Teaching global English in a local context: teachers’ realities in Mongolian public schools

The implementation of English as a compulsory subject in Mongolia: EFL teachers’ perceptions and experiences

“…However, there is a gap between the policy at the macro level and practice at the micro level as revealed in this study like in some Asian countries (Kirkpatrick and Liddicoat, 2019;Low, 2022). Extending the study of Marav et al (2022), this study further depicts other challenges both public and private school English teachers faced not only at school setting but also beyond school setting.…”

“…During the interview, 17 of the 30 public school teachers and 9 out of 13 private school teachers pointed out their excessive workload as one of the major challenges that they have experienced in schools. As the shortage of qualified English teachers has been a continuing issue in Mongolia (Cohen, 2004;Marav et al, 2022), many Mongolian English teachers have experienced large classes and high teaching hours. While the required teaching hours for Mongolian English teachers are 19 hours per week, most of the teachers during the interview said that they instruct up to 25 hours per week.…”

“…Its main goal was to redesign national curriculum standards and provide adequate teacher training and teaching resources for both in-service and pre-service English Forum for Linguistic Studies (2023) Volume 5, Issue 1 teachers in Mongolia. In recent years, the Mongolian government has actively worked to ensure the quality of English education in public school settings by standardizing curriculum and evaluation tools and increasing the availability of digital technologies for English teaching and learning (Marav et al, 2022). While the Mongolian government has attempted to improve the quality of English education, the combination of these challenges has placed Mongolian English teachers in a precarious position, one in which they must actively navigate policy implementation in schools having large student populations and limited budgets and resources (Marav et al, 2022).…”

“…Despite the nationwide emphasis on English language learning and teaching in Mongolia, little research has examined the experiences of and challenges to Mongolian English teachers in launching nationwide English education while introducing English as a mandatory subject. The recent study by Marav et al (2022) revealed that English teachers in public schools face challenges related to inadequate teaching and learning resources, poor textbook quality and teachers' lack of English proficiency. Thus, expanding their study, this study aims to explore English teachers' perceptions of and attitudes 1 toward teaching English as a mandatory language in Mongolia and the challenges they encounter not only within but also outside of schools.…”

Mongolian Pre-Service English Teachers’ Voices about Their Teaching Practicum Experiences

“…This public-private education divide in accessing good-quality English language education in Mongolia is exacerbated by the realities in public school education. For instance, a recent study [11] on English language education in 17 public schools in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia, indicated that English teachers face a variety of challenges, including large class sizes, limited teaching materials and resources, lack of professional development opportunities, and frequent changes of textbooks. These studies and the previously mentioned statistics on university entrance exam results clearly show that there is a divide in accessing good-quality English language education in Mongolia depending on educational infrastructure and resources, students' socio-economic status, and the shortage of high-quality English teachers.…”