collocations are challenging both to teach
and learn in an EFL context. This paper is the product of our
deep reflections and ongoing conversations as we sought
practical solutions for that provocative question.
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The importance of teaching lexical chunks in general and collocation in
particular, has been highlighted by Lewis (1998). In his Lexical
Approach, he places more focus on teaching vocabulary chunks rather
than individual words. Lewis states that one major principle of the
lexical approach is that “language consists of grammaticalized lexis, not
lexicalized grammar” (Lewis, 1998, cited in Farokh, 2012, p.69). He
argues that the more exposure students have to vocabulary chunks
(collocations, fixed and semi-fixed expressions and idioms), the easier
they retain and retrieve these chunks. This, therefore, improves
students’ fluency in both speaking and writing.
As has been implied before, the focus of this article will be mainly on
teaching collocations. For this purpose, we would limit our definition of
collocations to Thornbury’s (2007). According to him, two words are
considered collocates when they often occur together, so that the
occurrence of one of them triggers a strong prediction of the existence
of the other. The association between the two words is not fixed as that
of compounds or multi-word units. That is, collocations can be
described as phrases, which are more restricted than free combinations
(e.g.: very cold) and less restricted than idioms (e.g.: get the cold
shoulder).
However, as our student’s question brought out, vocabulary chunks are
considered a problem area in the teaching and learning of foreign
languages. This article sets out to highlight these four points: First, the
importance of learning collocations by EFL learners. Second, the main
types of collocations. Third, the challenges EFL learners face in learning
collocations; and finally some practical solutions will be suggested to
improve students’ collocational competence.
2. The importance of learning collocations
Although some researchers believe that the arbitrary and
unpredictability nature of collocations make it difficult for non-native
speakers to cope with them, there is strong evidence that collocation
knowledge has a crucial role in developing EFL learners’ proficiency.
First, vocabulary items usually occur in relation with other words in the
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text. As a result, it is difficult and even impossible to teach the possible
partners that each individual word may take.
Second, students may find it challenging to form individual words into
phrases instead of breaking down whole chunks into their basic
components. Third; it is argued that developing students’ collocational
competence will enhance both their receptive and productive skills. In
this regard, Carter & McCarthy (1988, p. 75) state that “collocations
teach students expectations about which sorts of language can follow
from what has preceded. Students will not have to go about
reconstructing the language each time they want to say something but
instead can use these collocations as pre-packaged building blocks
In brief, there are three most common arguments for the usefulness of
teaching collocations to EFL learners (Farrokh, 2012, p. 65):
a- Language Knowledge Requires Collocational Knowledge: Students
need to develop their collocational knowledge because it is the basis of
learning, knowledge and use.
b- Efficient Language Acquisition Requires Collocational Knowledge:
Learners tend to acquire the language more effectively if it is learned in
‘chunks’ instead of discrete items.
c- Fluent Language Use Requires Collocational Knowledge: It is proved
that speakers show a high degree of fluency when they are involved in
describing familiar experiences or activities using familiar phrases.
3. Types of Collocations:
Referring to the student’s question of whether collocations are classified
as grammar or lexis, it has been argued that they occur into both
categories. Benson et al. (1986a) have determined collocations based
on their functional domain: They are lexical collocations and
grammatical collocations. Based on this we advance that teaching
collocations to EFL learners is much more effective when they are
taught at an initial stage as lexical chunks, in a way that develops
students’ communicative competence. At a later stage, the teacher can
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then teach the learners the grammatical combinations that are used in
order to form collocations. However, it may be very difficult to teach
collocations if the teacher does not have a solid knowledge of their
different grammatical classifications. In this regard, Hausmann, (1985
Cited in Orenha-Ottaiano 2012, pp. 241-251) suggested a taxonomy that
categorizes collocations. They categorize collocations into four
classifications:
A. Verb-like – with five basic forms:
A.1. Verb (collocate) + Noun (basis): make a mistake / have fun, pay
attention.
A.2. Noun (basis) + Verb (collocate): note taking / problem solving,
etc.
A.3. Verb (collocate) + Preposition + Noun (basis): dispose of shares
A.4. Verb (collocate) + Adverbial Particle + Noun (basis): set up a
business
A.5. Verb (collocate) + Adjective (basis): grow strong
B. Name-like – with two basic forms:
B.1. Noun (basis) + Noun collocate: communication technology /
Generation gap / international organizations.
C.1. Adjective (collocate) + Noun (basis): sustainable development, civic
education, etc.
B.2. Noun (collocate) + Preposition + Noun (basis): Sense of humor
C. Adjective-like – with one form:
D. Adverb-like – with three basic forms:
D.1. Adverb (collocate) + Adjective (basis): fully eligible
D.2. Verb basis + Adverb collocate: drop dramatically.
D.3. Adverb collocates + Verb basis: fully paid; duly appointed
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4. Some challenges EFL students face in learning collocations:
4.1 Interference of L1:
Generally, the idea of collocations may not be new to EFL learners as
they might exist in their L1. As an example, for Moroccan students, they
learn collocations since an early stage of the primary school in Arabic
classes as part of the grammar lessons. In Arabic grammar, a collocation
maybe a noun phrase, which consists of the collocate (al-khabar) and the
basis (mobtda). In many cases, having learned collocations in L1 may
facilitate the learning of similar L2 collocations. However, this might also
lead to an interference, which makes collocations very difficult to
assimilate.
It is believed that students learning EFL tend to make mistakes in
collocations because of the differences between English and their mother
tongue (Fatos, 2011). Likewise, we notice that our students do sometimes
commit such mistakes as:
“fulfil homework” rather than “do homework”
“take a decision” rather than “make a decision”
“revise for the test” rather than “study / review for the test’
4.2. Overgeneralization:
We have noticed that collocational patterns can occur as a result of
overgeneralizations. For instance, many learners collocate certain
adjectives that are exclusively used to describe one gender. A striking
example is the use of the adjective “beautiful” to describe both men and
women; whereas its conventional use is restricted only to women.
Hence, some learners produce sentences like: “a beautiful man” rather
than “a handsome man”.
The challenges discussed above raise the question about the ways
through which collocations are presented in an EFL classroom. In
teaching collocations, learners need to be given contexts in which they
notice the various word combinations. This would allow students to
appreciate their learning of collocations and help them retain them more
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easily when necessary. In addition, teachers are advised to raise
students’ awareness and clarify the arbitrary nature of collocations, i.e.
there is no rule that explains why the “make a decision” collocation
sounds right, whereas the “do a decision” combination is weird.
The following are some practical examples that can be used to raise
students’ awareness to collocations and practice them in meaningful
contexts:
5.1. Teaching collocations through songs:
Because songs reflect language at its best authentic use, they provide a
rich source of collocations. In this regard, students can listen to the songs
and underline a certain type of collocations used in the lyrics.
5.2. Text-based collocations:
To balance the spoken language of songs, we view authentic texts as an
endless source of collocations. Students can elicit from the text words
that collocate with each other. Alternatively, the teacher can assign them
a matching exercise based on collocations used in the text.
5.3 Teaching collocations through games:
No one denies the positive effects of learning through games. Therefore,
collocations can be easily understood, internalized and practiced through
different games such as the Bingo game, matching games and guessing or
miming games.
5.4. Creating personal collocation dictionaries
We can ask students to make personal dictionaries of collocations, where
they write down the collocations they have covered with contextualized
examples and share as the classroom collocation wall. This would help
them have a cognitive depth of learned collocations, enrich their
vocabulary repertoire and foster their autonomous learning.
5.5. Integrating collocations with other skills:
As a follow up activity of a vocabulary class, the teacher asks his / her
students to write an imaginative story in which they incorporate
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meaningfully the maximum of collocations they have learned in class.
5.6. Inter-lingual awareness activity:
The teacher provides students with different collocations in context and
asks them to come up with their corresponding ones in their L1. Later,
the teacher provides the accurate translation in order for them to be
aware that translating from L1 to L2 may lead to negative transfer. This
will help learners develop their noticing skill towards inter-lingual
differences.
5.7. Collocational grid: Channell (1981 Cited in Faroukh, 2012, p. 120)
As an effective practice activity of collocations, the teacher may provide
students with different collocates in a grid. Student need to combine the
appropriate collocates by ticking the right square of the grid. This
reinforces students’ collocational competence. Using visual grids are
more welcoming in responding to various students’ learning preferences
and styles.
6. Conclusion
The ideas discussed and developed throughout this article have been
the fruit of three different teaching and learning experiences of the
authors. We have noticed that our learners appreciate learning
collocations. However, they find it very challenging to assimilate and
incorporate them in their actual communication. Similarly, even EFL
teachers (e.g. Moroccan teachers) may face difficulties with collocations
and fail to use the proper and correct ones that are related to what
they need to teach. At this point, we believe that research may fruitfully
investigate special ways to teach collocations for EFL learners as distinct
from ESL and L1 learners. This is actually a suggested question for
further research.
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References
Bahns, J. (1993). Lexical Collocations: A Contrastive View. ELT Journal, 56-63.
Benson, M., & Benson, E. (1986).Lexicographic description of English. Philadelphia: J.
Benjamins Pub.
Carter, R., & McCarthy, M. (1988).Vocabulary and language teaching. London: Longman.
Farrokh, P. (2012). Raising Awareness of Collocation in ESL/EFL Classrooms.Journal of Studies in
Education, 55-74
Fatos, UgurE. (2011). Why and How to Teach Collocations?.Humanising Language Teaching
13 (6).Accessed January 25, 2014.http://www.hltmag.co.uk/dec11/idea.htm#C3
Orenha-Ottaiano, A. (2012). English collocations extracted from a corpus of university learners
and its contribution to a language teaching pedagogy. ActaScientiarum.Language and Culture. 34
(2): 241-251. Accessed January 26, 2014.Doi: 10.4025/actascilangcult.v34i2.17130.
Sinclair, J. (1991). Corpus, concordance and collocation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Thornbury, S.(2007). How to teach vocabulary. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.
Issue 1, January, 2017 MoRCE-Net ELT News
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MOHAMED MANSOURI
EFL supervisor trainee
Every human being has his own conception of education
depending on the one he or she received, and depending also on
his or her own qualities and aspirations. Yet, when young people
fail to display ethical or moral conduct, schools are certainly
blamed. Many people, nonetheless, tend to dismiss that
education is a by-product of the school on the one hand, and
society and culture on the other.
Morocco is no exception. The Moroccan educational system is
one which is much debated upon. Some criticize the curriculum,
others blame the methods used. Parents advocate deep reforms,
but their opinions vary about what is to be expected from school
education. According to parents, education is the great equalizer
that should provide all children with the same opportunities.
Students, in the same sense, consider education as a means to get
on in life and to have better salaries. I share the parents and the
students’ perception, but I view education from a wider scope:
cultural, societal, and parental. Therefore, the formal education
the young have in schools remains incomplete if a link of the
educational agents is missing.
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This article presents the missing link that could genuinely affect the
quality of education our children have. It is high time character
education began in Morocco. So what is character education? And what
type(s) of character education would have short and long term effects
on Moroccan society?
Character education is as old as Socrates. With the turn of the twentieth
century, character education made its transitional leap from a practice
to a science. It was the United States of America that buckled on
implementing the early character education programs in schools. Since
then, scientists have been defining character education according to the
goals of the programs launched. In the case of Morocco, a country with
promising human development projects, the best definition to character
education is the one that perceives the character doing the right thing
despite outside pressure to the contrary (Barlow, Jordan and Hendrix:
2003,P.564). Character education is the set of formal (school), and
informal (culture, society, parents) acquisition of ethics, values and
morals that would strengthen the individual’s standing on one’s ground
in order to make the ‘morally’ right decision even when it is difficult.
So far, the formal acquisition of character education does not exist in
the educational system except for some sporadic traces in educational
syllabi of private schools. The major shortcoming of these syllabi,
however, is that they are imported from France, Morocco’s ex-military
colonizer and present neo-colonizer. As a matter of fact, there is an
urgent need for customized character education programs in Moroccan
schools and cities. The major goal of the programs would be to counter
the Tsunami of this global culture negating Moroccan identity traits and
distorting the socio-moral values. I believe that schools should design
their own character education programs and educators should take part
in that process. They are the tools of implementation and success. Many
effective character education programs either recommend staff
development or offer it as an option. If staff do not know how to
implement it, they will likely implement it ineffectively.
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When it comes to the type of character education that would have
short as well as long term effects, I am a proponent of mixing “simple
moral education” and “simple character education”. Simple moral
education is also referred to as moral development. It increases the
students’ sensitivity to issues and kindles their problem-solving
competency. The teacher guides the discussion of a problem that
students should first identify then provide options to solve it. However,
each student should defend his choice.
Let’s take the example of road accidents in Morocco. The issue still
prevails though “responsible authorities” bloat their alleged “triumph”
with a kit of logistical measures ranging from rebuilding old roads or
widening them to adopting stricter penalizing laws. Undoubtedly, I do
not deny the fact that these measures could save lives. Yet, the human
factor in this war-like issue is forcibly the weakest link. Driving requires
ethical and moral competency of judgment as much as it requires the
technical mastery of maintaining control of the driving wheel,
pedals….etc. Teachers should illustrate the difference between the
ethical driver and the “egocentric” driver. An ethical driver is whoever
obeys posted speed limits even in the absence of a highway patrol
officer. That individual drives within posted speed limits and he or she
respects the lives and property of others. The egocentric driver, on the
other hand, sees things solely in terms of getting from one point to
another as quickly as possible and ignores the fact that to do so impacts
on the safety of others negatively. He or she obeys speed limits only
when a highway patrol officer is present in order to avoid a speeding
ticket (Martinson, D: 2003, 16). Is it logical then to have a police officer
watch over every driver? And if this is the case of citizens behavior in
other forms of “ethics of everyday”, then society will inevitably be
composed of individuals operating at a pre-conventional level of moral
reasoning where one does “the right” because of fear of being punished
if one does wrong (Jaska and Pritchard 1994, 95).
The simple moral education has already been applied in many
American schools and managed to instill a kind of moral judgment in
students. Yet, mixing it with the simple character education type will
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give a moral muscle to the student character. Simple character
education is compared to an indoctrination of values and morals. It
explicitly uses habits, rituals, strict disciplines…etc to instill character
traits. Thomas Lickona (1998, P.78), a prominent theoretician of the
simple character education movement, said “bottom line is
behavior…… Virtues are not mere thoughts but have to develop by
performing virtuous actions. Acting on this principle, character
educators seek to help students to perform kind, courteous, and self-
disciplined acts repeatedly – until it becomes relatively easy for them to
do so and relatively unnatural for them to do the opposite”. For
example in Morocco, why don’t we have a certain amount of required
public service, a sort of volunteering to serve society, as a requirement
before students graduate?
Finally, “We reap what we sow. When we have children, we sow
more than biological seeds. We also plant the seeds of moral
development…. The best way to teach values is for (adults to) exhibit
them… who can blame children for refusing to imitate us if we pretend
to virtue when we have it not?” (Weiner 1995, 19A)
Bibliography
Barlow, C.B., Jordan, M.,& Hendrix, W.H. 2003. Character assessment: an examination of
leadership levels. Journal of Business and Psychology, 17 (4)
Jaska, J. A and M.S. Pritchard. 1994. Communication ethics: Methods of Analysis. Belmont, Calif:
Wadsworth
Martinson, D.L. 2003. High School Students and Character Education: It All starts at Wendy’s. The
Clearing House, Vol. 77 (Sept-Oct) , No1. Taylor and Francis, Ltd
Weiner, S. 1995. The ABC’s of Character. Miami Herald, 16 March, 19A
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Hassan Ait Bouzid
Ph.D student,
EFL Teacher, Ait Melloul
Abstract
This paper underscores the need of English language teachers, in their
quality of reflective practitioners, to engage in active reflective teaching. It
draws the attention of ELT practitioners in Morocco to the viability of
investing teachers’ reflective skills in promoting their professional
development and the quality of their teaching practices as well. The study
explores ways in which Moroccan English language teachers can boost
their reflective practice through suggesting a model that helps teachers
transcend the current passive reflective practice and become active
reflective practitioners. The model entices teachers to engage actively in a
collaborative endeavor that calls for creating special focused platforms for
discussing and sharing experiences that would work to solve specific
problems identified in the classroom. Eventually, the study concludes with
advocating a lesson planning design that facilitates the incorporation of
the suggested reflective practice model. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of
the suggested model is yet to be tested on practical grounds to measure
the extent to which teachers are ready to integrate it in their teaching
practices.
Key words: reflective practitioners, EFL, ECRIF, model
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Introduction
Reflection is a defining trait for human being and an existential practice
for teachers; English language teachers are not an exception. It is even
more of a requirement for English language teachers in the Moroccan
context not only because they introduce learners to a plethora of
linguistic and cultural knowledges, behaviors and skills which
necessitates careful selection, presentation and monitoring, but also
because teachers themselves are faced with a variety of teaching
methods, techniques and strategies which are to a great extent puzzling
and mesmerizingly perplex. Therefore, it is a professional prerequisite
for Moroccan English language teachers to be able to appropriately and
effectively use reflection as a practice that fosters both their students’
learning and their own professional development.
This paper aims to explore ways in which Moroccan English language
teachers can boost their reflective practice and use it to improve the
teaching and learning processes. It is informed by the theoretical
framework of the Standards-Based Approach (American Council on the
Teaching of Foreign Languages [ACTFL], 1995) which defines the
teaching and learning of English as a foreign language in Moroccan
public high schools (Ministry of National Education [MNE], 2007). It is
built on the assumption that ELT practitioners need to be aware of the
importance of a paradigm shift revolutionizing their own conception of
their role as reflective practitioners. It therefore argues for going
beyond current passive reflective processes to a more systematic and
productive active practice of reflection.
The present study is framed within the theoretical foundations of the
Standards-Based Approach (ACTFL, 1995; MNE, 2007). The approach
underscores the indisputable role of teachers as reflective practitioners
in shaping and improving not only the teaching and learning processes,
but also the life-long learning skills of the learners. This theoretical
framework reckons that teaching foreign languages necessitates
herculean efforts due to its multi-disciplinary nature. In fact, the
hardship of the teaching of English as a foreign language lies in that it
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combines teaching not only language skills, but also cultural and life
skills that belong to a totally different target community about which
students may know very little. Good reflective practitioners allow
learners to discover and learn foreign languages, cultures, behaviors and
skills in ways that do not impair but instead improve their
understanding of their own languages and cultures. Essential skills and
procedures that have the potential of improving teachers’ quality as
reflective practitioners are extremely solicited.
The value of reflection
Reflective practice is valuable for the benefits it bestows on teachers’
professional development. It requires teachers to question their own
practices through encouraging them to adopt a reflective attitude
towards their classroom behaviors, choices, activities and attitudes. It
also invites them to be innovative since they will be constantly
searching for alternative practices that would supplement or replace the
ones they find ineffective. Researchers (Bubb, 2005; Gun, 2015;
Williams, 2007) agree that effective teaching and learning requires
teachers to move beyond impressionistic assessments of their own
practices to a more systematic method of reflection that enables them
to acquire useful, accurate, systematic, and contextual insights into
the overall nature of their teaching. In fact, reflective teaching can
improve the quality of learning outcome and foster professional
development through encouraging teachers to continuously improve
their teaching methods, techniques and materials in accordance with
what they discover during the process of reflective teaching. In
addition, reflecting on one’s practices promotes lifelong learning since
teachers will always engage in constructive self-criticism as long as they
are aspiring for perfection and development.
Improving the quality of teachers’ classroom practices necessitates a
change in how reflection is generally conducted. One of the everyday
tasks of Moroccan high school English language teachers is to devote a
great deal of their time to form a general idea about what to teach and
how to teach it. This task has been such a requirement of the teaching
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profession that it has become a mechanical routine devoid of its
meaningfulness. As teachers grow experienced, they develop a set of
intuitive strategies that enable them to decide on the quality of their
teaching practices even superficially. According to Scales (2008), this
decision-making process has become such an ‘unconscious competence’
that these teachers hardly question the theoretical principles that once
governed their use of such strategies. Thus, a discrepancy arises between
the teacher’s actual practices and their own beliefs as they take it for
granted that their intuitive practices are congruent with the theories
they once believed in (Williams & Burden, 1997). Accordingly, teachers
are accused of getting used to an ineffective approach to their
professional practices that relies more on intuition than on factual
knowledge. This method of reflective practice is deemed passive since
teachers do not have clear specific objectives to guide the evaluation
process which is in itself discontinuous. Also, research maintains that the
traditional process of evaluating teachers’ classroom practices is so
teacher-centered that it does not take into consideration to evaluate
whether the intended practices serve the needs and interests of the
learner or whether they improve the quality of learning outcomes.
What is more is that none of the findings of this reflective process is
actually recorded for further use; in fact, the whole process takes place
in the mind of the teachers and all the findings are doomed to oblivion
once the lesson ends.
From Passive to Active reflection
A radical shift from passive to active reflection is required. First,
reflection needs to be conducted systematically within an environment
which entices teachers to reflect collaboratively upon their practices
within their own classrooms. This reflective, collaborative effort should
be directed toward enhancing the quality of the teacher’s instruction
and the learners’ learning outcomes. Second, the whole process of
evaluating one’s own practices should be driven by that body of theory
related to the plethora of methods and approaches of English language
teaching (Argyris & Schön, 1978). Equally important, the whole process
of reflection should be recorded for future use. Seemingly, an active
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reflective practice is capable of promoting teachers’ professional
development in that it allows teachers to identify and discuss problems,
suggest solutions, exchange experiences and learn from each other’s
successes and failures, which will undoubtedly bring about some
positive change to their teaching practices.
Obviously, being an active reflective practitioner does not call for
special skills. It is within the reach of every teacher provided that they
have an up-to-date knowledge of methods and approaches of English
language teaching. Also, they should be able to relate the theory of
language teaching and learning to their actual classroom practices to
guarantee sound theoretical foundations of their practices. In addition,
the participants should be willing to work collaboratively with other
members of their learning community and ready to share their
experiences with them and learn from them. Moreover, they should be
ready to change their old ineffective practices with new ones that they
deem more effective based on a regular collection of evidence that
supports the effectiveness of their teaching practices. Overall, the
success of one’s participation is measured not only by the amount of
professional growth they have accumulated, but also by the impact of
their feedback on other members of the learning community (Bubb,
2005).
The reflective practice model explained
Admittedly, a reflective practice model links theory to action so as to
improve both teachers’ practices and students’ learning outcomes. The
model that is suggested in this paper relies heavily on the principles of
reflective teaching advocated by Schön (1983). According to the latter,
contrary to what is often believed, the process of reflection in
professional contexts does not start while planning for action; it should
actually start in the classroom with performing the action, i.e. while
teaching. Accordingly, 'reflection in action' is the first stage of effective
professional reflection where the reflective practitioner monitors the
activity being performed while it is taking place. At this stage, teachers
should be able to think on their feet while they are teaching and collect
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evidence of good and bad learning experiences. When the teaching
activity is complete, teachers should find time where to reflect on the
recent activity. At this second stage of 'reflection on action', Schön
(1983) suggests that reflective practitioners, in our case teachers, should
go back to the recorded data or collected evidence, identify successful
and unsuccessful teaching practices, look for reasons behind the failure
of some experiences and search for solutions in the body of theory
related to the subject matter. 'Reflection on action' allows the teachers
to think about possible practices that could have made their past
experiences more successful and decide on how to incorporate these
strategies in their future teaching experiences. The futuristic projection
of present and past findings is best exemplified in the third and last
stage of this model which is that of 'reflection for action'. At this last
stage, teachers who work as reflective practitioners use the findings of
the previous two stages to plan future lessons, anticipate possible
problems that may face them and preconceive preventive strategies of
how to avoid or solve them.
This model will to a great extent improve the outcomes of the teaching
learning process. To start with, teachers will be able to use active
systematic reflection to identify those problems that truly impair
students’ learning. In addition, they will look for solutions and design
alternative practices relying on theory related to methods and
approaches of English language teaching. Furthermore, they will rely on
collecting concrete evidence that proves the success or failure of any
teaching-learning experience. Also, there will always be need for using
the new findings in planning future lessons and deciding how to
overcome any unexpected problem that may otherwise lower the
quality of learning outcomes. Of equal importance is the idea that this
model adopts an iterative, circular process in which reflection never
stops (Gun, 2015).
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Figure 1: Schön’s model of reflective practice (1983)
Nevertheless, the model suggested by Schön (1983) is still incomplete.
According to Williams (2007), reflection is only productive and
effective when it is a collaborative endeavor because individual
reflective practices remain limited in scope and effect. In effect,
Williams (2007) suggests that professional reflective practice is better
conducted in collaborative environments where different professionals
meet and reflect collaboratively upon problematic issues which they
identified in their classroom practices and that are related to a
predetermined specific topic. It is crucial that the discussions focus on a
specific pedagogical area like assessment, classroom management or
teaching a specific skill; tackling issues belonging to different areas may
cause the discussion and treatment of the problems to be merely
superficial and ineffective. Williams (2007) considers Teacher Learning
Communities (TLCs) and Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) to
be the most effective platforms that could enhance the productivity of
such reflective practice as they provide opportunities for teachers and
professionals to enrich their experiences through sharing their successes
and failures and to exchange formative feedback that has the potential
of gearing the quality of their teaching experiences. The whole process
of reflection in a TLC or PLC can be summarized thusly:
1. Reflection in action: collect
evidence in class
3. Reflection for action: use findings while planning for
future classes
2. Reflection on action: study
evidence in light of theory after
class
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Figure 2: Process of reflection in TLC / PLC
One last ingredient is needed to finalize this model: recording findings.
The main difference between passive reflective practice and active
reflective practice is that the findings of the active process can be
recorded, published and shared with a wider community of teachers. It
is observed that teachers throughout Moroccan ELT classrooms suffer
approximately from the same problems; therefore, recording,
publishing and sharing the findings of each TLC or PLC can be very
helpful to other teachers who did not take part in the process and it can
also inspire them to join future TLC or create their own learning
communities. The findings, including effective practices, successful
experiences and helpful teaching materials and activities, can all be
compiled on CDs, DVDs and booklets as well as published online
through social media and special websites. One of the benefits of
sharing the findings is that they could be tested by a wider community
of teachers in different contexts and their effectiveness can be tested
authentically against various teaching-learning styles and environments.
Identify problems
Look for expla-nation in the
theory
Share with TLC & get feedback
Design new practices based
on feedback
Test new practices
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Incorporating the model in your lesson plan
Apparently, the best lesson plan design that allows teachers to
incorporate this reflective practice model is ECRIF, suggested by
Kurzweil and Scholl (2005). ECRIF is a five-stage lesson planning design
that provides teachers with the opportunity to become effective
reflective practitioners on a daily basis. Stages of ECRIF are illustrated in
the figure below:
Figure 3: Stages of ECRIF (Kurzweil and Scholl, 2005).
It has been pointed out by the designers of this framework that these
stages are not consecutive; rather, they are arbitrary. Teachers can freely
move from stage to stage irrespective of their order as they can test
what scheme better suits not their teaching styles but their students’
learning styles. Therefore, the ECRIF framework does not aim to
describe teachers’ behaviors in as much as it helps them learn about
what their students are thinking and doing. In this fashion, ECRIF gives
teachers more opportunities where to discover new challenges and
problems which could not be discovered using traditional frameworks
such as PPP. It allows teacher to identify problems that are related to
Encounter
Clarify
Remember
Internalize
Fluently use
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new language input (Encounter), find meaning and use of new item
(Clarify), memorize and associate it with previously learned items
(Remember & Internalize) and finally demonstrate that they can use it
communicatively in different contexts (Fluently use). Instead of
identifying problems that are encountered only in three stages
(Presentation, Practice and Production), teachers can now identify more
problems and classify them more precisely and accurately.
Conclusion
This paper drew our attention to the necessity of moving beyond
passive reflective teaching that affects negatively ELT teachers’ daily
classroom practices. In so doing, it has unearthed the urgent need for a
model that best suits the characteristics of the Moroccan classroom
contexts. The discussion was informed by the theoretical framework of
the Standards-Based Approach in light of the ministerial guidelines for
teaching English as a foreign language in Morocco. The suggested
model, it was argued, has the required potential for gearing both
teachers’ professional development and the quality of their teaching
practices as it is reflective, systematic, theory-driven, collaborative,
iterative and recorded. Eventually, it was demonstrated that ECRIF is
the most suitable framework that facilitates teachers’ role as reflective
practitioners. However, it is highly recommended that the model here
suggested should be tested and evaluated so as to decide on its viability
and applicability in the Moroccan context. Also, a study should be
conducted to investigate the extent to which teachers’ attitudes are in
favor of the suggested model.
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References
Argyris, C. & Schön, D. (1978). Organizational learning: A theory of action perspective. Reading,
Mass: Addison-Wesley.
Bubb, S. (2005). Helping teachers develop. London: Paul Chapman Publishing
Gun, B. (2015). The reflective teaching and learning programme. In S. Borg (ed.), Professional
development for English language teachers: Perspectives from Higher Education in Turkey (pp. 65-
76). Ankara: British Council
Kurzweil, J. & Scholl, M. (2007). Understanding teaching through learning. New York: McGraw
Hill.
Scales, P. (2008). Teaching in the lifelong learning sector. New York: Open University Press
Schön, D. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. Temple Smith
William, D. (2007). Changing Classroom Practices. Educational Leadership,65(4), 36-42.
Williams, M. & Burden R.L. (1997). Psychology for language teachers: A social constructive
approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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Sidi Sidi Mohamed HAMDANI
Ph.D student,
EFL teacher, Essmara
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to explore the practice of democratic
leadership style in Oued Sakia El-Hamra high school as an example of
Moroccan educational institution. The choice of this case is not meant to
end debates persisting for ages by simply claiming that democratic
leadership remains the only style that fits all educational institutions and
all other styles are a waste of time. Otherwise, it is an effort to determine
to what extent this style is convincingly approved by the school staff to
be the best appropriate for the educational institution under study. The
study intends to judge how and if any challenges of democratic leadership
are recognized by the school management team and educational
personnel involved in the investigation. This study also reconsiders the
pros of democratic leadership as a desirable leadership style to numerous
contemporary educational institutions.
Keywords: Leadership; Education; Democracy; Morocco
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1. Introduction
1.1. Definition and Overview of Leadership
Burns (1978) argue that although the term leadership is well-recognized
in the literature, no universally accepted definition for the word has
appeared. Leadership should encompass shared objectives while the
competence of leaders should be determined by the extent through
which they can make change. Rost (1991) defines leadership as a
relationship based on influence among leaders and members of groups
who expect genuine changes that reflect their shared objectives. Fiedler
(1967) points out that leadership, in whatever situation, requires the
availability of a number of elements including the authority of the
leader, the type of the mission, and the relationship between the leader
and other members of the group. Kevin Barge (1994) describes three
distinct styles of leadership, the autocratic leadership style, the laissez-
faire leadership style and the democratic leadership style.
The autocratic leadership style refers to the style of leadership in which
the leader takes decisions and retains power. Large groups often need a
domineering leader to adjust the inconsistencies of the group. Under an
autocratic leader, decisions are taken immediately and thus solutions are
reached hurriedly (Williams 1983). The exclusivity of the autocratic
leadership style lies in its ability to make not many errors and help
greater deal of the mission done compared to other approaches in
which groups devote much time to exhaustive discussions. However,
although this style is effective in reaching goals through time-saving
tactics, members of autocratic team may express their resentment about
the way they are authoritatively led by their leader who is extremely
directive and doesn’t tolerate contribution from team members
(Martin, 2006)
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1. Introduction
1.1. Definition and Overview of Leadership
Burns (1978) argue that although the term leadership is well-recognized
in the literature, no universally accepted definition for the word has
appeared. Leadership should encompass shared objectives while the
competence of leaders should be determined by the extent through
which they can make change. Rost (1991) defines leadership as a
relationship based on influence among leaders and members of groups
who expect genuine changes that reflect their shared objectives. Fiedler
(1967) points out that leadership, in whatever situation, requires the
availability of a number of elements including the authority of the
leader, the type of the mission, and the relationship between the leader
and other members of the group. Kevin Barge (1994) describes three
distinct styles of leadership, the autocratic leadership style, the laissez-
faire leadership style and the democratic leadership style.
The autocratic leadership style refers to the style of leadership in which
the leader takes decisions and retains power. Large groups often need a
domineering leader to adjust the inconsistencies of the group. Under an
autocratic leader, decisions are taken immediately and thus solutions are
reached hurriedly (Williams 1983). The exclusivity of the autocratic
leadership style lies in its ability to make not many errors and help
greater deal of the mission done compared to other approaches in
which groups devote much time to exhaustive discussions. However,
although this style is effective in reaching goals through time-saving
tactics, members of autocratic team may express their resentment about
the way they are authoritatively led by their leader who is extremely
directive and doesn’t tolerate contribution from team members
(Martin, 2006)
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The laissez-faire leadership style is where freedom of choice is fully
given for the workers then members don’t need guidance to make their
decisions. In this way, leaders don’t contribute to decision making and
often let other members of the team decide and take decisions among
themselves (Wood, 2008). However, Absence of guidance may lead to
poor results regarding decisions taken by the non-guided group. In the
laissez-faire leadership style, only highly qualified groups with adequate
training may succeed in their missions without help from leaders.
The democratic leadership style adopts cooperative approach in which
all members of the one team collaborate and take decision together
through discussions and sharing ideas which ensure that all members of
the group would abide by the outcomes of their decisions. Compared
to the autocratic leadership style, the democratic leadership style
devote too much time to decision making and members of the group
are highly motived and creative which is not the way with autocratic
group where members are fully dependent on the leader (Hamilton,
2010).
The relationship between leadership and education has been of focus of
many works in modern literature. Scholars have emphasized the
significant role of leadership in reinforcing improvement and change in
educational institutions (Fullan, 2001). Woods (2005) focuses on the
significance of leadership and education and the necessity to infuse a
democratic spirit in schooling (p.20). Newmann and Wehlage (1995)
highlight the importance of shared leadership in promoting learning
and organisational competences.
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One of the main studies that served as pioneer in the field of leadership
style researches was accomplished by the University of Iowa by Kurt
Lewin and some of his fellows. Lussier and Achua (2010) emphasises the
importance of Kurt Lewin’s study about the leadership style which is no
longer an authoritarian but rather democratic. Goleman (2000)argues
that Lewin’s studies are accurate and still holds true in educational
settings today.
1.2. Research question:
Inspired by Kurt Lewin’s study about the leadership style, this study
aims to determine where possible Lewin’s ideas about democratic
leadership style are applicable to the case of Oued Sakia El-Hamra high
school and particularly whether members of its educational staff and
management team are democratically oriented. The importance of this
study lies in its endeavour to understand the natural relationship among
groups consisting of leaders and subordinates. Stressing the practises of
democratic leadership style in of Oued Sakia El-Hamra high school as an
example of Moroccan high school emanates from the results of the
primary interviews in this research which indicate that the majority of
the interviewed workers inOuedSakia El-Hamra high school express
their preference either directly or indirectly for a democratic leadership
style. The main research question that drives this study is: How is
democratic leadership style understood and practised by Oued Sakia El-
Hamra high school staff?
2. Methodology
The research has sought to address a group of school staff. Out of 60
workers, including both the teaching staff and management team, 40
people were selected to take part in this study. Data collection was
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completed through questionnaire and interviews. These methods aren’t
seen as so much different but rather complementary (Smith, 2006).The
choice of the methods is based on a careful review of earlier theoretical
and empirical work conducted on the same issue. Phillips & Schmidt
(2012) employed aquestionnaire as a primary date collection method
to boost response rate which can be reduced considerably if all question
are asked at once in face-to-face contacts (p.88). However, this doesn’t
devalue the significance of interviews as an indispensable method of
data collection. Interviews can secure data which can’t be obtained
through written responses or observations (Kvale, 1996). The main
aspects of similarity between the questionnaire and the interviews is
comparatively evident in interviews where differences lay in the fact
that the investigation is achieved through face-to-face interaction rather
than through mails (Sharma, 2006). Compared to a questionnaire, the
major benefit of interview method is its extensive flexibility that
researcher can inquire more detailed questions which help interviewees
give precise answers and avoid error arisen from confusing questions
(Bailey, 2008). However, a structured questionnaire with open-ended
questions can be appropriate for serving the same objective. It may be
helpful to permit free and thoughtfully selected responses from the
interviewees (Kothari, 2004). In this study, mixed methods are
deliberately adopted to offer the investigator a great deal of flexibility
while addressing the questions (Hall, 2008). Questionnaires and
interviews are utilized to meet this objective.
2.1. Data Collection
This sphere of research is relatively qualitative. It sets the stage for the
use of qualitative instruments to reach into the practices of leadership in
educational institutions. Well organized and planned qualitative
approach help the conduct of an in-depth investigation of the
leadership practices that affect school development (Darroch 1992). A
qualitative approach involves a number of instruments to collect data.
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These include direct observation, participant observation, open-ended
questionnaire, in-depth interviews, recorded documents, case studies
and journals (Lal Das 2008). Qualitative inquiry allows themes to arise
from particular observations and discussions. (Denzin& Lincoln (2000)
points out that the researcher uses qualitative tools to describe practices
and phenomena which is not well understood (Denise & Beck 2013). In
this study, a qualitative research is conducted to explain the outcomes
resulting from a survey investigating the phenomenon of leadership and
its practises among the personnel of Oued Sakia El-Hamra high school.
This study focuses on questionnaire and interviews as primary source
for gathering information. Participants are selected for the convenience
of the research as well as their willingness to contribute to the
investigation (Black 2008). The survey is addressed to 5 members of
management team including the headmaster, dean of Studies, two
deans of students, and bursar in addition to 35 workers from the
teaching staff. The respondents are inquired either through a
questionnaire sent to them via emails or through paper and pencil
interview (PAPI), questionnaires or verbal face-to-face interviews in case
more clarification is needed from the participants. During interviews,
the investigator allows respondents to extensively describe their
personal experiences and views. In this way, the researcher ensures that
all relevant issues are dealt with in detail (Patton 2002)
2.2. Setting
Oued Sakia El-Hamra high school is one of the popular operating
educational institutions in Es-smara city. It is a public school with 52
staff including both management team and educational personnel with
an estimated 728 students. Like any Moroccan high school, Oued Sakia
El-Hamra administration is based on the structure of the educational
system in Morocco which is hierarchical. Head leaders are appointed
officials and basic educational policies and decisions are taken by central
government. However, local school administrations are allowed
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a number of powers and authorities to help their staff engage in local
decision-making and autonomous initiatives. High school
administrators are the leaders of the high school. The headmaster is the
most high-ranking worker of the high school. He is responsible for daily
supervision and management as well as respect of laws and regulations
of the school. Dean of Studies is committed to the application and
management of all parts of the academic programme, including the
administration of the teaching staff and their performance. Deans of
students are administrators who are in charge of student discipline.
Bursar is responsible for managing the financial affairs of the school. In
addition to the main management team, another administrative
support group is available to provide assistance for the main school
board in different tasks. The school also consists of educators who are
involved in providing instruction.
The setting for this research consists of a survey conducted among
numbers of workers in both management and non-management
positions chosen to serve the goals of this study. Respondents include
the headmaster, dean of Studies, two deans of students, Bursar and
other 35 educators. The workers are given a similar set of questions to
reply either through a questionnaire or face-to-face interviews. Their
responses are used to finalize the outcomes of this study. While the
choice of setting serves to determine the relationship between leaders
and other staff considering an example of Moroccan public high school
in general, it also helps understand if democratic leadership style is best
fit for Oued Sakia El-Hamra high school as a case study.
3. Findings
The following part of the research covers the results inferred from the
investigation of leadership style conducted among both management
team and the teaching staff working in Oued Sakia El-Hamra high
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school. The primary purpose of this research is to conclude whether
democratic style is generally approved by its staff to be best appropriate
for the educational institution under study. In the earlier stages of
research, the investigation has sought to determine the prevailing
leadership style favoured by the working staff in the school among
other common styles including autocratic and laissez-faire. Based on a
number of in-depth interviews and structured questions, the results of
this research indicate that democratic style is the most common used in
Oued Sakia El-Hamra high school as well as the most preferred by
almost the majority (32) of its staff. The following table presents the
ratio of preference of staff for leadership style resulting from
investigation.
Table 1.1: Ratio of preference for Democratic Leadership Style in
OuedSakia El-Hamra high school
The interviewed workers are also asked to provide reasons behind their
preference for Democratic Leadership Style in Oued Sakia El-Hamra
high school. The interviewers cite some justifications that have led their
choice of democratic pattern as an effective style of leadership could be
chosen to fulfil their objectives. In this context, the investigation
resulting from the interviews describes certain key aspects of leader
conduct believed to standardize effective leadership. These include:
Democratic leaders show great willingness to listen to others and
sympathetically care about their concerns
Democratic leaders need to preserve trust and integrity as a basis for
good governance
Question?
Strongly disagree
Disagree Not sure Agree Strongly agree
Do you think the leadership style in Oued Sakia El-Hamra high school
is Democratic?
0
4
6
22
8
Do you think the leadership style adopted in Oued Sakia El-Hamra
high school is the best fit?
2
5
5
19
9
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The interviewed workers are also asked to provide reasons behind their
preference for Democratic Leadership Style in Oued Sakia El-Hamra
high school. The interviewers cite some justifications that have led their
choice of democratic pattern as an effective style of leadership could be
chosen to fulfil their objectives. In this context, the investigation
resulting from the interviews describes certain key aspects of leader
conduct believed to standardize effective leadership. These include:
Democratic leaders show great willingness to listen to others and
sympathetically care about their concerns
Democratic leaders need to preserve trust and integrity as a basis for
good governance
Effective leadership involves effective group participation
Great leader should be charismatic, inspiring and influential as well as
knowledgeable
The major aspects of effective leadership derived from the outcomes of
the interviews are, thus, roughly coherent with those originating from
the literature study. No single aspect is heavily focused by all
interviewees as the only feature that characterise effective democratic
leadership style. However, some attributes are repeatedly highlighted
by all interviewers as indispensible features that the workers think it
should be associated with an influential leader. This was that a leader
should build a positive rapport with other members of the team as well
as develop collaborative relationship based on trust and respect as a
norm.
Almost Two thirds of respondents (N28) shared consensus on the
democratic nature of leadership in Oued Sakia El-Hamra high school
which is associated with democratic involvement of school staff in
making decisions.
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The findings also disclose a harmonious relationship between all
members of the staffOued Sakia El-Hamra high school and almost total
agreement that democratic leadership style fit best their institutional
education through which they can reach their shared objectives. In an
interview with the headmaster of Oued Sakia El-Hamra high school, he
explains that
Leaders need to choose the style which they think it suits best their final
goals. In our school, we preferred to adopt a democratic approach
where decisions are taken by all members of both management team
and the teaching staff. Rather than taking decision by yourself, you
collaborate with everyone to help make correct decisions based on a
consensus.
However, 7 respondents express their dissatisfaction with the
democratic leadership style which they consider as ineffective due the
following reasons:
At times, democratic leadership style necessitates huge efforts to build a
consensus regarding decisions making.
In democratic leadership, it sometimes takes too much time to come to
final decisions
Democratic style is employed by leaders to manipulate (us) and exploit
(our) innovative ideas without appreciation or empirical reward.
In general, since some members express different views about how
effective leadership should be, it seems that it is not easy to form a
unique view regarding the best attributes of effective leader and
leadership. However, opinions expressed about appropriate attributes
often stress the necessity for creating an encouraging environment that
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serves the final goals of the group. The majority of Oued Sakia El-
Hamra high school workers think this can be facilitated through a
democratic style which suggests that the core of democracy is based on
how people govern themselves as opposed to how people are
governed by others (Williams, 1963). This result urges the researcher to
conduct a further inquiry about the benefits gained from the
implementation of this style in the school. The research has revealed a
number of important findings about the gains that can be brought from
using democratic style in the school. These findings can be summarised
in the words of the dean of studies in OuedSakia El-Hamra high school:
As we all work together for the benefit of our school, democratic
leadership is strongly needed to serve this purpose. I have found that all
the staff members in our school respond positivity to this approach
through which the final decision is shared among all the staff and they
are all responsible about its outcome. Doubtless, Productivity is always
obtained through collective decision making.Democratic leadership
style can help frontline workers get feedback from other members of
the group and collaborate in recommending innovative ideas.
In view of this, democratic style which emphasises teamwork seems to
be a need to the school in the sense that democratic leadership is
required in ensuring benefits in terms of considerable managerial and
academic outcomes (Woods 2005). Schools which are filled with a
democratic soul often have strong relationships among their personnel
and, therefore, build a productive atmosphere in the school. The latter
idea is shared by almost most respondents whostress the importance of
adopting democratic leadership style in Oued Sakia El-Hamra high
school and agree that this style is best appropriate to serve the welfare
of their school.
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Conclusion
The survey provides an insight into the perception that democratic
leadership is the best way to describe the approach which OuedSakia El-
Hamra high school adopts. This expectation of labelling OuedSakia El-
Hamra high school as a democratic leadership style school is supported
by mean of practices, and collaborative relationship between its
workers. The interrelationship and ease of communication between
leaders and the other members of the staff must have an impact on the
school. The outcomes indicate that respondents hold positive
expectations about democratic leadership and their readiness to abide
by an insightful democratic leadership style in OuedSakia El-Hamra high
school. Respondents also acknowledge the need for constant
democratic leadership to enhance the goals of the team. They also
express their preference for particular attributes of democratic
leadership style that should be adopted by leaders and facilitated by
other members of the staff. On top of these attributes rests participation
which can be considered as the essence of democracy (Luthar, 1996).
This demonstrates the workers’ awareness of the style they want to
follow. Grant and Singh (2009) argue that if an approved practice of
shared leadership was collectively approved, the mechanisms of
hierarchy would be abandoned and collaborative manner of leadership
would persist. In this regard, as each educational institution has its own
unique style of leadership, transparent and shared leadership practices
should be encouraged (De Villiers, E., & Pretorius, S.G. 2011). Carl E. H.
(2007) argues that deep understanding of the needs of school brings
about the enhancement of instructional outputs. Certainly, the group’s
awareness of theirneeds has helped the staff ofOuedSakia El-Hamra
high school develop their own perception of leadership needed in their
school by emphasising the democratic leadership style as primary
choice.
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In short, one can conclude that democratic leadership style remains the
style favoured best by the staff of OuedSakia El-Hamra high school. The
workers seem to be greatly satisfied that democratic leadership style is
the best fit for their school. This conviction complies with a number of
leadership theorists who believe in the effectiveness of democratic
leadership style. Lewin (2009) has favoured democratic leadership style
as largely more effective than autocratic leadership style in the sense
that in democratic leadership, team members perform well even in the
absence of a leader (Daft, 2000).
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Denise, P., & Beck, C. T. (2013). Essentials of Nursing Research: Appraising Evidence for Nursing
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Sharma, S. ( 2006). Ency. Of New Methods Of Educational Research Set. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons.
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Woods. P. A. (2005). Democratic leadership in education. London: Sage
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Fatimaezzahra Abid
Ph.D student
EFL teacher, Mohammedia
Abstract
Teaching reading in Moroccan EFL classrooms, all along with the other
skills, is no easy task when compared to teaching a foreign language to
teens. The latter is approached from different facets: psychological,
human and even social leading to an abundance of approaches and
theories that have devised meticulous research to the learning and the
teaching processes. Research in the field, whether in the teaching
profession or in the teaching of EFL in particular, stress the core trinity
that no learning takes place without the teacher, the learner, and the
learning environment. Yet, with the introduction of “Communication and
Information Technologies” (ICT) in the classroom, the teaching practices
undergo critical changes that promise the alignment of teaching a foreign
language with the prompt changes of technologies and worldwide
economies. Hence, adopting the communicative approach in EFL
Moroccan classrooms shifts focus to a learner-centered approach that is
supposed to generate a learner who can communicate fluently and
effectively in diverse situations not to mention a multicultural learner well
aware of the diversity of world cultures and histories. Shrinking the
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role to a mere mediator and the learner’s to an intercultural speaker seems
to be a very promising objective that is clearly highlighted in the Moroccan
English guidelines; yet, “though the teaching method in the textbook is
called the communicative approach, they use what they call the ‘eclectic
approach’ which is a mixture of different approaches”(El Mortaji 15).
Learners of foreign languages, English in this case, is thought for specific
purposes so that it could be used in appropriate cultural situations. In this
regard, teachers are cultural mediators who are expected to provide the
learners with the necessary critical skills to transcend language proficiency
to cultural proficiency since “learners need to learn about the social and
cultural conventions of language use as well as the structures and
vocabulary”(Pitt 9) and also get the learners to achieve full awareness of
universal values such as respect for other identities and cultures, tolerance,
and acceptance of differences. Using literature is one of the delicate means
that would transmit such values to learners of foreign languages through
reading; extensive reading could be assigned in class and outside class as
extra curricula activity given time constraints to cover the outlined syllabus
(five units per term). The teaching of English in Moroccan high schools is
highly depending on the traditional ways of teaching; this could be due to
the lack of ICT resources and the necessary equipments, and the teachers’
lack of expertise in the field that would facilitate their missions in getting
learners motivated to learn a language totally different from theirs. The
paper will highlight the significance of introducing learners to literature in
the EFL extensive reading classrooms and the vital role it plays in
motivating learners to read intensively and extensively inside and
eventually outside the classroom. It will shed light as well on the role of
ICT and the great benefits of its use in the classroom for both teachers and
learners as it facilitates the teacher’s task in providing extra material for
learners to get them to read and listen to literary works and get them to
enjoy learning the authentic language and get keenly engaged with the
activities related to the reading tasks.
Key Words: EFL Classroom, Literature, ICT (computer/internet), Extensive
Reading, Audio-literature.
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Introduction
Though reading is one of the basic skills that ensure the mastery of the
other ones, speaking, writing, grammar and vocabulary, it is a challenging
task for both teachers and learners. The complexity of teaching this skill lies
in motivating learners to be fully engaged with the reading activities and
even get them keen on consulting post classroom reading materials. There
is no doubt that reading activities touch upon the linguistic and the
cognitive proficiency of the learners. They are supposed to get the gist of
the reading text and react to its ideas through some comprehension,
vocabulary and writing assignments to attain the main objectives of the
assigned readings. Yet, learners are mostly reluctant to reading as much as
they are unwilling to reflect on what they have read. They are rarely
exposed to reading for the sake of enjoyment whether within a family
milieu or at school. They are supposed to focus on the reading texts in the
textbooks that are mostly of little interest to them though it provides a
very educating content that supplies material and ensures the
implementation of the four skills to be conducted in the EFL classrooms;
hence, “the reading material needs to be well within the learners’ level of
proficiency”(Nation 3) and should be convenient to the syllabus content
given time constrainrs as learners are primarily prepared for the national
exam.
Despite the fact that learners are exposed to manifold of texts during
the common core and first Year Baccalaureate classes, the majority of high
school learners can hardly read a text and do the related activities on their
own when it comes to the day of the exam especially for Art’s streams
compared to science students who usually excel at languages; an issue that
may seem unaccountable given that they share the same syllabus and equal
opportunities to learn the language except that they show no interest in
the subject matter.
This paper will stress the significance of incorporating literature in the
classroom through ICT tools which may stimulate learners’ motivation to
learn new information in a contextualized language and vocabulary
inaccessible to the majority of learners despite the abundance of materials
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on the net. It will showcase how to implement literary texts in the
classroom and eventually push students to consult extra readings on their
own. Moreover, it will demonstrate how using ICT could boost learners’
motivation for extensive readings. Sharing insights and ground experience
in language teaching practices on daily encounter with unmotivated
students would be a stimulus for teachers continuous professional
development.
The Teaching of reading in Moroccan ELT Classrooms
The Moroccan textbooks devise equal division of the four skills, given that
each course: language, communication, reading and writing are equally
tackled within a content based approach that ensures contextualized
learning situations for learners. They are even exposed to courses which
focus on phonetic and spelling. They are expected at all these stages to be
able to perceive and effectively produce accurate usage of the language
and the vocabulary studied and communicate their feedback effectively on
the learned materials in written activities “considering all the cognitive
tasks required to go from connecting symbols to sounds, sounds to words,
words to meaning, meaning to memory, and memory to thoughtful
information processing”(Willis 2). Hence, understanding the text is highly
stressed to attain the main objectives of reading in class.
Getting learners, who may never have any thoughts about bedtime stories
or English reading backgrounds or even being read to aloud, motivated for
reading is the real challenge in teaching EFL to teens who easily get
frustrated when they perceive reading as being beyond their academic
abilities. Researches in the field stress that it is highly recommended to
teach reading for pleasure and prioritize it in syllabus design. Adopting a
communicative approach in EFL in Morocco that highlights the teaching of
culture through language does rather unveil the fact that the syllabus is
preoccupied with the national exams since “schools tend to be organized
around extrinsic motivation systems: grades, rewards, and praise—so many
students tend to focus on the external reward”(Scanlon and Anderson 60).
Yet, it should provide learners with life-long skills to rather enjoy reading
and “extends beyond that—for students to learn not only the mechanics of
reading and reading comprehension, but also to develop a love of
reading”(Willis 4).
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Indeed, the most advisable techniques that are to be adopted in the
classroom is guided readings; learners are exposed to reading the assigned
texts silently prior to a pre-reading activity that is meant to check the
learners’ background knowledge about the text through the skimming and
scanning of some vocabulary, the accompanying pictures or the title.
Learners are then to be assessed based not on how they process the
information given in those readings and reflect upon them critically, but
rather on their ability to answer the accompanying activities. Teachers do
struggle to get their students engaged in that guessing part and during all
the stages that are supposed to be conducted in teaching reading, pre-
reading, while-reading and post-reading activities, since “to be successful at
reading comprehension, students need to actively process what they read.
That processing skill requires that students have automatic reading skills
and fluency, necessary vocabulary, and text-appropriate background
knowledge”(Willis 128).
Yet, learners are mostly bored, sleepy and unmotivated when it comes to
reading given that learners are expected to communicate their knowledge
of the topic while they lack the needed vocabulary and language
proficiency to express their ideas on the assigned readings which is only
possible “when students build vocabulary mastery, they can more
effectively communicate their ideas, knowledge, and voice”(Willis 80).
Intensive readings do prepare learners to meet the national exams’
expectations, but they do control their knowledge and limit it to certain
skills related to exams, but never broaden their scope and stimulate the
urge for further extensive readings. Time-constrained activities are related
to these intensive assigned readings as comprehension questions, drawing
inferences from the text and then producing a précis or following the text
as a prompt to write about a personal experience.
Hence, reading is deprived of its primary goal: pleasure; thus, learners are
trained on using reading as a task to pass the exam following usual
procedures and forms that no longer motivate them to read those texts or
to seek further readings, especially that the Baccalaureate English exams are
mostly designed to be within the learners’ reach; hence, they are a lot
easier than those assigned in the curriculum or they do not measure up to
all that effort spent on grammar and writing courses. Thus, although
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students spend four years learning English, one year in middle school and
three years in high school, only few manage to interact with the teacher in
class and even get average grades on the English national exam. The
situation is even depressing for teachers in the classroom as the majority of
students loses hope in learning the language, especially when it comes to
reading. Indeed, this would rather encourage the use of extensive readings
inside the class given that the majority of students are from rural, poor and
literate backgrounds that do not facilitate their learning. Indeed, “When
learners are not enthusiastic readers, it helps initially to make extensive
reading part of the programme during class time, with the teacher ensuring
that the reading is done. When learners become hooked on reading, it can
then be set as an out-of-class activity (Nation 57).
The internet provides an abundance of materials that could be used in the
classroom and that definitely aligns with the content of the curriculum,
providing that extensive readings are time-consuming. Graded readings are
one example that is highly recommended for that aim; they provide stories
within the reach of all levels: beginners, elementary, pre-intermediate,
intermediate and advanced. Learners are introduced to a simple language,
graded vocabulary and contextualized grammatical rules that learners are
to be familiar with moving from one level to the other. But, these readings
are to be considered with regard to contextual, the geographical as well as
the cultural variables where the teaching process takes place.
Reading & ICT: Tools to Promote Learner’s Motivation for Reading
There is no doubt that learners have at their fingertips an abundance
of technological tools that could facilitate their learning and even bestow
life-skills that could qualify them for the job market. But, given the
Moroccan context and the state of the public schools, the use of these
tools is limited to a minority of schools ‘in big cities’. Yet, the English EFL
community strives to teach the language mostly relying on one’s own
resources (personal computer or mobile phones). Teachers endeavour to
use ICT tools effectively in their classes keeping in mind that “English
always comes first and technology of any kind, from the old overhead
projector or spirit duplicator to the latest digital device or Web 2.0
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application, must serve the teaching of the subject”(Rank, Millum, and
Warren 2). Moreover, the aim is to motivate students to learn the
language and keep the teaching practices updated so as to keep up with
the high pace of the world’s development into a digital world where
learners constitute the majority of its digital citizens. Indeed,
Teachers, especially those who teach second languages, had become aware
of the need not only to inform on other “cultures and civilisations”, but to
educate in students the capacity to ‘decentre’ oneself from one’s culture
and to deal with ethnic, social and cultural differences. (Byram, Gribkova,
and Starkey p 25)
Multimedia resources, computer, internet and videos constitute the range
of ICT devices that could be used in the classroom to improve learners’
performance in using the language accurately and effectively as well as to
enhance their communicative skills. Using these tools is significantly
valuable for teachers and learners as well as the learning environment that
is supposed to sustain learners’ continuous development. Indeed, using ICT
encourages students to engage vigorously in the learning process and
explore new skills with the teacher as a mediator who facilitates its use and
presents the learning materials in an entertaining way. Hence, “instruction
with motivated learners can actually be joyful and exciting, especially for
the instructor”(Wlodkowski 6) who will be more enthusiastic to guide his
students for a better learning with the most up-to-date teaching
approaches and strategies that would be of great benefit to his learners
and empower his/her students through material that stimulates thought
rather than mere understanding of the material introduced. Furthermore,
the teacher is there to assess students’ language and communicative abilities
rather than waiting for a summative assessment that gives a limited idea
about learners’ written proficiency.
One of the advantages of using ICT in EFL classrooms is breaking up with
the traditional ways of teaching English that are mostly predictable by
students and giving up the blackboard while “computers are increasingly a
part of everyday life ... and many schools have computers and many
students have access to computers at home (Robertson 32); yet, the
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blackboard still constitutes one of the pillar resources indispensable for
teachers in Moroccan public schools that lacks well equipped classrooms to
teach languages. Providing students with audio visual aids and introducing
them to the authentic language would motivate the teacher to reduce her/
his talking time and give them more chances to reflect on the presented
material. It will also lessen the teacher’s persistent urge to provide all the
information needed and even state one’s own opinions when learners
can’t process the presented material and have “no room for students to
form their own opinions or to come up with something fresh (or
something which is fresh to them) (Rank, Millum, and Warren 10).
As for students, they would prove much more interest and involvement
when being introduced to materials through ICT given that the use of the
computer accentuates the fluidity of language. It enables experiment and
constant readjustment. Not only can the position and form of individual
words be altered, a writer can also radically change the visual impact of
the text by selecting different fonts, sizes, and layouts. (Rank, Millum, and
Warren 2)
Indeed, using ICT could guarantee to some extent learners’ full
engagement in the learning process and interaction with their peers
through the activities providing a combination of written, communicative
and spoken information the teacher would frequently tackle each
separately. Moreover, the content is to be revealed gradually to learners,
unlike using the textbook, which may raise learners’ curiosity towards the
targeted material. To that end, “when learners are motivated during the
learning process, things go more smoothly, communication flows, anxiety
decreases, and creativity and learning are more apparent” (Wlodkowski
6). Indeed, the material targeted is more attractive to learners as it engages
all learning styles: visual, auditory and kinaesthetic; it also provides them
with the option of getting instant responses on the associated tasks.
The Integration of Literature in EFL Classrooms
To make the case of using literature in the EFL classrooms more practical,
the following part will tackle the implementation of literature through ICT
resources. There are many Educating sites dedicated to language that are
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accessible on the net which provide notable teaching resources and
materials that could be invested in the classroom. Hence, a case study is to
be discussed to maintain the objectives of this research paper in sharing a
language learning experience and a temporary break up with the pace of
everyday routines, but with lasting outcomes for the learners.
It is noteworthy to introduce the teaching context before conducting a
detailed study about the use of short stories in the EFL classrooms, hence,
justifying the choice of one site over the other. The following link: http://
www.rong-chang.com provides short stories that suit the learners’ low
level and the curriculum as well. They are very short and they are fully
interactive that the teacher needs not to turn his/her back to explain some
difficult vocabulary or write down essential notes using the blackboard.
Procedure:
The following represents the variety of short stories chosen because
they are essentially related to the textbook themes such as food, health,
entertainment; they also represent contextualised grammatical rules as it
introduces short stories to review tenses as simple present or past tense.
Furthermore, these short stories range from stories for beginners,
intermediate and advanced that enable the teacher to pick out the ones
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Navigating through this page demonstrates how it targets EFL with diverse
levels. These short stories are basically topic-based given the adopted
content approach. They are also very interactive as the four skills are
integrated assuring the learners’ full engagement in the learning process.
They are interactive in a way that enables the learner to have access to
different options such as to replay the story, check his/her answers on the
spot and check on-line dictionaries for meaning and more importantly get
an authentic language learning experience at his/her own disposal.
The short story that is taken as a case study is represented below and it is
related to “shopping”: http://www.rong-chang.com/mini-novels/m/mini-
novel002.htm. Learners can read the story following the recording as well
as the visual image of the vocabulary with pronunciation. Then, learners
check their comprehension of the story going through while doing the
comprehension activities related to it. All kinds of questions are included
to stimulate learners’ critical thinking and full engagement.
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Learners can even test their comprehension of the story through an
exercise where words are deleted; they can even be given a hint to
allocate more effort for the accomplishment of this activity
As it is earlier mentioned, learning vocabulary is introduced in a way that
is interactive
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Learners can have access to online dictionaries for definitions or extra
information about the words targeted as it is manifested in the following
picture
Word puzzles are indeed very entertaining tasks that learners can have
access to and try to figure them out working as teams.
Moreover, students listening skills are to be tested going through exercises
that requires the learners to write down what they hear.
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This example showcases how students would learn independently the
language in an authentic context that involves the four skills. Students do
read simultaneously and listen to what they‘re reading; and they are
exposed to activities to which they can have immediate feedback, full
interaction and discussion with other peers while the teacher could only
monitor the discussion and assess informally to what extent his/her
students are fully engaged in the discussions.
Conclusion
Motivation for reading is indispensable for lifelong learning; the latter
should transcend the classroom’ walls. Assigned classroom readings have to
work on the learner’s willingness to make use of all the learnt skills
acquired in the classroom and make use of them even outside class.
Reading would be the sole skill that bestow learners with the critical and
independent learning experiences after school life for “reading is thinking
and understanding and getting at the meaning behind a text”(Serravallo
43). Hence, stimulating the learners’ critical engagement in reading unveils
the complexity of teaching that skill providing the learners’ motivation and
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one’s learning abilities, social background as well as the classroom/school
environment especially in EFL/ESL contexts.
Introducing literature in the classroom would be the initial step to
encourage learners to consult extra readings, particularly when these
readings are presented through ICT. From a personal experience,
I’mstunned at how my students express their admiration for the material
presented as they continuously ask about the next same course. Even
avarage might be better average students get motivated by demonstrating
more interest in the reading material as I noticethem asking their peers.
Motivated students replace those same students who keep moving their
eyes around the classroom or looking for other unmotivated students to
play and talk with during the reading and the while-reading stages or even
keep silent till they’re relieved when the bell rings announcing the end of
the course.
Indeed, it’s mandatory to list the limitations of using such literary
material in the classroom as I have already tackled its impressive outcomes
on learners. Implementing such ICT material in class would necessitate the
need for well equipped classrooms, internet connection, multimedia
resources as overhead projector, graded stories for learners to consult in
their free time and a room that embraces technology and equipped with
technological tools. In the meantime, the various reading materials
available online accompanied with tasks that involves: listening, speaking
and writing calls for an urgent implementation of literary texts in the
syllabus given the significant outcomes in learning contextualized grammar
and vocabulary.
In conclusion, using Literature in EFL classrooms with the support of ICT
opens the door to questioning assessment. The use of such material would
constitute very effective assessment tools that would rather reflect actual
learning achievements for this material is short and can be used in the
classroom to test students’ linguistic, communicative and written abilities. It
would be a fair evaluation of all learners given that all learning styles are
successively included in such material. Only, that this requires well
equipped teachers and classrooms for the benefit of ELT in Moroccan
classrooms and an urgent call for the implementation of computer
technologies in the teaching and learning processes.
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Works Cited
Byram, Michael, Bella Gribkova, and Hugh Starkey. “Developing the
Intercultural Dimension in Language Teaching.” A practical introduction for
teachers. Strasbourg: Council of Europe (2002).
El Mortaji, Latifa. A Cognitive Study of Moroccans Writing in Arabic (L1)
and English (L3): Writing Ability, Processes, Rhetorical Genres, Language,
Gender. VDM Publishing, 2010.
Nation, Ian Stephen Paul. Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing.
Routledge, 2008.
Pitt, Kathy. Debates in ESOL Teaching and Learning: Culture, Communities
and Classrooms. Psychology Press, 2005.
Rank, Tom, Trevor Millum, and Chris Warren. Teaching English Using ICT:
A Practical Guide for Secondary School Teachers. A&C Black, 2011.
Robertson, Callum. “Action Plan for Teachers.” A guide to teaching English.
BBC World Service (2000).
Scanlon, Donna M., and Kimberly L. Anderson. Early Intervention for
Reading Difficulties: The Interactive Strategies Approach. Guilford Press,
2011.
Serravallo, Jennifer. Teaching Reading in Small Groups: Differentiated
Instruction for Building Strategic, Independent Readers. Heinemann, 2010.
Willis, Judy. Teaching the Brain to Read: Strategies for Improving Fluency,
Vocabulary, and Comprehension. ASCD, 2008.
Wlodkowski, Raymond J. Enhancing Adult Motivation to Learn: A
Comprehensive Guide for Teaching All Adults. John Wiley & Sons, 2011.
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