The Challenges Facing Female English Language Teachers in Secondary Schools in Jordan

Keywords: Teaching English, Female English teachers, Challenges, Academic experience, Jordan

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the obstacles facing female secondary teachers of English in Al-Qaser Directorate of Education in Al-Karak, Jordan. For the purpose of the study, a quantitative approach was adopted. The sample was randomly selected and included 170 female English language teachers. A questionnaire consisting of 29 items covering five domains was administered and 150 questionnaires were returned. The results showed that these teachers faced many academic challenges and obstacles in various domains, such as in the student, community, and parent domains, as well as teacher skills, curriculum, and school environment domains. The results also revealed that there were statistically significant differences in the challenges and obstacles faced by the teachers in terms of the experience variable. The study, thus, recommends adopting a more effective strategy to improve the school environment and having a suitable psychological context for female English teachers in order to enhance the quality of the students’ learning outcomes.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Khloud Al-Bdeerat, Khadeja Bint Khwaylid School

English Language Teacher

Basil Alqarraleh, Al Ain University

Associate Professor

Abdel Rahman Mitib Altakhaineh, The University of Jordan

Assistant Professor of English Language and Linguistics

References

Ahmad, M. (2003). Professional difficulties facing secondary school English language teachers and its effect in classroom performance in northern governorates of Palestine [Unpublished Master's thesis]. Al-najah National University.

Akasha, O. (2013). Exploring the challenges facing Arabic-speaking ESL students & teachers in middle school. Journal of ELT and Applied Linguistics, 1(1), 12-31.

Al-Amarat, M. (2017). The classroom problems faced teachers at the public schools in Tafila Province, and proposed solutions. International Journal of Education Sciences, 3(1), 37-48. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09751122.2011.11890007

Alkahtani, A. (2017). The challenges facing the integration of ICT in teaching in Saudi secondary schools. International Journal of Education and Development using ICT, 13(1), 32-51.

Alkhawaldeh, A. (2010). The challenges faced by Jordanian English language teachers at Amman 1st and 2nd directorates of education. College Student Journal, 44(4), 836.

Alzyat, F. (2014). Problems of teaching English language culture in Jordanian public schools [Unpublished Master's thesis]. Middle East University.

Awajan, N. (2010). Factors that enhance English language teachers' motivation in Jordanian secondary public schools [Unpublished Master's thesis]. Middle East University.

Borich, D., & Tombari, L. (2004). Educational assessment for the elementary and middle school classroom (2nd ed.). Pearson Education Inc.

Brown, A.V. (2009). Students' and teachers' perceptions of effective foreign language teaching: A comparison of ideals. The Modern Language Journal, 93(1), 46-60. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2009.00827.x

Burden, P. (2020). Classroom management: Creating a successful K-12 learning community. John Wiley & Sons.

Canagarajah, A. (2012). TESOL at forty: What are the issues? TESOL Quarterly, 40(1), 9-34. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/40264509

Çelik, S., Arikan, A., & Caner, M. (2013). In the Eyes of Turkish EFL Learners: What makes an effective foreign language teacher? Online Submission, 20, 287-297.

Cho, S., & Reich, G. (2008). New immigrants, new challenges: High school social studies teachers and English language learner instruction. The Social Studies, 99(6). DOI: https://doi.org/10.3200/TSSS.99.6.235-242

Clunies-Ross, P., Little, E., & Kienhuis, M. (2008). Self-reported and actual use of proactive and reactive classroom management strategies and their relationship with teacher stress and student behaviour. Journal of Educational Psychology, 28(6), 693-710. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410802206700

Deaeghere, J., Williams, R., & Kyeyune, R. (2009). Ugandan secondary school head teachers' efficacy: What kind of training for whom. International Journal of Educational Development, 29(3), 312-320. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2008.03.001

Dhillon, J., & Wanjiru, J. (2013). Challenges and strategies for teachers and learners of English as a second language: The case of an urban primary school in Kenya. International Journal of English Linguistics, 3(2), 14-24. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v3n2p14

Elyas, T., & Al Grigri, W. (2014). Obstacles to teaching English in Saudi Arabia public schools: Teacher's and supervisor's perceptions. International Journal of English Language Teaching, 2(3), 74-89.

Filter, K., & Horner, R. (2009). Function-based academic interventions for problem behaviour. Journal of Education and Treatment of Children, 32(1), 1-19.

Gardner, R. C. (2001). Integrative motivation: Past, present and future. http://publish.uwo.ca/gardner/docs/GardnerPublicLecture1.pdf.

Hamasha, S. (2000). Administrative problems facing the newly appointed teachers in the first three grades in Irbid government schools [Unpublished master's thesis]. Yarmouk University.

Hararsh, M., & Kawaldh, S. (2009). The patterns of control implemented by the classroom teachers in order to maintain disciplinant in the classroom in Al- Mafraq District of Education. Journal of Damask University, 25(1-2), 443-465.

Hazaymeh, W., & Altakhaineh, A. R. M. (2019). The effect of flipped classroom instruction on developing Emirati EFL learners' pragmatic competence. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 18(10), 89-111. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.18.10.6

Hussain, S. (2001). Education in Pakistan. Allama Iqbal Open University.

Izadpanah, S. (2011). The review study: The place of culture in English language teaching. US-China Foreign Language, 9(2), 109-116.

Karatas, P., & Karaman, C. (2013). Challenges faced by novice language teachers: Support, identity and pedagogy in the initial years of teaching. International Journal of Research in Teacher Education, 4(3), 10-23.

Khong, T., & Saito, E. (2013). Challenges confronting teachers of English language learners. Educational Review, 66(2), 210-225. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2013.769425

Kini, T., & Podolsky, A. (2016). Does teaching experience increase teacher effectiveness? A review of the research.Learning Policy Institute.

Kocabas, I. (2009). The effects of sources of motivation on teachers' motivation levels. Education Journal, 129(4).

Momen, H. (2009). Language and multilingual in scientific communication. Singapore Medical Journal, 50(7), 654-656.

Paran, A. (2012). Language skills: Questions for teaching and learning. ELT Journal, 66(4), 450-458. https://. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccs045

Saeed, M., Ahmad, I., Salam, M., Badshah, R., Ali, S., & ul-Haq, S. (2013). Critical analysis of problems of school teachers in Pakistan: Challenges and possible solutions. Journal of Education and Practice, 4(4), 169-175.

Seals, C., Mehta, S., Berzina-Pitcher, I., & Graves-Wolf, L. (2017). Enhancing teacher efficacy for urban STEM Teachers facing challenges to their teaching. Journal of Urban Learning, Teaching, and Research, 13, 135-146.

Sentance, S., & Csizmadia, A. (2017). Computing in the curriculum: Challenges and strategies from a teacher's perspective. Education and Information Technologies, 22(2), 469-495. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-016-9482-0

Tambwe, M. A. (2019). Challenges facing the implementation of a competency-based education and training (CBET) system in Tanzanian technical institutions. In J. Lugalla & J. Ngwaru (Eds.), Education in Tanzania in the era of globalisation: Challenges and opportunities (pp. 242-255). Mkuki na Nyota. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvh8r02h.24

Teevno, R. (2011). Challenges in teaching and learning of English at secondary level class X. International Journal of Human Resource Studies, 1(2), 27-35. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5296/ijhrs.v1i2.1029

Warsi, J. (2004). Conditions under which English is taught in Pakistan: An applied linguistic perspective. SARID Journal, 1(1), 1-9.

Zibin, A., & Altakhaineh, A. R. M. (2019). The effect of blended learning on the development of clause combining as an aspect of the acquisition of written discourse by Jordanian learners of English as a foreign language. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 35(2), 256-267. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12327

Published
2020-09-30
How to Cite
Al-BdeeratK., AlqarralehB., & AltakhainehA. R. M. (2020). The Challenges Facing Female English Language Teachers in Secondary Schools in Jordan. Journal of Language and Education, 6(3), 7-21. https://doi.org/10.17323/jle.2020.10185