English Language Teaching Problems in the Nomadic Society in Iran
Abstract
Education occupies the center stage in human life. Therefore, the importance of education has been adequately documented in the literature. In spite of the important role played by nomadic society in Iran, this society seems to be a neglected part of this Islamic country. When it comes to teaching English the problem becomes severe. Therefore, this study was carried out to highlight the burning issues ahead of English language teaching in the nomadic society in Iran. In order to go to the roots of problems in teaching and learning English in nomadic schools, researchers interviewed some English teachers and stakeholders in the nomadic educational center in Lorestan. Moreover, to find the possible differences between nomadic and non-nomadic students in terms of learning English as a foreign language, a total number of 75 nomadic students and 80 non-nomadic students participated in this study. Independent sample t-test was used to find the differences between the mean scores of two groups of students. The results of the study showed that the main obstacles in the way of English language learning in nomads are: formal school, Curriculum, student related problems, teachers-related problems, learning facilities and technological equipment, under norm problem and multimethod-multilevel classes.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Abbasi, L. (2008). Qualitative and quantitative study of Iranian nomads’ education. Proceeding of the International Conference of Nomadic Education, Shahrekord, Iran.
Abedi, J. (2004). The No Child Left Behind Act and English language learners: Assessment and accountability issues. Educational Researcher, 33(1), 4–14.
Akbari, R. (2008). Transforming lives: introducing critical pedagogy into ELT classrooms. ELT Journal, 62 (3), 276-283.
Akbari, A., Mizban, M. (2004). An Introduction to the Demographic Nomadic Communities of Iran, Journal of National Studies, 5.1 (17), 9-42.
Amanollahi Baharvand, S. Nomads in Iran in (1991). Tehran, knowledgeable, 3rd edition.
Amanelahi Baharvand, S. (2004). Settlement of tribes and nomads. Journal of National Studies,5.1 (17), 155-183.
Bahman- Baigi, Muhammad (2005). Be Ojaghet Ghasam. Tehran, Iran: Navid Publication.
Bell, J. (2010). Doing Your Research Project. A guide for first-time researchers in education, health and social science. Milton Keynes: Open University Press (250 p).
Bell, J. (2012). “Teaching Mixed Level Classes.” In The Cambridge Guide to Pedagogy and Practice in Second Language Teaching, edited by J. Richards, and A. Burns, 86–94. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Byrnes, H. (2005). Perspectives. Modern Language Journal, 89, 582–616.
Corson, D. (1999). Language policy in schools: A resource for teachers and administrators. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Crawford, J. (2004). No Child Left Behind: Misguided approach to school accountability for English language learners. Forum on Ideas to Improve the NCLB Accountability Provisions for Students with Disabilities and English Language Learners. Center on Education Policy. Available at http://www.cep-dc.org/.
Dyer, C. (2010). Education and Social (in)justice for Mobile Groups: re-framing rights and educational inclusion for Indian pastoralist children. Educational Review. 62 (3).
Eslami, Z. and Fatahi, A. (2008). Teachers' sense of self-efficacy, English proficiency, and instructional strategies: a study of nonnative EFL teachers in Iran. TESL-EJ, 11(4), Retrieved December 26, 2009, from http://tesl-ej.org/ej44/a1.html.
Evans, B., & Hornberger, N. H. (2005). No child left behind: Repealing and unpeeling federal language education policy in the United States. Language Policy, 4, 87–106.
Farhady, H. and Hedayati, H. (2009). Language assessment policy in Iran. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 29, 132-141.
Ghafarpour, A., Daneshabbasi, Sh. (2014). Examine the opportunities and challenges Iran nomadic education. Indian Journal of Fundamental and Applied Life Sciences ISSN: 2231– 6345 (Online). An Open Access, Online International Journal Available at www.cibtech.org/sp.ed/jls/2014/03/jls.htm 2014 Vol. 4 (S3), pp. 366-369.
Harper, C. A., & Platt, E. J. (2007). No Child Left Behind is language policy. Paper presented at the meeting of the American association of applied linguistics, Costa Mesa CA.
Harper, C. A., Platt, E. J., Naranjo, C. J., & Boynton, S. S. (2007). Marching in unison: Florida ESL teachers and No Child Left Behind. TESOL Quarterly, 41(3), 642–651.
Hedge, T. (2000). Teaching and learning in the language classroom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ibrahim, B. A. (2005). Teachers’ variables and academic performance of secondary school’s students in Kogi State. Unpublished Ph.D Thesis, University of Illorin. Illorin Nigeria.
Iran Ministry of Education. (2007). Summary of Statistics Year 2006-2007. Retrieved from http://www.bspb.medu.ir/IranEduThms/theme2/cntntpge.php?pgid=99&rcid=51.
Krätli, S. (2001). Education provision to nomadic pastoralists: A literature review. IDS Working Paper 126. New York: World Bank.
Krätli, S., & Dyer, C. (2009). Educating mobile pastoralists: A Strategic review of literature. Education for Nomads Issues Paper no. 1. London: IIED.
Matthews -Aydinli, J., & Van Horne, R. (2006). Promoting success of multilevel ESL classes: What teachers and administrators can do. Center for Adult English Language Acquisition. Retrieved on 25th Aug. 2011 from: www.literacyminnesota. org/sites/6bc90f8a-e528-403a-8c6b-ffdd2e3dd3a7/ uploads/promo.pdf
Menken, K. (2006). Teaching to the test: How No Child Left Behind impacts language policy, curriculum, instruction for English language learners. Bilingual Research Journal, 30(2), 521–546.
Menken, K. (2008). English learners left behind: Standardized testing as language policy. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.
Mills, M., S. Monk, A. Keddie, P. Renshaw, P. Christie, D. Geelan, and C. Gowlett. (2014). “Differentiated Learning: From Policy to Classroom.” Oxford Review of Education 40 (3): 331–348. doi:10.1080/03054985.2014.911725.
Moore, H. (2007). Non-language policies and ESL: Some connections. TESOL Quarterly, 41, 573–583.
National Reading Panel. (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction.
Ogundele, M. O. (2008). Funding teachers’ job satisfaction and students’ academic performance of private secondary schools in Kwara State Nigeria. Unpublished Ph.D Thesis. University of Ilorin Ilorin Nigeria.
Ojuekaiye, F.F. (2014). Intervention of Adult Education in the Nomadic Education in Yagba Local Government Area Kogi State. Unpublished B.Ed project University of Jos.
OECD (2012), Equity and Quality in Education: Supporting Disadvantaged Students and Schools, OECD Publishing.
Pennycook, A. (2000) ‘The Social Politics and the Cultural Politics of Language Classrooms’, in J. K. Hall and W. G. Eggington (eds) The Sociopolitics of English Language Teaching. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, pp. 89–103.
Pennycook, A. (2004) ‘History: After 1945’, in M. Byram (ed.) Routledge Encyclopedia of Language Teaching and Learning. London: Routledge, pp. 275–82.
Sohrabi, A. (1994). Nomads’ education in Iran, Shiraz, Iran: Navid Publication.
Strasheim, L. A. (1979). “The Issue: Multi-Level Classes.” Foreign Language Annals 12 (5): 423–425. doi:10.1111/j.1944-9720. 1979.tb00207. x.
Tomlinson, C. A. (2015). “Teaching for Excellence in Academically Diverse Classrooms.” Society 52 (3): 203–209. doi:10.1007/ s12115-015-9888-0.
Wan, Y.S. (2017). Drama in Teaching English as a Second Language -A Communicative Approach. The English Teacher. journals.melta.org.my.
Wright, W. E. (2006). A catch-22 for language learners. Educational Leadership, 64(3), 22-27.
Wrigley, H., & Guth, G. (1992). "Bringing literacy to life: Issues and options in adult ESL literacy." San Mateo, CA: Aguirre International.
Zamiri M (2001). History of Islamic Education.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18415/ijmmu.v10i10.5201
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2023 International Journal of Multicultural and Multireligious Understanding
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
https://ijmmu.com
editor@ijmmu.com
facebook.com/ijmmu
Copyright © 2014-2018 IJMMU. All rights reserved.