Научная статья на тему 'Challenges to efl teacher education in Albania'

Challenges to efl teacher education in Albania Текст научной статьи по специальности «Науки об образовании»

CC BY
618
112
i Надоели баннеры? Вы всегда можете отключить рекламу.
Журнал
Lingua mobilis
Область наук
Ключевые слова
LANGUAGE EDUCATION / TEACHER EDUCATION / ESL TEACHING PRACTICE / TEACHER EDUCATION CURRICULUM / EFL TEACHING METHODOLOGY

Аннотация научной статьи по наукам об образовании, автор научной работы — Shpresa Delija

This article deals with EFL Teacher Education in Albania, problems and challenges it meets. EFL teaching has been the subject of many changes in Albania in response to the social and economic changes that have taken place in Albania and in Europe. The communicative language learning and intercultural education ask for new EFL teachers responsible for equipping the young with knowledge, learning strategies, intercultural communicative competences and values necessary to meet the challenges and exploit the opportunities presented. The paper gives an overview of Albanian teacher Education, beliefs and attitudes future teachers share. The second part deals with the design and application of teacher education programs in Master courses in the framework of a Tempus project finalized in January 15, 2011.They aim at improving teachers’ language and teaching skills by having a balanced proportion of content and pedagogical subjects, teaching practice and research. A well designed curriculum is seen as crucial to teacher education. The third part shows the work done in teaching in this courses drawing from the best teaching and learning experiences of EFL teaching in Europe, the world and in our country. The focus has been to make our EFL teaching and learning comparable to that of the region by keeping to the standards of European Common Framework of Modern Languages.

i Надоели баннеры? Вы всегда можете отключить рекламу.
iНе можете найти то, что вам нужно? Попробуйте сервис подбора литературы.
i Надоели баннеры? Вы всегда можете отключить рекламу.

Текст научной работы на тему «Challenges to efl teacher education in Albania»

Lingua mobilis № 2 (35), 2012

CHALLENGES TO EFL TEACHER EDUCATION IN ALBANIA

Shpresa DELIJA, Rajmonda KE^IRA, Angjelina Shllaku, Meri Guli, Luljeta Mine

This article deals with EFL Teacher Education in Albania, problems and challenges it meets.

EFL teaching has been the subject of many changes in Albania in response to the social and economic changes that have taken place in Albania and in Europe. The communicative language learning and intercultural education ask for new EFL teachers responsible for equipping the young with knowledge, learning strategies, intercultural communicative competences and values necessary to meet the challenges and exploit the opportunities presented. The paper gives an overview of Albanian teacher Education, beliefs and attitudes future teachers share. The second part deals with the design and application of teacher education programs in Master courses in the framework of a Tempus projectfinalized in January 15, 2011.They aim at improving teachers’ language and teaching skills by having a balanced proportion of content and pedagogical subjects, teaching practice and research. A well designed curriculum is seen as crucial to teacher education. The third part shows the work done in teaching in this courses drawing from the best teaching and learning experiences of EFL teaching in Europe, the world and in our country. The focus has been to make our EFL teaching and learning comparable to that of the region by keeping to the standards of European Common Framework of Modern Languages.

Keywords: Language Education, Teacher Education, ESL Teaching Practice, Teacher Education Curriculum, EFL Teaching Methodology.

Introduction

Foreign language teaching in Albania has undergone several important changes in the last few years because of its close connection with the major innovations occurring in education. Learning a foreign language has become a necessity for every citizen. People need to know English as the language of international communication, which will help them to be employed at home or abroad, study and use the vast information provided by technology in English, travel abroad or immigrate. This increasing

124

Лингвистика и перевод

need is closely connected with the great social and economic changes that Albania is undergoing. There is a great demand of public and private institutions and companies for people with a good mastery of English able to exploit the great variety of technical and professional information provided in English.

Many young Albanians want to study abroad and the possibility to travel in all EU countries has turned English language learning into a must.

Foreign language teaching makes up an important part of the school curricula, which reflect the National Strategy for the Development of pre university education that states

“Foreign languages policy of the Ministry of Education and Science is designed and applied in accordance with the development in our country and in concert with the EU policy in this regard, following two basic EU directives, multilingualism and intercultural education.” (Strategjia Kombёtare)

The need to adjust the Albanian school system to the European standards in education and to the levels of foreign language competence as described by the Council of Europe (Common European Framework, 1996, 1998), the Government policy for the introduction of EFL to all levels of education (English language is a compulsory subject starting from the third class of elementary education up to Master’s degree), the reform of the matura exam, in which English is one of the elected exams, ask for EFL teachers that are able to teach not only language skills, but also prepare their students with intercultural and learning skills. English is taught and learned both in academic settings and in private ways. There is a growing demand for well-qualified EFL teachers who are able to teach communicatively but also have the desire and responsibility for growing as professionals to keep up with the changing needs of their students. This demand can be met if methods of teaching and assessment are changed with the aim of making students learn communicative language skills in a shorter time as well as providing them with learning skills. Pre service Teacher Education as the key to the would be FL teachers is of great importance to the further development of the language, intercultural and teaching skills.

Background

English teacher education started in 1957, when the first university, University of Tirana, was opened in Albania. The number of teacher students was small and English was taught only in very few middle schools

125

Lingua mobilis № 2 (35), 2012

in the main cities of Albania. The number of EFL teachers and students that leamt English increased up to 1990, but the teaching material used consisted of adapted, “safe” texts, which could safeguard the students’ ideology. Most of it was not authentic. The teaching methods were traditional ones, mostly grammar - translation. The only aim of teaching and learning EFL was for cultural reasons, but in fact there was no real access to literature, films, music, and travel and studying abroad were out of question. This situation conditioned the teaching methodology and learning outcomes. Pupils were taught by EFL teachers that had never had any possibility to communicate with a native speaker. So they could give knowledge and information to pupils, but not skills and intercultural education. This way of teaching formed certain beliefs in teachers and pupils such as “English cannot be taught in schools”, “You can never understand English native speakers as they speak too fast”, “You can be able to read and understand books in English, but speaking to them is too difficult.” The EF teachers had really to struggle to teach and keep the students’ motivation high.

There was a drastic change in EFL teaching and learning after 1990. The need for a communicative language learning, the widespread contact with foreigners, mobility to go abroad for studies or work, the introduction of foreign English course books, a wider access to authentic language through literature, films and music led to a different attitude to EFL teaching and learning. Both teachers and pupils had a real objective in teaching and learning English.

The new situation brought forth new tendencies in offering and teaching English. So since 1992 it has been a compulsory foreign language from elementary education onwards.

Table 1: Number of students and teachers for 2009-2010 academic year

Education Number of students learning English % English as the second foreign language % EFL teachers

primary education (III-IX grade) 242519 71% 13146 3.80% 1164

secondary education (X-XII grades) 82438 74% 17824 16.% 430

126

Лингвистика и перевод

As we see from the table students studying English as the first or second foreign language make up 74.8% of those in primary education and 90% of those in secondary education.

English is the most widely-taught language at all levels and this is mostly done by university graduates. In addition to University of Tirana, five other universities of Elbasan, Shkodra, Vlora, Gjirokastra, Korca train EFL teacher. But they have not been able to cope with the great demand for EFL teachers, so many self-taught English teachers operate in different regions, making the EFL teaching picture a various one where a complexity of teaching methods and techniques are used which influence the pupils both positively and negatively. There are different beliefs on EFL learning and teaching. Many of these beliefs stay on with the students when they start studying to be teachers.

On the other hand, English teachers have their own beliefs that determine and shape the way they conduct teaching language in the class. Some think teaching English is difficult because of big size classes as well as mixed ability ones. There is a lack of teaching resources, especially IT. Communicative language learning can hardly be carried out because of traditional teaching and learning styles and lack of teacher mobility. Some teachers think that if you master the language well, the science of language, its history and literature you can be a good EFL teacher, which leads to ignoring important pedagogical and methodological courses.

Despite the great importance put on EL teaching both by the Government and the public the change in the English teaching curricula was too slow. So up to 2008 the would be English teachers studied four years. Teacher education courses accounted for only 10% of the total classes (180 classes + 1 month teaching practice out of 2400 classes taken by a student in four years of study). Lacking the necessary pedagogical and methodological knowledge and skills the EFL teachers fell on their own teaching resources, which were the imitation of the traditional model they had already formed during their formal education. This has created problems for the teaching methodology and for the learning outcomes, which is translated into longer time of learning the language and more expenses for the families and the society.

EFL is not seen only as a means for facilitating communication, but also as important for developing people intellectually and conductive to meaningful learning. First, a foreign language is a means to get information. Second, it helps intellectual development. When learning EFL students use their background knowledge and build up new one based

127

Lingua mobilis № 2 (35), 2012

on that and its cultural models. Dealing with language the learners advance their capabilities and develop critical and creative skills. Third, it is conductive to meaningful learning. While creating effective learning environment the EFL teacher provides possibilities for transferring and developing learning strategies in real to life situations and for developing students as social being able to communicate interculturally. Learners come to the task of learning a second language as cognitively and socially, and able to transfer much of the knowledge and skill derived from their experience of their first language to the task of communicating in their new one. (Widdowson, H. G. 2002).

Taking into account the multifaceted importance of learning English as a foreign language and the urgent need for well qualified English teachers with knowledge in the foreign language and competences in teaching methodology we consider improvement and modernization of EFL teacher education as key to success.

Problem of Research

The study deals with the design and implementation of new curricula in Teacher Education Master’s Programs. This is in line with the EU directives which want the participating countries in the Bologna Process to “endeavor to ensure that teachers hold a qualification from a higher education institution” and to “consider the adoption of measures aimed at raising the level qualifications...for employment as a teacher” (Council of the European Union, 2007, p. C300/8). This EU directive has been reflected in our HE National Strategy (2008-2013) where it is emphasized that the curricula in pre service teacher education are overloaded without paying attention to courses necessary for educating a successful teacher. There are problems with teaching practice in high schools. Further teacher professional development can not be carried out if emphasis is not put on pre service education (HE National Strategy).

From the academic year 2008/2009 English teachers in Albania must have a Master’s in teaching. From 2010 / 2011 this has been turned in a Master’s program of 120 credits. The new curricula prepare the teachers not simply as knowledge givers, but also as knowledge builders who are active members of the community and that prepare their students with civic values. Teachers need to be able to understand how students learn, their various needs so that to build effective lessons that meet these needs.

Research Focus

The focus of this paper is the introduction of new programs and curricula and the improvement of the existing curricula in Master’s in English

128

Лингвистика и перевод

Teacher Education. It is in answer to the question “What are the essential components of an EFL Teacher Education Program so that teacher students can become competent EFL teachers for High schools?” There are two important issues involved, the ‘‘what’’ and “how” of teacher education. The core concepts and skills an EFL teacher should have are represented in the interaction of learners, content, and teaching. Teachers should have knowledge of learners and how they learn and develop within social contexts, including knowledge of language development. They should understand curriculum content and goals, including the subject matter and skills to be taught, student needs, and the social purposes of education. They should have understanding of and skills for teaching, including content pedagogical knowledge and knowledge for teaching diverse learners (Darling-Hammond, L.2010).

These demands put on teachers will be met if University teacher education programs are designed and implemented so that to provide English teacher students with sound knowledge of pedagogy and educational psychology, help them enhance their language and communication skills, provide them with the necessary skills to teach EFL effectively and be able to develop professionally after they graduate through doing action research and being an active member of English teachers professional forums. This asks for a different attitude to the courses offered and the way they are offered, because English Language Teacher Education in Albania has experienced the same problems as Teacher Education in other Western Balcan countries. In studies conducted about Teacher Education (Pantic, 2008; Zgaga 2006) it has been found that most courses focus on theoretical and subject related knowledge and skills. They very little give possibilities to pre service teachers to get practical teaching skills. In Albania university-graduated English teachers had a good mastery of English language and the theory of teaching but very little experience in practical skills of teaching and managing English classes.

Methodology of Research

General Background of Research

Teacher education in Albania is offered by universities and aims at preparing teachers in accordance with the contemporary standards of educators. The key reference document “Common European Principles for Teachers’ Competencies and Qualifications” suggests that ‘teachers’ ability to reflect on the processes of learning and teaching should include

129

Lingua mobilis № 2 (35), 2012

their subject knowledge, curriculum content, pedagogy innovation, research, and cultural and social dimensions of teaching’ (European Commission, 2005). The Albanian Government program defines ‘reaching a European level of education as a necessary condition for the European development of the country” (Government Program, 2005). Teachers are the key contributors to this change, because they play an important role in imparting knowledge and skills, and being a role model for their students.

Teaching is seen as a profession in continuous development and a field of important research with direct influence on the young generation.

University teacher education in Albania has been offered for about 50 years. Until recently teacher students studied a certain field of science and in the last year of their university studies they took a course in general psychology and pedagogy, a course in the subject teaching methodology and a month of active teaching practice in elementary or high schools. The curricula did not have the right proportion between content and teaching skills. This has been stated by other studies conducted in Western Balkan countries (Zgaga, 2006). The curricula focused on knowledge rather than gaining skills and were exam driven.

Daily observations, survey of student teachers teaching practice, interviews and questionnaires with teacher students have highlighted some problems that helped us to better design and implement teacher education curricula. Based on the problems we have had we are working to redesign the curriculum which will insure development of key competencies in language subject, educational matters and provision of practical experiences. This will be accomplished by using successful strategies into classroom activities which are student centered. This study was part of a Tempus Project for the development of Master’s in Teacher Education, DEMED, where our University was one of the partner countries.

Sample of Research

This study investigates EFL Teacher Education and how it leads to training effective EFL teachers. It also analyses teacher students’ beliefs about the profession of teaching and the perceived difficulties and needs of the future teachers. 150 Master students make up our sample. They are full time students in Tirana University. They have lessons from 4-9 pm, five days a week. They all have a Bachelor degree in English language and have a good mastery of the language. 70 % of them have graduated Tirana University; others come from other Albanian universities. 30 % of the students coming from other universities have taken one or two courses

130

Лингвистика и перевод

in Teaching Methodology, which has provided them with some theoretical knowledge.

Instrument and Procedures

The data used in this paper were drawn from document reviews, classroom observations, questionnaire, and in-depth interviews with university teachers and Master students. Based on data previously obtained from our observations, feedback taken from former graduated English teachers we designed and used a questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of an introductory explanation of its aims and content, instructions for filling out the questionnaire and biological information about the respondent: gender, age, working experience if any, be it in public or private courses. Combinations of open and closed questions were used to find out the expectation of the students from the program, perceived difficulties and different needs.

Respondents had an opportunity to comment and explain their attitudes, opinions and expectations. An integral part of the questionnaire was a number of teacher competencies divided in four groups: teaching skills, mastery of English language, knowledge and skills in doing action research, skills in intercultural education. The importance was assessed by the respondents, ranging from 1 (not important at all) to 5 (extremely important). The second phase of analysis and research data processing included an analysis of the content of curricula from of our FL teacher education program in the previous Master’s of 60 credits, which was in operation only two academic years, 2008-2009, 2009-2010. 30 students out of 150 students were chosen at random to be interviewed. They were asked open-ended questions.

Data Analysis

A questionnaire was emailed to 150 full time students that are taking the EFL teacher education Master’s in our Faculty. Out of 150 questionnaires sent we received 140 or 93% which is a good percentage, explained by the fact they are full time students. The respondents were mostly women, 92 %, 10 males, or 8 % of respondents. Males make up only 16 % of all students (24 students out of 150). The same has been found in other studies. Pantic, N. (Ed.). (2008) points out that it is obvious that the teaching profession has been feminized to a great extent in every researched country in the Western Balkans. In pre-primary schools almost all respondents have been women. Then, they make up the majority among the primary school and secondary school sub-samples.

The question about teaching experience was answered positively by 27 respondents, 24 of whom have taught in private courses, while 3 teach

131

Lingua mobilis № 2 (35), 2012

in public schools in far- off villages of Tirana. The question of future career in teaching was answered positively by all females, but only 2 males out of ten see teaching as their last career option.

They were also given a list of teacher’s competences.

Table 2. FL teacher competencies

Mastery of English Language 5 4 3 2 1

The EFL teacher masters the language and uses this knowledge to model and provide effective teaching in English 100%

The EFL teacher integrates listening, speaking, reading, and writing and develops ESL students’ English language proficiency 86% 14%

The ESL teacher understands the processes of first-language and foreign language acquisition 31% 18% 40% 11%

The EFL teacher knows common difficulties experienced by ESL students in learning English and effective strategies for helping students overcome those difficulties 17% 11% 54% 19%

Teaching competences 5 4 3 2 1

The EFL teacher understands EFL teaching methods and uses this knowledge to plan and implement effective, teaching 53% 47%

The EFL teacher uses knowledge of theories, concepts, and research on FL acquisition to select effective, appropriate methods and strategies for developing students’ language skills 10% 17% 25% 21% 27%

The EFL teacher knows how to design and implement appropriate teaching strategies in the language class 89% 11%

132

Лингвистика и перевод

The EFL teacher selects and uses instructional methods, resources, and materials appropriate for students’ learning goals and promoting learning in students with diverse needs 61% 19% 21%

The EFL teacher engages students in critical thinking, and fosters students’ communicative competence 10% 69% 21%

The EFL teacher integrate technological tools and resources into the teaching process to facilitate and enhance student learning. 46% 48% 6%

The EFL teacher applies strategies for creating among students an awareness of and respect for linguistic and cultural diversity 40% 34% 26%

Knowledge and skills in doing action research 5 4 3 2 1

The EFL teacher knows how to identify the problem to research 60% 17% 23% - -

Problems of research teachers can analyze:

a. Classroom management such as instructions, participation, teaching techniques, pace, balance of talking time 53% 24% 16% 6%

b. Course book and teaching materials, themes, approach, level - - 48% 52% -

c. Planning, lesson objective, lesson plan, timing, balance of activities 60% 21% 19%

d. Classroom dynamics, relationship to students, students relationship to each other 62% 38%

133

Lingua mobilis № 2 (35), 2012

e. Student learning, learning difficulties, learning strategies - 31% 39% 22% 7%

The EFL teacher knows how to develop an action plan 100% - - - -

The EFL teacher knows how to analyze the data and share them 100% - - - -

Skills in intercultural education 5 4 3 2 1

The EFL teacher educates and facilitates the construction of learners’ personal and social identities in the process of developing language skills 53% 47%

The EFL teacher motivates learners by making learning topics and activities more complex in order to challenge learners to build intercultural competencies 39% 61%

iНе можете найти то, что вам нужно? Попробуйте сервис подбора литературы.

The EFL teacher integrates intercultural ELT activities through casual conversations in the classroom 17% 18% 52% 13%

The EFL teacher integrates into its curriculum authentic cultural topics and activities that provide opportunities for reflection and critique of both native and target cultures 49% 51%

Regarding teachers’ knowledge of the language 100% of the respondents see it as the primer of teaching English. 85 % consider skills integration as very important. The lower percentage in marking competences in language acquisition and identifying difficulties of learning show their beliefs on the role of the teaching in language learning and a need to change these beliefs by providing the teacher students with knowledge on second language acquisition.

Respondents rank competences related to teaching methods, teaching strategies, selection of resources, and materials as extremely important (85 %) or very important.

But they rank competences related to theory, critical thinking and integration of technological tools and resources into the teaching process

134

Лингвистика и перевод

as very important or important. At this stage of their studies they do not see themselves as active and responsible actors of change in their lessons. At the same time it reflects the traditional teaching techniques they have been exposed to.

As for the competences related to action research they rank as extremely important or very important competences of identifying, developing research and sharing it with colleagues. They consider as extremely important for subjects of research problems such as classroom management, (53% of the respondents) planning (60%) and classroom dynamics, but course books (52%) and classroom dynamics (62%) are not ranked as important.

They think these that these are not acute problems for language teaching. These are still connected to their misconception of language teaching. Some of them argue that it is not up to them to deal with these issues as they are not related to language learning. They recognize the importance of intercultural education and rank it as extremely important or very important, but because of little mobility of teachers, and teaching in a one culture environment they see its realization only through integrating into language curriculum authentic cultural topics and activities that provide opportunities for reflection.

A list of language learning strategies was given to students. They had to mark what strategies they usually had used or already use as language learners.

Table 3. Language learning strategies used

Vocabulary learning High school University

by heart 100% 0%

by writing the word down 93% 0%

by writing sentences 96% 29%

by using them in situations 11% 10%

by visualizing them 36% 50%

by looking at the morphological structure 36% 56%

by using antonimes and synonimes 41% 100%

by reading a lot 54% 100%

135

Lingua mobilis № 2 (35), 2012

Reading High school Uni- versity

using translation 100% 0%

using comprehension check exercises 100% 0%

summarizing 33% 100%

retelling 100% 0%

using word attack skills 56% 73%

reading in meaningful units 54% 64%

using scanning and skimming 16% 96%

recognizing organizational patterns 50% 90%

distinguishing general statements from specific details 17% 97%

Inference and conclusion 46% 86%

Evaluation and appreciation 50% 100%

I learned at High school

Grammar

doing exercises of the book 100%

learning rules 30%

Speaking

by learning dialogues by heart 100%

by retelling the reading texts 100%

by discussing in the class 81%

by asking and answering questions 93%

role plays 21%

Speaking to natives 18%

Writing

writing sentences 100%

fill in exercises 100%

finishing a story 54%

write a new story 47%

write essays 100%

Listening

by listening to tapes 80%

136

Лингвистика и перевод

by listening to videos 11%

by listening to the radio, films 39%

From the analysis of the data taken from these questionnaires we see that our teacher students have been exposed to many teacher guided exercises and the lessons have been teacher centered. Most of them learned vocabulary by heart (100 %), by writing the word down (93%) ,by writing sentences (96%) and the other strategies are less used. At university they use more advanced strategies. In most cases vocabulary learning is incidental .100% learn by reading a lot. The same picture is with reading, writing, speaking, listening and grammar. There is a mismatch between the strategies they have used, which are a mirror to the teaching they have been exposed to, and the teacher competences they mark. The latter shows that our students feel that language students need more student centered activities.

Results of Research

The data collection showed that the interviews with teacher students and observations in classes have shown that content knowledge and knowledge of general principles of pedagogy are not sufficient for training effective language teachers. Teachers rely far more on the teaching styles they have experienced as learners than on the theory or even the practical knowledge they encounter in teacher education programs. Because lecture-based teaching is common in universities future secondary teachers may be led to believe that lectures are effective for all students. They also are not able to tailor their lesson to individual needs of the students, because they have not be exposed to this way of teaching. Teacher educators must be concerned with preparing future teachers to implement reform by exposing them in their own formal learning to teaching styles that support reform. Courses organized through readings, reflective writing assignments, lesson observations, peer teaching, and classroom discussion will help faculty and teacher students to manage large, mixed ability classes.

Discussion

Based on our needs we have improved our curricula which are based on four main strands. The first strand aims to train prospective teachers who need to be responsive to and respectful of the diversity of the students in their classrooms; to prepare the teacher students to work with

137

Lingua mobilis № 2 (35), 2012

adolescents and young adult learners in a wide range of settings by providing them with knowledge and skills to modify programs, instruction and assessment for students with varied needs; for general curriculum development, specific classroom instruction, or for evaluating student achievement. The courses taught are Teaching methods, Critical thinking, Developmental Psychology, Curriculum development, Class Management and Assessment and Evaluation. It makes up 25 %.or 30 credits.

The second strand concerns specialized content courses which aim to produce highly competent teachers in English teaching. Ann Barnes (2002) writes ‘Modern foreign language (MFL) teaching, however, requires not only that teachers have the language proficiency to provide an effective language model to pupils but also the pedagogic competence to exploit this proficiency in the service of pupil learning.

Courses offered provide students with an overview of the theory and practice of FL teaching in the secondary schools and give them knowledge and skills to integrate assessment into daily teaching practice; develop a broad repertoire of teaching practices; use available technology effectively; draw upon a variety of classroom management techniques. This strand makes up 28 % of the program, or 36 credits

The third strand Internship makes up 10 % of the program. It enables teacher students to have diverse sets of experiences throughout an entire school term in addition to observation and practice teaching. (staff meetings, parent-teacher meetings and extra-curricular activities). Its assessment will be performance based one including mentor evaluation, portfolio. These are new practices and need careful planning, guiding and monitoring by teacher trainers.

The fourth strand, thesis, aims at enabling students to do research on practical and important issues related to teaching in general and subject matter teaching in particular. This will be preceded by a lot of reading, literature review, observation and action research. Students research will include topics on teaching methodology, research in applied linguistics ,comparative studies in teaching and research on school currilula. It consists of 45 % of the curricula,12 credits subjects on school research and 30 credits the thesis. Importance put on research comes from the shortcomings observed and the need of turning the FL teacher into a researcher. Thy are equipped with research skills. Research involves them as classroom teachers in an activity which encompasses evaluation of different situations in his/her own teaching and in the school context. Only when the teacher is a keen observer and willing to make changes and im-

138

Лингвистика и перевод

provement will he be able to develop himself and his teaching. As Mills (2003) defines action research is as

„ .... any systematic inquiry conducted by teachers, administrators, counselors, or others with a vested interest in the teaching and learning process, for the purpose of gathering data about how their particular schools operate, how they teach, and how students learn.”

The introduction of Action Research is of great importance in teacher education programs. This will make the students able to make educational decisions based on rational argumentation, in addition to everyday or intuitional argumentation. The skill of being able to think along the lines of research principles presupposes a general understanding of all-around research methods’(Kynaslahti, H., et al., p. 248-249, 2006).

The courses are organized into modules which allow teachers to work within a flexible structure where objectives are established in terms of competencies to be achieved on the basis of those previously acquired. This way of organization new to university teachers and students allows students to monitor their own process of learning and enhances autonomous learning. On the other hand it poses difficulties which teacher educators have to address.

Our expectations of these changes in the EFL teacher education curricula are English teachers who demonstrate an in-depth understanding of language learning and acquisition and subject-specific skills and apply that understanding to doing meaningful learning activities for all students. They should work for the achievement of all students by helping them learn and by teaching learning strategies to them through meeting their diverse needs. They should demonstrate skills for insuring intercultural communication and show the capacity for professional growth by engaging in research and by applying their understanding to improve learning, teaching, and school organization. A very important expectation is educating strong beliefs about EFL teaching as a developing profession and training teachers with communicative language teaching skills by exposing teacher students to real classroom practice and by providing them with action research.

Conclusions

The Albanian picture of EFL teaching is complex and difficult to grasp mainly because of the wide variety of factors that have interacted in the last twenty years in terms of educational reform, curriculum renewal and societal conditions. The most important change that has taken place in the change of belief about the expectations of learners and role of the teacher

139

Lingua mobilis № 2 (35), 2012

in this process is the need for a sound pre-service education. Pre service teacher education is an essential step in the lifelong teaching/learning process. It gives to future teachers the necessary tools to turn them into effective and thoughtful professionals. Developing as a professional language teacher is much more than being an expert in the language and helping others learn such language. If EFL teachers are to be skillful teachers able to use teaching approaches that best suit the social context of teaching. The introduction of Masters Programs of 120 credits with a balanced ratio among four strands will lead to better education of FL teachers. The study shows that a program focused on students’ needs and experiences is successful in meeting our objectives in training effective teachers, because it is Pre service Teacher education that determines the quality of teaching in high schools in the Albanian context. In addition, this will be successful when the approach to offering changes and teacher students are exposed to active ways of learning by becoming subjects of the lessons.

References

1. Barnes A. (2002) Maintaining language skills in pre-service training for foreign language teachers in Language in Language Teacher Education / edited by Hugh Trappes-Lomax and Gibson Ferguson. John Benjamins Publishing Co.

2. Council of the European Union (2007). Conclusions of the Council and of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council of 15November 2007, on Improving the Quality of Teacher Education. Official Journal of the European Union, 12 December 2007, C 300/6-9.

3. Darling-Hammond,Linda (2010) “Constructing 21st-Century Teacher Education “ In Transforming teacher education: What went wrong with teacher training, and how we can fix it Valerie Hill-Jackson and Chance Lewis ed.,page 223, Stylus publishing.

4. Hudson B. & Zgaga P.(eds.), (2008) Teacher Education Policy in Europe: A Voice of Higher Education Institutions. Umea: University of Umea, Faculty of Teacher Education.

5. Kynaslahti, H., Kansanen, P., Jyrhama, R., Krokfors, L., Maaranen, K., & Toom, A. (2006). The multimode programme as a variation of research-based teacher education. I: Teaching and teacher education 22 (2006) 246-256. X: Elsevier Ltd.

6. Mills, G. (2003). Action research: A guide for the teacher researcher (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.

140

Лингвистика и перевод

7. Nunan,D. (1997) Action research in language classroom in Richards, J.C. & Nunan,D. (1997) Second language teacher education. Cambridge University Press

8. Niemi, H. (2008). Advancing research into and during teacher education. In B. Hudson & P. Zgaga (eds.), Teacher Education Policy in Europe: A Voice of Higher Education Institutions (pp. 183-208). Umea: University of Umea, Faculty of Teacher Education.

9. Pantic, N. (Ed.). (2008) Tuning Teacher Education in the Western Balkans. Belgrade: Centre for Education Policy.

10. Strategjia Kombёtare pёr Arsimin e Larts (SKALA) (2008-2013) MASH

11. The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR), 2002, Cambridge University Press

12. Widdowson, H. G. (2002). Language teaching: defining the subject in Language in Language Teacher Education / edited by Hugh Trappes-Lomax and Gibson Ferguson. John Benjamins Publishing Co.

13. Zeichner, K. M., & Liston, D. P. (1996). Reflective teaching: An introduction. Philadelphia: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

14. Zgaga, P. (ed.) (2006). The Prospects of Teacher Education in South-east Europe. Ljubljana: University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education.

141

iНе можете найти то, что вам нужно? Попробуйте сервис подбора литературы.

Lingua mobilis № 2 (35), 2012

РАЗЛИЧИЯ В УПОТРЕБЛЕНИИ ПРИЛАГАТЕЛЬНЫХ И ПРИЧАСТИЙ НЕМЕЦКОГО ЯЗЫКА

Д. К. Джолданова

Цель статьи заключается в научной обработке определенных аспектов употребления прилагательных и причастий немецкого языка для учебных и обучающих целей. Для учеников является важным и актуальным понимание различия между прилагательными и причастиями прошедшего времени.

Ключевые слова: прилагательные, причастия прошедшего времени, контекст, семантика, прагматика, дидактика.

В настоящее время грамматика является частью содержания программ обучения иностранным языкам, поэтому её роль следует рассматривать именно в аспекте учебной деятельности. Особенно важно место грамматики в освоении языкового материала для немецкого языка, отличающегося строгим порядком построения речевого высказывания. Знание грамматики немецкого языка способствует формированию и развитию речевых умений и навыков, то есть играет вспомогательную роль в речемыслительной деятельности [1.C.12].

Цель статьи заключается в научной обработке определенных аспектов употребления прилагательных и причастий немецкого языка для учебных и обучающих целей.

Немецкие прилагательные и соответствующие им причастия прошедшего времени имеют общие существенные признаки значения и конкурируют между собой, чтобы иметь определенную позицию в предложении. Это можно показать на следующих примерах:

- Er hatte vor Aufregung rote/ gerotete Wangen.

( attributive Verwendung)

Из-за волнения у него были красные/ покрасневшие щеки.

(определительное употребление)

- Jan Ullrich ist leider krank/ erkrankt.

(pradikative Verwendung mit Kopula)

Ян Ульрих к сожалению болен/заболел.

(предикативное употребление со связкой)

- Knackig braun/gebraunt kam er aus dem Uraub zurtick/

142

Лингвистика и перевод

(subjektspradikative Verwendung)

Коричневый/ загорелый вернулся он из отпуска.

(подлежащее- предикативное употребление)

Прилагательные и причастия в немецком языке не всегда могут заменять друг друга. На этой основе обучающий должен иметь представление о касающихся пунктах содержания контекста и закрепить внимание на возможных различиях значения прилагательных и причастий прошедшего времени. При этом можно исходить из того, что результативная основная структура прилагательных или причастий представляет собой потенциал объяснения не только для ограничения применения, но и для различия значения. Следующие наблюдения аутентичных корпусных данных должны разъяснить эти предположения и составить отправную точку для дидактической научной обработки на занятиях. При этом исследование принципиально ограничивается на 14 отобранных пар прилагательных и причастий, а именно:

rot vs. gerotet, errotet kalt vs. erkaltet

grtin vs. ergrtint,begrtint warm vs. erwarmt, gewarmt,

grau vs. ergraut heiB vs. aufgewarmt erhitzt

braun vs. gebraunt hell vs. erhellt, erleuchtet,

blass vs. verblasst, erblasst krank vs beleuchtet . erkrankt

leer vs. geleert, entleert gesund vs . gesundet, genesen

voll vs. geftillt, erftillt tot vs. gestorben, verstorben

getotet

Ситуации, внутри которых описываются состояния, будут по-разному развиваться посредством общего знания о мире и соответственно актуального знания контекста, и всего прочего, относительно ее результативного характера и (причинного) отношения к предшествующему событию. Решение для языкового выражения с помощью прилагательного или причастия прошедшего времени считается в немецком языке этим логичным развитием событий и не любым с семантической или прагматичной точки зрения. По крайней мере, следующие 4 примера находятся в распоряжении у говорящего или слушающего:

а) Речь идет об изображении чистого состояния; предшествующее изменение состояния исключено и не может пониматься оди-

143

i Надоели баннеры? Вы всегда можете отключить рекламу.