Looking through the Lenses of Non-Native English Teachers: Native English Trainers in the Pro-ELT Programme

Abstract

The world has held a strong predisposition towards native English-speaking teacher trainers in an endeavour to leapfrog the competencies of non-native English-speaking teachers. In the Malaysian context, realizing the acute decline in English proficiency among English teachers, the Ministry of Education recruited native English-speaking trainers through the implementation of an in-service training programme or better known as Pro-ELT (Professional Up-skilling for English language teachers). However, there have always been mixed results in regard to the outcomes of the Pro-ELT Programme. To this view, the study employed individual semi-structured interviews which were conducted with 5 Pro-ELT programme participants. The findings illuminated that all the study participants held positive perceptions of their native English-speaking trainers in the Pro-ELT Programme mainly because of their competencies, exemplary qualities and the confidence that they cultivated in the participants to communicate in English. Nevertheless, there is clamour for the recruitment of local trainers to better optimize the impact of the Pro-ELT Programme. Implications of the study and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

Prospects and Challenges of ELT at a Glance

“…Many steps can be made to address the issues that teachers and students are having with ELT. Creating an approachable ELT policy that is reassuring to all ELT experts is the first and most important action that can be taken to address the issue (Sukri & Yunus, 2018). Therefore, the policy that the government of Nepal formulates should be friendly to ELT professional and if such can be done, the prospect of English language can be made more productive throughout the nation.…”

A Proposed Conceptual Framework: Unlocking a Potential Approach to Evaluating In-Service Teacher Training Programme

“…Even though the programme has been in existence for quite a number of years, very little research has been conducted to highlight the efficacy of the Pro-ELT Programme in improving English teachers' proficiency level. Thus far, research conducted has offered a micro view of the programme and mostly centred on mere perceptions (Eshtehardi, 2014;Kaur, 2015;Nor et al, 2018;Sukri & Yunus, 2018a;Sukri & Yunus, 2018b) without highlighting measurable outcomes or tangible results with the exception of the study by Sukri and Yunus (2018c). In fact, most evaluative studies have long been focused on distal measures (perceptions) without much emphasis on proximal measures (Seidel & Shavelson, 2007).…”