Teachers' communication skills and strategies in the ESL teaching context (IR)

The study examined the types and purposes of communication skills and strategies (CSs) used by English teachers in secondary classrooms. In addition, the teachers' perceptions of communication skills and CSs were also examined. Two excellent English language teachers in secondary schools in the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Fahainis Mohd Yusof
Format: thesis
Language:eng
Published: 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ir.upsi.edu.my/detailsg.php?det=2632
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Summary:The study examined the types and purposes of communication skills and strategies (CSs) used by English teachers in secondary classrooms. In addition, the teachers' perceptions of communication skills and CSs were also examined. Two excellent English language teachers in secondary schools in the northern regions of Malaysia were involved. Data were collected from classroom observations and interviews. Findings based on observations show that the teachers' communication with the students started with sociating, directing, giving instructions as well as summarising. The most common communication skills used by the teachers in the classrooms were explaining, questioning and eliciting. There were also nonverbal communication skills used by the teachers such as eye contacts, facial expressions and hand movements. When dealing with their communication difficulties, the communication strategies (CSs) employed by the teachers were confirmation check, comprehension check, clarification request, reformulation, repetition, circumlocution, code switching and non-linguistic strategies. Data from interviews suggest that the teachers' language backgrounds and beliefs influenced how they used their communication skills. The findings provide new empirical evidence that communication skills were related to and intertwined with communication strategies. The findings of this study provide insights on the excellent teachers' communication skills and strategies in line with the Professional Up-skilling of English Language Teachers (pro-ELT) as stated in the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025.