How much responsibility do University English Pedagogy programmes have in the current status of the teaching of the language in Chile?
Learning English in Chile had never had such an exceptional place in our country as the one it holds at present. Chilean people want to study English for different reasons, such as better job opportunities, because of studies abroad, for tourism and for business, among others. Many changes have been implemented by the state in cooperation with the Chilean Ministry of Education (MINEDUC). The Chilean government has invested large amounts of money in English language teaching with the hope of making Chileans proficient in English and consequently, to make our country bilingual. The policies to turn Chile into a bilingual country have been under progress since the late 1990’s, as part of the national educational reform that can be traced in our country in the early 1990’s, but that reform only reached the English area in 1998 when the first policies were presented and implemented in the schools of our country. Among those early modifications, it can be mentioned the increase in the amount of school periods for the subject, the initial starting grade to teach the subject (from 7th grade to 5th grade), the first textbooks for the subject provided for free for all the students of our country, the first training workshops for in-service teachers of the language, new curriculum programmes for all levels of school education and an overwhelming increase of tertiary educational centres (Universities and “Institutos Profesionales”) offering English Pedagogy Programmes for the future students. In this way, learning English became a government policy and it has involved a significant quantity of money that has been invested in all areas of the teaching of the language (students of the language, English teachers, resources, educational programmes, and the like) to achieve the objective of creating a bilingual citizenry. In simple words, English became an economic necessity at all levels. It has been more than a decade since this starting point of change in the history of the teaching and learning of the language in our country and there have been some relevant results during all this time, although such results do not line up with the initial goal the government outlined for the present decade, which expected to have a whole country with fluent speakers of the English language within a time limit of 20 years.
We are living in a globalised world, where the probabilities to access to authentic material in English, the opportunity to come across a person who speaks English, the chances to travel to an English-speaking country as a tourist, as a student or as a worker are not something that is hardly ever happening. Globalisation has narrowed the distance between our country and the rest of the world. People feel that they are closer to one another. English is the means of communication of this “global village” our planet has turned into. Therefore, in order to be able to succeed in the current global marketplace, people need to be able to interact in this language, so as to fit under the umbrella of this new globalised planet.
In the first place, to be able to learn the language we need to study it for a certain period of time. Some Chilean people might have the chance to learn the language at school, since at least 8 official years of English might seem enough time to learn this foreign language. Some other individuals, especially those individuals who already finished their schooling, might have the opportunity to learn the language in one of the many language schools available all along our country, regarding the economic resources they have. The least amount of people might have the possibility to travel to an English-speaking country to learn the language in a total immersion programme, which is obviously a much more expensive way to learn English. In the first two options, in-service teachers of the language in our country play a key role in order to be able to make students learn the language and subsequently make Chile the bilingual country that the different administrations that the country has had are pursuing. Currently, teachers of the language are in a constant demand to do their best to make students learn English, but unfortunately, it seems that something is not working well since most students are finishing the school system in 12th grade with no sufficient knowledge of the language to communicate adequately. Such school graduates acknowledge the relevance of being able to communicate in English, and they are aware that the current school system is not providing what it is necessary to finish school being able to interact with the language. There have been many studies to evaluate this issue and the first information we had is that the low level of performance in the language that English teachers had was playing a negative role to teach students the language properly. English classes were being carried out in Spanish with a strong emphasis on the grammar of the language and on learning lists of vocabulary, mainly through the use of the grammar-translation method, instead of using oral English and by means of a more communicative approach. Hence, the government decided it was highly necessary to invest money in in-service teachers of English by means of providing them professional training programmes to improve not only the level of proficiency of English of such educators but also to update the methodological procedures those teachers were using to teach the language. In order to help teachers to update in the aforementioned features related to the teaching of the language, a government programme, named “Inglés Abre Puertas” (English opens Doors), or PIAP for short, was launched in 2003. As stated by Matear (2008) this initiative aimed at “improving national economic competitiveness and promoting equity by extending English language learning to all students in publicly funded schools”. In simple words, it was recognised the need for our citizens to have a solid basis in the English language so as to be more competitive in the world market. The programme has offered a system of varied incentives for in-service teachers to engage in continuous professional development activities leading to the improvement of their language and methodological skills. The programme focuses on training teachers by strengthening their skills and capacities. Hence they are able to transfer those skills onto their students and onto their renewed classroom practices. It is important to recognise the fact that the PIAP has played a significant role in the improvement of teachers’ language proficiency and on the training programmes the PIAP has developed for all the teachers of the country in the last twelve years since the programme was introduced. Additionally, this programme has also been successfully involved in a good number of diverse activities with school students, along with pre-service teachers of the language at university English pedagogy programmes of our country. All things considered, the PIAP has been a valuable element in the position that English embraces today.
Today, teachers of English have improved their level of proficiency in the language, according to the results of standardised evaluations that most teachers of the language have voluntarily been part of for free as a measure implemented by the PIAP programme. First Certificate of English (FCE) testings have been granted for free for many teachers of the language. Accordingly, we could deduce that by having the proficiency level of English of in-service teachers improved, students are now being able to learn the language and thus, to finish the school system being able to communicate in the language adequately. Unfortunately, the reality is not providing such evidence. What it has been discovered lately is the fact that the new in-service teachers and some in-service ones that have been working in the educational system for a variable number of years already are lacking proper classroom management procedures that are necessary to teach the language effectively. One key issue was apparently solved, but unfortunately, an emerging one turned up.
In my opinion, present-day university English pedagogy programmes have played a relevant role in the current status of English in our country. As stated before, along with the importance English has in Chile at this point in time, many English pedagogy programmes are available at the moment in universities and ”Institutos Profesionales” to become a teacher of the language. Barahona (2016) states that “this increase has been justified by the need for more English teachers and the public discourse regarding making Chile a bilingual country”. This massive outburst in the number of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) programmes is understood in terms of the new state policies under development, which require more teachers of the language in the classrooms. Such variety of choices to study to become a teacher of English has many similarities and differences among them regarding the preparation for the future teachers. While there are many similarities and differences in such repertoire of university programmes, it is important to mention that not any of them is perfect, since each one of them lacks some elements that are significant to teach the language under the requirements that the educational system and the society demand nowadays. To become an English teacher today seems a good option for new tertiary education students these days, taking into account the position English partakes in the whole world today but regrettably, these programmes are not preparing the educators the country needs to achieve the objectives the government has drawn regarding the proficiency of the language in the Chilean society. In this way, most universities need to change the focus they have in those programmes while some others need a profound renovation of their pedagogy programmes. In concrete terms, current university programmes for English Pedagogy are mainly focused on having their students mastering the language to a native-like level of proficiency, by giving a strong emphasis on the expert learning of the grammar of the language, in the acquiring of a clear native-like accent in English and in a solid background of the language in an applied linguistic expertise. This is obviously something that is worthy since teachers must be a good model of the language for the students, but at the same time, some other important issues connected to teaching procedures in general, are being fully neglected. Simultaneously, most programmes do not prepare the pre-service teachers in methodology, the most relevant area to get ready to teach the language. Moreover, it can also be pointed out that most university programmes lack preparation to teach the language to young learners, which seems quite worrying, taking into account the huge amount of school that are currently teaching the language in the first years of schooling, namely Pre-kinder to 4th Grade, or even in younger levels (Nursery Education). Officially, English begins in 5th grade, so in order to teach English in 5th and 6th grades, teachers are not prepared to give lessons in such levels. Special methodologies are required to teach in such grades. Furthermore, some programmes do not connect their students with the real school context they will be part of, on a regular basis, through varied practicum experiences, which should be a fundamental requirement to prepare the future educators with the pertinent tools to teach the language and more importantly, with a solid background on the reality and contextualisation of our educational system in all the areas of it, namely, public, subsided and private schools.
If we take into consideration the other elements we discussed in our module of Emerging Issues, such as the English SIMCE (Sistema de Medición de la Calidad de la Educación) testings that our country has implemented in the last decade, the new “Carrera Docente” project that is under development at the moment and the use of textbooks in the teaching of the subject, they are all part of what these university programmes should cover within the field of theory a new teacher must possess by the end of his/her university studies. Correspondingly, it can be inferred that university English Pedagogy programmes should have within all the semesters the programmes last, which in general varies between 8 and 10 semesters, some modules regarding these three essentials just mentioned, but very few programmes deal with one of them. In the first place, English SIMCE, which has been criticised from different viewpoints and from different areas of education, should be one of the tools a future in-service teacher must hold, considering that such evaluative process has been carried out through standardised international tests that these future educators must be familiar with. Such evaluation system is important not only to obtain clear evidence of the status of the language in the students but also to provide information that needs to be critically analysed and, as a result, take some important decisions regarding new policies for the teaching of the language at all levels. According to this point of view, universities should elaborate clear courses that not only prepare these pre-service teachers in such form of assessments but also to be able to critically examine the results obtained by means of such tools and to make the proper adjustments in the teaching procedures that are required to improve the final outcomes, if it is necessary.
In the second place, the textbooks that the MINEDUC has provided for all the students of the language at public and subsided schools of our country have raised a lot of controversy from all areas of education, but mainly from the teachers who have to teach with such educational material. It is very interesting to acknowledge the fact that Chile is one of the few countries that provide so many textbooks for all their students free of charge. Besides this possibility, some schools, especially the ones that belong to the private sector of education together with some subsided ones, may opt to teach with different, and most often expensive, textbooks that parents are required to buy, material that is brought from international contexts such as The United Kingdom and The USA. Today, the present university programmes do not prepare future teachers in the methodological considerations that are necessary to carry out to firstly, analyse such material in practical terms, and secondly, to select textbooks that are appropriate for the context that in-service teachers work and equally important on how to use such resources as one of the many educational tools available for a teacher of the language and not the “only” source of material to teach the language. If we are aware of the fact that the MINEDUC assigns a large budget each year in providing that material for such a large number of students all along our country, it is quite suitable that all English pedagogy programmes devote part of the studies of future teachers of the language to first get familiar with such valuable material, second, to critically analyse those educational resources and thirdly, to take professional decisions on how to use such tools according to the students they have.
In the third place, “Carrera Docente”, which is under a process of implementation now for some schools, seeks the improvement of the current working conditions that teachers have regarding salaries, workplace conditions, working time and elements alike. It is part of the aim to make pedagogy attractive for new in-service teachers and encourage young school graduates to enter pedagogy programmes and the teaching profession. Such new policy should also be part of the preparation pre-service teachers have to manage before they go into the educational system since this new proposal benefits them at a large scale since they cross the threshold of the system. Conversely, such improvement in the working conditions of teachers is expected to have an impact on the quality of the teaching procedures the in-service educators will use. Obviously, it is the university that is the main responsible for informing these future educators about such national project and at the same time, it is also accountable of how well-prepared these future in-service teachers access to this educational policy under development. This ambitious massive project intends at the same time to reduce the number of teachers who abandon the educational system within the first five years of work due to, either, lack of preparation to work in schools, for chances to take a different job or because they feel that the private sector of education provides better working conditions and chances to develop professionally in their area of work. This project involves public schools, as well as subsided ones, schools that attract the largest number of students in the country. It is at the university where the future educators of our country must learn about the real status of the Chilean educational system under progress and it is there as well where the newly qualified teachers must get the motivation they require to go into the system and to keep on it, hopefully for the rest of their professional lives. To become an English teacher in Chile is a fast process, which sometimes only involves collecting the necessary body of knowledge and set of skills to teach EFL. This can be reasonably overwhelming for everybody if university programmes just keep the focus on a training method of instruction, since it is like following a recipe book, with all the directions clearly stated. Harmer (2007) considers that:
In the first place, it is difficult for newly qualified teachers to keep everything in their heads at the same time as they struggle with the demands of a new job. Nevertheless, as they learn their craft, we would expect them to be hungry for as much knowledge in these areas as possible since this will make them better teachers. Secondly, this kind of knowledge is not static, hence the need to keep up-to-date. Things change almost daily. New books, classroom equipment and computer software are being produced all the time, just as teachers keep coming up with wonderful new ways of doing old things (such as grammar presentation or discussion activities). Staying in touch with these developments can seem daunting, of course, because of the pace of change, but it is worth remembering how deadly it would be if things always stayed the same. (p. 32)
Certainly, to become an English teacher under the several current demands requests more than just people being trained to be able to make others learn a foreign language, as we can not trust that after some years of practice in the field of teaching will solve all the deficiencies new in-service teachers have once they enter the current system. We can not draw out the fact that right after graduating, the newly qualified teachers are considered to be fully competent to go into the classroom.
All in all, university English pedagogy programmes share some responsibility on a certain level in the current status of English in our country, especially if we take into account the type of professionals they have been sending into the market in the last time. The in-service educators we have are the final products they have produced lately. Universities have an important mission before them: they urgently need to review and update their English pedagogy programmes to the future needs that the in-service teachers will have, with regards to the important governmental objective related to the language that attempts to make Chile a bilingual country within the next decade, an issue that is important at all levels, regarding all the advantages that speaking a foreign language has in the lives of the people who speak that second language. Most university English pedagogy programmes are focused on a teacher-training model of preparation to become an EFL instructor, rather than looking at the teacher as a significant reflective agent of change for the society, pursuing the great possibility to make the best they can in order to improve the lives of the students they will reach by means of learning and through the development of knowledge. Universities are highly responsible in the long chain of events that are necessary to happen to make our citizenry bilingual in both, Spanish and English, since having the chance to know more than one language today expands people’s vision and understanding of the world we share as it develops their intellect and critical thinking skills and equally important, preparing them to efficiently face the several challenges the future brings us in.