Evaluation of EFL teachers’ knowledge bases and classroom practice: upper primary schools

Abstract

The study was conducted to assess and evaluate the upper primary English teachers’ status of content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and classroom practice. The factors that affected a classroom practice were explored in three dimensions: the students’ factors, the teachers’ factors, and the institutional factors. Mixed method approach was employed to triangulate numeric and textual data obtained through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. There were a total of 158 participants from which the sample size was determined. Considering the population size, comprehensive sampling technique was implemented to gather numeric data. For textual data collection, purposive sampling was employed. The data obtained through the questionnaires were analyzed with percentage, mean, standard deviation, correlation, one-way analysis of variance, and post hoc test. The interview data were analyzed thematically. Accordingly, the results revealed that the participants had poor content knowledge whereas their classroom practice was relatively the highest. They held moderate pedagogical knowledge in assessing students’ performance whereas they owned inadequate knowledge in classroom management and organization. They had intermediate pedagogical content knowledge in designing the instructional objectives and the context of learning environment, but their knowledge of students’ understandings and misapprehensions of a lesson was inadequate. The correlation analysis indicated that there was strong and positive relationship between content knowledge and classroom practice. Conversely, pedagogical content knowledge and classroom practice did not correlate completely. The problems of the teachers’ classroom practice were raised from the students’, the teachers’, and the school factors. The students’ factors were found to be the most to hamper EFL teachers’ classroom practice and it was followed by the teachers’ and then the school factors. Overall, the participants were not responsible for their careers since their status of knowledge bases and classroom practice were inadequate to practice the EFL curriculum successfully and to achieve the desired goals.

Keywords:

• Content knowledge
• pedagogical knowledge
• pedagogical content knowledge
• classroom practice
• EFL teachers

REVIEWING EDITOR:

• Sammy King Fai Hui, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

SUBJECTS:

• Teachers & Teacher Education
• Classroom Practice
• Language Teaching & Learning

Data availability statement

All data supporting this study are available from the corresponding author.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval statement

The participants’ involvement in data collection was based on their consents. The confidentiality of the study was prioritized to protect the privacy of the participants.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no direct funding for this study.

Notes on contributors

Tadesse Hirpa

Tadesse Hirpa is a PHD candidate at Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia. He pursued his D.Ed. and M.Ed. in TEFL from the same university. Following his graduation, he began working at Gilgel Beles College of Teacher education as a lecturer. After serving some years at Gilgel Beles CTE, he has been pursuing his PHD degree at Bahir Dar University. He wrote national third grade students’ English textbook and modules for colleges of teacher education in collaboration with ministry of education. He conducted the researches on mother tongue literacy skills, analysis of students’ common errors in paragraph writing, and teachers’ professional practices and challenges. He has developed the introduction, methodology, collected data, and analyzed the results of the current study. His research interest is laid in advanced EFL teaching methods and integrated language teaching skills. Tadesse was the corresponding author of this study. He can be contacted at email address: [email protected]

Birhanu Simegn

Birhanu Simegn attained Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Foreign Language Teacher Education at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, from 2009 to 2012. With a robust skill set that includes science, university teaching, qualitative research, statistics, higher education, and more, he has contributed valuable insights to the industry. There are several research reports, book chapters, books, and journal articles he has published in this field. Nowadays, he is the coordinator of doctor of education at Bahir Dar University in the research industry and has a title of Associate Professor. Dr. Birhanu was the major advisor and the second author of this study. He gave constructive comments, professional support, and guidance for the accomplishment of the study. He exerted efforts by editing and revising the entire sections of the study. He is accessible at email: [email protected]

Dawit Amogne

Dawit Amogne attended Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) major in communication, English, philosophy, and business at Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia, from 2010 to 2014. He has worked at different administrative positions at Bahir Dar University. He currently works at Addis Ababa University in the research industry and has a title of Associate Professor. He is senior researcher. His teaching experience includes various graduate and undergraduate courses. There are several research reports, book chapters, books, and journal articles he has published in this field. Dr. Dawit was the co-advisor and third author of this study. He is available at email address: [email protected]

Meseret Getnet

Meseret Getnet has a doctoral degree in Teaching English as a Foreign Language with 15 years of experience at Bahir Dar University. She is a dynamic TEFL scholar with a keen interest in language teaching, mentoring students and developed course materials, including, module, textbooks, course guide books and exams. Her research interest is on classroom language, written discourse and oral feedback. She is motivated to learn, grow and excel in the field of language teaching practice and committed to helping students accomplish academic goals. Dr. Meseret was the co-advisor and the fourth author of this study. She gave immediate and constructive feedback throughout the study. She is reached at email: [email protected]