Page 9 - ELG2102 Feb Issue 474

NEWS

What price proficiency?

By Gillian Ragsdale European Frame of Reference for sense when applied to other
Teachers’ self-worth may be Languages (CEFR), requiring, in subject teaching. A good
undermined by over-valuing principle, teachers to achieve a maths teacher, for example,
language proficiency at the expense level C1 in order to register as an requires a specified degree
of teaching efficacy, according English teacher. of maths proficiency, but GRAPHICAL BRAIN FROM PIXABAY
to a story on teacher identity Many of the study’s findings nobody thinks you need to
in Chile. Malba Barahona and are common to the teaching be a maths genius to teach.
Ximena Ibaceta-Quijanes, both profession generally. Respondents The assumed relationship
associate professors at universities were on the whole highly between extremely high
in Chile, collected answers to an motivated and driven by a love of subject proficiency and
online questionnaire from 716 their subject, and a desire to help teaching efficacy seems to
Chilean teachers of English at students. Job stability was also a be particular to ELT.
schools, private institutions and factor. Relatively poor professional CEFR level tends to be
universities. Questions focused salaries and recognition, large taken as a simple proxy for
on teachers’ motivation, feelings class sizes and long hours were the teacher efficacy, leading to a
about their own standard of main areas of dissatisfaction. vicious cycle of non-native English expertise. After all, the average
teaching, and how satisfied and More specific to ELT were language teachers feeling inferior IELTS score for native speaker
valued they felt. teachers’ own perceptions of their to native speakers, which then candidates in 2019 was just 7.5,
The demand for English legitimacy as teachers and their affects their feeling of competency well below C2.
teachers in Chile has remained value to others. This was judged and consequently decreases their
high since the 1990s, when as primarily dependent on their actual teaching efficacy. If a solid REFERENCE
English became compulsory in language proficiency. proficiency threshold is in place, ■ Barahona, M. and Ibaceta-
primary and secondary schools, As the authors discuss, however, such as the CEFR C1, it may be Quijanes, X. (2020) ‘Neither Fish
and ELT has become an attractive several studies have shown that counterproductive to continually nor Fowl: the Contested Identity of
option for many graduates. In an the relationship between language compare such qualifying teachers’ Teachers of English in an EFL Context’,
effort to regulate the profession, proficiency and teaching efficacy English to that of native speakers, RELC Journal, 51(3), pp. 347–363.
Chile adopted the Common is not straightforward. This makes rather than valuing their teaching doi: 10.1177/0033688219847315.

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