Analysing teacher agency in an ELT competency-based BA programme in Mexico, a case study.

Abstract

Globalisation has impacted different sectors of society, including education. There is no doubt that Competency-Based Education (CBE) has emerged due to the global economy's changes and affected the educative programs as a domino effect. Therefore, language programs have also been adapted to this model, and the term Competency-Based Language Teaching (CBLT) has emerged. However, it is essential to understand how these neoliberal policies have impacted education, especially teachers' agency. Overall, teachers are the ones who have the final say in the decision-making about the activities performed in classrooms. I focus on teachers' agency to get a closer view of how these policies influence education. Teachers are recognised as agents in learning and teaching processes with the capability to operate within their environment. (Kalaja et al., 2015). Thus, "agency is not only concerned with what is observable, but it also involves not visible behaviours, beliefs, thoughts and feelings; all of which must be understood in relation to the various context and affordances from which they cannot be abstracted" (Mercer, 2012, p. 42). This qualitative case study aims to analyse teacher agency under the CBLT model implemented in a B.A. of English Language Teaching in a state university in the Northwest region of Mexico. The main interest is to know how teachers deal with this model in classrooms and the dynamics that evolve from this top-down policy implementation. I collected data through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and a collection of student learning outcomes. The methodology for data analysis was adjusted, using as a base Jäger and Maier (2016) approach to interpretation. Such a method takes critical discourse analysis theoretical foundations by observing the ideological route that could influence discourses. I developed an empirical methodology to focus on how CBLT political ideologies permeate the classroom through teachers’ practices. The results reveal that teacher agency is hindered by imposed external systems in the CBLT classroom and provide relevant information about how the university struggles to adapt and comply with the educative indicators. Overall, this study presents the challenges teachers face while implementing the CBLT model within the actual conditions of the Mexican educative system.

More information

Identifiers

ORCID for Darren Paffey: orcid.org/0000-0003-2709-8012

Catalogue record

Export record