The competencies and performance of english teachers and first year students achievment and afor a prttitude basis for a proposed instructional plan

THE COMPETENCIES AND PERFORMANCE OF ENGLISH TEACHERS AND FIRST YEAR STUDENTS ACHIEVEMENT AND ATTITUDE: BASIS FOR A PROPOSED INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of

THE COMPETENCIES AND PERFORMANCE OF ENGLISH TEACHERS AND FIRST YEAR STUDENTS ACHIEVEMENT AND ATTITUDE: BASIS

FOR A PROPOSED INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN

A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of Graduate School

Batangas State University

Batangas City, Philippines

In partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

Major in English

By Nguyen Thi Dieu Ha (Bella)

December, 2014

APPROVAL SHEET

This dissertation entitled THE COMPETENCIES AND PERFORMANCE OF ENGLISH TEACHERS AND FIRST YEAR STUDENTS ACHIEVEMENT AND ATTITUDE: BASIS FOR A PROPOSED INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN

prepared and submitted by NGUYEN THI DIEU HA in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy major in English has been examined and is recommended for Oral Examination

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

TABLE OF CONTENTS ii

LIST OF TABLES iv

LIST OF FIGURES vi

CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM 1

Introduction 1

Scope, limitation and delimitation of the study 10

Significance of the study 11

II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES 13

Conceptual literature 13

English language Instruction 13

English Language Instruction 35

Related Studies 75

Theoretical Framework 102

Conceptual Framework 107

Hypothesis of the study 109

Definition of Terms 109

III METHODOLOGY 111

Research Design 111

Subject of the study 112

Data gathering instrument 113

Data gathering procedure 113

Statistical treatment of data 114

IV PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA 115

V SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 160

Summary 160

Findings 162

Conclusions 167

Recommendations 169

BIBLIOGRAPHY 170

APPENDIX 176

CURRICULUM VITAE 191

LIST OF TABLES

Table Title Page

1.Distribution of samples by Colleges 112

2.1 Competencies of English Faculty of TNU in terms of Subject Matter

3 Difference of Responses on Teachers’ Performance and Level of

Competence 140

4 Students’ Level of Performance in Basic English 143

5 Attitudes towards English Language 144

6 Relationship Between Attitude of Students and 150

7 Level of Performance in English 150

8 Instructional Plan to Facilitate Teaching and Learning 152

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Title Page

1 Conceptual Paradigm of the study 108

CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM

Introduction

Quality education is first and foremost a function of instruction, because in the hands of uncommitted and ineffective teachers, the best-designed curriculum is doomed to fail While it is true that some students can learn in spite of the teacher, it cannot be denied that the quality of the outputs of education is a function, to a great extent, of instruction and students’ interaction with the teachers

Teachers who are masters of their craft and are genuinely concerned with the total growth of their students can leave an indelible imprint in the hearts and minds of the learners that can withstand the passage of time Teaching expertise is ordinarily attained by only a small percentage of those who are competent in teaching (Berliner, 1992 in Reyes, 2002)

Nothing is more central to student learning than the quality of the teacher He is the most important education factor influencing student outcomes and his far reaching influence as agent of constructive change in

society cannot be questioned His influence on student achievement is inarguable These observations stem from the findings of previous researchers who posited that the quality of the teacher could account for a significant amount of variance in student achievement (Hua:2010; Goldhaber:2002; Frost Leo in Hua:2010)

Teacher competencies which deal with what the teacher does while teaching include behaviors related to student achievement which were referred to in a separate publication as key and catalytic behaviors Subsequent analysis showed two behaviors consistently related with student achievement namely task orientation or direct instruction, and opportunity to learn oftentimes referred to as academic time, engaged time

or content covered

It was also found that to increase student achievement scores, a teacher should use strong classroom management, possess high expectations for students, and maintain an optimal level of learning difficulty Teachers who were accepting, attentive, aware of developmental needs, consistent in controlling classes, democratic, encouraging, tolerant

of race and class, flexible, and optimistic were also found to be successful There were other models developed both by foreign and local researchers

who identified teacher behaviors that correlate strongly with student outcomes

It is evident that teachers have the greatest potential to influence students’ education, and that student achievement is related to teacher competence in teaching There is sufficient evidence that shows that students achieve more when teachers employ systematic teaching procedures and systematic feedback on students’ performance and that achievement is higher in classrooms where the climate is warm and democratic, neither harsh nor overly lavish with praise and that teachers who adjust the difficulty level of material to student ability have higher rates

of achievement in their classes (Kemp & Hall, 1992 in Goldhaber, 2003) These studies confirm that teachers have a greater impact on students than any other schooling factor and that there is no substitute for a highly skilled teacher

No one can deny the fact that the role of the teacher is crucial in establishing a culture of learning There have been so many factors considered in making a teacher effective and efficient in this complex endeavor One of the most important and complex issue in education is on teacher evaluation and professional growth since no answer yet has been

given as to the best ways to meet the growth needs of the teachers It is also a sad fact that many intellectual, emotional, spiritual and physical demands are placed on teachers as they seek appropriate resources, teaching methods, and assessment techniques to make learning meaningful for each student For most teachers, the job becomes emotionally draining especially if done with intensity, passion and love

Generally, all teachers pass in sequence from pre-service stage into the induction stage of their careers Those that remain in the profession, stand to branch off into one of the several stages beyond the induction These include (a) the competency-building stage, (b) the enthusiastic and growing stage, (c) the stable and stagnant stage, (d) the career-frustration stage, and (e) the career wind-down stage

With this reality, the development of the teacher as a professional becomes the key to a successful learning culture within a school Since quality teaching demands a continuous monitoring of performance and a commitment to view professional development as a career-long enterprise, preparation for teaching also becomes a career long process Undoubtedly, part of this process is the continuous professional growth teachers are expected to commit themselves so that they may become

open to new information and approaches as they monitor changes in their personal and professional environments

From the early 1900s to the late ‘50s, research on teaching focused

on teacher effectiveness Traits and attributes most and least preferred of teachers by students, teacher educators and school administrators were identified Attributes of most-liked teachers included enthusiasm, adaptability, good judgment, magnetism, fairness, kindness and love, ability to teach and counsel, consideration, open-mindedness, consistency, sense of humor, pleasing personality and good grooming The least liked teachers were perceived as unfair, aloof, arrogant, bossy, irritable, cranky, and boring They reportedly had no sense of humor, insulted students and did not allow for freedom of expression (Reyes, 2002)

However, in the ‘60s and ‘70s, researchers realized that studies on teaching effectiveness could not be confined to the narrow dimension of teacher traits or attributes This dimension did not consider teaching practices, and gave the impression that teachers are born Consequently, researchers’ attention that shifted to the identification of classroom teaching practices that differentiated effective from ineffective teachers Researchers sat in classes a couple of times during the school year then

documented, with the use of observation instruments, how teachers conducted classroom instruction The frequencies of occurrences of teaching practices - such as observing wait-time in questioning, giving feedback, using praise, keeping students on task and using varied teaching methodologies- were averaged across observations and correlated with teaching outcomes, usually measured by students’ scores

in standardized tests These efforts characterized the so-called product” studies, which established the conclusion that differences in learning may be attributed to differences in teachers’ technical skills and teaching practices Teachers who are flexible in implementing different teaching methodologies were described as more effective than those who were rigid or who employed one teaching method long after its particular contribution that had been utilized effectively The former were referred to

“process-as cognitive flexible teachers: teaching approach w“process-as needed Students’ active engagement in to the growing list of effective teaching practices (Rosenshine & Berliner, 1978; Shulman, 1986 in Reyes, 2002) Compared with their less effective peers, the more effective teachers were described

as being more organized in teaching, spending more time in active instruction and student-teacher discourse, and placing more emphasis on

mastery learning They had greater rapport with students, paid more attention to students’ individual differences, taught with greater enthusiasm and demonstrated better communication and motivation skills

Salomon supported that the need for students’ active involvement in learning is based on his descriptions of responsible teaching For him (Salomon), responsible teaching involves the proper carrying out of the role of the teacher as an orchestrator catering to different students (Salomon, 1992 in Reyes, 2002) It entails assuming responsibility for the learning process and outcomes, while at the same time judiciously shifting this responsibility to students Salomon further views responsible teaching

as the serious consideration, selection and design (as contrasted with mindless adoption) of instructional means, activities, tasks, and the like in the light of normative and moral criteria

For Shulman (in Reyes, 2002), the professional knowledge of expert teachers goes beyond subject matter mastery These teachers know varied generic teaching strategies applicable across disciplines They are familiar with the curriculum materials appropriate for the subjects they handle, as well as with the special techniques suited to particular groups of learners and lessons They are aware of different settings for learning, and

are fully acquainted with goals and objectives of teaching Expert teaches have “elaborate system of knowledge” Precisely, the quality of this knowledge differentiates them from their colleagues, (Peterson & Comeaux, 1989 in Reyes, 2002) In addition, their vast depository of knowledge is so well-organized that they can make adaptations for any given classroom situation or need (Galton, 1989 in Reyes, 2002)

Shulman asserts that “teaching is and has always been at the center

of all education and educational reform” Thus, any research that focuses

on teaching is significant, especially if it provides an empirical base that can guide policy action on teachers and teaching (Reyes, 2002)

It is in this light that this study will be undertaken The main concern

of the study is to determine if the teaching competencies of teachers evidenced through their teaching performance have any significant relationship with the students’ achievement The study is limited to the teachers at Thai Nguyen University teaching General education courses Student achievement is limited to the final average obtained by the student

in the subjects wherein he is enrolled during the school year 2013 – 2014

This study is deemed beneficial to the school managers who through the findings will gain a better understanding of the importance of

the evaluation of teachers’ performance and thus guide them in formulating policies and programs that will respond to the teachers’ needs and contribute to the teachers’ teaching effectiveness The teachers themselves will be motivated to demonstrate the desired competencies that contribute to successful teaching; thus, they will produce better outputs in terms of academic achievement which in turn may qualify them for recognition by the school management The study will also add to the present knowledge on the areas of teaching performance and teaching effectiveness and inspire other researchers to conduct further studies on teaching performance and student achievement using other correlates such as board examination results

Statement of the problem

As a teacher at the English Department, School of Foreign Languages - Thai Nguyen University, the researcher realized the fact that students have a lot of problems concerning their English language learning It is true that they have twelve periods of English a week and teachers are alert to help them with their problems

This research is designed to improve the students’ achievement in English specifically it will seek to answer the following questions:

1 What is the level of teachers’ instructional performance in terms of:

1.1 subject matter expertise

1.2 classroom management expertise

Scope, Delimitation and Lmitation of the study

This study will attempt to determine if a significant relationship exists between the teachers’ instructional performance and the students’

academic achievement Specifically it will seek to describe the level of teachers’ instructional performance in terms of the following competencies: subject matter expertise, classroom management expertise, instructional expertise, communication expertise, diagnostic expertise and relational expertise

It will also seek to describe the level of the student achievement in terms of their final averages in the general education and professional subjects and determine if a significant relationship exists between the teachers’ instructional performance and the students’ academic achievement

Finally, the study will identify which of the teachers’ competencies appears to be the best predictor of student achievement Based on the findings of the study, the researcher will propose measures to enhance the teachers’ teaching effectiveness

Subject research participants of the study

This study is deemed significant to the following:

To the subject research participants, TNU teachers of Foreign Languages, for they can have the chance to evaluate their own

performance based on the identified domains and likewise realizes their own strengths and weaknesses

To the school administrators, the findings of this investigation can serve as basis in coming up with plans to institutionalize some standardized self-evaluation instrument that will address the specific needs

of the teaching force

To the Human Resource and Management Department, the result of this study can serve as guide in their future plans to modify some existing teacher’s assessment instrument and likewise come up with a more appropriate and relevant training programs for teachers

To the curriculum planners, for they can solicit the assistance of the subject research participants to provide inputs for any proposed curriculum development since they are the ones directly involved in implementing any future curricular program of the school

And lastly, to the students of Thai Nguyen University, who are direct stakeholders of education, since any improvement in the teachers’ proficiency can likewise enhance the students’ achievement

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter presents the relevant literature, studies and concepts which are essential in the development of conceptual framework in providing directions for the study

Conceptual literature

English language Instruction

It has been said that teaching is the noblest and the most important profession in the world Teaching is especially important to the nation because teaching is building the builders of the nation No one can claim that he has no passed through the hands of a teacher or teachers

Teaching is a big business, only a small part goes to lecturing or directing students Giving assignments to students, supplying them with instructional materials and other reference materials, administrating tests and scoring them to solve mathematical problems, or to write themes or compositions and countless other activities are all parts of teaching

Thus, a teacher has to be expert in his craft in order to provide rich learning materials and activities to make the students learn and absorb knowledge and other aspects of learning in greater quantity and quality It

is imperative then that the kind of citizens that the country will have tomorrow depends much on the kind of teachers we have today

What factors make one a good teacher? First, he must be fully qualified educationally and he must have professional qualifications, instructional competencies, skills and professional characteristics to be a good teacher A good teacher must have (1) mastery of the subject matter; (2) mastery of the methods, strategies, approaches and techniques of teaching; (3) mastery of the medium of instruction; (4) mastery of lesson planning and organizing instructional materials; (5) knowledge of psychology of learning; (7) skills of classroom management including discipline; (8) mastery of measurement and evaluation; (10) mastery of the art of questioning; and (11) mastery of the basics of guidance and counseling (Calderon:1998)

This list of instructional competencies of a good teacher is but one aspects of good teaching Another aspect that is worth mentioning is the personal characteristics such as intelligence, punctuality and enthusiasm,

good physical and mental health, loyalty and commitment, respect for the dignity of the individual, fair level of tolerance, firmness and impartiality, adaptability, alertness, resourcefulness, creativity, appropriate grooming, clean sense of humor, good professional and human relations, good moral and ethical character, desiring to grow professionally, love for children, and observance of the Code of Ethics

According to Lardizabal, et al (1991), teaching is the most technical, difficult and challenging profession This was also the point raised by Calderon (1998), although not specifically mentioned is the term difficult In the point of view of Lardizabal, a good teacher must know his tasks because experiences of successful teachers have shown that the teachers’ job is not confined solely to the transmission of knowledge and information because according to her some modern technological devices such as teaching machines, television, films, and computers can already do that

The teacher’s role in the improvement of instruction cannot be taken for granted particularly in this era of unprecedented changes Expansion of knowledge in the twentieth century has been so rapid, and the rate of obsolescence so swift that much of the knowledge acquired by teachers during pre-service period may be quickly outmoded like “… advancements

in psychology on learning, in human growth and development, in teaching and methods, and is provisions for continuous development.”

Sauders (1990) stated that to be truly good teaching colleges, the school must have faculty members who are good teachers Good teachers are those who are experts in pedagogy on how to teach, are experts in their discipline The excellent academic community must recognize the dimensions of and the importance of the scholar-teacher and provide opportunities for and encourage participation in scholarly activities, while continuing to emphasize excellence in teaching program being essential to quality instruction

An instruction includes five components, namely:

 Communicating Clearly and Accurately: This pertains to

teacher’s ability to (1) ensure that all policies and procedures and regulations are well understood by every student; (2) communicate with different kinds of people and

to use various techniques of determining whether or not his/her message id correctly picked up; (3) get across his/her message in both oral and written communication;

and (4) develop a media which best suits the level of intended receiver of communication

 Using Questioning and Discussion Techniques: To further

enrich the learning of the students, the teacher should provide a quality question that will stimulate the critical thinking of the students This component also includes the techniques being utilized by the teacher, thus, ensuring the active participation of the students during class discussion

 Engaging Students in Learning: Learning is an active

process that needs to be simulated and guided It is through this principle that makes the teacher responsible in making most of the learning process a self-activity of the student by: (1) providing an appropriate activities and assignment; (2) facilitating productive instructional group; (3) engaging students in the creation of instructional materials; and (4) providing an appropriate pacing for the lessons y making the lesson’s structure highly coherent that allows reflection and appropriate closure

 Providing Feedback to Students: Provision is made for the

students to use feedback in their learning This component also includes the timeless of the feedback being given by the teacher so that it can be used by the student in their learning

 Demonstrating Flexibility and Responsiveness: This

pertains to the teacher’s ability to (1) adjust the lesson as needed; (2) accommodate students’ question or interests; (3) persist in seeking effective approaches for the students who need help

Instructional also refers to the clarity in asking questions Questions according to Armstrong should be worded in such a way that learners clearly perceive the teacher’s content Cazdu (1986 in Armstrong, 1989) contends that it is better for the teacher to provide some general background information before beginning to ask questions Armstrong (1989) further claims that questions should be kept relatively short and terminology should be well within the group of the learners to whom they are directed

Questioning allows the students to practice and master the topic taught before having to go to the next topic Gagne Yekovick and Yekovick (1993 in Muijs, 2001) further say that being able to correctly answer questions also enhances a student’s feeling of mastery which will in turn enhance the student’s self-esteem and make him more receptive to learning in the future It also allow students to clarify their own thinking and understanding of the concept taught and makes them verbalize their thinking and this helps them develop verbal skills which they will need not only in school but also in the workplace

Borich (1990) affirms the above criteria of clarity He presents three types of behavior for achieving lesson clarity at the beginning of a lesson These are: informing learners of the objective, providing learners with an advance organizer and checking for task-relevant prior learning and re-teaching if necessary He lists specific behaviors that describe high level of clarity (effective teaching) such as using advance organizers and giving directions clearly and distinctly while poor clarity would be exemplified by the teacher introducing the subject in broader content or lecturing from the textbook

Instructional variety refers to a teacher’s variability and flexibility in delivering instructional content It includes planned mixing of different instructional activities such as lecturing, questioning and recitation within the context of a single lesson as well as variation in physical movement, eye contact, voice intonation and gesturing It also includes the use of learning materials, equipment, displays and classroom space that encourage student involvement in the lesson Borich (1990) summarizes the teaching behaviors related to instructional variety These are: using attention gaining devices, showing enthusiasm and animation, varying the activities with which instruction is presented, mixing rewards and reinforcers, varying types of questions and probes and using student ideas

Attention gaining devices can take the form of pictures, audiovisual media and live demonstrations and posing challenging questions presenting a dilemma, or bringing about sentence to accompany a unique visual display Diagrams, pictures, illustrations, lifelike models and films are other aids that help gain the learner’s attention To maintain the curiosity, interest and excitement of the learner’s, the teacher should vary his voice, eye contact and body movement These will give the learner the

message that the teacher is aware of and responds to the natural rhythm

Researchers agree that effective teaching involves different classroom activities A mix of instructional tasks allows the students to engage cognitively in different ways and respond to different levels Thus a lesson that involves a combination of lecture, discussion, question and answer, graded practice and independent seatwork is generally preferable

to one that emphasizes only a single task Teaching students to self regulate by mutually evaluating and explaining procedures and strategies

is also applicable in improving behavior skills as they learn to regulate their own problem solving and some strategies effectively They will be better able to profit from the active exchanges with peers in learning situations (Borich, 1990)

Another behavior for achieving variety involves the use of different rewards and reinforcers The effectiveness of rewards depends on the variety with which they are administered For instance, too often use of the phrase “that’s good” or “that’s correct” loses its meaning and its ability to reinforce a behavior Other types of rewards that are particularly effective

in reinforcing desired behavior include using a student’s answer as a model for others to follow or having peers comment on the correctness of a student’s answer Instructional variety can also be achieved by the use of questions and probes These teaching probes help to drawn out a response that can be refined and developed into better or more complete response They also provide a vehicle for engaging the students in the learning process by getting the learners to think about work and act on the material being presented (Borich, 1990)

Task orientation refers to the degree to which the teacher provides students with the opportunity to learn This behavior includes the amount

of time the teacher spends covering assigned topics and encouraging students to think and inquire about the materials taught and the amount of intellectual emphasis provided by the teacher’s activity structure Borich (1990) states that classrooms in which interaction between students and teachers emphasizes intellectual content rather than process and procedures are more likely to have higher rates of achievement than those that do not Teachers with a high degree of task orientation are goal-oriented; they know the instructional goal they want to achieve in a given time and organize their instruction around their goals Most importantly, task oriented teachers have high but realistic expectation about student performance Borich (1990) summarizes the behaviors for achieving task orientation These are: developing unit and lesson plans that reflect the curriculum, performing administrative and clerical tasks efficiently, and stopping or preventing misbehavior with a minimum of class disruption Specific behaviors of the effective and ineffective teachers relative to task orientation are listed below

Being task oriented begins with lessons that follow the curriculum guide and text This prevents the teacher from translating the content based on his personal interest or choosing only those that he is most

knowledgeable about To maintain task orientation, the teacher may need

to recognize the content to adapt it to the learner’s current level of understanding One behavior that has been found to be most important in determining the teacher’s task orientation is the teacher’s ability to perform administrative and clerical tasks efficiently It is recommended that rules be established when such unexpected interruptions occur (Evertson, Emmer

& Worsham 1984 in Borich, 1990) The less effective classroom manager spends a considerable amount of time returning to normal after interruptions because they are often taken off guard by such interruptions Thus it is necessary that the teachers prepare the students accordingly so that appropriate behavior may be expected of the students Maintaining task orientation also involves presenting or stopping misbehavior with a minimum of class disruption When misconduct or misbehavior occurs, the teacher should not spend a large amount of instructional time for administrative warnings or handing out punishments Such misbehaviors can be dealt later according to Emmer et al (1989 in Borich, 1990)

Establishing rules and procedures in anticipation of a misbehavior is one of the most important classroom management activities a teacher should perform The tasks should have to be consistent in controlling and

directing the behavior of teachers Consistency should be observed otherwise there will be loss of respect and misbehavior among students Using instructional time efficiently helps maintain task orientation Inefficient instructional strategies can be wasteful of instructional time as are administrative chores and misbehavior Generally, task orientation is most efficiently maintained when the teaching functions associated with direct instruction are applied in the context of knowledge, comprehension, and application and when indirect instruction functions are applied relative

to analysis, synthesis and evaluation objectives Finally, to achieve task orientation, the teacher should establish a schedule of activities built around clearly definable student goal toward which classroom activities gradually build with increasing intensity and expectation through clearly defined events such as weekly and monthly reviews, departmental testing, submission of book reviews and other similar defined events (Borich, 1990)

Engagement in the learning process is expressed as the percentage

of time allocated to instruction that the student is on-task or engaged with the presented instructional materials and activities Some of the behaviors related to student engagement are the following: eliciting the desired behavior, providing opportunity for feedback in a non-critical atmosphere,

using individualized and cooperative learning activities to maintain interest and promote attention during the learning process, using meaningful verbal praise and monitoring and checking for progress Engagement in the learning process begins when the learners is provided with instructional stimulus which he can practice using the content that is taught Without the immediate practice that engages the student in the learning process, learning rarely occurs This practice may be in the form of oral questions, workbook exercises, problem sets, handouts, and discussion It should be brief, non-critical, and focused on posing a condition for which the learners must organize and produce a response (Rosenshine & Stevens, 1986) Another way of engaging students in the learning process is providing feedback about the correctness of the elicited response The feedback should be more critical to encourage repeated responses Therefore the teacher should not pay judgment but rather provide feedback that will help the learner judge his own work Another indicator of student engagement

in learning is the use of individual and cooperative activities To become sufficiently energized about learning, some learners may need additional incentives such as individualized instruction, and cooperative grouping A teacher who effectively engages students in the learning process will

establish a research library of individualized learning materials which he may use with the disengaged and partially engaged students Usually the disengaged learner is the slow learner The slow learner is one who cannot learn at an average rate from the instructional resources, texts and workbook and learning materials that have been designated for the majority of the students in the classroom (Bloom, 1982) These students need special instructional pacing, frequent feedback, corrective instruction and other modified materials that are administered under conditions that are sufficiently flexible for learning to occur

Slavin (1987 in Borich 1990) suggests that in using cooperative learning activities, rewards must be provided for successful performance of the group as a whole Individual accountability must be maintained and equal opportunities for success must be available to each student To engage students, the teachers may use meaningful verbal praise that links the students’ response with the exact level of accomplishment attained These are not the glib responses often uttered by the teacher such as

“correct”, “good”, or the overly emotional response like “That’s great!”

Rather these are praises that are proportional to the adequacy of the

response such as “That’s partly correct, now let’s see if you can put it all

together ” or “Good try, now change one thing and you’ll have it” The

effective teacher chooses to praise with qualifications a partially correct answer It is interesting to note that according to Brophy (1981) the use of praise occupies surprisingly little class time for most teachers and that on the average only about 2% of a teacher’s day is devoted to this kind of praise On the other hand, verbally punishing students for responding

thoughtlessly such as “That’s a dumb mistake” rarely teaches learners to

avoid mistakes in the future Finally, monitoring and checking help to make the students engage in learning Important aspects of monitoring that promotes engagement in the learning process are observing many aspects

of the classroom simultaneously and checking for students’ understanding

The last factor considered by Borich to affect learning is success rate It is the rate at which students understand and correctly complete exercises on the material taught which may be classified into three: high success rate in which the student understands the tasks and makes only occasional errors; moderate success in which the student has partial understanding but makes substantive errors; and low success in which the student does not understand the task at all and makes many errors Some

of the behaviors related to establishing student engagement in the learning

process at moderate to high rates of success are: establishing unit and lesson content that reflects prior learning; correcting partially correct, correct but hesitant, and incorrect answers, dividing instructional materials with small pieces at or slightly above the learner’s current level of functioning, making transitions to read content in small, easy to grasp steps and establishing momentum that engages students in the learning process Timely feedback also contributes to moderate to high rates of student success The longer feedback is delayed, the less likely it is to influence the learner’s performance to produce the behavior It is therefore necessary that feedback be provided for each and every task encountered Finally, the effective teacher should be able to provide transition within and between lesson content Failure to make transitions or to make them properly can leave learners unable to understand lessons Transitions at the beginning or at the end of a lesson help interconnect the concepts that will be required later to achieve unit outcomes (Borich, 1990)

Student achievement cannot be improved unless the teachers are also improved and developed (Frost Leo in Hua, 2010) This stems from the findings of previous researches that the teachers are regarded as education’s most important asset and therefore their performance as they

perform their responsibilities matters most significantly Performance is what people do to carry out specifically assigned duties and responsibilities In the educational setting, teaching performance is defined

as what teachers should undertake so that learning will take place (Guion, 1986) Ducker (1979) defines it as the teacher’s consistent ability to produce results over a long period of time in a variety of assignments Relating it with competence, Scott (1981) defines performance as the ability of an instructor first to diagnose the conditions most conducive to maximum realization of a child’s potential for learning, and then to provide this learning situation This supports the claim of Danielson (in Hua, 2010) that professional responsibility, planning and preparation, classroom environment and instruction are important domains of teaching

The assessment of teacher performance is a necessary tool to determine if improvement has occurred Wiles (1991) believes that it is the force that causes constructive change in schools Assessing teachers’ performance assumes two things, namely: that teachers have competencies that can be identified and described, and that these competencies can be expressed in terms of techniques that are

instrumental in carrying out the teaching – learning process and in attaining measurable learning outcomes (Berk, 1986)

The assessment model created and implemented by the National Board for Professional Teachers Standards (NBPTS) (Shulman Sykes,

1986 in Galluzon, 2005) provides a good sample of an assessment tool that utilizes a variety of measures to assess the performance of teachers This tool shows that the performance of teachers should be measured in a more wholistic view before standards are used to promote improvement which eventually leads to professional development, with teachers becoming leaders of their own improvement as practitioners It is

of interest to local educators that the NBPTS teacher assessment system

is a portfolio-based performance assessment system that includes measures of the teachers’ content knowledge, demonstrations of the teachers’ pedagogical skills in two videotapes of actual lessons, samples

of students work produced for the teacher, and teachers’ reflection and explanations of his teaching and its effects Thus, it presents a more wholistic view of the teachers’ performance

Classroom observation by school management is still commonly employed to assess teachers’ performance To be effective, classroom

observation should be done using a standard instrument It is essential that

at the outset, the observer will decide on whom or what to observe- the students or the teacher, the overall quality of the lesson or the questioning technique, the teacher’s behaviors or the classroom management Observation instruments may be behavioral or value-oriented Behavioral instruments are designed to look at the occurrence of very specific behaviors without passing judgment on whether The behavior is good or not Value oriented instruments on the other hand are designed to provide value judgments on large parts of the lesson Instruments can also have low or high inference measures Low inference measures require the minimum of judgment from the observer An example would be counting the number of times a teacher asks a question High inference measures require more judgment, such as when the observer needs to make a judgment if the teacher gives clear explanation

Over 20 years ago, the research of Moll, Estrada, Diaz, and Lopes (1980) poignantly delineated the pain and frustration that English language learners struggling to learn English sometimes feel when taught in all-English settings Students may fail to understand what the teacher is talking about, and may become frustrated when they have an idea but

cannot adequately express their thoughts in English Moll et al found that teachers tended to correct pronunciation errors (e.g., seyd for “said”) or interrupt passage reading with attempts to define simple English words (e.g., “surprise”, “guess”), thereby breaking the flow of the story Moll et al decried “the deliberate, slow pace of lessons with students in the low reading groups” (p 305), and the lack of intellectual challenge and conceptual development provided to them

This focus on the details of accurate English language production makes the students appear less competent than they really are When Moll

et al (1980) followed the same students into a Spanish reading lesson, they observed that the students, although considered “low ability” by their teacher, were able to answer comprehension questions correctly on grade-level material, to develop and expand on ideas in the stories, and to process more complex text Further, the students could read texts usually reserved for “high-ability” students

Yates and Ortiz (1991) found that many teachers view language minority children as simply low-performing native English-speaking children This tendency has led many to merely adopt a watered-down curriculum, including reading material well below the students’ ability to