Korean teachers of English have the need to be heard, to be understood and to be valued by their employers, especially by the Ministry of Education (MOE). The MOE seeks to create English communicators of its students, but principals still ask classrooms to remain quiet; test scores still take priority over being able to carry on a conversation. Many of these teachers feel limited in their English ability, and can’t imagine how they could be role models of English communication. But we press on; we ask them to reform their ways, and so they feel exasperated, confused, and alone.
So how can we ask these teachers to change when it seems that they receive so many signals saying they should hold on to their old ways? This question has been haunting me all day as I attempt to plan a lesson on teaching techniques, namely on the concept of “eliciting“.
And the clincher is we can’t ask them to change. They have to believe that this change will work out for them and for their students. This is the only way that they will reform the way they teach.
A successful implementation of any educational reform is closely related to how teachers perceive the reform, and their perceptions can be influenced by their beliefs about English language education. Therefore, the success of reforms in English language education is contingent upon ESL/EFL teachers’ beliefs. (p. 2)
Throwing Back Tokens 