A study to describe the content-language teaching strategies from content-trained teachers in immersion education with different L2 levels : /

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Student Theses

2020

Ma, Fung Cho Makin

Hong Kong : The Education University of Hong Kong

Thesis

There are always concerns about teaching quality worldwide. However, there has not been any systematic qualitative or quantitative study in the context of immersion education, as a form of content-based language teaching (CBLT), about the content-language teaching strategies from content-trained teachers with differing levels of L2 respectively. This qualitative study aims at providing rich descriptions about the content-language teaching strategies used by three content teachers with different L2 levels in Hong Kong. Hence, the study can provide insights into whether there is a need to adjust the current requirement for the immersion education teachers in Hong Kong; such teachers are only required to have achieved Band 6 from the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). Also, with the traditional wisdom that good English means good content-language teaching, the study explored the possible relationships between Hong Kong s immersion education teachers L2 levels and the content-language teaching strategies adopted by such teachers.The three teachers of the study had three different English proficiency levels: an advanced level, an upper intermediate level and an intermediate level respectively. The students of the three teachers were from the same high school class from a local secondary school in Hong Kong. The three teachers involved were from three different subjects but the teaches had similar backgrounds in terms of teaching experience, teacher training, specialised content subject training. The three teachers had not received any training about immersion education.As a constructivist grounded study, this research made use of lesson observation and also stimulated recall interviews. The lessons from the three teachers were not only observed but also recorded. There was lesson observation time equivalent to 5 single lessons (each lasting for 40 minutes) from each teacher; saturation was reached after the fifth lesson was observed from each teacher. The content-language teaching strategies used by each teacher were Immersion pedagogy and teachers L2 levels identified through my analysis of the lesson transcripts and a conceptual framework consisting of four dimensions was then created. The framework consisted of (1) using translanguaging/trans-semiotizing and avoiding code-switching, (2) modelling use of academic language, (3) teaching language explicitly and (4) using communicative approaches for addressing different teaching purposes. With the conceptual framework, the lesson data from each teacher were analysed in terms of the four dimensions. Then, for triangulation, the transcripts from the stimulated recall interviews involving the three teachers were analysed through thematic analysis.The results of the study suggest that the current minimum language requirement for immersion education teachers is not high enough to ensure desirable content-language teaching strategies are used in teaching. Therefore, the government should raise the language proficiency requirement to Band 7 of the IELTS, which is equivalent to an upper intermediate level of English. This is because the results of the study indicate that the teachers with good English seemed to be more capable of (3) modelling use of academic English and (4) teaching language explicitly. Having said that, the teacher with upper-intermediate English should have modelled using the whole range of academic English characteristics, rather than just one particular feature. Also, as shown by my study, good English does not necessarily mean good content-language teaching in terms of (1) using translanguaging/ trans-semiotizing and avoiding code-switching, and (2) using communicative approaches for addressing different teaching purposes. Thus, school leaders, when recruiting immersion education teachers, should focus on the applicants L2 levels, their abilities to use effective content-language teaching strategies, such as their abilities to use translanguaging/ trans-semiotizing and avoid codeswitching in class, and their knowledge about the academic English system. Also, the local authorities are suggested to ensure all immersion education teachers receive pre-service or in-Immersion pedagogy and teachers L2 levels service immersion education professional development based on my three-stage model, which is adapted from the model of Lo (2020). My three-stage model involves professional development in terms of the academic English system, content-language teaching strategies and in-site support from a teacher educator. All rights reserved

LG51.H43 Dr 2020eb Mafcm

https://educoll.lib.eduhk.hk/records/zsQ0ZUUU