ELT Journal Advance Access published online on May 20, 2008
ELT Journal, doi:10.1093/elt/ccn024
© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved.
Implementing education reform: EFL teachers' perspectives
Lakhana Prapaisit de Segovia was affiliated with Prince of Songkla University, Thailand, before becoming Director of the Language Centre at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru. She is involved with teacher education and development of curricula and materials
Debra Hardison teaches courses in second language acquisition, research methods, and language teaching at Michigan State University. She has published in the area of spoken language processing and production and technology in oral skills development
Email: hardiso2{at}msu.edu
Received for publication 1 December 2007.
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Abstract |
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The National Education Act of 1999 in Thailand mandated a transition from teacher- to learner-centred instruction for all subjects including English. This shift was associated with the development of communicative ability in English to meet the needs of globalization. The current study investigated the policy behind and implementation of the reform in English teaching following Johnson's (1989) decision-making framework for a coherent curriculum. Several observations of English classes (grades 5–6) revealed no evidence of communicative language use. Stimulated recall and interviews with teachers revealed confusion about the reform's principles and their application. Teachers were concerned about their English proficiency, insufficient training, and inadequate resources and professional support. Of the four interviewed supervisors, one felt that the reform's principles were not suitable for teaching English. Findings point to areas of the curriculum in which coherence can be lost during reform.