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Effective foreign language teaching : a Greek case study

Effective foreign language teaching : a Greek case study
Effective foreign language teaching : a Greek case study

The subject of this thesis is to investigate the classroom practices which are typically judged as effective by professionals, and to what extent Greek EFL teachers are using them effectively. This is attempted first of all through a review of the general literature on teacher effectiveness, related to current theories of language teaching.

Recent theories on language acquisition and the nature of communicative competence have important implications for classroom practice, and provide the basis for developing a `normative' model of effective teaching (conceptualised as `communicative' language teaching).

A number of case studies of Greek EFL teachers were conducted. Classroom observation was the main element of each case study, and COLT as a systematic observation instrument was revisited and employed as the main classroom data gathering procedure for the study of CLT, supplemented with teacher interviews and contextual data, which was collected from pupils and institutions.

Given the dearth of descriptive studies of EFL teaching in Greece, the main concern of this project is to present and discuss the extent to which the typical classroom practices of these teachers, judged as `effective' by their fellow professionals and superiors, conforms to the CLT model, and what the professional influences are which have contributed substantially to greater and lesser degrees of `effectiveness', as well as what the contextual factors are which have shaped their classroom behaviour.

Finally, conclusions relevant to teacher education, training, and the upgrading of more teachers to `effective' levels of practice are drawn, and suggestions are presented and discussed to assist policy makers in their decisions towards this direction.

In spite of the fact that very little research is at present taking place in Greece, it is hoped that the results of this study will be the starting point to further empirical research.

University of Southampton
Zotou, Vasiliki
8c23b365-648c-4b57-9f07-b33633dab720
Zotou, Vasiliki
8c23b365-648c-4b57-9f07-b33633dab720

Zotou, Vasiliki (1993) Effective foreign language teaching : a Greek case study. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

The subject of this thesis is to investigate the classroom practices which are typically judged as effective by professionals, and to what extent Greek EFL teachers are using them effectively. This is attempted first of all through a review of the general literature on teacher effectiveness, related to current theories of language teaching.

Recent theories on language acquisition and the nature of communicative competence have important implications for classroom practice, and provide the basis for developing a `normative' model of effective teaching (conceptualised as `communicative' language teaching).

A number of case studies of Greek EFL teachers were conducted. Classroom observation was the main element of each case study, and COLT as a systematic observation instrument was revisited and employed as the main classroom data gathering procedure for the study of CLT, supplemented with teacher interviews and contextual data, which was collected from pupils and institutions.

Given the dearth of descriptive studies of EFL teaching in Greece, the main concern of this project is to present and discuss the extent to which the typical classroom practices of these teachers, judged as `effective' by their fellow professionals and superiors, conforms to the CLT model, and what the professional influences are which have contributed substantially to greater and lesser degrees of `effectiveness', as well as what the contextual factors are which have shaped their classroom behaviour.

Finally, conclusions relevant to teacher education, training, and the upgrading of more teachers to `effective' levels of practice are drawn, and suggestions are presented and discussed to assist policy makers in their decisions towards this direction.

In spite of the fact that very little research is at present taking place in Greece, it is hoped that the results of this study will be the starting point to further empirical research.

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Published date: 1993

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 462454
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/462454
PURE UUID: 7a759fae-e204-49ed-9861-cf8781bae592

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Date deposited: 04 Jul 2022 19:08
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 18:56

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Author: Vasiliki Zotou

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