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EFL TEACHER PREPARATION, TEACHER CONCEPTUAL FRAMES AND THE TASK OF IMPLEMENTING PEDAGOGICAL CHANGE: DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE TEACHER EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN TUNISIA Faiza Derbel VOLUME I Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of London Institute ofEducation January 2001 ABSTRACT This thesis exammes the links between the provision of English as a Foreign Language teacher education and development (EFL TED) and the current situation in Tunisia in a period of educational and curricular change. The study starts by examining issues at the macro level and explores the connection between economic re-structuring, educational policy and the role allocated to English within this reform period. It then describes EFL teacher education and features of the new English Language Teaching (ELT) curriculum in Tunisia. At the micro level, a semi­ structured interview is employed to explore the views of fifteen EFL teachers concerning their education, training and development and issues related to the implementation ofsome innovative aspects ofthe ELT curriculum. Qualitative analysis ofthe data uncovered areas oftension and ambiguity signalling a degree of incompatibility between the teachers' perceptions of learning, teaching and the teacher's role and the concepts underlying the intended ELT curriculum and the educational reform in general. I recommend some strategies that might resolve the mismatch. I suggest ways to strengthen the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) component at university level and to foster teacher reflection at the probationary phase and post-probationary phase. I argue that serious attention needs to be paid to the conceptual dimensions ofteaching by strengthening the education of teachers in the area ofcurrent issues in the profession and in general education. 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .i TABLE OF CONTENTS .ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS , '" vii ABBREVIATIONS viii CHAPTER ONE 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY 1 1.1 OUTLINE OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM 1 1.2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 4 1. 3 THE TUNISIAN CONTEXT: MATTERS ARISING 5 1.4 THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS 8 1.5 SUMMARY OF CHAPTERS INCLUDED , 9 CHAPTER TWO 11 MODELS AND PRACTICES IN TEACHER EDUCATION 11 2.1 INTRODUCTION 11 2.2 THE CRAFT MODEL 14 2.2.1 THE APPRENTICESHIP SYSTEM 15 2.2.2 MICRO-TEACHING 17 2.2.3 COMPETENCY-BASED TEACHER EDUCATION 22 2.3 THE 'HOLISTIC' MODEL OF TEACHER PREPARATION 25 2.4 THE ENQUIRY-ORIENTED MODEL 31 2.4.1 RESEARCH ON TEACHER THINKING 33 2.3.2 RESEARCH ON TEACHER DEVELOPMENT 37 2.4.3 THE TEACHER AS RESEARCHER IDEAL .43 2.3.3.1 THE TECHNICAL ASPECT 45 2.4.3.2 AR AND THE TED SYSTEMS IN PLACE 48 2.5 CONCLUSION 52 CHAPTER THREE 56 THE CONTEXT OF THE STUDY 56 3.1 THE COUNTRY, ITS PEOPLE AND THE LANGUAGE QUESTION 58 3.2 ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION 62 3.3 EDUCATIONAL TRANSFORMATIONS 69 3.3.1 WHERE WE HAVE COME FROM 71 3.3.2 THE AIMS OF THE 1991 REFORM 76 3.4 ENGLISH IN EDUCATION 78 3.4.1 PREVIOUS EFFORTS TO PROMOTE ENGLISH IN EDUCATION 79 3.4.2 PREVIOUS ELT CURRICULA 82 3.4.3 FEATURES OF THE 1996 ELT CURRICULUM 86 3.5 TEACHERS AND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CHANGE 89 CHAPTER FOUR 94 ASPECTS OF THE TEACHER EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM IN TUNISIA 94 4.1 THE TEACHER EDUCATION MODEL 94 4.2 THE INDUCTION OF NEWLY RECRUITED TEACHERS 100 4.3 THE 'FORMATION CONTINUE' 107 4.4 THE CASE OF EFL TEACHERS III 4.5 THE TRAINING PERSONNEL 115 111 4.6 CONCLUDING REMARKS 117 CHAPTER FIVE 120 RESEARCH PARADIGMS, THE RESEARCHER AND THE RESEARCH PROCESS 120 5.1 INTRODUCTION 120 5.2 POSITIVISM 123 5.3 ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVES, CRITERIA AND PROCEDURES 128 5.3.1 THEORY IS BUILT A POSTERIORI 128 5.3.2 RESEARCHER 'SUBJECTIVITY' 129 5.3.3 EMERGING RESEARCH CRITERIA 131 5.4 THE PRESENT STUDY 134 5.4.1 ONTOLOGICAL AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL POSITIONING 134 5.4.2 RESEARCH ETHICS 137 5.5 PROCESS AND PROCEDURES 138 5.4.1 MAPPING OUT THE FIELD 138 5.4.2 THE SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW AS A DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT 140 5.4.3 THE FIELDWORK 141 5.4.4 DEALING WITH THE DATA 145 5.4.5 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDy 148 CHAPTER SIX 150 TEACHERS' ACCOUNTS OF THEIR EDUCATION, TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT 150 6.1 THE PRE-TRAINING PHASE 151 6.1.1 VIEWS ON EX-TEACHERS 151 6.1.2 TEACHERS' IMAGES OF THEMSELVES AS LEARNERS .158 6.1.3 RECOLLECTIONS OF LEARNING IN THE TARGET CONTEXT 164 6.1.4 THE ATTESTED VALUE OF UNIVERSITY SUBJECTS 169 6.2 THE PROFESSIONAL TRAINING PHASE 177 6.2.1 THE 'DEMONSTRATION LESSON' 178 6.2.3 THE 'MEMOIRE DE FIN DE STAGE' 185 6.3 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND TEACHER GROWTH 188 6.3.1 PERCEPTIONS OF 'DEVELOPMENT' 189 6.3.2 PERCEPTIONS OF WAYS TO 'DEVELOP' 192 6.3.3 STATED 'DEVELOPMENT' INTERESTS 200 6.4 CONCLUDING REMARKS 205 CHAPTER SEVEN 208 CONTEXT-SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE FOR TEACHING ENGLISH IN TUNISIA 208 7.1 KNOWLEDGE BASE FOR TEACHING ENGLISH IN TUNISIA 209 7.1.1 LINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE AS A PRIORITy 209 7.1.2 PEDAGOGICAL KNOWLEDGE AS A PRIORITy 213 7.1.3 KNOWLEDGE OF THE CURRICULUM 220 7.1.4 KNOWLEDGE OF THE TEXTBOOKS 225 7.1.5 KNOWLEDGE OF TEACHING 'METHODS' 228 7.1.5.1 PERCEPTIONS OF 'METHOD' 229 7.1.5.2 PERCEPTIONS OF 'ECLECTICISM' 232 7.2 CONCLUDING REMARKS 241 CHAPTER EIGHT 244 CONCEPTIONS OF TEACHING AND ISSUES RELATED TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CLT PEDAGOGy 244 8.1 TEACHERS' CONCEPTION OF TEACHING 244 8.2 VIEWS ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PAIR/GROUP ACTIVITIES .253 8.2.1 REJECTION : 254 8.2.2 CAUTION 258 IV 8.2.3 ENTHUSIASM 259 8.2.4 AREAS OF TENSION 263 8.3 VIEWS ON TEACHING TO FOSTER LEARNER AUTONOMy 269 8.3.1 THE PRINCIPLE OF LEARNER AUTONOMY AND CLASSROOM PROCESSES 269 8.3.2 'INDEPENDENT LEARNING' OUT OF CLASS 274 8.4 CONCLUDING REMARKS 279 CHAPTER NINE 283 CONCLUSION 283 9.1 SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION OF THE MAJOR FINDINGS 283 9.2 SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 292 9.2.1 STRENGTHENING THE ELT COMPONENT AT UNIVERSITY .293 9.2.2 RENEWAL OF THE CURRENT IN-SERVICE EDUCATION SYSTEM .294 9.3 FACTORS TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT 301 9.4 ENGLISH IN THE COMMUNITy 303 9.5 A FINAL NOTE 304 BIBLIOGRAPHy 308 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES FIGURE 1.1: FRAMEWORK OF THE THESIS 10 FIGURE 2.1: CONCEPTUALISATION OF TE PARADIGMS IN TE IN THE UNITED STATES (BASED ON ZEICHNER 1983) 13 FIGURE 2.2: THE SIX-STEP MODEL OF MICRO-TEACHING (BASED ON GEDDES 1975) 18 FIGURE 2.3: THE COMPONENTS OF A TEACHER EDUCATION COURSE (BASED ON STREVENS 1977) 27 FIGURE 2.4: A MODEL OF ITE AS INPUT/OUTPUT (BASED ON STERN 1983) 28 FIGURE 2.5: THE PROCESS OF COURSE CONTENT SELECTION AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THEORY (BASED ON STERNI983) 29 FIGURE 2.6: MODEL OF TEACHER KNOWLEDGE (BASED ON GROSSMAN 1990) 37 FIGURE 2.7: THE ACTION RESEARCH PROCESS AS A LOOP PROCESS (BASED ON MCNIFF 1988) .45 TABLE 2.1: THE SHIFT IN THE TEACHER EDUCATION MODEL (BASED ON McNIFF 1993) .49 TABLE 3.1: PROBLEMS, CAUSES AND PROPOSED SOLUTION FOR THE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM (BASED ON WORLD BANK REpORT 1998) 68 TABLE 3.2: MAIN ASSUMPTIONS UNDERLYING METHODOLOGICAL RECOMMENDATIONS (BASED ON THE 1996 ELT CURRICULUM TEXT) 87 TABLE 3.3: PROFILE OF THE OUTGOING LEARNER AS STATED IN THE 1996 CURRICULUM 88 FIGURE 4.1: THE STRUCTURE OF THE EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN PLACE AT THE ENI UNTIL 1989 (BASED ON JERAD 1986) 95 FIGURE 4.2: NON-EN ROUTES TO PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHER STATUS INSTITUTED SINCE THE 1958 REFORM (BASED ON BOUSNINA 1991) 96 v FIGURE 4.3: THE TWO ROUTES TO SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHER STATUS (BASED ON MINISTRY OF EDUCATION 1981) , 97 TABLE 4.1: CURRENT STATED REQUIREMENTS AND PRACTICES (BASED ON CIRCULAR 49/95) 101 TABLE 4.2: THE 'DEFECT' AND THE 'GROWTH' VIEW OF TEACHER DEVELOPMENT (BASED ON RUBIN 1971) 110 TABLE 4.3: THE CORE CURRICULUM OF THE MAITRISE IN ENGLISH , 112 FIGURE 6.1: THE LEARNING EXPERIENCES EN ROUTE TO TEACHING 151 FIGURE 6.2: THE LINEAR PROCESS OF 'TRAINING' DURING THE FIRST PROBATIONARY YEAR (BASED ON N THE TEACHERS' ACCOUNTS) 182 FIGURE 6.3: THE RESEARCH PROJECT AS A LINEAR RESEARCH PROCESS 188 FIGURE 6.4: RE-CONSTRUCTION OF THE TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS OF 'PROFESSIONAL GROWTH' 189 TABLE 8.1: TEACHERS' DESCRIPTIONS OF THE 'SUCCESSFUL' LESSON 248 TABLE 8.2: ASSUMPTIONS UNDERLYING THE 'TRANSMISSION' AND 'INTERPRETATION' MODELS OF TEACHING/LEARNING (BASED ON KENNEDY 1991) 252 LIST OF APPENDICES APPENDIX 1.1: Growth in the EFL Teacher Population .335 APPENDIX 1.2: Sample ofa CBTE Performance Checklist 336 APPENDIX 3.1: Administrative Chart ofthe Ministry ofEducation in Tunisia 338 APPENDIX 3.2: Representation ofthe Streaming System after the 1958 Reform 339 APPENDIX 3.3: The Vocational Education System in the 1970s 340 APPENDIX 3.4: The 'Old' and the 'New' Structures ofthe Educational System in Tunisia 341 APPENDIX 3.5: Sample from Communicate in English, Level IV 342 APPENDIX 3.6: Sample from Communicate in English, Level IV 343 APPENDIX 3.7: Sample from Communicate in English, Level IV 344 th APPENDIX 3.8: Sample from Say it in English, 8 Year Basic Education (Pupil's Book) 345 APPENDIX 3.9: Sample from Say it in English 9th Year Basic Education (Pupil's Book) 346 APPENDIX 4.1 List ofTeachers' Competencies (Arabic Text and Translation) 347 VI APPENDIX 4.2 Circular 49/95 (Arabic text and translation) .351 APPENDIX 4.3 Sample ofTraining Schedule 361 APPENDIX 4.4: Supervisory Visit Report Form 362 APPENDIX 4.5: Sample of ,Memoire' Topics 364 APPENDIX 4.6: Sample ofa Maftrise Syllabus 365 APPENDIX 4.7: Programme of a Regional Seminar for EFL Teachers 369 APPENDIX 5.1: Covering Letter Sent to Participants with Transcripts 370 APPENDIX 5.2: Schedule ofInterview with Mr Ennaifar.

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