CC BY-ND
106
https://doi.org/10.17323/jle.2022.11917
Teachers' Perceptions of Promoting Student-Centred Learning Environment: An Exploratory Study of Teachers' Behaviours in the Saudi EFL Context
Mohammad Al-khresheh ®
Northern Border University, Arar, Saudi Arabia
Citation: Al-khresheh, M. (2022). Teachers' Perceptions of Promoting Student-Centred Learning Environment: An Exploratory Study of Teachers' Behaviours in the Saudi EFL Context. Journal of Language and Education, S(3), 23-39. https://jle.hse.ru/article/ view/11917
Correspondence:
Mohammad Al-khresheh mohd_khresheh@yahoo.com
Received: January 06, 2021 Accepted: September 22, 2022 Published: September 30, 2022
ABSTRACT
Background. Although the constructivist and humanistic theories advocate for a more student-centred learning approach, the contemporary practice of English teachers is more oriented towards the behavioural approach in the Saudi EFL context.
Purpose. This study aimed to explore teachers' perceptions of promoting student-centred learning in the Saudi EFL context. It initially amplifies elements of effective student-centred EFL teaching and merges the elements with teachers' behaviours, resulting in four measurable categories: assessment strategy, communicative approach to learning, teachers' qualifications, and group activities in teaching EFL.
Methods. Following the quantitative approach, a questionnaire on teachers' observable behaviours, comprising 47 items and categorised under four constructs, with a three-point Likert scale, was carried out on a group of 302 English teachers. The instrument was devised through an online survey. To analyse data, descriptive and inferential statistical analysis was used. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to validate the study's instrument. Results. The interpretation of data primarily showed teachers' self-reported practices were more oriented toward a teacher-centred approach, specifically in teaching grammar. Other findings showed teachers' positive attitude towards student-centred learning in lesson preparation, using ICT to prepare interactive teaching materials and giving constructive feedback. Teachers had a mediocre attitude towards their professional qualifications, indicating that the teachers might need more effective English language training workshops based on their needs. Additional data also proved that there was no significant difference in teachers' perception in terms of their gender, location and status of the school, and classroom size.
Implications. This study provides an overview of the teachers' position on integrating student-centred learning in their English classroom and thus accentuates the need for potential opportunities for the teachers' professional development and demands less content overload so that the teachers can ample their teaching process appropriately.
KEYWORDS
Constructivism, English, foreign language teaching, humanistic approach, perceptions, teaching behaviours, Saudi EFL Context, student centred-learning
INTRODUCTION
English is a foreign language (EFL) that has a tremendous role in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Al-khresheh, 2020a). Aside from its importance for educational purposes, it also has a crucial role in accomplishing the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030 (Al-Zahrani & Rajab, 2017). Additionally, it is widely acknowledged that to develop a new breed of global citizens
(United Nations, 2015), the targeted development goals must also include learning an FL; therefore, EFL usage assumes even more significance (Almazova et al., 2016).
Despite this, many studies often report that teaching EFL effectively tends to be difficult as far as Saudi Arabia is concerned (Al-khresheh, 2020b; Al-Seghay-er, 2014; Al-Zahrani & Rajab, 2017). No
doubt, this is a highly concerning issue that can only be resolved with a dedicated policy. Additional research must also be carried out to determine the reasons for this problem, along with possible solutions. This study is focused on tackling these issues that come with effective EFL teaching.
Education experts have called for student-centred language learning environments to be established to resolve multiple difficulties and promote the effective teaching of the English language in teaching-learning activities. Several countries, including Saudi Arabia, currently use a teacher-centred learning style, which involves instructing or lecturing students repeatedly to teach English. Using this style indicates that the Grammar-Translation method (GMT) is still alive, especially in teaching grammar. The teacher-centred forms-focused approach can result from the domination of the GTM where the main objective is to understate discrete rules and produce only correct forms (Alfares, 2017; Assalahi, 2013; Kassem, 2018; Mohammad & Hazarika, 2016). However, this approach is in disagreement with the con-structivist point of view and appears to have been inspired by the behaviourist point of view. This perspective has been criticised repeatedly in several studies. Additionally, when this approach is used to teach EFL, students feel pressured into memorising their course syllabus, which cripples their autonomy, practice, and motivation to use the knowledge learned in the classroom practice in their daily lives (Song & Kim, 2017).
For the promotion of effective student-centred learning environments to teach EFL, the most widely accepted and cited studies today recommend the following: (a) integration of practical large or small group activities, discussions, or works to improve interest and motivation levels among students learning a FL; (b) constant communication between teachers and their students, between the students themselves, and between students and society at large, to boost student participation levels; (c) offering immediate feedback on a real-time basis as part of assessments and to do away with pressure-inducing external examinations, which are infamous for triggering anxiety issues and diminishing the learning abilities of students; (d) the establishment of a special teachers' qualification that prioritises the autonomy of the learners and defines the role of the teachers as facilitators, not instructors (Al-Zahrani & Rajab, 2017; Alfares, 2017; Almazova et al., 2016; Rind et al., 2019; Sidhu et al., 2020).
Four of the attributes mentioned above in this study regarding student-centred learning and teaching activities have been prioritised. These attributes are used along with results from a previous study to measure FL teachers' behaviour (Bell, 2005)- assessment strategy, communicative approach to learning, teachers' qualifications, and group activities in teaching EFL. These four attributes also feed the ten elements of efficient student-centred teaching-learning of English as a foreign language (Jacobs & Renandya, 2016). This study further provides a conceptualisation of combin-
ing efficient student-centred learning of foreign language and measuring English teachers' observable behaviours as depicted in Info-graph 1.
The existing literature also shed light on several harsh realities that were preventing teachers from teaching EFL effectively, such as a high-class size (Yi, 2008), content overload (Roussel et al., 2017), and external examinations (Baksh et al., 2016). Simultaneously, this literature also emphasised that teachers' perceptions could overcome these challenges and lower anxiety levels among students learning a second language (Dewaele et al., 2018).
Teacher perception is generally dependent on the following factors: their primary level of perceived competence, self-efficacy (Al-khresheh, 2020c; You et al., 2019), the level of influence their beliefs have over their teaching strategies (De-breli, 2016), their teaching experience, their learning process (Bonner et al., 2019), continuous development programs (You et al., 2019), and their expectations regarding the outcome and efficiency of their teaching strategies (Wozney et al., 2006). This study defines EFL teachers' perspective as a dynamic combination of several attitudes and beliefs they display, which can be observed through their classroom behaviours (Bell, 2005).
Given that teacher perception has a huge role in the constructive learning of EFL among students, this study intends to research the perception of language teachers about various salient features inherent to a student-centred learning and teaching environment and how an efficient language teacher might affect them. These salient features have been determined from existing literature by evaluating various effective student-centred learning practices in an English language teaching environment (Jacobs & Renandya, 2016) and the observable behaviours that reveal teacher perception regarding effective strategies used to teach EFL (Bell, 2005). The existing literature has yielded four major attributes - continuous assessment, communicative approaches, teacher qualities, and group activities in teaching English.
Furthermore, this study also seeks to determine the influence wielded by factors like class size, content overload and external examination on teachers' perceptions of effective language teaching, which can be exposed through teachers' behaviours.
To accomplish the research goals laid out in this study, the following questions are posed: (1) How do teachers perceive their role as effective teachers in addressing student-centred learning in the Saudi EFL context? In light of this main research question, this study aims to find out more about the EFL teachers' behaviour in the following aspects: assessment strategy, communicative approach to learning, teachers' qualifications, and group activities in teaching EFL. (2) How do different variables (i.e., gender, class size, school status, and location) influence teachers' behaviours towards
promoting a student-centred learning environment in their class in the Saudi EFL context?
LITERATURE REVIEW
Student-Centred Learning: A Revolutionary Paradigm Shift from Behaviourism to Constructivism - Humanism
Behaviourist education theory tended to be the primary approach used to analyse the students' acquisition of knowledge beyond the mental process, rather a psychological and educational process and dominated the educational field during the 1920-1950s (Watson, 2017). This theory considers knowledge to be something prevailing outside a person, acquired through behaviour modification. Learning is a behavioural modification that may be conditioned appropriately using positive or negative reinforcement measures such as rewards or punishments (Phillips, 2012). Accordingly, students are rendered as responders more willingly than actors. Their responses to the stimuli are subject to evaluation. If the response happens to be undesirable, it is the teacher's responsibility to offer appropriate feedback that reprograms students to have a more appropriate response in the future. The teacher shall also ensure that undesirable responses from the students are discouraged in future evaluations (Devaki, 2021; Orak & Al-khresheh, 2021; Wubante, 2020). However, advancing educational theories tended to evolve from a behavioural perspective considering this approach solely focuses on acquiring new conceptual knowledge. The behaviourist approach to education was criticised for being too rigid and instruction-based (Schunk, 2012) and teacher-centred in several studies (Wilson & Myers, 2000). Educators reported that the behaviourist approach had tremendous negative repercussions and lowered interest levels (Pritchard, 2017), resulting in the memorisation of the content knowledge without real-life implications.
With a particular focus on student-centred learning, the cognitivist theory approach recognised learning as the assimilation of prior knowledge while simultaneously accommodating new information, resulting in the transfer of knowledge (Pritchard, 2017). This theory addressed the students as something beyond blank slates and acknowledged the importance of their prior knowledge as a foundation for constructing new behaviours or imparting new knowledge. Nevertheless, the cognitivist theory was criticised by contemporary educators for overlooking the importance of reinforcements that offered motivation to the learners (Overskeid, 2008).
Based on the cognitivist approach, constructivism theory expanded the scope of learning. It contextualised the learners' personal experiences and views in the actual learning process to provide students with a sense of relevance and
thus provided a satisfactory resolution to the issue of sustaining their motivation. The constructivist theory of learning recognised learning as a social, situated and metacog-nitive process in which interaction occurs between prior knowledge and learning outcomes (Aljohani, 2017). Social constructivism theory, in particular, aligns with Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, which emphasises the role of socio-cultural context as being a major influence in the learning process (Taylor & MacKenney, 2008). Social constructivism theory further advocates the need for promoting students' active interaction through problem-solving, group decision making or peer discourse measures and programs (Svin-icki, 2004). This was a major shift from the instruction-based rigid teacher-centred approach towards a student-centred learning approach by encouraging students' participation in the classroom, thus providing them with the autonomy to take charge of their learning (Deci & Ryan, 2010).
To address the need to focus more on various non-cognitive variables of learning, i.e. students' need, emotions, values and self-perceptions (Snowman et al., 2012), the humanistic education theory emphasises concepts like self-efficacy and self-actualisation among students (Schunk, 2012). It also seeks to improve learners' affective and social skills through cooperative and collaborative learning programs (Huitt, 2009). It also sought to promote critical thinking, bring about positive changes in attitude, encourage logical and persuasive action, and boost social engagement among learners (Tobolowsky, 2014). Constructivists advocate for a student-centred learning program along the lines of Deci and Ryan's self-determination theory, which enables learners to possess an intrinsic motivation to learn and study conceptual knowledge on their own (Ryan & Deci, 2016).
From the information presented above, a conclusion can be drawn that there was a gradual shift in the dominant and widely-recognised learning theories of education towards a student-centred learning approach, which promoted active student participation, communication, and collaboration. This paradigm shift also heralded an evolution of the teachers' role from just issuing instructions or providing/assessing knowledge to being a facilitator of learning and education for their students through continuous assessment, thus encouraging students to have more autonomy and say in their learning process.
Maintaining a Student-Centred Approach in the Effective EFL Teaching
When it comes to teaching EFL, not only are teachers required to act as active facilitators for learning but also to create a student-centred learning environment in which students are allowed to take charge of their learning process. In language teaching, Jacobs and Renandya (2016) presented ten elements of effective student-centred learning, aside from motivation, which included interaction, autonomy, focus on meaning, curricular integration, diversity, learning
climate, alternative assessment, and thinking skills. On the other hand, teacher perception was considered a combination of the teachers' beliefs and attitudes (Alsalem, 2020), which had a major influence on the effective teaching of EFL. This perception is measured in a previous study by researching the teachers' observable behaviours and teaching the-
Info-Graph 1
Conceptualising Four Major Attributes for Measuring EFL Teachers' Observable Behaviour Concerning Student-centred Learning
ories (Bell, 2005). Teachers' observable behaviour refers to the teachers' effectiveness and capability of teaching EFL.
This study conceptualises four major attributes from the abovementioned aspects: sets of observable behaviour and student-centred learning elements. The conceptualisation is visually represented in the following info-graph:
These four major measurable attributes have been explained comprehensively below, along with a justification for the need to have additional research studies on this topic.
EFL Assessment Strategy
All over the world, the evaluation of the students' grasp of EFL is done with external examinations. The same is true in the Saudi Arabian context as well. As a matter of fact, research literature points out that the traditional external examination system used to evaluate one's English language abilities has a negative impact on students since students tend to memorise the course content to pass their examinations (Mohammad & Hazarika, 2016). This results from a behaviourist learning approach, which has been criticised widely for being too teacher-centred, rigid, and material-based (Watson, 2017). To promote the creation of student-centred learning environments in English language teaching in Saudi Arabia, educators point to a gap in existing literature regarding the assessment of EFL (Picard, 2018). As a result, the present study explores teachers' perceptions of various assessment techniques for teaching EFL.
Considering Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of education (Pathan et al., 2018), continuous assessment, including students' self-evaluation, peer evaluation, immediate feedback from teachers, help the learners to form their knowledge constructively while simultaneously helping them take charge of their learning which is the key to student-centred learning. To promote such a student-centred assessment in Saudi Arabia, educators have called for a shift in the teachers' perception of assessment techniques, encouraging
them to move from external examination-oriented assessment toward a more accurate classroom assessment strategy (Aldawood, 2016; Alsalem, 2020).
The Communicative Language Teaching Approach
When it comes to learning an FL, students and teachers' interaction assumes critical significance as this encourages students to practice their newly-developed language (Sert, 2019). In addition to student interaction with other students and teachers, students' autonomy also happens to be one of the main factors influencing the learning of an FL. It enables the students to take charge of their learning process (Godwin-Jones, 2019;Murray & Lamb, 2017). Vygotsky's theory of the zone of proximal development advocated for student autonomy, considering it helps students reach the zone of their proximal development while learning a new language. Curricular integration offers learners the opportunity to apply their newly-developed language skills within their language classroom and across and beyond the context of their classrooms (Shabani et al., 2010).
The Saudi Ministry of Education has recognised the need to reform and modernise the strategies used for teaching EFL. To promote communicative competence among students, it has started modifying the curriculum and enabling teachers to embrace various communicative strategies (Abahus-sain, 2016). However, multiple studies reveal that the teacher-centred classroom learning process and the absence of adequate communicative practice while learning EFL continue to be a reality (Abahussain, 2016; Picard, 2018). This is
why one of the goals of the current study is to explore teachers' perceptions in promoting the communicative approach to teaching EFL.
Teachers' Qualification for Teaching EFL
Teacher qualification is considered to be a broader terminology. It is more like an umbrella that incorporates various attributes of an effective teacher. However, current literature believes teacher quality is the product of teacher training, involvement in teacher development programmes, and in-service or pre-service courses (Koksal & Ulum, 2019; Wilden et al., 2020). In the Saudi EFL context, the qualifications possessed by these teachers to teach EFL are often questionable (Al-Hazmi, 2003; Picard, 2018). Al-Zahrani and Rajab's study (2017) revealed that teachers' perception regarding the qualification they possessed for teaching English was not very convincing. As a result, one of the objectives of this current study is to explore the teachers' perceptions regarding their qualifications to teach EFL.
Group Activities in Teaching EFL
From a constructivist perspective, in line with Vygotsky's soci-ocultural theory, group activities enable students to conceptualise and internalise the learning content with self-actualisation and self-determination (Deci & Ryan, 2010; Huitt, 2009). In order to learn English effectively, worldwide educators advocate for group activities to achieve the learning objectives of the four crucial skills of language teaching - reading, writing, speaking and listening (A-Garni & Almuhammadi, 2019; Alrayah, 2018; Ochoa et al., 2016).
However, in the Saudi EFL context, the current literature reveals that though most students prefer group activities to help them learn English, the teachers prefer to fall in line with the traditional teacher-oriented learning approach (Alfares, 2017; Alnujaidi, 2019). This is why one of the primary objectives of this study is to explore the teachers' perceptions regarding group activities' effectiveness for teaching EFL.
Current Scenario of EFL in the Saudi Context
Alrabai (2016), in his study, drew particular emphasis on the abysmally low success rates recorded among students who were learning EFL in the context of Saudi Arabia. This research sheds light on a few possible underlying factors, categorised as internal and external factors. External factors or individual factors, which impact the students' ability to learn EFL, are identified as - using Arabic as the first language for education, sociocultural issues, the role of religion, influence of a teacher, teaching method, curriculum, and education system as a whole. The internal factors are gender, demography, attitude, aptitude, motivation, language learning strategies, anxiety, and learners' autonomy in learning EFL.
Al-Awaid (2018) identified similar factors behind the low success rates of EFL. However, they emphasised and diagnosed problems cropping up at the classroom level instead of blaming on policy failures. The insights revealed by this study showed that students had a dismal lack of interest in using English, and their teachers did not possess adequate training to address the situation. However, this study provides numerous recommendations to improve the current state of things by encouraging communicative practices in the classroom and real-life application of EFL, establishing strategic planning measures to overcome challenges like content overload, large classrooms, and so on.
Alharbi's review of the current state of teaching EFL (2019) gives an overview of the history of EFL in Saudi Arabia and how the teaching training programs and curricula have evolved. The study also emphasised other literature findings, which revealed current EFL training programs to be 'teacher-centred classrooms by the GTM' and advocated for a more student-centred approach. The study's findings align with the conclusions laid out by previous studies while investigating the mitigating factors of learning EFL. Besides, this study also suggests that teachers favour increased engagement. Yet, they find English language difficult, which has become a substantial barrier to meaningful progress.
The current study assumes more significance as it combines two pieces of literature to explore the teachers' perceptions regarding student-centred learning through four major attributes and by measuring the behaviours a group of EFL teachers exhibits in the Saudi EFL context.
METHODS
The study's primary objective was to explore the teachers' perceptions of four different attributes of effective student-centred learning through sets of observable EFL teachers' behaviour. The study follows a quantitative research approach to achieve its main objectives because the variables, which the study aims to explore, are measurable numerically (Bell, 2005; Creswell, 2012; Jacobs & Renandya, 2016).
Participants
In most quantitative survey research methods, researchers select a sample size that accurately represents the population after considering their inability to use the whole population as the sample (Tolmie et al., 2011). For this study, a total of 302 Saudi EFL teachers were selected to participate in the survey. The sampling technique was followed by purposeful sampling since the sampling was dependent on the participants' willingness to contribute to the study (Palinkas et al., 2015). The distribution of the sample was approximately equal. The variations of the participant teachers' profiles have been explained in Table 1 below:
Table 1
Distribution of the Sample
Gender School location School status Class size
Male Female Urban Rural Public Private < 30 30-50 >50
47% 53% 47% 53% 51% 49% 13% 57% 30%
Instrument
As explained in the literature review section, the instrument's theoretical construct covers two crucial areas: effective student-centred learning and observable behaviours exhibited
by EFL teachers that encourage effective language teaching. Four major attributes were identified from the two areas. Table 2 offers a brief overview of the constructs of the instrument.
Table 2
Conceptualisation of the Instrument
EFL teachers' observable behaviours Four attributes derived Elements of student-centred learning
(Bell, 2005) from literature (Jacobs & Renandya, 2016)
Assessment in FL teaching (8 items) Alternative assessment
assessment strategy
Corrective feedback (7 items) Focus on meaning
FL learning strategies (4 items) Students and teachers as co-learners
Theories about second language acquisition (5 items) Communicative approach Student-student interaction
Curricular integration
Teacher qualifications (7 items) Focus on meaning
Teachers' qualifications
Learner autonomy
Focus on form in classroom (10 items) Learning climate
Individual learner differences in FL learning (6 items) Group activities Diversity
Motivation
The instrument was chosen from the pre-existing literature (Bell, 2005). The instrument consists of 47 items. These 47 items appeared on the questionnaire randomly, not consistent with category. Participants were assured that their responses would be kept confidential. The original instrument used a 5-point Likert scale. However, in this study, after due consideration of the fact that the participant number was much smaller than in the original study, a 3-point Likert scale was adopted (He et al., 2020). The Likert scale was interpreted as - Disagree (value 1), Neutral (value 2), Agree (value 3).
Data Collection and Analysis
A targeted email list of EFL teachers was formulated through extensive research. An email campaign was set up using MailChimp and Getresponse to deploy an email campaign/ bulk messages to the generated contact list with a pre-de-signed email template, which contained a link to a Google Forms survey embedded in it as a call-to-action button. Willing participants responded to the email, and the survey was controlled when the target participant number was reached. To analyse data, Exploratory Factor Analysis was carried out to validate the constructs of the instrument. The results re-
vealed relevant constructs, as mentioned in the previous instrument. Correlation was measured to determine if there was any repetition of items, but the results showed no repetition. All items' loading was higher than 0.40, which is an acceptable load. JASP was used to carry out a descriptive and split case analysis. Besides, the final outputs were consolidated in Microsoft Excel to build figures and charts.
Validity and Reliability of the Instrument
The validity was established already in the published instrument. Additionally, Exploratory Factor Analysis showed the same constructs. The reliability was measured by Cronbach Alpha (Peters, 2018), the overall score of which was 0.906, indicating the instrument was reliable.
RESULTS
In this section, the data analysis of this study is presented based on the research questions. The study's preliminary results (table of item statistics and figure of overall responses and overall mean score) have been given in Appendix 1.
Teachers' Behaviours Regarding the Need for Continuous EFL Assessments in the Saudi EFL Context
Figure 1 below represents EFL teachers' behaviours towards addressing continuous assessment in the Saudi EFL context (EFL Assessment, corrective feedback).
Figure 1
Teachers' Behaviours towards Addressing Continuous EFL Assessment
The abovementioned figure shows the participants' high priority on providing immediate feedback to students as soon as they make a mistake in their language usage. This immediate feedback may be through verbal or nonverbal means of communication (items 24, 25). The participant EFL teachers also favour linguistic analysis to be applied to the target language (TL) (item 39). However, as the figure reveals, the participants are often unable to use the TL effectively (item 40).
In general, from the mean score analysis, it is pretty evident that the teachers had a positive attitude in general towards the usage of continuous EFL assessments (least value more than 2.2 out of 3 maximum). Nevertheless, the item analysis also reveals that the teachers were slightly less positive towards TL usage as the predominant method to teach EFL or even the introduction of different dialects of TL to their students.
When it came to determining the most effective student-centred approach to teaching EFL, a continuous assessment was used as an alternative assessment tool. The response of teachers towards alternative assessment through corrective feedback was rather positive. However, the impact on the student-centred approach was relatively low.
Teachers' Behaviours towards the Communicative Approach for Learning EFL
Figure 2 represents the behaviours of EFL teachers towards using a communicative approach for learning EFL in the Saudi context (Strategies for FL learning and theories about second language acquisition).
Figure 2
EFL Teachers' Behaviours towards Using the Communicative Approach
The figure above reveals that this study's participants heavily emphasised curriculum integration. Additionally, the participant teachers prioritised the inductive method for teaching English grammar (item 19), followed by thoroughly explaining the grammar rules before asking students to practice the relevant structure. This attribute reflects the communication between teachers and students, primarily in the participant teachers' classrooms. However, the participant teachers were also compassionate towards their students' understanding of the TL (item 17).
The concept of an effective student-centred learning environment requires teachers to appreciate and treat students like co-learners. The lowest teachers' perception was towards allowing students to complete a concrete task while
listening and reading the TL (item 28); indicating that they did not value student autonomy in the classroom. Nevertheless, teachers had a relatively higher perception of promoting the communicative approach for effective student-centred teaching (the least mean value was 2.35 with a maximum of 2.65).
EFL Teachers' Behaviours regarding Qualifications for the Accomplishment of Learning Objectives
Figure 3 represents the behaviours of EFL teachers regarding qualifications for the accomplishment of learning objectives (teachers' qualifications).
Figure 3
EFL teachers' Behaviours towards their Qualifications to Achieve Learning Objectives
The above figure paints a good picture regarding teachers' behaviour in student-centred teaching of EFL. The mean score was highest in this attribute. Participant teachers displayed a higher perception regarding technology-based exercises and even selected materials from the English language culture (item 42, 46). However, the participant teachers were found to have a less favourable opinion regarding everyday items as teaching aids (item 47) even though there was ample evidence to suggest that this technique could be advantageous in schools that lacked adequate resources.
Teacher quality is important in establishing a student-centred learning environment for teaching EFL. In this case, the findings reveal that teachers' ability to handle student-centred learning required appropriate training.
Teachers' Behaviours towards Using Group Activities for Effective EFL Learning
The following figure represents teachers' behaviours towards using group activities for effective learning of EFL (focus on form in classroom, individual learner differences in EFL learning).
Figure 4
Teachers' Behaviours towards Using Group Activities for Effective EFL Learning
This figure reflects that teachers acknowledge the diversity of their student population and consider it while teaching EFL (item 14). The participant teachers also actively promoted group activities, small group tasks, and assignments for properly disseminating the English language, especially regarding grammar. The teachers were less favourable when drafting strategic lesson plans for their students (item 1).
Given that the student-centred learning approach places a heavy emphasis on the students' motivation, diversity, and self-determination, the insights revealed by this figure show that the participant English teachers were quite open to the idea of engaging students in student-centred learning. Although the teachers did not welcome the integration of group activities into their language assessment tests (item 6), the data showed that participant teachers were open to the idea of group activities to teach EFL.
Figure 5
The Influence of EFL Teachers' Gender on their Behaviours for the Promotion of Student-centred Learning
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 0
Mean Value of female teacher responses Mean Value of male teacher responses
The influence of Gender, School Status, School Location, and Class Size on EFL Teacher's Behaviours towards Using Student-centred Approach
An independent-samples t-test statistical method was sued to figure out the difference. It was found that there are no statistically significant differences in teachers' perceptions in terms of their gender, school location (urban or rural), and school status (public or private). A one-way ANOVA test was used to determine the difference according to the class size variable (less than 30, having 30-50, or higher than 50). No significant difference was also found. Figure 5 represents EFL teachers' perspectives on using a student-centred approach based on their gender.
This figure reveals that there is not much variation in male and female teachers' behaviours which are encouraged to promote effective student-centred learning. However, in general, the female teachers positively responded towards promoting the four major attributes of effective student-centred learning. On the other hand, the male teachers failed to
prioritise the promotion of corrective behavioural aspects and consider student diversity aspects.
Figure 6 below represents the influence of school location - on teachers' Behaviours towards using a student-centred approach.
Figure 6
The Influence of School Location on EFL Teachers' Behaviours towards Promoting Student-centred Approach
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 IS 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 2S 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47
■ Mean response from sehools loeated in Urban Area Mean response from sehools loeated in Rural Area - IIojiiiHOMiicijibHas (Mean response from schools located in Urban Area)
The above figure shows that urban schools tilt towards learning compared to their counterparts from rural areas. a student-centred environment more than rural schools.
The participant English language teachers who hailed Figure 7 below represents school status's influence on from urban areas responded positively towards integrat- teachers' behaviours towards using a student-centred aping the four crucial attributes of effective student-centred proach.
Figure 7
The Influence of School Status on EFL Teachers' Behaviours towards Promoting Student-centred Approach
In general, the abovementioned figure reveals that the school's status has a minimal impact on teachers' behaviour to promote student-centred learning in teaching EFL. In most cases, the participant teachers from public schools had a statistically insignificant higher positive response. However, statistically speaking, the difference is negligible, as mentioned earlier.
Like the school's status, the class size also had minimal influence on teachers' behaviours towards promoting student-centred learning in EFL, as depicted in figure 8 below. However, in some cases, classes with a student count of more than 50 were found to have participant teachers who responded positively towards the idea of promoting group activities, tasks, and assignments compared to classes with 30-50 students or less than 30 students. Nevertheless, the statistical value also happens to be negligible in this case.
Figure 8
The influence of Class-size on EFL Teachers' Behaviours towards Promoting Student-centred Approach
DISCUSSION
The study seeks to understand the teachers' perceptions regarding the concept of effective student-centred learning by measuring their behaviours while teaching EFL with an emphasis on four major attributes in the Saudi EFL context, namely, EFL assessment strategy, the communicative approach to learning, teachers' qualifications, and group activities in teaching EFL (see Table 2). Moreover, the influence of variables such as gender, class size, school status and location on teachers' behaviours towards promoting student-centred approach in the Saudi EFL context have also been put under the lens in this study.
Although the thorough analysis of data shows that the existing teaching-learning method is a bit more teacher-centred practice than a student-centred one while teaching grammar as an example, the overall data gathered from the participants generally paints a positive picture of teachers' behaviours towards incorporating a student-centred approach in their classrooms.
On further analysis of the four major attributes, some concerning aspects have emerged out of this study. The first attribute is the EFL Assessment strategy. Continuous assessment practices are a major concern for student-centred learning environments (Aldawood, 2016). A promising result from this study revealed that the participant teachers responded positively to the idea of correcting errors made by students immediately when they occur, either through verbal or non-verbal communication methods (Figure 1, items 24-25). This reflects their position on immediate performance feedback for students actively engaged in-class activities, a traditional classroom practice. However, this fails to bolster the case for continuous EFL assessment since student participation may vary significantly depending on the circumstances. Students have higher anxiety levels while learning a foreign language, which also depresses their classroom participation levels (Alrabai, 2016). While academically-proficient students have higher participation rates in classroom activities, which give teachers more opportunities to correct their errors, low-performing students have lower participation rates. They do not have as many opportunities to be corrected by their teachers if they make errors. Another noteworthy aspect was the discouraging response the study's participants gave regarding their ability to use the TL competently (Figure 1, item 40). The possible reason behind teachers' failure to complete their TL may lay in content overload, which refers to the completion of a curriculum part within a time frame and their lack of strategic planning of time management. This finding was not particularly surprising as previous studies have talked extensively about the issue of content overload in the EFL curriculum, acting as a barrier to the proper dissemination of EFL teaching (Alrabai, 2016). However, strategic planning and proper time management practices are highly recommended by
existing literature for EFL teachers looking to complete their TL effectively in the Saudi EFL context (Al-Awaid, 2018).
Reflecting on the usage of a communicative approach in English classrooms for encouraging student-centred learning, teachers' responses to items (1, 6, 21, 28, and 40) show that the existing teaching-learning method is a more teacher-centred practice than a student-centred one while teaching grammar. Their responses to these items confirm that they lack priority in teaching English grammar with a constructive and interactive approach. However, the participant teachers were also open to the idea of explaining grammar using an inductive method that involved the usage of examples in explaining grammar rules (Figure 2, item 19). The participants also provided a contradictory responses when issuing concrete tasks and goals to students learning to read and write (Figure 2, item 28). This response indicates that the participant teachers did not hold a favourable view regarding the importance of learners' autonomy in language learning. Learners' autonomy is considered critical in encouraging a student-centred EFL teaching approach (Godwin-Jones, 2019; Murray & Lamb, 2017). The traits that are responsible for contradictory positions assumed by these teachers can be traced back to the traditional behaviourist approach, where the teachers are supposed to be the 'provider of the knowledge' and students are supposed to act as the 'passive receiver of the materials' (Aljohani, 2017). Again, this finding validates previous studies carried out in the Saudi EFL context, which indicates that teachers do not adequately appreciate the importance of providing autonomy to language learners in the classroom (Al-Awaid, 2018; Alrabai, 2016).
The qualifications held by the teachers have also been put under the lens in this study to determine their effect on creating a student-centred approach to teaching EFL in the context of Saudi Arabia. Previous studies already have an unsatisfactory view of the qualifications possessed by English teachers in the Saudi context (Al-Hazmi, 2003; Picard, 2018). However, in this study, the average response given by participant English teachers can be considered mediocre. This study indicates teachers' view regarding their own qualifications was not particularly encouraging - a finding that aligns with previous literature (Al-Zahrani & Rajab, 2017). The reason behind teachers' lack of perception and appreciation for their qualifications can be traced to their lack of self-actualisation, confidence and uncertainty about the responsibilities of their professional requirements. Recognition of one's capabilities and skills can be of uppermost importance for individuals. This enables them to accomplish their professional goals. Getting higher qualifications and having a variety of teaching skills are considered good signs of achieving self-actualisation because this will be positively reflected in their teaching techniques. For instance, qualified teachers recognise the effectiveness of applying Information Communication technology in their classrooms. In this study, a possible reason behind teachers assigning
such a low priority to this issue can be their overconfidence about ICT efficacy in education and the misconception that ICT integration is proportional to quality teaching (Figure 3, item 46-47). However, literature advocates the use of everyday materials. When considering students' motivation to learn EFL, the constructivist approach emphasises that making the concepts they learn more relevant to real life can motivate learners to be updated on their coursework (Aljohani, 2017).
The fourth attribute in this study was the teachers' perception of group activities for effective EFL teaching in a student-centred environment. It is irrefutable that group activities, tasks, assignments or even discussions can promote self-actualisation and self-determination among students from a humanist approach (Huitt, 2009). Such measures can positively impact students learning EFL (Al-Garni & Almu-hammadi, 2019; Alrayah, 2018; Ochoa et al., 2016). In this study, the participant teachers were considerably more positive toward the idea of promoting group activities in their EFL teaching after considering their students' circumstances (Figure 4, items 9-10). This finding, however, is opposed to the previous literature, where the findings indicate that teachers are lukewarm to the prospect of integrating group activities into their study (Alfares, 2017).
Nevertheless, English teachers in the Saudi context were also found to be lagging behind when creating lesson plans before teaching a lesson. It was the lowest recorded attribute found in this study (Figure 4, item 1). The reason behind this has already been explained in previous literature, where it had been attributed to the lack of appropriate teacher training on the importance of strategic lesson planning teaching EFL (Alharbi, 2019). Aside from this, content overload also restricts the teachers' time management abilities, who might have been interested in drafting proper lesson plans to implement in the classroom (Alrabai, 2016).
To explore more in depth shaping teacher perspectives on promoting a student-centred approach in teaching EFL, a group of important variables were analysed. These variables included gender (male, female), location of the school (urban, rural), the status of the school (public or Government funded, private) and class size (number of students less than 30, 30-50, and more than 50). Although multiple studies have emphasised these aspects' impact in teaching EFL (Alrabai, 2016), the study's findings indicate that these factors have an insignificant influence in shaping EFL teachers' perspectives. Even though these factors were deemed statistically insignificant for the most part, it should be noted that the female participant teachers had a slightly higher positive response towards promoting these four major attributes compared to their male counterparts, especially regarding corrective behaviour and student diversity. Concerning school location and status variables, it was found that participant English teachers from rural and private schools had a slightly more positive perception of promot-
ing the four major attributes to create a student-centred learning atmosphere. According to the class size variable, teachers with more than 30 students in their classrooms responded more positively toward group activities or small group tasks. This is not surprising, considering previous studies have also mentioned that gender, demography, status and class size impact language teachers' perception and their ability to teach EFL effectively in the Saudi context (Al-Awaid, 2018; Alrabai, 2016).
LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
This study has used the purposeful sampling technique, which means that it is not truly representative of the actual state of things in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Another limitation experienced in this study was the limited opportunity to review the responses submitted by teachers and examine them comprehensively through semi-structured interviews. The COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to carry out face-to-face interviews for qualitative case analysis. It is recommended that further studies on this subject be undertaken to explore the specific aspects revealed by the findings of this study to rationalise the results. Additionally, help can be sought from the government's education ministry by requesting a representative sample that accurately reveals the views held by EFL teachers across the country.
CONCLUSION
The study offered a general overview of EFL teachers' perceptions of encouraging a student-centred language learning process through the lens of four major attributes that measured the behaviour exhibited by a group of teachers in the Saudi EFL context. The literature identifies student-centred learning with elements such as alternative assessment, focusing on meaning, students and teachers as co-learners, student-student interaction, curricular integration, learner autonomy, learning climate, diversity and motivation. These elements were measured under the lens of teachers' observable behaviour, clustered under four common attributes between the two concepts: assessment strategy of EFL, the communicative approach to learning EFL, teachers' qualification for teaching EFL and group activities in teaching EFL. In general, from the data, it was inevitable that teaching grammar approaches showed the tendency to be undertaken in a teacher-centred approach. However, while teachers were found to be open to the idea of a student-centred approach, some aspects like using daily objects, preparation of lesson plans, and time management had a lot of room for improvement, which could be done by reducing course overload and offering adequate and appropriate training programs. Participatory teachers' perception of their qualifications was mediocre, which meant that the
qualification standards needed improvement. To satisfy the needs of the teachers, further studies need to be undertaken on this subject.
The role played by factors like gender, location and status of the school and class size in determining the teachers' perception regarding student-centred learning was also studied. Although the results were deemed statistically insignificant for the study, it should be noted that teachers whose student count was over 30 and teachers from private and
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DECLARATION OF COMPETING INTEREST
None declared.
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APPENDIX 1
Item Statistics
Item Statistics
Items:
In your opinion, the effective foreign language teacher
Mean
Std. Deviation
N
1. creates lesson plans that emphasise grammatical aspects of the TL.
2. teaches new complex language structures only after less complex structures have been introduced and practiced.
3. uses information gap activities (where students have to find out unknown information from a classmate or another source).
4 uses small groups to help learners experience a greater degree of involvement.
5 gives learners a time limit to complete small group activities.
6 bases at least some part of students' grades on their actual use of the TL.
7 bases at least some part of students' grades on completion of assigned tasks.
8 uses student-student role play situations from the beginning of elementary language instruction.
9 encourages students to express and discuss their needs and preferences for language learning.
10 adjusts learning activities to meet the needs of foreign language students with a variety of interests.
11 shows personal involvement in or enthusiasm for the TL and culture.
12 permits learners to select their own topics for discussion.
13 teaches foreign language students to use various learning strategies (i.e., self-evaluation, repetition, imagery, etc.).
14 varies learning activities of foreign language instruction depending on learners' ages.
15 uses activities and assignments that draw learners' attention to specific grammatical features.
16 uses activities where learners need to understand a certain grammatical feature to understand the meaning of spoken or written text.
17 simplifies his or her TL output so students can understand what is being said.
18 thoroughly explains new grammar rules before asking students to practice the relevant structure.
19 teaches grammar inductively (i.e., gives examples before grammatical rules).
20 teaches appropriate hesitation or other discourse strategies to help learners gain time in conversational exchanges.
21 exposes students to different varieties the TL.
22 requires students to practice unfamiliar grammatical forms or patterns in substitution or transformation exercises.
23 uses recasts (correct reformulations of students' speech) as a preferred method of corrective feedback.
24 corrects errors as soon as possible after they occur.
25 uses indirect cues or hints to signal errors to the learner (such as, asking them if they are sure their response is correct or using facial expressions or body language).
26 has students act out commands or engage in other physical activity given by the teacher to practice listening comprehension in the TL.
27 uses the TL as the predominant means of classroom communication.
28 provides learners with concrete tasks to complete while reading or listening to texts in the TL.
29 teaches foreign language students to use strategies to improve their vocabulary learning (e.g., memory devices or creating a mental image of the word).
30 presents grammar rules one at a time and has student practice examples of each rule before going on to another.
31 devotes class time to giving examples of cultural differences between target and student's native language use.
32 teaches idiomatic expressions and language routines to help learners successfully engage in conversations in the TL.
33 encourages learners to begin speaking in the TL only when they feel thev are ready to.
2.12 2.31
2.34
2.47
2.48 2.27 2.50 2.53
2.58
2.59
2.52
2.52 2.55
2.62
2.60
2.60
2.50
2.53
2.61 2.52
2.37
2.54
2.50
2.60 2.58
2.47
2.40 2.36
2.47
2.47
2.48 2.45 2.50
.604 .709
.752
.680 .656 .718 .598 .580
.558
.580
.625 .630 .601
.539 .536
.555
.581 .597
.559 .586
.698 .562
.630
.511 .558
.586
.653 .631
.586
.586
.551
.612
.575
302 302
302
302 302 302 302 302
302
302
302 302 302
302 302
302
302 302
302 302
302 302
302
302 302
302
302 302
302
302
302
302
302
Item Statistics
Items:
Mean Std. Deviation N
In your opinion, the effective foreign language teacher
34 encourages foreign language learners to speak in the TL beginning the first day of class. 2.46 .596 302
35 explains why learner responses are inaccurate when students make errors. 2.54 .550 302
36 allows students to write summaries or answer questions on reading or listening passages in English rather than the NL. 2.46 .562 302
37 grades spoken language production predominantly for grammatical accuracy. 2.52 .569 302
38 grades written language assignments predominantly for grammatical accuracy. 2.55 .531 302
39 understands the fundamentals of linguistic analysis (phonology, syntax) as they apply to the TL. 2.44 .600 302
40 uses the TL competently. 2.23 .726 302
41 provides opportunities for students to reinforce and further their knowledge of other disciplines through the foreign language. 2.48 .569 302
42 selects materials that present distinctive viewpoints that are available only through the foreign language and its cultures. 2.56 .510 302
43 provides opportunities for students to demonstrate understanding of the nature of language through comparisons of the TL and their own. 2.51 .533 302
44 provides opportunities for students to use the TL both within and beyond the school setting. 2.50 .592 302
45 teaches grammar deductively (i.e., gives grammatical rule before examples). 2.55 .531 302
46 integrates computer-aided instruction (e.g., computer-based exercises, email, the Internet, CD-ROM, etc.) into foreign language teaching. 2.57 .541 302
47 frequently uses authentic materials and realia (e.g., maps, pictures, artifacts, items of 2.46 .525 302
clothing, foods) to illustrate features of the TL and culture.
