On Teacher Training and Teaching Methodology 10Nov2009

Not long ago, I received a message from a colleague at Iowa State who has extensive overseas teaching experience and who is working on developing a TESOL certification distance course. He wrote to ask if I could put him in touch with teachers in training here to find out what they need. His query triggered in me a response that I think is worth sharing here, as it provides my insights into the Chinese educational system. Here are edited clips from our correspondence:



Hi Sarah,

… the main reason I'm writing is to see if you or one of your colleagues might be interested in collaborating in a teacher development project of sorts. … to put the MA TESOL course online as a TESOL Certificate program, and … to convert the 588 practicum into a distance course.

I've been told one major anticipated market for this course will be English teachers in China, and so I wanted to try to line up some folks who could help with learner analysis and prototyping of some of the materials and IT tools we'll be using.
Jim

Sarah Replies:

Hi Jim,

I am very interested in teacher development and I know of a couple Chinese teachers of English here who would probably be interested in collaborating. The problem I see you facing is that of aligning objectives. Learner goals here are not language acquisition; they are passing exams. Teacher goals here are not communicative language use development: they are high student test scores. Salaries and jobs are based on student test scores. No one here sees the connection between a classroom speaking activity and improving test scores. The teachers here think it would be *nice* to use some of the stuff they learned at the seminar at ISU, but their dept. chair scolds them for digressing from the goal, and their students complain that speaking English to each other is not real practice, and their colleagues get a page or two ahead of them in the book, god forbid! The classrooms are stark boxes filled with 70-90 students and one chalkboard. And this is a mid- to high- level university.

So who do you want to certify and what do you want them to know? Technique and delivery methods? We're talking major paradigm shift. Latest research? The library here subscribes to zero professional or academic journals. It has no online catalog, but that's okay, because it doesn't have any books anyway. It is a HUGE new building. Perhaps you want them to know how TESL it is done elsewhere, which is what the group this summer learned. They think it must be fun to live in a world where you get to teach that *extra* stuff, and they enjoyed the voyeurism of learning about how we do it. If your certification is in transcendence and teaches them how to overcome the exigencies of their world with the methods of your world, we might be getting somewhere.

Pardon my cynicism, but I am just cutting to the heart of the matter as I see it. Of course everyone here benefits from having the seed of the ideas planted and, perhaps over time, they could begin finding ways to implement some aspects. And the more teachers that learn this pedagogy and method, the more likely it will change. I just want to underscore that the distance from here to there is a long journey where you may be certifying teachers who go right back to textbook-recitation-skill-and-drill as soon as they walk into the classroom. I feel that alignment of their goals with the goals of your program would need to address these conditions openly. That would be so great; I want to be a part of that discussion! Informally, on-on-one, I already have.

And you envision an online distance environment. Given the fact that I am trying to deliver my English 150 courses here using the moodle based there, it has been an interesting experiment in the frustrations of internet censorship. We should talk more, but be warned that the access, speed, and availability is not as ubiquitous as you would imagine. For example, did you know that Xinjiang province has had no internet and no text messaging since May? Of course you didn't know that, neither do 99.999% of Chinese people. Half of the resources I have embedded on my moodle won't load - they are blocked. I created a webquest website on sites.google.com that my students used for one day, but then national holiday approached and censorship got ridiculously tighter and now ALL google sites are blocked along with numerous other user-built sites like typepad or geocities, etc. Too dangerous! My students were flabbergasted that they actually had been looking at something that is now blocked. They could not believe their government would do this; they are certain it is just something wrong with the computer. So your format would have the Great Firewall of China to contend with. Do not build anything on a third-party hosted site if you want anyone on China to see it.

As far as learner needs and profiles, I could do a lot of research for you there, but it comes back to learner goals and program goals. Their current needs are: get through the textbook and get the students to pass the next exam. It is not for lack of effort that these kids study English for 8-10 years and can't understand but one in twenty words spoken in class and struggle to communicate. They have large, unusable vocabularies and crap for syntax. It is for lack of authentic communication goals that they have such poor communicative language ability. I know many teachers here want to serve their students differently and they want to learn how, but they also need to see how they could implement new methods in their current system. Can you teach that?

My best to you and the whole TESL/ALT crew,

Sarah

Jim Replies:

Sarah,

Thanks for your quick response. What an awesome rant! Reads a lot like something I'd have written in my first year in Korea (except for all the censorship stuff, of course, which sounds very challenging).
Don't worry, I have no illusions about changing hearts or minds. I know from my time in Asia how intractable old habits are over there. My ambitions with this piloting were much more modest -- mostly to try out the feasibility of some of the tools, technologies and tasks we've been kicking around…

Jim
Sarah Replies:

Hi Jim,
I've spoken with a few teachers and, like with almost everything here, there are varying answers depending on who you ask. I have some beta to pass on, and I have more connections I can put you in touch with once I know more specifically what to tell them you want from them. The dean of the English department here is very interested in collaborating, so I'd like to put you in contact with her, but I need to know more about how to explain to her what you wish to have transpire between you. Relationships here are built on tricky obligation exchanges (guanxi), and I have to work through another person to approach the introduction phase through the socially appropriate channels.
Anyway, here are some sample bits of info:
At my school, JiaoDa for short, undergraduate English majors generally become English teachers after they try to get a better job and fail (not only are there way too many college graduates for the job market, but also most language majors are women, and most women have a hard time getting a decent job in China). English Grad students (masters) are provided one course on teaching practices as part of their curriculum. You can imagine, it is an unimpressive course. As far as I can surmise, masters students do what amounts to no real research work (academic rigor is not practiced anywhere, really, and that is mostly a function of the isolation from outside information). As long as they pass the TEM8 they are certified.
My friends who are Chinese teachers of English can't think of any tangible value for having a TESOL certificate (like better opportunities or better pay). The people I spoke with do not know of any case where it is needed for them to get a job. Here is where I am confused by you saying there is a market for it here. There is a NEED for better training in the sense that teaching methods here are mostly fruitless.

There are only ten accredited 'top' universities in China. The hierarchy is such that, if you fail to get in to a 'good' university, you try for the next level or you buy your way into the next level at a 'private' university. LJU is a second tier college, but in a poor, Western province, which puts it way down low on the second tier list nationally. The third and fourth tier are the 'normal' universities and the teacher's colleges. People don't necessarily want to go there, they end up there. Nearby here is the teacher's college (ShiDa, for short). It is nominally the teacher's college anyway. Again, it appears that becoming an 'expert' in your field qualifies you as a teacher. For example, Chris has a Chinese roomate who is a senior of art at ShiDa. He just started a new job teaching art at an elementary school. He had ZERO exposure to any idea of planning a lesson or considering a possible learning goal. Not one scrap was taught for four years at the teacher's college. He just studied art and was stuck in a classroom with 65 kindergartners and one set of paints. He had never even been in a room filled with children of any age before his first day of work. So practicum? I don't really know how that fits this model. Perhaps you can enlighten me.
Lastly, I am attaching an article that researched a pilot teacher training distance ed course in a rural province here (undergrad). It has a needs analysis section that seems to match what you would find here. You may be familiar with it, but, if not, I think you'll find it very applicable.
Let me know what you want me to ask people and what you want me to tell them as far as communicating back to you or finding out specific info for you.
Cheers,
Sarah