Effects of curriculum in Teacher's Effectiveness.

Curriculum affecting teachers´ effectiveness

The aim of this work is to present a brief review on how curriculum might have an impact on teachers’ effectiveness. The first part of the paper defines teachers’ effectiveness. it also presents the different definitions that curriculum in an ELT context might have. The second part of the paper provides some studies that have been carried out in some parts of the world about the effects of curriculum on teachers’ effectiveness. 

Teachers’ Effectiveness 

Effectiveness in language teaching is a very complex term to define. Some authors have attempted to provide a definition of it. Werbinska, cited by Yesilyurt (2015) describes the effectiveness of the contemporary language teacher as “an educational facilitator of learning who enables the student to learn or acquire the content by creating the best conditions for it.” There is a need to understand the characteristics of an effective teacher as (Demiroz & Yesilyurt, 2015, p. 862) state that this understanding “may help improve teaching practices”. 

Data shows that students perceive teachers as effective when they demonstrate the following characteristics: punctuality, organization, friendliness and kindness, objectivity when assessing students, having knowledge of the subject matter, speaking in English during the class, as well as giving positive reinforcement. The frequent use of technology in the classroom is also perceived as a characteristic of an effective language teacher. Another aspect that an effective language teacher should be able to demonstrate is encouraging students to use the language outside the classroom. This seems to have a motivation effect on learners. 

However, it might not be reliable to measure the effectiveness of a teacher as a checklist of characteristics that need to be fulfilled according to learners´ perceptions. Kunter (2013) states that it is more suitable to valid the quality of a teacher based on educational outcomes (Cochran-Smith & Fries, 2005 as cited by Kunter 2013) such as student performance on standardized tests (D’Agostino & Powers, 2009). 

Curriculum 

Curriculum is a term as complex as effectiveness or even more. According to some authors such as Krave (2008) and Su (2012) curriculum involves actions such as planning what needs to be taught and/or learned, implementing those action and evaluating them, all of these elements based on a coherent interrelation with a specified purpose. 

However, sometimes the term may be understood is some of the following enlisted possibilities mentioned by Su (2012). As means of achieving educational objectives. In tht is the case, teacher will consider the curriculum as a checklist of desired outcomes that must be accomplished by learners and teachers within the period established. As a description of the class content; although it may seem similar to the previous one, in this view the essence lays in the course content rather than in the abilities developed by learners. As a plan with the inclusion of methods, at this point, the curriculum is considered as a list of steps or actions that must be followed by teachers in order to reach the stated goals. As a document; it is frequently seen that the curriculum can be considered as the outline of a course program or as a synonym of syllabus. As a set of learning experiences that teacher develops taking into account all the relevant aspects such as content + goals + methods + assessment + extracurricular activities and learning environment + hidden curriculum + culture in order to promote students to accomplish them under the guidance of the school that sometimes can be extended beyond classroom. 

Effects of Curriculum in teacher’s effectiveness 

As it has been mentioned above, the real practice is different most of the time. Therefore, it is relevant to use the data obtained from other studies in order to inform teachers and teachers educators on the importance of the characteristics and the benefits that including them and practicing them may bring to the learning outcomes. (Demiroz & Yesilyurt, 2015). 

LI & Baldauf (2011), presented an interesting study where they highlight how effective teaching may sometimes be affected by curriculum. In this particular study, the shift from a traditional teaching practice to a more communicative one is presented. There is a change in curriculum. In this particular case, the effectiveness in teaching was constrained by inconsistencies in the material; particularly textbooks. This type of material was changed too often, hence teachers were unable to use them effectively given the short amount of time they had to work with them. In this paper, the importance of assessment is also highlighted. “teaching materials have been changed, but testing system remains the same.” (LI & Baldauf, 2011, pág. 796) 

A similar study was conducted by (Javid, Farooq, & Gulzar, 2012) in Saudi Arabia. The authors researched the perceptions of undergraduates and English teachers on effective ELT. Effectiveness is explained to be a subjective matter, but the author's’ perspective is that effectiveness is demonstrated in terms of the teacher being able to set objectives with relevance for the course and to explain the class procedures, moreover these objectives should be reflected in students’ achievements. On the other hand, the study describes that in the case of Saudi Arabia the objectives set in order to achieve success in ELT are not met. Proof to this are the low marks students get in international testing despite the fact that 850 hours of English lessons are compulsory during the seven years they stay at school. The results in the study show that students and language teachers perceive that the increase in the amount of study hours, teacher training, accessibility to learning resources as well as an awareness on the importance of English could improve the poor results obtained in international testing systems. 

To sum up, all the information previously mentioned provides substantial proof that teacher effectiveness is a much more complex goal that involves not only the performance of the teacher or a set of characteristics that he/she might need to fulfill, but it is also affected by curriculum and curriculum goals; therefore, teachers, administrators and curriculum developers should work together in order to meet the goal of teacher effectiveness, which will eventually be reflected in students’ outcomes. 

References 

Demiroz, H., & Yesilyurt, S. (2015). Effective Foreign Language Teaching: Perceptions of Prospective English Language Teachers. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 862-870.

Ewa M. Golonka, A. R. (2014). Technologies for foreign language learning: a review of technology types and their effectiveness. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 70-105.

Grave, K. (2008). The language curriculum: A social contextual perspective. Language teaching journal, 147-181.

Javid, C. Z., Farooq, M. U., & Gulzar, M. A. (2012). Saudi English-Major Undergraduates and English Teachers'. European Journal of Scientific Research, 55-68.

Kelly, A. V. (2004). The curriculum: theory and practice. SAGE publicationsOwen W. L. The second principle at secondprinciple.com/instructional-design/types-of-curriculum/

Kunter, m. (2013). Professional Competence of Teachers: Effects on Instructional Quality and. Journal of Educational Psychology, 805-820.

LI, M., & Baldauf, R. (2011). Beyond the Curriculum: A Chinese Example of Issues. TESOL QUARTERLY, 793-803.

Su, S.-W. (2012). The Various Concepts of Curriculum and the Factors Involved in Curricula-making. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 153-158.

Uyrgun, Z. (2013). How to Become an Effective English Language Teacher. Journal of Educational and Social Research, 306-311.