Exploring English Language Teachers’ Teaching Style

Abstract

The present study is an attempt to investigate the teaching style of ten university language teachers teaching in the English department of Saad Dahleb University at Blida. It tries to identify the most dominant teaching style of these teachers and to see how aspects of learner-centredness operate within this dominant teaching style. This study is exploratory. It makes use of three research instruments: two questionnaires to teachers and a questionnaire to students. The aim of using questionnaires is to assess the teachers' dominant teaching style from both teachers' and students' perspectives and to examine how learner-centred teaching principles are reflected in their teaching style. The questionnaire designed for teachers and for students include 26 items and it was adapted from an instrument initially used by Rong et al. (2005), called the Adapted Principles of Adult Learning Scale (APALS). After analysing the responses of teachers' and students' questionnaires and comparing them, we noticed that teachers and students have matching views regarding the teachers' dominant teaching style. According to the teachers questioned, 7/10 teach in a traditional way while 9/10 also teach in a traditional way from the students' point of view. But the analysis of teachers' 'traditional' style of teaching revealed some learner-centredness that was evident from the teachers' responses to the 26 items of the APALS questionnaire and from their responses to the 6 questions of the second questionnaire.

The findings revealed that there are some learner-centred elements in the teachers' instruction in the sense that they tried to relate learning to students' experiences and establish a climate of trust between them and the learners. In addition, the students were encouraged to ask questions and get involved into discussions and debates especially in the Literature modules. One implication of these findings is that teachers should be encouraged to adopt a more learner-centred teaching style. According to recent research, self-reflection plays an important role in identifying and modifying teachers' personal teaching style (Grasha 1996, Conti 2004). So, we provided three self-reflection activities suitable for university teachers of English. These self-reflection activities may help to identify the attitudes, values and beliefs that teachers associate with their teaching practices and to find alternatives and better their teaching style.