We are pleased to announce the release of the Issue of ELT Choutari (October-December 2025). This issue presents a collection of reflective accounts from English language teachers and practitioners, offering diverse perspectives on teaching, learning, and research.
Since it is a generic issue, it includes articles from diverse fields of English language teaching in the context of Nepal. ELT Choutari is a platform to share the English language teachers’ experiences regarding their practices and experiences. This issue is the result of the same. For this, we are grateful to all the contributors. We encourage English language teachers and practitioners to contribute in the future issues as this can share and document our reflective practices.
The following section includes the contributors with the gist of their reflections. We hope their experiences and anecdotes will benefit our esteemed readers.
Mr. Dev Ram Joshi, in his article, explores the engagement of learners in English language learning through project-based learning integrated as internal assessment in the secondary level curriculum. His technical action research reflects that his students increased the time to study English subject, developed their writing skill including handwriting and composition skills and presentation skills such as pronunciation, clarity, and confidence. Meanwhile, they started to learn English by studying other reference materials as well.
Likewise, Mr. Dammar Singh Saud in his article drawing on personal experience and educational theories, argues for reflective, context-sensitive, collaborative, and well-resourced Teacher Professional Development. He advocated that, learning from countries like Finland and Singapore, Nepal must prioritise teacher agency, mentorship, digital readiness, and long-term systemic reform.
Similarly, Mr. Khem Raj Rauteda, in his article, reflects his experience implementing translanguaging pedagogy to enhance learner engagement in a multilingual secondary classroom in Nepal. Through reflecting on his role as a facilitator and co-learner, he found that translanguaging nurtured culturally responsive pedagogy, strengthened relationships, and empowered students, providing valuable insights for inclusive English language teaching in multilingual contexts.
Similarly, Mr. Janak Sigdel, in his article, explores the ongoing challenges of implementing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in rural community schools in Nepal. His reflection highlights key barriers, including inadequate infrastructure, lack of electricity, limited internet access, and low digital literacy among teachers. His article underscores the growing digital divide between urban and rural schools, advocating for policy interventions and capacity-building programmes to promote more equitable and sustainable ICT integration in education.
Likewise, Mr. Nar Bahadur Bist, in his article, deals with the complicated and changing nature of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) in language planning and policy in Nepal. He discusses how English has established a dominant presence in the education system, as well as a larger presence in society, despite Nepal’s non-colonial relationship with Britain, shaping ideologies, creating inequalities, and affecting cultural identity.
Moreover, Mr.Arjun Jung Rayamajhi, in his article, discusses the integration of ChatGPT in English language teaching in Nepalese community schools with its opportunities and challenges. He argues that ChatGPT offers the possibility to experience a personalized learning process and support engagement growth in the underprivileged setting. However, it also emphasizes the significance of the human factor, critical thinking, and ethical competence.
For your convenience, here are the hyperlinks to the blog posts:
Lastly, we extend heartfelt gratitude to all our editors and reviewers — Ganesh Kumar Bastola, Jeevan Karki, Dr. Nani Babu Ghimire, Dr. Jnanu Raj Poudel, Sagar Poudel, Binod Duwadi, Puskar Chaudhary, Dr. Yadu Prasad Gnawali, and Dasharath Rai—for their dedicated efforts in bringing this issue to completion.
ELT Choutari is a platform for researchers, scholars, educators, and practitioners to share insights, practices, and narratives from classrooms and communities. We invite you to contribute to our upcoming issue by submitting your articles and reflections to 2elt.choutari@gmail.com.
The development of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the global education system. ChatGPT and effective AI models are now essential innovations in the language teaching and learning field. By providing technology to community schools with limited resources and infrastructure, scholars can gain insight into the potential and challenges of AI in resource-poor environments. This paper is a reflection of the recent empirical studies and my personal experience as a teacher and researcher to relate critically to the effects of ChatGPT on English language teaching. The input analyses the moderation through which AI transforms pedagogy, addresses learners’ differentiated desires, and works under the moral and infrastructural measurement of AI technology in Nepal. The data of this input are grounded in teacher interviews, classroom observations, and student-centred surveys, digging deep into the use and impact of AI tools. The output provides recommendations for maximising ChatGPT use to promote language acquisition in resource-scarce classrooms while alleviating accessibility, training, and moral challenges.
The ChatGPT: A Personalized and Engaging Commitment
The individualized ChatGPT capability to provide learners with feedback that is personal and immediate has been a possible offer of integration of learners up until now; something that is not practicable in a typically busy community classroom. ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence model called OpenAI, which is a state-of-the-art generative machine that can understand and produce human-like text after recognition of the given output. It is, in other words, a pillage of the substitution of creative slaves. It is also a testament to the increasing sensibility that there is a need for differentiated instruction (Zhang, 2022). In its essence, the ChatGPT implies that learners should learn at a pace which is commensurate with the timing that befits them. I personally think the OpenAI model is selfish and a more strenuous taskmaster. The state-of-the-art artificial intelligence OpenAI is more observant than a schoolteacher is and is a capable assistant anytime, even when students are away from the classroom (Sharma & Koirala, 2021). It makes the conversation more interactive and more exciting; the chatbot responds in the way the learner asks the questions. This miraculous discovery also helps shift it from the strength of monologue teaching, making space for the value of voices by offering the learners opportunities to communicate, share, be more interactive, and engage in the conversation (Patel & Uddin, 2022). Indeed, it is a deviation that it is possible because the basis for differentiation and the structure of any learning system is a one-size-fits-all mentality (Thapa, 2021). Time has changed, and increasing sensitivity embraces the ideas of differentiated instruction in such a diversity of educational responses from the learners.
Pedagogical Transformation: From Deliverer to Facilitator
As for the pedagogical transformation, the other phenomenon observed with the help of ChatGPT is the possibility to shift the role of teachers from the main source of knowledge to the person who designs the improved learning processes (Mishra & Koehler, 2006). The key manifestation of this AI incorporation was the opportunity to use AI not as the medium to replace a teacher but as a tool that supports the learning process. In this way, teachers stop being the main content deliverers and become the facilitators and guardians of the AI-supported learning process. Generally, teachers are also communicators and problem-solvers; they possess the complex skill set that they should hand down to their students. The example of the pedagogical transformation made me reflect on the potential of teachers to design more individualistic and student-friendly plans that incorporate a range of AI-based tools. This, of course, requires teachers to become literate in AI and be aware of the options and the limitations of machines in their problem-solving strategies. To me, such a transfer implies a range of professional development opportunities, a permissive organisational culture, and facilitating policies regarding the conditions under which teachers can participate in experimentation and engage in reflective practice.
Confronting Challenges: Infrastructure and Equity
I acknowledge that the successful integration of AI requires teachers to balance the affordances of the digital media and their professional judgment and situational knowledge. It challenges teachers to organise print-based interpretations so that the students’ work is steerable, so that it can provide the role of humans, such as motivation and ethical guidance, because their work was or could be used to take advantage of the affordances of the artefact. Even though I view my reflection from an optimistic perspective, it is a fact that the infrastructural and resource challenges persist in the schools of Nepalese communities. For instance, the lack of internet connections, the lack of digitalisation of the devices, and sporadic power interruptions become an obstacle to the promise of the integration of AI. Socially, such disparities present threats of increasing the inequities in education that would favour the students in cities or good school districts over disadvantaged rural students. I think my reflection necessitates an immediate policy action to close this gap and investments in enhancing digital infrastructure and the fair distribution of technology.
Ethical Considerations: Striking a Balance between Innovation and Integrity
Another ethical aspect that has been imprinted in my mind was the issue of danger. While ChatGPT has the potential of becoming a learning scaffold, one of its applications, the unregulated and unrestricted use, could lead to more plagiarism, reduced creativity, and a weaker need for critical thinking. All three problems touch upon excuses issued by educators when talking about ChatGPT. In my view, the solution is neither to eliminate the use of AI nor to promote the paradigms of its application that would be equitable. Teachers and policymakers play the most active role in the promotion of decency, offering students digital ethics lessons that teach them how to use AI tools meaningfully and responsibly. In the Nepalese context, a considerable amount of national and institutional support is needed. On a national scale, the government should adopt a policy that would regulate the use of AI in education, making it more just. For this, the curricula change is a must, with digital ethics and literacy being added. Moreover, the government should offer guidance and resources for educators, explaining how to use AI responsibly. On the institutional scale, a school should pay due attention to the note of how important academic honesty, perseverance in the face of misuse, and the desire to solve problems instead of finding an easy way out are. Teachers will always be in need; such moral custodians will have to teach students how to become their own moral mentors, inciting them to use ChatGPT as a source of inspiration for development, rather than praise for creativity.
Moving toward Sustainable Integration: Policy Support and Professional Development
As has been discussed above, the integration of ChatGPT cannot be successful via a technical training programme but rather one that is evidence-based with pedagogical, ethical, and reflection aspects. From the reflection I have undertaken, professional development is continuous, situational, and participatory. The aspects can create teacher confidence and innovativeness. Education policymakers can help in developing clear guidelines and ethical norms that ensure AI supplements the current subject matters and increases universal access. To achieve this measure, the initiatives should be co-designed with teachers, students, and communities to be culturally responsive and viable.
Conclusion
This paper discusses the implementation of ChatGPT in Nepalese community schools, identifying its benefits and drawbacks, and analyzing its potential contribution to English language acquisition. It discusses AI applications like ChatGPT, which offers the possibility to experience a personalized learning process and support engagement growth in the underprivileged setting. The implementation of ChatGPT at Nepalese community schools offers more advantages than disadvantages. While achieving individual educational plans and centring students resulted in multiple case benefits, this method requires stronger control on the part of teachers, infrastructural investments, and ethical considerations regarding the current programme. Policymakers and teachers can use this to understand that while the introduction of new technology can be more advantageous, this consideration should also be supported with a relevant and sensitive approach based on the context and students’ perspectives. This paper confirms the opinion on the potential extension of the educational process with the help of technology. However, it also emphasizes the significance of the human factor, critical thinking, and ethical competence.
The implementation of ChatGPT in Nepalese community schools can truly be an opportunity. It seems to be the most eternal way to individualised learning, which guarantees student interest with the help of an approach based on an individualistic manner. Still, it has a number of challenges, such as the appearance of new teacher roles, impacts on infrastructure, and the necessity to consider ethical considerations all the time. The future of AI-enhanced language learning is conditioned by the context-targeted planning and assumes the consideration of the educator’s expertise, institutional and national policy, and independence of the students.
References
Adhikari, P., & Pradhan, S. (2021). Digital inequality and its impact on education in Nepal. International Journal of Education and Development, 43, 2, 114–128.
Bates, T. (2020). Teaching with AI: Embracing artificial intelligence in education. Educational Technology Journal, 58, 6, 22–34.
Bhandari, S. (2021). Promoting digital literacy in Nepal’s education system. Asian Journal of Educational Research, 5, 3, 45–52.
Bista, B. (2022). AI and education: Opportunities and challenges in Nepalese community schools. Journal of Nepalese Education, 17, 1, 88–101.
Brown, T., Mann, B., Ryder, N., Subbiah, M., Kaplan, J. D., Dhariwal, P., … & Amodei, D. (2020). Language models are few-shot learners. Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems, 33, 1877-1901.
Gautam, M. (2021). Teacher preparedness for AI integration in education in Nepal. Journal of Modern Education, 25, 4,110-125.
Giri, A. (2021). Differentiated instruction in Nepal’s classrooms: An AI perspective. Nepal Journal of Education Studies, 9, 2, 102–114.
Hwang, G. J., & Chu, H. C. (2021). AI-assisted personalized learning and its effects on student performance. Educational Technology Research and Development, 69, 1, 87–104.
Khatiwada, S., & Bhandari, P. (2022). Pedagogical transformation through AI in Nepalese schools. Journal of Educational Development, 10, 1, 50–64.
Mishra, P., & Koehler, M.J. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108, 6, 1017–1054.
Zhang (2022). Towards risk-aware artificial intelligence and machine learning systems: An overview. Decision Support Systems, 159, 113800.
Patel, P., & Uddin, M. N. (2022). AI for algorithmic auditing: Mitigating bias and improving fairness in big data systems.International Journal of Social Analytics,2(1), 49.
Thapa, K. (2021). Adapted long short-term memory for concurrent human activity recognition. Computers, Materials &Continua, 69(2),16531670.
Author’s Bio: Mr Arjun Jung Rayamajhi is an MPhil scholar in English Language Education at Kathmandu University. He is a secondary-level English language teacher at a community school in Nepal, where he has been actively engaged in classroom teaching, academic mentorship, workshops, and training. His research areas are ICT and ICT-based teaching. He can be reached at arayamajhi16@gmail.com.
English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) is the educational approach in which English is used to teach all subjects. The use of EMI involves teaching subjects from the academic curriculum, for example, Science, Maths, and History in English, where English is neither the native nor the dominant language in school, college, or university. Consequently, English becomes the medium through which a student learns, instead of being taught as a subject itself. I focus on English as a medium of teaching in language policy and planning. When I look back at the history of Nepal, the English have no colonial past. However, it has maintained a major ideological influence since the Rana dictatorship. When Rana Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana first visited Britain, he was drawn to the use of the English language. He brought two Englishmen, Mr. Ross and Canning, to teach English to his children. Since then, English has become widely used and popular in Nepal. It has caused societal division by reinforcing inequalities in education, opportunity, and cultural identity. At the time, Rana Prime Minister, including Jung Bahadur Rana, created a schism among his family members when he stated that he would forsake everything and teach his children English. Nepal cannot remain unaffected by the global growth of the English language. It is included as one of the languages spoken in Nepal in the Constitution of Nepal 2015. In Nepal, English is taught as both a topic and a medium of education. Since their inception, most private schools have used English as their primary medium of instruction. Community schools are primarily Nepali medium schools, although EMI is now considered a need in many schools as well. EMI is causing friction between private and community schools in Nepal. There is a common notion that private schools celebrate good results because of EMI. However, their success is due to a variety of circumstances. As we all know, Nepal is celebrating its diverse language, religion, ethnicity, and race. Despite its modest size, the country is rich in language and culture. The documents include the Nepalese Constitution 2072, the National Curriculum Framework 2076, the Education Act 2028, the School Sector Development Plan, and the School Sector Reform Plan 2072. Multilingual education initiatives focus on mother tongue-based multilingual education, particularly at the primary level. However, these documents, notably the Basic Level Curriculum 2076 (Grade 1-3), expressly state that English can be used as the medium of instruction for subjects like as Science and Mathematics. So, these materials are confusing educators.
Institutionalization and Socio-economic Impact of English
Institutionalization and Socio-economic Impact of English, the introduction of English into Nepal’s Schools has drastically shifted the educational and social landscape of the country. Initially introduced in Nepal during the Rana regime as a sign of elite status and modernity, today, the English language is a powerful form of social mobility and academic status (Bhattarai & Basnet, 2020; Pennycook, 2018; Saud, 2020). English is now being taught and is increasingly being used as the medium of instruction in private schools, and for teaching in public schools. This shift shows the belief that knowledge of English brings quality education, global prospects (Adhikari, 2021; Sharma & Thapa, 2022). English is a language linked with power and a similar form of status in society. Even less advantaged families like to send their children to private schools as a result of EMI opportunities. The spread of EMI in private schools happened very quickly, and now private schools are popping up everywhere. Even at the local government level, they are encouraging EMI in Dipayal, Silgadhi Municipality and Doti by making EMI compulsory at the local government level. Such efforts surely show their enthusiasm for English. The establishment of English in the institutional context of Nepal has profoundly changed the educational space and society in Nepal. English, which was introduced into the country during the Rana regime as a marker of elite status and modernity, has evolved into a powerful vehicle for social mobility and academic prestige. English is now taught and is also frequently used as the medium of instruction in private schools, and increasingly in public schools. This shift reflects an underlying belief that proficiency in English brings quality education, global opportunity, and upward social mobility. It is connected with power and distinguished status in society. Even low-income families prefer to send their children to private schools due to EMI. It has spread quickly, and private schools are mushrooming. Even the local government is encouraging the English language in Dipayal, Silgadhi Municipality and Doti, and they have made EMI compulsory at the local level. This kind of exercise certainly demonstrates a love of the English language.
Social Justice through EMI
The use of EMI in Nepal’s education system affects the potential for social justice. It creates unequal access to the quality of teaching provided by EMI. Students from urban, high backgrounds admitted in present-day private schools receive a rich education, while students from rural, i.e. low-income backgrounds have limited access to and practice with English, especially in community schools. Students from urban, high-income backgrounds who are admitted to private schools. Recently, they received a wealth of educational resources, while students from rural, low-income backgrounds have little access to and practice of English, particularly in community schools (Bhattarai & Basnet, 2020; Timsina & Rai, 2019). This is not just an academic disadvantage for community school students, but a social reproduction disadvantage. English is a vital and crucial part of employment and the upper social class (Sharma & Thapa, 2022). Likewise, EMI is associated with colonialism, Western culture. This is the disadvantage of community school students in terms of not simply academic outcomes, but also social reproduction. English is a major and essential part of employment and higher social standing. Similarly, EMI is linked with colonial influence and Western culture. Hence, EMI develops the disintegration of multiple indigenous languages and cultures, with destruction, linguistic inequality and cultural detachment of Nepalese students. Language and culture are interrelated with each other when language enters the nation; it inherently brings its culture. Not all students have the same access to English. Children from rich or urban families often go to private schools where they learn English. But many poor or rural students go to local schools where English is not taught well, or not at all. This creates a big gap in learning. I have mentioned subtopics about social injustice below.
Access and Variation in Education
Ethnic and linguistic minority students’ experiences show that the separation between private and public education in Nepal deepened by the introduction of EMI. Private schools as one of the most well-resourced and culturally competent educational forms in the country, which offer high-quality EMI programmes for wealthy and prosperous families. Community schools, in contrast, work with families representing rural, low-income people. The inequalities linked with education lead to collected effects on the lives of oppressed families and students who cannot afford private schools and are unable to get quality education.
Neglecting people and Cultural perception
The practice of English-only instruction in education and public life results in the social disuse of languages like Doteli, Maithili, Tamang, Newari, and others. As parents work to give their children better opportunities, they encourage their children to speak English, and younger generations are abandoning their languages altogether. These parents are unknowingly sending messages of cultural disconnection and eventually loss of language. The emphasis on individual economic advancement negates Nepal’s multilingual identity and values. The present generation is taught English, leaving their mother tongues.
Socioeconomic Stratification and Symbolic Power
In Nepal, the ability to speak English is becoming a social marker for intelligence, achievement, and social status. Students with fluent English abilities will command a greater amount of respect and access to higher education, government work, and business opportunities in society. The symbolic power of English establishes class boundaries, because only individuals who are recognized can afford EMI-based education. Thus, another protector of advantage is language, namely, the exclusion of individuals who cannot engage.
In Nepal, the importance of English has led to the marginalization of other native languages. Marginalization means the inconsequence associated with what is not major, not central, and not powerful. In Nepal, English is preferred in every sector, including education, banking, hospitals, and so on. Private schools teach in English, and students who speak good English are often given more respect and better opportunities. Because of this, many parents want their children to learn English instead of their own mother tongue. As a result, local languages like Doteli, Newari, Maithili, Tamang, Tharu and many others are being used less, especially by young people.
In higher education, government jobs and business English are often liked. This makes it harder for people who speak only Nepali to compete. When one language becomes more powerful, others slowly lose their importance. This is how English, even without meaning to, is pushing local languages aside. The government even mandates English as a subject in the early grades. It has been made a compulsory subject from grade 1 to the bachelor’s level. It has secret power in Nepalese society. In the context of Nepal, many parents prefer to send their children to private schools. English is synonymous with high-quality education in Nepal. Privatization in education is widespread in Nepal. Private schools are proliferating and offer English-medium teaching. Such private schools reflect English culture, including Halloween. English has had a significantly greater influence on the local language, culture, and identity.
Conclusion
Overall, the article analyses the essentialist celebration of English as a neutral instrument of development. It advocates for a more critical and socially just approach to language planning that recognizes English’s potential for global utility while also protecting linguistic rights, cultural heritage, and equitable access to education. Stunning, this balance is essential in supporting Nepal as it negotiates its multifaceted identity and aspirations in a globalized landscape. In Nepal, many local schools are switching mediums of instruction from local languages to English as the medium of instruction. While Nepal is a UN state that has a language in education policy, which was developed upon recommendations to educate children in their mother tongue and promote bilingualism for better long-term learning, the policy is hardly followed in practice. The official approach, as mother tongue-based multilingual education is encoded, has been replaced with EMI, which runs counter to its intentions. The transition to EMI was fast-tracked after Nepal adopted a federal system of government in 2015, where local governments had power over local language policy. Although this national plan (2016-2023) sought to endorse local languages, almost all local governments, especially in urban areas, have chosen EMI.
References
Adhikari, R. (2021). The impact of English as a medium of instruction on indigenous languages in Nepal. Language Policy and Society, 7(3), 210–225.
Bhattarai, M., & Basnet, J. (2020). English Language Teaching and Social Stratification in Nepal. Nepalese Journal of Educational Research, 11(4), 78–95.
Kafle, N. P. (2023). Language policy and practice in Nepal: English as a medium of instruction. Journal of Language and Education, 9(1), 45–62.
Pennycook, A. (2018). The cultural Politics of English as an international language. Routledge.
Saud, M.S. (2020). English medium public schools in Nepal: A new linguistic market in education. LLT Journal: A Journal on Language and Language,23(2), 319-333.
Sharma, S., & Thapa, D. (2022). English-Medium education and social inequality in Nepal: A critical overview. International Journal of Multilingual Education, 14(2), 102–118.
Timsina, L., & Rai, P. (2019). Multilingual education and policy challenges in Nepal. Asian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 6(1), 33–47.
Author’s Bio: Mr. Nar Bahadur Bist is an ELT practitioner from Doti, Nepal. He is currently pursuing an MPhil in ELT from Kathmandu University, School of Education. He is an English instructor at Seti Technical School, Rajpur, and a secondary-level teacher at Martyrs Memorial Residential Secondary School, Doti. His areas of interest include English language teaching, linguistic study, EMI and ELT study of language, and teacher professional development. He can be reached at narbist22@gmail.com.
The integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has transformed educational practices worldwide, fostering innovative teaching and learning experiences (UNESCO, 2018). In developing countries like Nepal, however, ICT implementation remains uneven, particularly in rural community schools. Despite the government’s efforts to promote ICT in education through policies such as the School Sector Development Plan (SSDP, 2016–2023), the challenges in rural contexts continue to hinder its effective use. This study reflects on my personal and professional journey as both a learner and a teacher in Nepal’s community schools, focusing on the challenges of ICT implementation and the realities of the digital divide between rural and urban educational settings. I was born and raised in a rural village in Tanahun District, Nepal. My early education took place in a community school that lacked basic ICT infrastructure, including computers, projectors, and even electricity. Like many rural students, I completed my schooling without ever having seen or used a computer. My only exposure to ICT was through conversations among teachers, which made computers sound like distant, mysterious tools.
The lack of digital exposure during my schooling reflected a broader issue: Nepal’s rural-urban educational disparity, especially in access to technology. Several studies align with my own personal experience, whether as a student or a teacher in various schools. For example, a study by Joshi and Ayer (2024) found that most rural schools in Nepal still lack the infrastructure and training needed for ICT integration. Similarly, Phunyal (2024) reported that many community schools have computers but lack consistent electricity and internet facilities, making their use infrequent and symbolic rather than transformative. Similar challenges are echoed in Lomo et al. (2024) when they reported that insufficient funding, weak stakeholder support, training challenges, poor electricity and internet access, and high maintenance costs constrained head teachers’ efforts to support ICT integration in teaching and learning. It has been reported that teachers have poor ICT skills, schools have poor internet connectivity, and a lack of computers, which creates a significant challenge in its implications (Lamsal, 2022). This report aligns with my personal experience in using ICT in teaching and learning.
Transition to Higher Education and Exposure to ICT
After completing my School Leaving Certificate (SLC), I moved to Pokhara for higher education. I passed intermediate without seeing computer use in the teaching and learning process. However, this transition marked a turning point in my educational journey. While pursuing my Bachelor’s degree, I joined a computer institute and completed a basic computer course. I also began teaching in a private school, where I observed the effective use of ICT in classrooms. Students were taken to the computer lab for a computer class, as well as being taught the contents through ICT tools.
Teachers used projectors, digital content, and multimedia presentations, and I noticed how students were more engaged and motivated. Their enthusiasm contrasted sharply with my own schooling experience. This observation deepened my understanding of the digital divide, a term referring to the unequal access to technology across social, geographical, and economic boundaries (Van Dijk, J., 2020). However, even in higher education, the integration of ICT was limited. Most lecturers relied on traditional lecture methods, highlighting a systemic gap in technology adoption even at the tertiary level.
ICT in Higher Education: A Source of Inspiration
During my master’s degree at Tribhuvan University, I experienced technology-enhanced learning environments for the first time. Professors used laptops, projectors, and digital resources to teach English, which significantly enhanced classroom engagement. They utilised ICT tools in preparing teaching materials and presentation slides, and employed these tools to involve students in group work. The most exciting thing I experienced was that they provided project work that required students to use computers in reporting the work. The ICT use really brightened up the classroom, ended boredom, enhanced students’ participation, and allowed students to explore the world of knowledge using technology. These experiences reinforced my belief that ICT could revolutionise teaching and learning if properly implemented. It inspired me to become an ICT-oriented teacher who could bring innovation into classroom instruction.
Research supports this realisation. According to Pun (2013), the use of ICT in teaching English promotes learner autonomy, motivation, and language exposure beyond textbooks. Similarly, Adhikari (2022) emphasises that teachers’ attitudes and digital competence play crucial roles in the success of ICT integration. Furthermore, Paudel (2021) argued that teacher professional development programs must include digital literacy and pedagogical training to ensure the sustainable use of ICT in schools.
Encountering Realities as a Teacher in Rural Community Schools
My enthusiasm for using ICT faced harsh realities when I began teaching in a rural community school in Tanahun. The school lacked not only computers but also electricity. There was no internet connection, either. I had to depend on mobile data to connect to the internet. The mobile data was also poor. I was disappointed with the realities I confronted there at that time. I was just puzzled about how to integrate ICT in my real teaching without ICT tools at school. The classroom size was large. I had the responsibility of dealing with tech-savvy learners who were more interested in using technology in learning a language. I wanted to be a scuba diver, but the circumstances forced me to be helpless. There was also poor support from the administration in utilising ICT in teaching and learning. I talked to the head teacher and the SMC chairperson. They spoke of the financial challenges the school was facing. My colleagues were discussing the lack of opportunities for ICT training, despite their wishes. Only a few teachers are well-trained in ICT. I desperately wished for an appropriate policy at the local level to address the challenges of ICT implementation in the community school. My knowledge and training in ICT felt irrelevant in that context. Similarly, Rana (2018) and Paudel (2022) identify financial constraints, inadequate training, and the absence of institutional commitment as core barriers.
After four years, I was transferred to a secondary school at Bhimad, where the situation was slightly better; there were computers and projectors, but no internet connectivity and unreliable electricity. Moreover, most teachers were digitally illiterate. Even computer teachers conducted classes theoretically without hands-on practice. These challenges align with findings from Sharma (2020), who observed that many rural schools in Nepal possess ICT tools but lack effective usage due to insufficient training, irregular power supply, and a lack of maintenance support.
Current Teaching Experience and Continuing Challenges
Currently, I teach English at a community school in Tanahun. Despite my persistent efforts to integrate ICT tools into lessons, barriers remain. Limited resources, poor connectivity, and a lack of institutional support continue to restrict meaningful ICT use. I have maximised available tools, using personal mobile phones, recorded videos, and downloaded materials, but systematic integration remains out of reach.
This situation aligns with broader national findings that rural teachers face “second-order barriers”—attitudinal, skill-based, and policy-related constraints that prevent effective ICT use (Ertmer, 1999; Paudel, 2021). Dong, C. (2025) reported that teachers faced major obstacles in integrating ICT into their teaching, primarily because they lacked adequate ICT training and professional development Rana and Rana (2020) in the Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Technology observe that the implementation of ICT in rural Nepal is highly context-dependent, constrained by geography, socio-economic status, and policy support. The persistence of these issues reveals the urgent need for localised training, infrastructure investment, and policy follow-up. Their findings reinforce the idea that rural ICT integration requires systemic rather than individual-level solutions.
Reflections and Implications
My journey from a student deprived of ICT to a teacher striving for ICT integration reflects the systemic inequities in Nepal’s education system. The journey helped me come up with the idea of the challenges of ICT implementation and its corresponding measures. The lack of sufficient ICT resources, inadequate ICT-based training for teachers, inconsistent electricity supply, poor internet access, a lack of alternative sources of electricity, insufficient administrative support, and a lack of ICT skills are identified as the major challenges to the effective implementation of ICT in rural community schools in Nepal. It underscores that ICT implementation is not merely a technological challenge but a socio-economic and policy issue.
These various experiences helped me to develop the insights to minimise the challenges. Conducting regular ICT training for teachers, promoting digital literacy among students and teachers alike, and community and local government participation in ICT initiatives. Schools must search for financial resources, and stakeholders need to provide administrative and technical support to mitigate the challenges that emerge with the effort to integrate ICT in teaching and learning, particularly in rural community schools. The findings also triggered changes in the policy-making and implementation aspects to seek a solution to the challenges observed. The majority of teachers who have not had the opportunity to learn ICT skills need to be provided with training for proper implementation of ICT in the language classroom, and ultimately to transform the traditional way of teaching to the recent ICT-integrated teaching.
Therefore, policymakers and educational leaders must consider various factors, such as strengthening infrastructure (including electricity and internet access) in rural schools, conducting regular ICT training for teachers, promoting digital literacy among both students and teachers, and encouraging community and local government participation in ICT initiatives. Furthermore, the SMC chairperson and head teachers should share equal responsibility for adopting technology in classroom teaching and learning. The teachers also need to be aware that the use of technology enhances the learning outcome, meeting the goal of quality education. Additionally, various tiers of government need to collaborate to address the challenges of implementing ICT in education. These governments need to formulate an appropriate IT policy and equally emphasise the implementation part. Moreover, these governments need to allocate a budget for infrastructural development and the management of ICT tools in schools. As UNESCO (2023) notes, equitable access to ICT is a key driver of inclusive and quality education. Without addressing the underlying barriers, the digital divide will continue to widen.
Conclusion
This reflective account highlights that ICT integration in rural community schools of Nepal remains a significant challenge despite policy intentions and teachers’ enthusiasm. The author’s experiences mirror those of many rural educators who aspire to innovate but are constrained by contextual limitations. Bridging this gap requires more than distributing devices; it demands sustained commitment to infrastructure development, teacher professional development, and community engagement. Only then can ICT truly transform education in rural Nepal.
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Author’ Bio: Mr. Janak Sigdel is an English teacher at Chandra Jyoti Secondary School, Ghirhing, Tanahun. He is the Roster Trainer of the Education Training Centre, Gandaki Province. Currently, he is pursuing an MPhil from Nepal Open University. He can be reached at schoolchandrajyoti31@gmail.com.
Teacher professional development (TPD) in English language teaching plays a vital role in enhancing instructional quality, equipping educators to navigate pedagogical shifts shaped by globalisation, technological change, and diverse learner needs. In Nepal, however, TPD is often approached as a formality rather than a transformative process. Reflecting on my own journey as an ELT professional in Nepal, I have observed how many initiatives fail to address the practical challenges teachers face, particularly in rural, multilingual, and under-resourced settings. Workshops tend to be centralised, top-down, and theory-heavy, lacking follow-up mechanisms, teacher agency, or contextual sensitivity. Moreover, many educators participate passively, with limited motivation or incentives to translate PD programmes into meaningful classroom practices. These experiences have led me to question the prevailing assumptions about professional development and the disconnect between policy rhetoric and actual teacher empowerment.
Critically analysing this situation through the lenses of Self-Determination Theory and Vygotsky’s Social Interaction Theory, it becomes clear that sustainable TPD must foster autonomy, competence, and collaborative growth. Teachers thrive when they are seen as active agents of change rather than passive recipients of PD programmes (Vygotsky, 1978; Ryan & Deci, 2017). Looking at successful models from countries like Finland and Singapore, one finds strong institutional support, continuous mentorship, and an ingrained culture of reflective practice, all of which are largely absent in Nepal (Paudel, 2019). These countries prioritise teacher voice, build trust, and tailor PD programmes to school contexts, contrasting sharply with Nepal’s fragmented and compliance-oriented system. Therefore, for Nepal to strengthen its ELT landscape, it must rethink its approach to TPD, grounding it in teachers’ lived realities, engaging stakeholders at all levels, and investing in long-term structures that value teacher learning as a continuous, context-driven, and collaborative process.
The Lived Experience of a Language Educator in Nepal
My professional journey in English Language Teaching, which began in 2009 at Darchula Multiple Campus in Far Western Nepal, has been marked by moments of hesitation, discovery, and continuous growth. Initially uncertain about teaching, I gradually developed a deep passion for the field, fueled by positive student engagement, satisfaction and appreciation. As I advanced through B.Ed., M.Ed., MPhil and PhD programmes in English Language Education, I began to view teaching not just as content delivery, but also as a reflective and learner-centred process. These academic pursuits expanded my understanding of critical pedagogy, curriculum design, and classroom dynamics, encouraging me to question traditional practices and embrace innovation in teaching. Reflective practice, in particular, became central to my pedagogical identity, prompting me to consistently analyse and refine my methods based on learner feedback, context, and theoretical grounding.
Critically reflecting on my participation in various teacher professional development programmes, I recognise how certain experiences significantly shaped my professional outlook. A workshop at Far Western University on reflective practice and professional ethics, for instance, challenged me to reconsider my assumptions about teacher identity and responsibility. An online course from Arizona State University introduced me to curriculum evaluation frameworks and the concept of communities of practice (Wenger, 1998), emphasising collaboration and shared learning among educators. These initiatives illustrated the power of contextually relevant, participatory TPD. The COVID-19 pandemic brought another critical learning opportunity: when I led a Microsoft Teams training for faculty, it became apparent that many colleagues lacked digital competencies. This revealed a broader institutional gap in ICT readiness and highlighted the urgent need for systemic support in digital literacy. Such experiences not only broadened my understanding of ELT in Nepal but also sharpened my belief that effective TPD must be reflective, responsive, and rooted in the real challenges teachers face.
Critical Reflection and Theoretical Evaluation
The persistent underdevelopment of teacher professional development in Nepal reveals deeply entrenched structural challenges that continue to hinder quality education, particularly in English Language Teaching. Most TPD programmes in Nepal are designed and delivered through a top-down, standardised approach that disregards the diverse and context-specific realities of teachers, especially those in rural and marginalised regions (Borg, 2015). In my own teaching context, institutional limitations such as a lack of high-speed internet access, digital tools, and sufficient ICT infrastructure severely constrain innovative practices and hinder access to professional learning resources. Moreover, TPD initiatives are often conducted as one-off workshops, functioning more as bureaucratic formalities than transformative learning experiences. This tokenistic approach has prevented TPD from becoming a sustained, reflective, and embedded part of the teaching culture. Without long-term follow-up, mentorship, or collaborative platforms, teachers are left isolated in their pursuit of pedagogical improvement.
Reflecting on my own professional experiences, I find strong resonance with Schön’s (1983) concept of the reflective practitioner, which underscores the importance of learning through reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action. My practice of writing reflective journals after classes has evolved into a key professional habit, helping me to self-evaluate and adjust instructional strategies based on student responses and emerging challenges. Brookfield’s four lenses of critical reflection, such as autobiographical experiences, students’ perspectives, peer observations, and theoretical knowledge, have guided me in adopting a more holistic, evidence-informed approach to teaching. In the absence of robust institutional support, I relied heavily on self-directed learning through YouTube, MOOCs, webinars, and online communities, which served as vital metacognitive tools in my growth. Drawing on Deci and Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory, I recognise that my sustained motivation stemmed from a sense of autonomy, growing competence, and meaningful connections with like-minded educators. These experiences highlight not only the gaps in Nepal’s TPD ecosystem but also the power of teacher agency and intrinsic motivation in driving professional transformation.
Socio-Educational Relevance in Nepal’s Current Context
Nepal’s educational system, particularly in its rural and remote regions, remains heavily burdened by systemic challenges such as teacher isolation, lack of mentorship, and limited access to current academic resources. These issues are compounded by the digital divide, financial constraints, and bureaucratic red tape, which collectively stifle innovation and professional growth (Saud, 2023). In my own teaching experience, I have observed that even the most motivated and competent teachers often become disillusioned due to inadequate institutional support and rigid administrative structures. For example, teachers eager to integrate technology or apply new pedagogies frequently encounter logistical obstacles such as insufficient budgets, unreliable internet, or delayed bureaucratic approvals. This reinforces a cycle of stagnation, where meaningful reform is constantly deferred.
Despite these challenges, the enthusiasm among educators to engage in professional development remains palpable. During a Microsoft Teams training session I facilitated, I witnessed firsthand the eagerness of colleagues to enhance their digital literacy and pedagogical skills, an experience that underscored the untapped potential that exists when support structures are made accessible. This calls for the urgent design of responsive, contextually grounded TPD programmes that incorporate blended learning, modular flexibility, and collaborative learning communities such as peer-led reflective practice groups. Additionally, Nepal’s shift to a federal governance structure presents a valuable opportunity to decentralise TPD initiatives. If provincial governments, universities, and local education commissions can collaborate to tailor TPD efforts to local needs, while integrating global best practices and honouring indigenous knowledge systems and multilingual realities, then the quality and relevance of ELT in Nepal can be significantly enhanced.
Comparative Insights: Learning from Developed Countries
Countries like Finland and Singapore offer powerful counterpoints to Nepal’s underdeveloped TPD landscape, each providing distinct yet transferable lessons. Finland’s model emphasises deep professional trust, autonomy, and research-based practice. Teachers are required to hold a master’s degree, and professional development is seamlessly integrated into their weekly workload through collaborative inquiry and action research. This system nurtures a culture of intrinsic motivation, critical reflection, and lifelong learning, values that resonate with my own evolving understanding of professional development as a reflective and context-driven process. The Finnish model demonstrates that when teachers are viewed as intellectuals and collaborators rather than mere implementers of top-down directives, sustainable educational transformation becomes possible.
In contrast, Singapore exemplifies a highly structured, systematised, and well-funded approach to teacher professional development. Its centralised body, the Academy of Singapore Teachers, ensures coherence, quality control, and equitable access to TPD opportunities. Regular teacher appraisals, clear career progression pathways, and targeted ICT training reflect a deliberate alignment between policy, infrastructure, and pedagogy. Although Nepal cannot replicate either model wholesale due to differing socio-economic and political realities, strategic adaptations are feasible. Encouraging teacher-led inquiry projects, akin to Finland’s reflective autonomy, could empower local educators within their own contexts. Similarly, establishing a national TPD coordination body under Nepal’s Ministry of Education, inspired by Singapore, could ensure consistent funding, monitoring, and support. Finally, both models underscore the necessity of investing in localised digital infrastructure and content, steps Nepal must prioritise to bridge the rural-urban divide and foster equitable teacher growth across the country.
Recommendations for Key Stakeholders
Reflecting critically on Nepal’s current educational challenges, it is clear that the government and policymakers must take a proactive and sustained role in transforming teacher professional development. Allocating at least 5% of the education budget specifically for TPD, including investments in digital tools and training, would signify a much-needed commitment to educators’ growth. Context-sensitive and continuous PD programs, with annual evaluations, are essential to ensure relevance and effectiveness rather than one-off workshops. Establishing regional TPD centres with training-of-trainers models can decentralise professional learning and tailor it to local needs, especially in rural areas. Moreover, providing travel grants and funding for teachers to attend national and international forums will foster exposure to global best practices and motivate educators to innovate. Without such systemic support, TPD risks remaining fragmented and ineffective.
At the institutional and community levels, educational leaders and teachers must embed reflective practice into daily routines through learning journals, peer reviews, and action research. These strategies cultivate a culture of self-awareness, collaboration, and continuous improvement. Teacher mentorship and co-teaching initiatives can further strengthen professional support networks, while promoting ICT literacy as a core competency is vital in today’s digitally driven world. Developing signature pedagogies like post-class reflection writing not only enhances teacher effectiveness but models lifelong learning for students. Parents and students also play a critical role; their recognition of teachers’ efforts and active collaboration in assessing learning needs can build stronger school communities. Encouraging students to engage in reflective learning, research, and publication under mentorship nurtures a culture of inquiry from early stages. Finally, the broader citizenry, including civil society and media, must advocate for teacher rights and celebrate educational excellence publicly. Partnerships with national and international institutions and cooperatives can provide practical support to school and university infrastructure and TPD programs, ensuring that education reform is a shared societal endeavour rather than a solitary institutional responsibility.
Reimagining TPD for Stronger Nepal
Teacher professional development extends far beyond conventional training sessions; it embodies a profound moral, social, and intellectual commitment to fostering educational equity and excellence. Reflecting on my own journey, shaped by relentless self-directed learning, engagement with institutional initiatives, and the inspiration drawn from students, I have come to appreciate the transformative potential of continuous, reflective development. However, the path is fraught with significant challenges: scarce resources, fragmented policies, and a lack of systemic coordination often undermine the effectiveness of TPD efforts. These obstacles, though daunting, highlight the critical need for a more coherent, well-supported approach that recognises teachers not merely as implementers but as key agents of educational change and innovation.
Nepal’s current educational landscape reveals that the nation stands at a pivotal crossroads. By thoughtfully integrating local aspirations with global best practices and by prioritising teacher agency, collaboration, and contextual relevance, Nepal has the opportunity to fundamentally reimagine and revitalise its TPD framework. A strong national commitment to teacher growth, one that genuinely honours educators’ contributions and equips them with essential 21st-century skills, is urgently needed. Such an approach would not only enhance English language teaching but also catalyse broader educational transformation, positioning education as a driving force for social and economic development. Only through sustained investment in teacher empowerment can Nepal unlock the full potential of its learners and foster equitable progress across all regions of the country.
References
Acharya, B. (2025). Teachers’ perceptions toward teaching-learning pedagogy and professional development: Insights from Nepal. Acta Educationis Generalis, 15(1).
Borg, S. (2015). Overview-Beyond the workshop: CPD for English language teachers. Professional development for English language teachers: Perspectives from higher education in Turkey. British Council.
Paudel, P. (2019). Learning strategies employed in the English language: Perceptions and practices. Journal of NELTA Gandaki, 1, 87–99.
Ryan, R.M., & Deci, E.L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. The Guilford Press.
Saud, D.S. (2023). English language teacher professional development: Teacher educators’ perceptions and experiences. Bodhi: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 114-135.
Schön, D. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. Basic Books.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge University Press.
Author’s Bio: Mr. Dammar Singh Saud is an Assistant Professor of English Language Education at Far Western University. He holds an MA, MEd, and MPhil in ELT and is now pursuing a PhD in TESOL. His research focuses on ELT pedagogy, ICT integration, teacher professional development, and translanguaging practices. An active scholar, he has reviewed articles for peer-reviewed journals and serves as the editor of Exploration and IELTA Nepal’s online magazine. Saud has presented papers at international conferences, contributing to global discussions on English language teaching and fostering innovation in the field. His academic work reflects a dedication to advancing research and practice in ELT. He can be reached at dammarsaud68@gmail.com.
Prologue: In this reflective note, I have attempted to explore three key themes: how I learned English for communication, how I have grown as an English teacher, and how the teaching paradigm has shifted from chalkboards to clicks. The evolution from chalk to clicks has reshaped my teaching style and my perspective on both learning and teaching English. My journey with English teaching began as a tool for communication, guided by the inspiration of great teachers. As I stepped into teaching, I realised that it was not just about transferring knowledge—it was/is about connecting with students and understanding their needs. This personal growth mirrors the broader shift in education, where traditional chalkboards are now complemented (and usually replaced) by digital tools. The shift from chalk to clicks has not just changed the way I teach; it’s transformed how I view teaching and learning itself.
My Journey of Learning English: From Mud Plates to Meaningful Conversations
Reflecting on my journey of learning English feels like flipping through the pages of a long, extraordinary story. I was born and brought up in the remote hills of far-western Nepal—so remote, they say, even the sun only comes to set in the west. As I was raised in a modest middle-class family, I lived the life of a part-time student and a full-time farmer, herding animals, toiling in fields, and sneaking into classrooms whenever work at home allowed.
My earliest memories of schooling were far from the polished preschool classrooms of today. There were no “nursery,” “LKG,” or “UKG” classes. Instead, I learned ka, kha, ga by tracing letters with my fingers in soil spread across wooden plates (pati), then graduated to slates made of stone. School was a privilege—an hour’s uphill walk to a place where memorisation was education, and Nepali language and mathematics were the core of our educational world. In our peasant-class village, most parents were clueless about the curriculum and pedagogy. Formal Nepali was itself a second language for most of us, learned only after starting school. Home languages were local dialects, i.e., Dotyali; media exposure was not available and prohibited (children should not be exposed to media, i.e., radio). Television was unnoticed by all of us. Computers and other smart devices/phones are the property of only Gen Z and later. Standard Nepali and, even more so, English, were alien tongues. Thus, I began my educational journey in a landscape strangely distant from the languages I was expected to master.
When I passed Grade 3, I moved to a “bigger” school—nearly two hours away at the top of a mountain. Ironically, it was a school where no student had ever passed the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) exams. It was here that I first stumbled upon the English alphabet: a, b, c, d… not on the wings of curiosity, but under the shadow of fear—fear of slaps and sticks for failing to memorise the sequence. I did not notice the English alphabet before grade four. The English teacher taught us this alphabet, which was meaningless until formal instruction began. The real ordeal began when I actually had to learn English—an utterly foreign, disconnected language.
My experience of English was rote memorisation. My initial strategy was avoidance—memorising answers without understanding them to avoid failure and the stick from the teachers. Exposure to English was not found, and classroom time was spent mostly copying or memorising the text. Literacy was taught conventionally and mechanically without real comprehension. Very interesting, English was taught in Nepali (it is still popular in Nepal); it was a subject to pass, not a language to live.
Our first and only encounter with an English speaker, a Peace Corps volunteer from the USA, was both exciting and humbling. My attempt to ask her about the population of her country—the question straight out of our textbook—was met with confusion and a polite “Pardon?” (due to my unaspirated /p/ pronunciation). Despite trying several times with different tones, I failed. Only after showing her the question from the textbook, she understood my question and laugh kindly. It was my first real attempt at communication—and my first big failure.
In those years, “learning English” meant memorising English words, grammar rules, and entire paragraphs or texts without understanding or speaking a word of it. English classrooms were silent spaces filled only with choral reading and rote learning. In our school, teachers of difficult subjects (English, Science, and Mathematics) were imported from India. They were brought to “improve” our results for SLC (School Leaving Certificate, now SEE), teaching English through Hindi translation. Oddly enough, I picked up Hindi during the English teaching and became more fluent in Hindi along with my community language, Dotyali. Sometimes, we get punished without knowing the reason. I still remember one incident:
During one leisure period, most of my friends were outside the classroom—some getting water, resting under a tree, or wandering around the playground. One of my friends, however, peeked through the window of another class, where our English teacher from India was teaching/ translating an English text into Hindi. Suddenly, the teacher noticed him, stepped outside, and harshly punished him with a wooden stick, asking, “Khidkise jhakta hei?” (Do you watch through the window?). In a matter of seconds, my friend was marked by several blows from the stick, though he couldn’t understand why he had been punished. The entire situation baffled us, until one of our teachers kindly translated “Khidkise jhakta hei” into Nepali as, “Jhyaalbat herne ho?” (Why did you watch through the window?).
It was a moment and usual for all from parents to teachers, students to communities perhaps because our education system was deeply shaped by a culture of corporal punishment—a legacy from ancient philosophies like Chanakya’s and behavioristic theories like Skinner’s—where mistakes were “sins” that had to be punished out of children. Five sticks for a mistake in mathematics was a common rule. Wooden sticks for not memorising English texts. Such harshness disciplined us, but also suppressed our creativity, curiosity, and confidence. Despite this, I was the first boy in my school, not just in my class, but the hope for the school and the community. Passing the SLC exam was crucial for me for the school’s funding, and I was the hope for them. Furthermore, I, as a top student, supported my classmates, helping them along the way. In a way, this was the beginning of my journey into teaching, rooted in a sense of responsibility and a desire to lift others. It was the first step that unintentionally laid the foundation for my future in the teaching profession.
When I reflect deeper, my learning process remained mechanical even during my higher studies. In school and then at I.Com. (Intermediate in Commerce/Management), English learning was still all about teachers giving notes and students memorising them. Our approach to exams was simple—study half the book and attempt half the questions, since we had to attempt only five questions (i.e., 50 per cent) out of ten questions in the final examinations (no other examinations and assessments during the class). There was no focus on understanding, communication, or critical thinking.
However, during my I.Com., I witnessed a new possibility: my English teacher sometimes spoke English instead of just reading texts. Hearing him speak sparked a realisation in me—English wasn’t just a written code; it was a living, breathing language. This realisation planted a deep desire in me to learn English, not just for exams, but for expression.
This desire led me to practice English. I tried to build my skills further by joining a local language institute where we drilled English structures and practised speaking, but it lasted only three weeks before the institute shut down. Yet, even that brief experience showed me that English could be learned through communication, not just memorisation. Around the same time, I realised another truth—studying management felt hollow when I was calculating millions without even a single rupee in my pocket. It was a clear sign that my heart—and future—belonged elsewhere.
After I.Com., I switched streams and joined B.Ed. Specialising in English major, fueled by my growing passion to master the English language. Even in B.Ed., the methods didn’t change much—lecture, note-taking, and memorisation—but exposure to English-speaking teachers increased. Slowly, English began to move from my memory to my mouth, from textbooks to tentative conversations. Yet, truthfully, I wasn’t charting a career path or chasing a dream; I was simply moving forward, carving a rough road with bare hands, facing whatever life placed before me. There was no mentor to guide me, no strength to chase distant dreams—poverty kept my feet on the ground and my hands busy with survival. Plans grow where there is food on the table and clothes on the body; for me, survival came first, and dreams had to wait. I did not shape my life out of choice but out of sheer necessity.
From Survival to Service: My Journey of Learning to Teach English
Hailing from a humble, lower-middle-class farming family in Ganeshpur, Dadeldhura, I never imagined myself standing in front of classrooms, teaching English to university students. Education was not a priority where I grew up — earning a living was. Most families, including mine, believed that the surest path to a better life was not higher education, but increasing the property, i.e., land, and accumulating wealth via even labouring in India. Yet, somewhere deep within, a stubborn flame of learning burned.
Initially, teaching was not a dream I pursued; it was a necessity for survival. As a top student in school, I often found myself helping friends untangle English grammar rules and solve math equations. Later, as an intermediate student (I.Com.) in Kailali, I lived with a family who, in return for food and shelter, asked me to help their children academically. It was here, in small rooms with flickering lamps, that I first discovered the seeds of teaching — supporting them with homework, solving their mathematical problems, and explaining concepts I had only just mastered myself. Yet, necessity is often the mother of invention.
During my B.Ed. studies, I took up home tuition at an elite family in Kathmandu, struggling with economic hardship, social insecurity, and a fragile command of English. Every evening, I had to visit their home to teach their children with a lot of uncertainty and discomfort, as my modest appearance, pastoral background, and shaky English often made me feel out of place. Yet, that hour each day, spent guiding young minds, solving their small problems, and enjoying a rare, hearty tiffin, became a lifeline. It covered my expenses and gave me a quiet dignity in a bustling city. During the final year of my B.Ed. classes, I found myself stepping into private school classrooms. In the beginning, I was more of a survivalist than a teacher, struggling to speak English fluently, clinging to textbooks, and painstakingly translating/ paraphrasing line by line. Every new word was a small battlefield; every grammar rule, a mountain to climb. Paradoxically, it was my students who became my greatest teachers—their innocent questions challenged me, their elite accents helped me improve my pastoral pronunciation, and their curiosity lit a fire that pushed me to learn deeper, teach better, and dream bigger.
Teaching, I realised, was the best way to learn. Students can teach the teacher.
My journey was not linear. After attempting my B.Ed. exams, I returned home for Dashain and had to wait there for my results. During this uncertain pause, my friend, Dr. Tara Datta Joshi, requested me to go to Aalital, Dadeldhura, to teach English since he wanted to quit the teaching profession and engage in political activities. I was assigned to teach grades six to ten under the position of a lower secondary-level English teacher. However, fate took a sharp turn—the chairman of the school management committee was seriously injured in a bus accident and taken to India for treatment. Without his presence, I couldn’t obtain an official appointment letter and found myself working voluntarily for nearly three months.
During this time, I experienced the true nature of English teaching in rural Nepal. One incident I still remember is that English was taught in Nepali at that time, and the grammar translation method was the only pedagogical option available. I had to teach topics like sentence transformation, reported speech, and many others of similar types. I explained that when there is a third-person singular subject in a simple present sentence, it requires ‘doesn’t’ to form the negative, and the sentence starts with ‘Does’ to create an interrogative. The next day, I asked students to change “Ram plays volleyball” into the negative, and most students who even wrote the correct responses but pronounced ‘does’ as [du:s]’ (perhaps due to the ‘do [du]- does [du:s] and [s] instead of [z] due to /s/ in ‘works’. During these days, what I found most interesting was that many students who appeared quiet (in English) in the classroom became talkative and expressive when speaking to Dotyali outside the class. I also noticed that several students seemed to forget what had been taught (in English) as soon as they left the classroom. It shows a disconnect between classroom learning and their everyday communication. Life there was simple but strange. I shared a common room with Dr. Joshi and the chairman of the village development committee. One night, alone in the room, I had a haunting experience that shook me. When I hesitantly spoke about it at a local teashop the next morning, the villagers’ reactions confirmed my fears. Though it sounds surreal now, the fear, combined with the uncertainty of a volunteer job, drove me away from the hills to seek opportunities elsewhere.
Opportunity soon came knocking in Tikapur, where I was appointed as the Principal of a primary school. Drawing from my meagre six months’ experience of private schooling in Kathmandu, I brought sweeping changes: enforcing an English-speaking zone, instituting neat uniforms, and instilling discipline. Watching the students adapt and thrive gave me immense satisfaction — proof that even small efforts could yield visible transformation.
Yet the desire for further study remained fierce. After the result of my B. Ed, I moved back to Kathmandu to pursue an M.Ed. I got admission and waited for classes. During this time, I was looking for a job that would help me continue my studies in Kathmandu. I got an opportunity for a Resource Person (RP) for the Kailali district. I got confused, but went there since it was just before the Dashain. I thought I would earn some money during the college vacation, i.e. Dashain-Tihar and would quit the job and resume my class after Tihar if my transfer was not made near Kathmandu. I bought the books according to the prescribed book list and went to Kailali, near my home in the terrain. As I went through the books, I could not understand anything and got confused about the books that I had bought. I again checked the syllabus and found the books were okay. The syllabus was not designed from the titles of the course contents, but from the contents inside the books. It was the most difficult time for me. The government was changed, and all Resource Persons appointed by the previous government had been terminated. The set of district education offices was changed. Expressing my apathy towards such realities, I came to Kathmandu for my studies. As I worked for nearly three months, I witnessed the schools’ realities, students’ level, teachers’ activities, communities’ expectations, and bureaucratic hurdles and ineptitude.
When I first arrived in Kathmandu to pursue my studies, my journey took an unexpected turn. Owing to a prolonged absence while serving as a Resource Person (RP) in the remote schools of Kailali, the Department of Education, first and last time in its history, cancelled long-time-absentees’ enrollment, including mine. It was a bitter pill to swallow. Yet, after a few months, I could get my name re-registered after continuous endeavour. Determined not to waste a moment, I threw myself into full-time study, from dawn till dusk.
One day, during a course on Learning Theories, our teacher assigned a group presentation. I hadn’t prepared much, thinking the others would take the lead. But when the time came, no one from my group stepped forward. The teacher called me up alone. Thankfully, I had scribbled some rough notes—just in case. When other friends from the group refused to present, I delivered my presentation swiftly, drawing on my strength in Nepali. Afterwards, the teacher chuckled and asked, “Is your train about to leave?” I smiled and said, “No, sir.” Then, he again asked: “Why so fast?” I was dumb. He appreciated my spirit and even thanked me, while critiquing others for their lack of preparation or just presenting in points.
That moment opened unexpected doors. Friends began sharing their books with me, asking me to read and summarise them. In return, I gained access to resources I could not afford. Later, after completing my M.Ed. first year, Basant and Kishor from TU Photocopy Centre asked for my notes on phonetics and phonology. They later published it as a textbook, A Course in Phonetics and Phonology, giving me the identity of a textbook writer while still a student. Despite setbacks, I kept finding hidden paths forward—summarising, teaching, writing, and growing. What started as a struggle for survival slowly transformed into a journey of mastery, brick by brick, book by book.
After earning my M.Ed., I returned to classroom teaching in Kathmandu, stepping into a reputed high school where I taught English across various levels—pre-primary, primary, lower secondary, secondary and university. Each level brought its own set of challenges, from the excitement of teaching tiny hands their first English words to the complexity of helping adolescents grasp intricate grammar and communication skills. As I navigated these different levels, I continuously adapted my methods, refined my craft, and deepened my understanding of pedagogy.
In the early days, my teaching felt mechanical—read, translate, paraphrase, explain. Over time, it transformed into something much more relational—understand, engage, inspire. My students became my greatest teachers, helping me grasp child psychology, learning theories, and the true essence of communicative language teaching, which had once been a theoretical concept for me in university. I still remember I once moved from reading Nepali newspapers to immersing myself in English journals and news (to develop my proficiency in English), fully embracing the language I had once struggled to speak. Stupidly, I promised my friends not to speak in Nepali with me so that I can speak English with them and learn it to communicate. Reflecting on my journey, it’s clear that it wasn’t one of smooth paths or grand plans. It was a story of persistence, hard work, and constant learning. I didn’t just learn to teach English; I taught myself to become an English teacher. Most of the teachers of my time and before might have the same stories.
Today, if someone asks me how to truly learn English, I tell them: Teach. Teaching is, without a doubt, the most powerful form of learning. This realisation didn’t come from textbooks or lectures. It emerged from my own winding, rugged journey with English—a path filled with challenges, failures, and fleeting moments of inspiration. Along the way, I learned that education thrives not on uniformity, but on variety, localisation, and personalisation. I discovered that teaching must evolve as a dynamic, organic response to students’ needs, aspirations, and realities.
Of course, it wasn’t always easy. We had to make mistakes—face struggles, humiliations, and setbacks—before arriving where we are today. In this sense, my learning journey with English wasn’t a smooth one. It was a rough trail of soil, stone slates, rote memorisation, translations, and precious moments of clarity. But these hardships have become vital layers of understanding. The rigid, rote-driven practices, the lack of soft skills in the education system, and the harsh discipline I endured didn’t break me—they shaped my sensitivity toward what true education should be. They instilled in me a lifelong commitment to promoting an education that values communication, creativity, empathy, and critical thinking—the very skills I once lacked.
Now, as a teacher educator, textbook writer and researcher, I carry these lessons not as burdens but as beacons. They guide me toward a more humane path for others, where learning English—or any subject—is about living it, not just memorising it. Teaching is not just a profession for me; it is a passionate, often painful calling. The challenges embedded within the teaching profession are multifaceted, and both new and experienced teachers often find themselves caught in dilemmas over the right pedagogy. For me, teaching is nothing, just beautiful communication—effective communication on the topic. In Nepal, these struggles are compounded by limited resources, rote-centred traditions, and large, diverse classrooms. These challenges resonate deeply with my journey, one that began not with clear intent but with the struggles of a rural, middle-class upbringing in a society on the cusp of modernity.
One of the greatest challenges in education today is how previous generations (Gen X or Y) teach and train newer generations (Gen Z, Alpha, or even Beta), each of which comes with distinct psychology, learning attitudes, personalities, lifestyles, and evolving needs. For example, how did the Silent Generation (1928-1945), Baby Boomers (1946-1964), and Generation X (1965-1980) impart knowledge to Millennials (1980-1996), Generation Z (1997-2012), and the upcoming Generation Alpha (2013-2025)? And what about the future, with Generation Beta (2025-?) on the horizon? The way these different generations learn, interact with technology, and perceive the world around them presents a unique mystery in educational pedagogy. As each new generation brings with it a fresh set of demands and expectations, the question becomes: how can we adapt our teaching methods to ensure relevance, engagement, and effectiveness across these shifting landscapes? This ongoing paradigm shift in education challenges us to rethink traditional practices and develop more dynamic, responsive, and innovative approaches that align with the needs of future learners.
In the later stages of my career, I realised that teaching, at its core, is not about delivering information, but about effectively communicating the essence of a topic—communicating in the language that resonates with our students. The key is meeting them at their level, speaking their language, and guiding them to elevate their communication skills. It’s about creating a space where learning, unlearning, and relearning can flourish. As educators, our role is to facilitate this process, ensuring that our students don’t just absorb knowledge but actively engage, grow, and connect with the world around them in meaningful ways.
Author’s Bio: Narendra Raj Paneru, PhD, is the Head of the Department of English Education at Sanothimi Campus, Tribhuvan University (TU), and an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Education, TU, Nepal. With over two decades of experience in English language education, he holds a Ph.D. in the use of soft skills in ELT and an M.Phil. in educational leadership. Dr. Paneru serves as a member of the Subject Committee for English and Other Foreign Languages (FOE, TU) and contributes extensively to curriculum design, teacher development, and academic research. He has published widely on soft skills, phonetics, globalisation, and language pedagogy, and actively engages as a resource person and academic advisor in the education field and syllabus development initiatives.
We are delighted to announce the release of the Third quarterly edition of ELT Choutari (October-December 2024), dedicated as a special issue focusing on “Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education Policies Practices and Research Nepal.”
Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) in Nepal is grounded in the belief that students learn best in their native language, which enhances cognitive development and academic success. Introduced after Nepal’s democratic transition in 1990, MTB-MLE aims to preserve linguistic diversity while improving educational outcomes for children from various ethnic and language backgrounds. Despite strong policy frameworks supporting MTB-MLE, its implementation has faced challenges, including limited resources, teacher training, and community resistance. The policy’s success hinges on developing contextually appropriate teaching models and addressing the complex multilingual needs of Nepal’s classrooms, particularly in rural and marginalized areas.
This edition presents an exclusive interview with two renowned scholars—Professor Dr. Yogendra Prasad Yadava and Professor Dr. Ram Ashish Giri—as they explore the complexities of MTB-MLE (Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education) policies, practices, and research in Nepal. Delving into its multifaceted challenges and opportunities, their discussion illuminates the cultural, educational, and sociopolitical dynamics shaping language-in-education reforms in the region.
Professor Yadava highlights Nepal’s policy-practice disconnect in implementing Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB MLE). Despite constitutional guarantees for mother-tongue education, contradictory laws impede implementation. He identifies systemic challenges: underdeveloped policies, scarce resources, and lack of localized materials. Effective execution requires teacher training, community language awareness, and rigorous research to evaluate and refine programs. Yadava stresses collaborative partnerships with academic and civil institutions to align practical strategies with evidence-based research, ensuring policy coherence.
Professor Ram Ashish Giri discusses the cognitive, pedagogical, and linguistic challenges of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) in Nepal. He emphasizes the importance of designing policies that reflect the country’s multilingual reality and align with local aspirations, advocating for the inclusion of English alongside native languages. Giri critiques the gaps between policy intentions and practical implementation, citing inadequate resources, teacher training, and community support.
Additionally, the issue includes three scholarly papers by devoted researchers from Australia and Nepal :
Naomi Fillmore’s paper explores the challenges and successes of incorporating Indigenous and minority languages into education systems globally. She examines initiatives in Nepal, Australia, the Philippines, and New Zealand, highlighting the importance of mother tongue-based multilingual education (MTB-MLE). While these countries face similar issues like resource development and teacher training, each context offers unique approaches. Fillmore emphasizes the crucial role of community involvement, policy support, and culturally appropriate educational content.
Dr. Uma Nath Sharma discusses the integration of students’ mother tongues (MT) in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education in Nepal, highlighting both the theoretical benefits and practical challenges. He emphasizes how MT enhances comprehension, cognitive development, and cultural identity, supported by theories like Cummins’ interdependence hypothesis. Despite these advantages, societal biases, teacher reluctance, and institutional pressures favoring English create obstacles. Sharma advocates for the use of translanguaging as a transformative pedagogical approach, allowing students to use their MT alongside English.
Dr. Bishnu Khadka presents the tension between Mother-Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) policies and English Medium Education (EME) practices in Nepal, focusing on equity and inclusion. Analyzing policy documents, reports, and field studies, Khadka identifies challenges such as inadequate resources, insufficient teacher training, and sociocultural biases favoring dominant languages. The study highlights the gap between policy intentions and grassroots realities, which limits marginalized communities’ access to quality education.
For your convenience, here are the hyperlinks to the articles:
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our co-editor, Dr. Nani Babu Ghimire, along with all our editors and reviewers—Jeevan Karki, Ganesh Kumar Bastola, Mohan Singh Saud, Sagar Poudel, Binod Duwadi, Puskar Chaudhary, Yadu Gnawali, and Dasharath Rai—for their unwavering dedication and invaluable contributions in bringing this issue to the readers.
ELT Choutari is a platform for researchers, scholars, educators, and practitioners to share insights, practices, and narratives from classrooms and communities. We invite you to contribute to our upcoming anniversary issue (January-March 2025) by submitting your articles and blogs to 2elt.choutari@gmail.com.
If you find value in the interviews, articles, and reflective pieces, please share them within your circles and feel free to leave your comments below each piece.
I attended a public secondary school in Dhading, which was five kilometres walking distance away from my home. I had to do all the morning chores, prepare meals, eat and run to school as my parents had to go to work on the farm every day. As the classroom was overcrowded with up to seventy students, it was difficult to get a spot in the front row. I had to adjust with six students on a bench at the back of the class, which would make it hard to listen to my teachers. It was challenging to find a cosy place to read, write and listen to the teacher’s lectures. When I recall now, it was tough to get through all this and complete my school education.
Despite the teachers trying to engage us in learning, most of my classmates were inattentive to the teachers’ instructions. The teachers used to crack jokes or share some new things but the students hardly paid attention to their studies. As a result, the teachers were less motivated to teach us and ignored what my classmates were doing in the classroom.
My classmates were from different ethnic communities: Brahmin, Kshetri, Newar, Gurung, Tamang, Gharti, Dalits etc. As they were from diverse groups, they had different beliefs and ways of doing activities. They were basically from working-class families. Yet, some of them belonged to semi-educated families and they were less interested in their study. Nevertheless, I was very excited about my studies.
On a chilly day
It was a cold winter morning. I was teaching ‘The Ant and Grasshopper’ in class ten. I asked my students to write some new words in their exercise book individually. There was some noise, so I tried to control their side talking by cracking a joke. Some of the students who were sitting on the first and second benches were listening to me passionately, whereas the students who were sitting at the back were busy with their personal talk. Again, I told them not to make noise, but their side-talking was ongoing. I further inquired and knew that they were not listening to me clearly. Again, I advised the other side students to have patience and it took around 15 minutes to make them silent.
Moreover, I just had 30 minutes to go. Hence, I revised the previous lesson and made them ready to participate in my large class. Then, I taught my lesson before the lunch bell rang. When I came out of the classroom and I went to the canteen for lunch, I shared my problem with my close friend, who had also been teaching English at a lower secondary level. He listened to me very carefully and agreed with my problem. When I finished the trouble of the classroom. Interestingly, he narrated a story of his classroom that he was also suffering from a similar kind of trouble in large classes. After school, I went back home in the evening and started thinking about my trouble alone.
I realized large class teaching is a complex task and large classes are pretty challenging for the teachers to conduct effective instruction. In such classes, the student number is very high, more than 50, which causes difficult teaching circumstances (Hess, 2006). It is tough for teachers to focus on every student equally. It is considered that students’ engagement and active participation are diminished in large classes, and the frequency and quality of student-faculty interactions are reduced (Cash (2017). Furthermore, Marshall (2004) considers small classes to be very friendly and easy to handle but large classes are highly risky and challenging. Marshall (2004) further highlighted that the analysis of contexts, institutional change in resource allocation and teaching in multidimensional contexts is very thought-provoking.
I conceptualized that teaching in large and under-resourced classes is very tough and tedious throughout my teaching career. In the past, I was a student of a large class where physical infrastructure was not adequate, though we had a blackboard inside the classroom covered with dry grass roof of the building. We didn’t have sufficient classrooms. I still remember when I was a class three grader, and our class was divided into two different classes within a single classroom. It was pretty noisy and hard for the teachers as well. I experienced teaching in an under-resourced context is not an easy job.
Furthermore, I equally reconceptualized that large classes need much personal attention and encouragement to make progress. The students in their learning potential vary considerably due to their language and literacy skills. Thus, we say teaching in large classes is very much like teaching in all other situations; however, handling large classes is more complicated, exhausting, and infinitely more demanding, and challenging.
I explored the reality of large classes through the experience of my research participants who have been teaching a class comprising more than 60 students. I investigated challenges for instance, disruptive students, crises of discipline, and unwanted noise and explored strategies like group work, pair work, and collaborative project works to cope with the large classes with an in-depth study.
I realised that no students get a chance to learn new things in crowded classrooms. They lack the opportunity to grow holistically. Consequently, the prior investment of parents, teachers, schools, and students goes in vain. Based on my experiences as an EFL practitioner in a large classroom, I noted that offering group work and pair work was an effective tool in large-class teaching. The ability to handle large classes provided me an insight through which I germinated useful tips for large class teaching. I reconceptualized the concept of post-method pedagogy by Kumaravedivelu (2006) who persistently claimed that a meaningful pedagogy cannot be constructed without a holistic interpretation of particular situations and that cannot be enhanced without an essential improvement of those particular situations as a theoretical foundation to scaffold his ‘parameter of particularity’. Thus, it is noted that post-method pedagogy prioritises much on creativity, patience, teamwork and leadership.
Major Strategies I Employed in My Large Classroom:
A comprehensible teaching-learning process that ensures efficiency and effectiveness involves the design and implementation of creative and innovative teaching strategies, capable of responding to the individual needs of students and ensuring their academic success, (Jucan,2020). Without level-appropriate activities and contextual strategies, the teaching-learning activities are not making success, (Kumaravadivelu, 2003). Learning style, the learner’s preferred mode of dealing with new information, includes a construct known as cognitive style, (Oxford,1990). In my experience, large-class students have various ways of learning strategies, so I have applied various ways to make them learn. Some of them are as follows.
Engaging students in different project work:
Group work is believed to be allowing students to share ideas, perspectives, and skills among their pair and group. Students learn skills of collaboration and team building in which they develop communication, cooperation and the ability to work effectively with others. It also promotes higher-order thinking, creativity, and problem-solving, as students have to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information collaboratively, (McCormick et al, 2015) So, I designed some activities to attract the student’s attention in his large class every day. I often engage students in different activities. I ask to design a Calander for a group, a Code of Conduct for the classroom for another group and a Wall Magazine for the other groups. Likewise, I instructed them to share their ideas with their friends through their diverse perspectives. Moreover, they started taking feedback from each other. I involved students in some small groups. In doing so, I selected discussion topics that could be of interest to my students. Sometimes I provided them with topics in groups or individually, they searched on the internet and through some reading materials. I knew that all the time group did not work, so to keep every student involved in the group work, sometimes students were provided answers for each of the questions individually first.
Motivating students in pair work:
Working in pairs allows students to give and receive constructive feedback. Pairwork helps in the development of various skills such as teamwork, leadership and interpersonal skills. It is well known that motivation is a force that drives people to work towards a particular outcome (Maslow, 1943). I equally motivated students in pair works where they actively participated and developed a sense of competitiveness in and between other pairs in the classroom. I often motivated them to work on different tasks such as conversation practice, role-playing, problem-solving, debate, collaborative art, etc. Thus, I particularly engaged students in story-writing activities, case study analysis and general problem-solving. Moreover, students would appreciate their tasks in pairs and they learn their commonalities and differences.
Encouraging students to ask questions:
Teaching with questions to my students provided me direct connection with them (Filiz,2009). There is a great role for asking good questions in effective teaching and learning. Hence, I encouraged students to ask questions in my class because this task helps them build critical thinking skills. In this, they asked content-wise questions as it helped them to work together and make sense of the particular subject as mentioned by Kumaravadivelu (2003). Moreover, I motivated my students to raise questions based on their curiosity about the content. Developing questioning abilities indicates students enhance creativity and critical thinking skills. Moreover, questioning habits helped students feel relaxed and learn easily the complex subject matter. It encouraged my students to be active, independent and creative in the large classroom. Besides this, I encouraged my students to speculate on certain incidents, for example, I showed a picture and told them to imagine and connect with the picture. I wrote a sentence, “ If I were in this situation…..”. I let students think, develop their hypotheses, and arrive at a conclusion. This pattern scaffolded students through their positive mindset that they learn interestingly in the large class classroom.
Involving students Think-pair-share procedure:
Think-pair-share (TPS) is a cooperative learning strategy that encourages active participation and engagement among learners. In this think-pair-share technique, students are given a question, and students first think about themselves prior to being instructed to discuss their response with a person sitting near them. Finally, the group shared what they discussed with their colleagues to the whole class and their discourse kept on going (Rowe,1972). Hence, I used the TPS strategy to cope with a large class context. I began my class by asking a specific question about the text. For example; What are the various uses of Artificial Intelligence in education and list them based on your experience. (from one of the chapters of grade 10). Then, my students started thinking about what they knew or had learned about my query. Then, I engaged them to work in pairs with their partner in a small group discussion. Finally, they share what they have collected so far. Thus, the post-method pedagogy entails that students develop coordinating skills, increasing active participation and enhancing their innovative sharing skills.
Major Takeaways:
We teachers struggle in our large classes due to a lack of level-appropriate instructional tools. We often think of managing a large classroom since it needs tactfulness and a lot of experience. Teachers’ ability to explore and develop approaches to observe, analyze and evaluate their teaching for the purpose of accomplishing desired changes. It is an eye-opener and a gateway to make teachers, who are reluctant to bring innovations to their teaching, change their minds and redirect their teaching toward a more contextualized implementation of the strategies suggested to assist them in enhancing their teaching and their students’ learning. Engaging students in various project work, motivating students in group and pair work, encouraging students to ask questions, making level-appropriate fun as well as engagement, and evolving them into TPS strategies are major roadways to creating a learning environment in large classes.
References:
Cash, C. B., Letarago, J, Graether, S. P., & Jacobs, S. R. (2017). An analysis of the perceptions and resources of large classes university. Life Sciences Education, 16(2).
Cash & Marshall, (2007). Between deep and surface: Procedural approaches to learning in
engineering education contexts. Studies in Higher Education,29:5, 605-615, DOI: 10.
1080/0307507042000261571
Gibbs G. (1996). Using assessment to support student learning. The University of East Anglia.
Filiz, S. (2009). Questions and answer method to ask questions and technical information on the effects of teacher education. Social Sciences Journal of Caucasus University.2.
Jucan, D.A., (2020). Efficient didactic strategies used in students’ teaching practice. Social and Behavioural Sciences.
Kumaravadivelu, B. (2003). Beyond methods: Macro strategies for language teaching. Sage.
Hess, N. (2006). Teaching large multilevel classes. Cambridge University Press.
Hess, N. (2007). Teaching large multilevel classes. Cambridge University Press.
McCormick, N. J. and et al, (2015). Engaging Students in Critical Thinking and Problem Solving: A Brief Review of the Literature. Journal of Studies in Education. 5(4).
Oxford, R.L. (1990). Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know. Newbury House/Harper &Row.
Rowe, M. (1972). Wait time and rewards as instructional variables: their influence on language, logic and fate control. ERIC No Edo61103.
About Author: Binod Duwadi has earned an MPhil in English language education from Kathmandu University, School of Education. Mr. Buwadi has been a faculty of English at KUSOM and KUSOED. His research interests include ELT in under-resourced contexts, ELT with ICT integration and Multiliteracy pedagogy.
Aristotle urges us to be a master of metaphors to grasp a living reality of a thing. Following the footsteps of Aristotle, George Lakoff and M. Johnson introduce a perspective on metaphor—a perspective that takes metaphor as imaginative rationality. Admittedly, I am inspired by these two theorists. My inspiration is that I could not help using a simile to share my modest success in getting some of my responses to Call for Conference Proposals (CFP) accepted: Writing changes: remaking rhetoric in times of uncertainty organized by Corridors 2022 at Virginia Tech University, and Geographies of the Fantastic and the Quotidian organized by Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association (PAMLA) 2022 at University of Los Angeles California. For Corridors, I developed a paper entitled “Pedagogical Emasculation in the Wake of AI’s Growing Applications”, and for PAMLA, I submitted an abstract with the title “Backsliding New Materialism and a Resurgence of Interest in Virtue Ethics and Anthropomorphism”.
While responding to these two CFPs successfully, I came to know that responding to a CFP is almost similar to being a gentleman caller. Forgive my wild rush to John Dryden called ‘yoking heterogeneous ideas by violence’. More technically, responding to CFP and being a gentleman caller are distinctly disparate realms of activities. Just as forwarding a love/marriage proposal without paying sufficient courtship to a lady for a quite bit of time may backfire and probably end in rejection, so is answering to CFP without doing an extensive inquiry and without having background information on the topic. Any rush to reply to the CFP may backfire on the responder, often ending in outright rejection, which might weaken confidence and concentration. It is this point of commonality that pushed me to choose this figural trope. The fate of being a jilted lover is a bitter pill to swallow for any obsessed lover, in much the same way as it is for a responder to cope with the rejection of the abstract submission to CFP. With this figural gesture, I would like to reflect on my experience of responding to a host of CFPs.
We have seen many calls for proposals (CFP): CFP for conferences; CFP for book chapters and journal articles; CFP for intermezzo and review essays; CFP for web texts and digital projects; CFP for a success story and cross-border narrative; CFP for blogs and reflective writings, CFP for cases of advocacy, activism, and intervention; and to name just a few. Scholars, researchers, and instructors alike tend to respond to different CFPs they come across. Every responder to CFP deploys a nuanced approach. In spite of each scholar’s unique response style to CFP, there should be a few widely practised formularies to deal with CFP. Based on a few instances of my success in responding to CFP, I would like to craft a short account of responding to CFP.
In trying to emerge as a conference hopper, I kept exploring many other venues that organize national and international conferences such as the New Berry Library Conference (NBLC), Popular Culture Association (PCA), Modern Language Association (MLA) Pedagogical Training and Workshop, Northeast Modern Language Association (NEMLA), Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), Rhetoric Society of Europe (RSE), Rhetoric Society of America (RSA) and the list goes on. Actually, these venues release CFPs that tend to address any aspect of burgeoning issues, ranging from colonial reckoning, the rhetoric of precarity and the rise of authoritarianism to social justice, the linguistic justice, power and precarity attendant to AI’s growing application in learning and teaching space. Being well informed of all these burgeoning issues and of relevant proposals to address the issue constitute a core competency on each CFP responder’s part. Based on these two and various other successive experiences of responding to CFP, I would like to talk about some tips and strategies with which I succeeded in getting my conference proposals approved. I presented at a conference scheduled to take place at the University of Virginia Tech. Similarly, another conference proposal of mine was also accepted. In the second week of November 2022, I presented at a conference at the University of California, Los Angeles.
First, getting to the heart of an issue that takes centre stage in the CFP description is essential if we are to touch all the bases of CFP. While describing an issue/topic for CFP, the CFP issuer tends to be specific in producing an outline of the issue; at the same time, they often write, ‘the CFP moves around this topic, but not limited to…’, to allow for a somewhat flexible space to explore and probe the proposed issue.
Previously, while formulating an excellent abstract draft for a conference call, I used to take a general approach without homing in on a specific aspect of the CFP. After multiple rounds of rejection, I learned that people want to listen to specific things. Though the conference offers a smorgasbord of various potential topics, it would be in our best interest to dwell on the specificity of the issue. As soon as I shirked off this tendency to drift away from the axis of specificity, I realized that it wouldn’t be challenging to hit the target with the single most focused thrust to the specificity. To this end, it appears that any temptation toward delving deep into the topic in a manner most lithe and supple because exploring any issue by being specific is crucial to the acceptance success of a response to CFP. As to some heuristics and nuances with which the exploration of an issue would lead to a reliable unfolding of the issue, I have come to propose here: Test the efficacy of the issue in different cultural contexts, check on its limit, be aware of its fallibility, assess if its relevance is rooted in time and occasion, reflect on its impact on our normative practice and pragmatic life, and finally stretch your imaginative faculty to probe the issue under consideration with a detached mindset. The simultaneous shifts in my mindset led me to come across an acceptable topic for the CFP I was managing to respond to.
Second, though the power of forming a fresh, attention-grabbing, and shift-stimulating perspective of any responder to CFP is highly valued, the ability to introduce this perspective tactfully and without a lag matters the most. To translate this realization into action, I reflected on my expectations about how CFP evaluators take my abstract submission and what metric they would apply to assess the submitted abstract. I also pondered if their metrics and criteria remain consistent or if they apply abstract-specific metrics. I did my best to align the core thrust of my conference abstract with the CFP evaluators’ submission-specific yardstick of judgment. At the top of my talent, I aimed at ‘striking the right chord’; with the right chord being struck precisely, the net outcome is an acceptance call.
Third, the responder to CFP should not come to terms with the issue on the first go. Instead, the responder should let the proposed issue come to terms with a cumulative effort to develop a fresh perspective. For this, curious and consistent immersion in the latent and the manifest dimensions of the issue is required of those who play what Peter Elbow calls the Believing and Doubting Game. The fourth point is the assertion that with the idea of responding to CFP comes the responsibility to CFP. CFP wishes to garner a wide range of ideas, thoughts, propositions, perspectives, comments, questions, critiques, and curiosities. Most CFPs expect a concrete contribution of ideas to the platform the CFP is creating. Thus, every responder to CFP needs to internalize that to respond to CFP is to contribute something new, a fresh perspective, a nuanced approach to dealing with the proposed issue anew, a distinct approach indeed!
The fifth point that guided my approach to responding to CFPs is being aware that often CFPs asks for a fresh take on burgeoning issue/problem. Any response to CFP should look like a solution. Adopting a down-to-earth overture is a curtain-raiser to grappling with CFP head-on. The sixth tip comes in the guise of tonality. Maintaining an insistent tone serves two-pronged purposes: one is to bracket off any interference from digressive and deluding thoughts, and the other is to help the proposed perspective gain purchase. The use of an insistent tone wards off any trace of opaqueness that might arise while homing in on the target expectation of CFP. A response to CFP needs to be formed in keeping with the persistent presumption that whether others accept a proposal or not hinges on the same tone underpinning the proposal’s substratum.
The seventh clue to conveying a response to CFP is tricky. Throughout career-building in the academic field, students, scholars, and instructors respond to different types of CFP. Their responses often vary from acceptance and partial acceptance to outright rejection. In the case of outright rejection, it might be tough to bear the brunt of rejection, which might sap the spirit and entelechy one has been cultivating since the beginning of one’s academic footprint. In this condition of being in a low spirit due to sporadic rejection, one must groom oneself with a philosophical maxim, dictum, or conviction. In the wake of angst and anxiety consequent upon the rejection of any response to CFP, it would be tactful if one with the experience of rejection switches instantly from the erstwhile mental frame of lapsing into frustration and lamentation to a new mindset informed by the conviction that having been rejected means being hurled on the rose bed of renewal.
The last trick that may prove pivotal is catching a glimpse of and acting following the zeitgeist of contemporaneity that by and now diffuses across the world of CFPs. The spirit and entelechy of inclusion have penetrated every stroke of knowledge-making. Any linguistic shred and fragment are redolent of an alienating, exclusionary, and unjust practice, triggering a domino effect that ultimately spoils the inherent acceptability of the proposed perspective, no matter how full the proposal would be. All these strategic clues ultimately come down to a praxis that justice-fostering, dignity-ennobling, and identity-acknowledging rather than a collocational, standardized, and stereotypes-filled language pave the way for enriching the acceptability of proposed response to CFP.
Graduate students preparing to enter the job market are always hard-pressed to devote their whole time to completing their dissertation research. Nevertheless, they must invest more time in responding to CFPs for conferences, book reviews, review essays, success narratives, cross-border narratives, writing about their observation, and reflective writing. Since responding to the CFPs for a book chapter, journal articles, and intermezzo requires both intensive and extensive efforts, involvement, and time, it is relevant to conclude that trying to catch low-hanging fruit is an appropriate option for them. However, in no way should it not be understood as an underestimation of the potency and potentiality of graduate students inching closer to a threshold of the job market because there is quite an incredible number of graduate students who have already adorned their CVs with gems of their productive scholarship. However, speaking from a practical perspective and arguing in consideration of the pressure of time, including plenty of both teaching and administrative responsibility on the part of graduate students, there is every reason to advise that trying to catch low-hanging fruit still sounds like a lucrative and economical alternative for graduate students. In connection with this, responding to the CFPs for a conference, book review, review essay, essay on graduate student’s observation, and reflective writing such as cross-border narrative would be inviting and enticing for Ph.D. candidates on the verge of graduation who have built up a professional mindset of plunging into the job market soon.
At last, I would like to opine my thoughts on a type of stereotype that recurs in most of the announcements of CFP. On seeing sentences—such as ‘for book reviews and review essays, graduate students are encouraged and welcomed to contribute’—I felt irreparably stung by a scorpion of inferiority and of being pigeonholed. A query flashed across my mind instantly. There anyone, including me, could not but ask a question—why cannot graduate students, especially PhD candidates, respond to higher CFPs? The answer is obvious. In a general sense, responding to the higher CFPs demands time, resources and involvement. Graduate students are busy people who have a lot of work to do. I too was not an exception to this condition. Therefore, I was occasionally pained to see this sentence, but now I have mastered such a normal thought. With this unpleasant stream of thought, I would like to cut a long story short by saying that trying to catch low-hanging fruit—CFPs for conferences, book reviews, review essays, and reflective and observational writings—is a wise approach to redressing the harsh rhetoric of publish or perish. For clarity’s sake, I have presented below some pointers that could be helpful for any responder responding to a CFP:
Read and understand the CFP: It is in our best interest to go through the CFP document to understand the theme, topic, and requirements. Supportive here is the idea of paying attention to guidelines, word limits, formatting instructions, and submission deadlines.
Choose the right topic: Selecting a topic that aligns well with the theme of the conference or event is of enormous importance. Responders ought to make sure their research is relevant and innovative. Being mindful of the contributions the responder’s abstract makes is worth pondering.
Prepare an abstract: Of all the pointers pivotal to making a success of responding to CFP, crafting a compelling abstract that summarizes our paper or presentation is instrumental. So, the responder needs to clearly state the problem they are addressing, their methodological choice, and critical ideas and insights. It is good to ensure that the abstract is concise and engaging. The most crucial thing is the need to capture the attention of the reviewers.
Follow the submission guidelines: Successful responders to CFP ought to adhere to the submission guidelines provided by the organizers. They should pay close attention to formatting requirements, citation styles, and any specific file formats they may request.
Highlight your contribution: Each scholarly and institutional venue tends to judge an individual contributor to CFP in terms of their contribution. To that end, it is essential for them to clearly articulate the unique contribution of their work. The key to mastering this hurdle is to explain how it fills a gap in the existing literature, provides novel insights, or offers a fresh perspective. The responder need not dither about emphasizing their research’s significance and potential impact.
Present your qualifications: In an age in which an assertion is evaluated vis-à-vis self, highlighting our expertise, qualifications, and relevant experience in the field we are part of is of paramount importance. To buttress our credibility as responders to CFPs, providing a brief overview of our academic or professional background is imperative to establish credibility.
Proofread and edit: Before turning in our response to CFPs, it would be a cautionary measure to carefully proofread and edit our paper or abstract. If we ensure that our abstract is well-structured, free of grammatical errors, and coherent, it will be accepted. This is the principle we all need to live by. For that purpose, we can opt for feedback on our abstract from colleagues or mentors to improve the quality of our writing.
Meet the deadline: Submitting our response without crossing the specified deadline is advantageous because late submissions are typically not accepted. Hence, being proactive and active while planning our time and allowing for ample review and revision is of utmost importance.
Tailor your response: What matters most is the customization of our response to the specific requirements of the CFP. Reviewers are interested in hearing specific things; no one likes hearing general things. Thus, it is good to keep any idea of submitting generic or recycled content at bay. Tuning our response with the particular and genuine requirement is pivotal to actualizing the chance of acceptance.
Be professional and courteous: Since being soft and gracious matters a lot, it would be beneficial if they interact with the organizers and reviewers professionally and respectfully if they respond promptly to any inquiries or requests for additional information. The secret formulary to heighten our chance of having our abstract approved is one associated with living with a growth mindset and collaborative disposition throughout the process.
Works Cited
Garver, E. (1994). Aristotle’s rhetoric: An art of character. University of Chicago Press.
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (2008). Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago Press.
About the Author: Shiva Mainaly is a PhD in rhetoric and composition from the University of Louisville. Currently, at North Dakota State University (NDSU), he will become a postdoctoral research fellow from August 2023. A prolific author, he has published numerous articles in prestigious journals like the Journal of International Students, Constellation, and Composition Studies.
Growing up in a middle-class family with five siblings, my formative years were shaped by the love and care of my elders, instilling in me a sense of confidence and freedom. Among them, my father emerged as the most influential figure, guiding me with his hard work and selfless values. As I reflect on my educational journey and professional life, I realize how my father’s schooling continues to resonate, impacting my academic pursuits and shaping me into an educator who seeks to inspire and transform the lives of others.
The Enduring Legacy of My Father: Inspiring Values in My Academic Journey
Growing up in a modest family in the Baitadi district, my father’s determination, love for education, and selflessness left an indelible impact on my values, beliefs, and personal growth.
Despite their humble circumstances, my father’s family recognized the transformative power of education, impressing upon him the importance of prioritizing learning for a brighter future. Embracing this wisdom, he excelled academically and obtained top honours in the Kanchanpur district, the western part of Nepal. Working part-time to support his further studies, he completed B.Ed. in mathematics from Tribhuvan University, Nepal, and devoted over 36 years to teaching secondary-level mathematics in rural areas.
My father’s life experiences taught me the value of hard work, honesty, and unwavering determination to achieve my goals. His struggles also instilled in me a sense of gratitude for the opportunities I have today. His most profound lesson, however, was selflessness, his unwavering dedication to his family and society left an indelible impression on my character. As I pursued my academic journey, my father’s influence continued to guide me. Although my circumstances were more privileged, his lessons taught me that diligence and integrity make success possible.
His teachings not only shaped me as a good person but also as an authentic individual. I am determined to pass these invaluable lessons to my future family and students. With his enduring legacy as my compass, I seek to inspire and transform lives, just as my father has done throughout his remarkable journey.
Empowerment Through Education: A Personal Academic Journey
My academic journey commenced at home, where my family played the role of my first teachers, introducing me to alphabet belts and basic numbers. Though I began my formal education in a government school like my siblings, I had the privilege of studying in private (boarding) school (first in my family). This choice garnered public attention and prestige in our village, underscoring the value of education.
During my primary education, I excelled in memorization-based learning, securing top positions in my class. However, the system of rote learning limited my true understanding of the subjects. Shifting to government education posed initial challenges due to larger and more diverse classes, but I adapted over time, benefiting from a more flexible learning environment, albeit lacking student-centred approaches.
Upon completing my SLC, I went to Nainital India for my I.Sc., however I realized that my I.Sc. didn’t align with my interests, and faced language difficulties and homesickness. My family, understanding my predicament gave me the freedom to decide my academic path, leading me back to Mahendranagar, my hometown.
Embracing my interest in English, I pursued I.A. with English as my major subject. My academic journey continued rapidly, culminating in a B.A. with a major in English from Mahendranagar. My pursuit of higher education led me to Kathmandu, where I completed my M.A. in English literature from the central department of English in Kirtipur, achieving a first division. During my master’s studies, I harboured aspirations of becoming a police officer, inspired by the bold heroes of Hindi movies. However, my passion for teaching gradually surfaced, steering me away from the police force.
In this journey, education has played a pivotal role in empowering me intellectually. It provided me with knowledge, skills, and critical thinking abilities, enabling me to navigate various academic pursuits successfully. Furthermore, education has empowered me economically by opening doors to career opportunities and professional growth, allowing me to contribute meaningfully to society.
Education also fosters social empowerment, equipping me with the ability to share knowledge, mentor others, and contribute to the transformation of education in Nepal. Through my role as an educator, I have had the privilege of training teacher educators, presenting research papers at national and international conferences, and integrating innovative teaching strategies with ICT in language classrooms.
As I reflect on my academic journey, I recognize that education has been the key to my empowerment in multiple dimensions. Not only has it enriched my personal and professional life, but it has also instilled a deep sense of responsibility to empower others through the dissemination of knowledge and a commitment to transformative education.
Empowering Teaching Through Innovative Integration of ICT
As I embarked on my teaching journey at Darchula Multiple Campus, Khalanga, Darchula, Nepal in 2009 after completing my M.A. in English Literature from Tribhuvan University, I initially questioned whether teaching would become my true passion and profession. Not having an ELT background, my first experiences in university-level ELT classes left me feeling somewhat apprehensive. However, the positive responses and appreciation from both students and colleagues ignited a newfound enjoyment in teaching, leading me to realize that teaching was indeed my passion.
To improve my teaching skills and enhance my expertise in English Language Education further, I pursued a one-year B.Ed. and M.Ed. from Tribhuvan University. Determined to stay up to date with the latest pedagogy and educational technologies, I delved into integrating ICT into my ELT classrooms. The availability of ICT infrastructure, including computer labs, laptops, projectors, multimedia smart boards, and internet facilities, provided valuable tools to enrich the teaching and learning process.
The integration of ICT, though initially challenging, proved to be a motivating force in my teaching practices. Participating in various training sessions, workshops, webinars, and conferences, and learning from online resources like YouTube videos, I gradually adapted to using ICT more effectively in language classrooms. My colleagues often sought technical support from me when incorporating educational software such as MS Teams and Zoom during the transition to online classes amidst the pandemic.
Witnessing my students’ satisfaction and a keen interest in my classes further fueled my motivation to innovate in teaching by strategically incorporating ICT. A significant incident that highlights this impact occurred on 5th July 2021 when I was allowed to conduct ICT training for my colleagues at Far Western University Darchula Multiple Campus Khalanga Darchula. The training focused on using MS Team for upcoming online classes, and it became evident that many faculty members lacked familiarity with ICT in education. Their enthusiasm to learn and improve their ICT practices was inspiring. Guiding them through the basic functionalities of MS Team, such as creating class schedules, adding students as members, conducting quizzes, and facilitating group discussions, the session proved to be both engaging and fruitful, garnering appreciative comments from the participants and the dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Despite facing challenges within the academic environment and culture, where well-performing teachers are sometimes undervalued or discriminated against based on political affiliations, I have remained steadfast in fulfilling my professional duties honestly and responsibly. The support and belief from my family, friends, and students have been instrumental in sustaining my resilience.
Through the transformative power of education and the innovative integration of ICT, my passion for teaching has flourished, empowering me intellectually and professionally. Beyond my personal growth, I aspire to be an agent of change, promoting the meaningful use of ICT in education and contributing to the advancement of the educational landscape in Nepal.
M.Phil. at Kathmandu University as a Gateway for Transformation
I decided to pursue an MPhil in English language education from Kathmandu University with the unwavering support and encouragement from my family, friends, and students. Their belief in my abilities and the significance of advancing my academic journey propelled me to seek an institution that would catalyze personal growth and transformation. In this esteemed institution, I got amazing mentors, whose mentorship equipped me with both theoretical knowledge and practical competencies, instilling in me the confidence to implement cutting-edge teaching strategies and adapt to the ever-evolving needs of my future students. Through their guidance, I deepened my understanding of English language education and acquired the necessary skills to become a proficient teacher for 21st-century learners. Engaging in teacher professional development activities, I was exposed to innovative teaching methods, educational technologies, and effective pedagogical approaches that are most relevant in today’s dynamic classroom environments.
Furthermore, the vibrant academic environment at Kathmandu University fostered a strong sense of community among fellow students. Collaborative projects, discussions, and academic events enriched my learning experience and provided me with diverse perspectives on educational practices. This supportive network of peers and colleagues further contributed to my personal and professional growth, creating a nurturing environment for exploration and intellectual development.
During my M.Phil. journey at Kathmandu University, I experienced a profound personal transformation and achieved notable professional growth. Embracing innovative teaching strategies, I contributed to the academic field through publications and disseminated knowledge to a broader audience. Additionally, my academic journey extended into teacher education and research, as I provided training and presented research papers at national and international conferences, contributing to the advancement of Nepal’s education system. This transformation has empowered me with the confidence to foster positive change and cultivate a passion for learning among future generations.
Summing up
My academic journey has been a transformative experience, catalyzed by the influence of my father’s dedication to education and selflessness. From the early years of learning at home to my pursuit of higher education at Kathmandu University, I have been intellectually and professionally empowered. By integrating innovative teaching methods and ICT in the language classroom, I have witnessed heightened student engagement and satisfaction. This journey has also enabled me to contribute actively to the field through my publications and knowledge-sharing endeavours with fellow educators. Supported by the unwavering belief of my family, friends, and students, I am determined to leverage the transformative power of education, creating a positive impact on the lives of students, and fostering progress within Nepal’s education landscape as I continue to evolve as an educator and researcher.
About the Author: Dammar Singh Saud is an assistant professor at Far Western University, Nepal. He holds an M.A. in English Literature and an M.Ed. in English Language Education. Currently pursuing an MPhil in English Language Education at Kathmandu University, his research interests include ELT Pedagogy, ICT in ELT, Teacher Professional Development, and Translanguaging.
The government of Nepal introduced Integrated Curriculum in 2019 after piloting it for a year with the goal of providing knowledge of different disciplines through related subject matters. Integrated curriculum is defined as a curriculum that interlinks learning of more than one domain or learning areas (Ghimire, 2019). So, the content is thematically organized in it. Theoretically, it is regarded as one of the best forms of curriculum design. An integrated curriculum is characterized by a systematic approach to teaching professional skills, that is, personal and interpersonal skills, and product, process, and system-building skills, integrated with engineering disciplinary fundamentals (Crawley et al. 2007). However, as a teacher, I have mixed feelings while implementing it in my classroom. In this reflective blog, I will share my experiences of implementing it especially in relation to professional development, resources, and assessment process.
In Nepal, the implementation of the curriculum is hugely dependent on teachers. Unfortunately, teachers are unknown about the curriculum until they are handed over the textbooks. They get to know that the curriculum has been revised only after going through the textbooks. Many teachers think that the textbooks have been revised, but actually, it’s the curriculum that has been revised. Surprisingly, I got access to the soft copy of the integrated curriculum only after three years of application.
Curriculum dissemination and teachers’ professional development
Generally, after the change in curriculum, the concerned authority trains the teachers before implementing it. But in my context, curriculum is implemented in school first, and only a few teachers are given training after a year or two years. So, how can teachers implement the curriculum in its true sense?
Following a similar trend, after a year of curriculum implementation, two teachers from each school in Vyas Municipality, Tanahun were called to participate in the curriculum dissemination programme and I was one of them. The facilitators of four subjects showed their slides related to their areas (Mero Nepali, Mero Ganit, My English, and Hamro Serofero). Most surprisingly, the slides simply contained a copy of the curriculum and nothing else. The facilitators read, and we listened to them like obedient students. Some of the teachers asked questions but they didn’t receive satisfying responses. I think the facilitators didn’t understand the question, and the participants didn’t understand the answers. So, the two days’ training was not so effective.
The teachers returned to their schools. Neither they implemented the curriculum nor did they exchange their learnings with their colleagues. As I was also the administrator of the school, I asked one of my colleague how they were conducting teaching-learning activities in her school. Instead, she said that the teachers who took part in the dissemination programme commented they had not understood what they were told to do and were not in the position to share their learning with others.
Later, I got an opportunity to take part in training. I had filled out the form of ETC, Tanahun, which I saw on my Facebook page in August 2022 (Shrawan). According to the information, the training would be held in the first week of September (Bhadra), but I was called for the training in October (Kartik). I attended it and learned to teach according to the purpose of the integrated curriculum. I learned different techniques to teach Mero Ganit (Mathematics) while teaching My English, Mero Nepali, and Hamro Serofero (My surrounding) and; to use teachers’ guides (TG). I learned to use an evaluation form to keep records of students’ learning achievements. I learned to keep records and build a portfolio of the students. As it was a ten-days training with two days devoted for each subject area including students’ assessment. We were told how to use teacher’s guide. Frankly speaking, I had never used a teacher’s guide before. Moreover, I had rarely heard about it and never seen the teachers using and talking about it.
After the training, I hurried to reach my school and apply what I learnt. I downloaded the Teacher’s guide from www.moecdc.gov.np; however, I couldn’t find the TG of all subjects of all classes. Despite that, I found the training useful for me to teach and assess my students.
Access to resources and materials
As teaching and testing are the two sides of a coin, I had to assess my students’ listening skills in English. In their workbook, students were asked to listen to recordings and do given activities, but I was helpless because I was unknown about the recordings. I searched on CDC website but couldn’t find them. Then, I contacted the municipal education department and they told they would get back to me but never did so. I reached out the trainer, who facilitated the assessment segment in the training and explained my problem and he provided me with the contact information of a CDC officer. I called them and they asked me to contact them later and when I called later, their phone was switched off. Eventually, I couldn’t find the materials to assess listening skill of my students.
Needless to say that the teachers must be well equipped with the resources for effective teaching and learning processes but teachers in our context are struggling to access the fundamental resources. On the other hand, teachers are blamed for not imparting quality education. How can a teacher contribute to students’ education? How can a teacher provide better education without resources? It is said that teachers must be resourceful, but how?
Assessment policy and practices
The curriculum indicates that the students must be assessed regularly and provided feedback. So, I tried to collect the assessment template from one of the stationeries where I usually used to go for school related documents and materials. I couldn’t find them even after making couple of attempts and I accessed the softcopy of the curriculum and printed the assessment forms using my office computer. I started to keep records of my students progress in it. Later, the municipality called for a meeting to discuss the examination date and other issues just before the first term (quarter). They provided a booklet of assessment forms. It was frustratingly late because we were supposed to keep records of students learning achievement from the very first day.
The curriculum has talked about the formative assessment of students and workbooks are designed based on it. Students are to be assessed after completion of each theme, so that we can evaluate whether they have achieved the learning outcomes of the particular theme or not. All they have to do is assess their students and keep records in the given format and make a portfolio of each student.
Although it became easier for me, it was not the same for other teachers. When the second terminal examination was about to begin, there was a debate among the teachers whether to follow the curriculum or not for students’ assessment. Only a few teachers favored the curriculum, which envisions continuous assessment of students instead of paper-pencil test but teachers and parents are habituated to it. They don’t want to change the status quo. Instead they would want to continue with the traditional test, which is against the spirit of the curriculum. However, almost all the teachers wanted to continue with the terminal paper-pencil tests. They argued that the parents aren’t happy until their children appear in the written examination. It seemed that they were fencing themselves and making excuses due to the time-taking assessment system in a new format.
When the third quarter of last year was coming to the end, teachers were asking me about the process of assessment procedures of the students. I explained them many times what I knew but it was not possible to explain entire process over the phone. I requested them to read the curriculum and teacher’s guide. However, I don’t think they did so. Some teachers even asked me to take a photo of the assessment form and send them pictures of the record. It was surprising how a photo could help them to assess their students! Actually, the whole process is described very well in the curriculum. However, they do not access them either because they have poor digital literacy or are reluctant to implement the change in the new curriculum.
Conclusion
The government appoints specialists to develop the curriculum, and the specialists develop the curriculum. They might accomplish their job after designing the curriculum but curriculums are only successful once they are implemented effectively, so the concerned authority should also equally think about the implementers and implementation process. Teachers are still obliged to enter classrooms without any ideas about curriculum and instruction it envisions. They are also unlikely to be aware of the learning outcomes, pedagogy and assessment procedures in the new curriculum. Despite these problems, teachers are compelled to teach, which definitely hinder the effective implementation of the curriculum.
To summarize, the concerned authority must make sure that every teacher gets a copy of curriculum before it is implemented in classrooms. The teacher’s guide and curriculum must be available easily, like students’ textbooks. Teachers’ feedback must to collected widely before rolling out the new curriculum. Similarly, all teachers must be trained well before implementing new curriculum or policy. Mohr and Welker(2017) stated that “if curricular change is to happen, professional development ought to be a focus, and teachers’ perspectives should be central to the process.” Training after one or two years of curriculum implementation is worthless. Teachers should get chances to discuss their issues with the concerned authorities regarding their problems. Last but not least, the teachers themselves must also be active and curious to learn, so that they don’t have to always depend on others for implementing or leading change.
About the Author: Laxmi Shrestha is an M.Ed. from Aadikavi Bhanbhakta Campus, TU. She is an English teacher in a public school, Tanahun. Her interest in writing includes EMI, Second Language Acquisition, Sociolinguistics, and Language Teaching.
I joined college teaching at Matribhumi Campus, Lamjung, where a few regular students were in the classroom. I would have enough time to share ideas, listen to them, and support them. Later on, I was appointed as an assistant lecturer of English at Hetauda School of Management and Social Sciences, Makawanpur, where there would be an average of 50 students in each class. In the beginning, all the classroom activities were going smoothly on. However, gradually, I was entangled with the late submission of home assignments by some of the students, which caused me troubles in teaching and learning activities, particularly about completing the assigned course in the expected time. Thus, in this paper, by reflecting on my experience, I discuss specific causes/reasons behind the delayed submission of home assignments of English and some practical solutions to get rid of them.
Introduction
Academic achievement of students and their submission of home assignments in time have been associated (Eren & Henderson, 2008; Rawson et al., 2017). Thus, the study by Kim and Seo (2015) claimed that the procrastination of home assignments indicated the low academic performance of the students. There have been various reasons for such delayed submission of home assignments. For instance, a study by Kuftyak (2022) argued that the students who had low performance in their studies, their laziness, and lack of proper time management were some of the causes of delayed submission of their home assignments. Moreover, delayed submission of home assignments would have a colossal impact affecting almost all the aspects of social and professional lives of students, particularly their academic performance. In addition, a study by Shaked and Altarac (2022) reflected feelings of frustration, anxiety, stress, damage to self-image, and receiving a lower grade were some of the consequences of delayed submission of home assignments. Despite the devastating impact of procrastinating on the home assignments, some of the students in my class delayed the submission of their home assignments. Although I tackled the problem by encouraging and motivating the students to complete the assigned work in time, the fundamental situation remained the same. Moreover, they made various excuses, such as forgetting their copies of assignments and not feeling well, just to name a few to justify their delayed submission. However, finally, I overcame gradually minimizing the ratio of late submission of assignments by adopting various strategies such as finding the real causes of problems, establishing friendly relations with the students, changing the ways of teaching, dealing individually with them, and assigning the work on their consent, thereby, here, I argue by understanding the real causes/reasons of delayed submission of home assignments and dealing accordingly with the students assist minimizing the ratio of delayed submission of home assignments instead of imposing the workload and various instructions for them. Thus, in this brief descriptive reflection, I focus on just how I made the students submit their home assignments before the deadlines by exploring the causes/reasons of the problem and adopting some strategies to get rid of the problem.
Causes of late assignment submission
I explored various causes of late submission of assignments of English which were different from student to student. However, some of the causes of late submissions of home assignments are discussed below:
Lack of clear understanding of the lesson
I found the students who did not concentrate on the classroom activities often delayed submitting their home assignments as they did not have much idea about how to solve the given problem due to a lack of clear understanding of the lesson. To solve their homework, they needed to explore their prescribed texts and other related materials which made them delayed in submitting their assignments before the deadline.
Time management
I discovered some of the students who delayed in the submission of their home assignments had a lack of managing the time in solving their assignments as they reported they often began solving their home assignments very late hour after receiving them, due to which they could not submit their assignments before the given deadline.
Workload
I found the workload of students’ home assignments was also a responsible factor in the delayed submission of their home assignments as I often used to prescribe them more work by realizing that they had to do a lot to improve their academic performance. In addition, some of the students reported that they would receive extra work in other subjects as well, due to which they would be already overloaded.
Negligence
I investigated some of the students who did not submit their home assignments on time and often did not pay attention to working on home assignments instead, they enjoyed copying readymade answers from various sources, such as from their friends’ exercise copies, without really being involved in the given activities. Moreover, some did not care about the deadline of their assignments and made various excuses for their delayed submission.
Ways forward to overcome the problem
After finding some of the causes/reasons behind the problem, I adopted the following strategic procedures to solve the delayed submission of home assignments. They are as follows:
Establishing friendly relationships with students
Establishing friendly relationships with students assisted me in minimizing the delayed submission of home assignments by supporting me in a better understanding of the students and promoting the teaching and learning environment in the classroom. In doing so, I began spending more time with students outside the classroom, such as during break time, particularly focusing on the students who did not submit their home assignments on time. Gradually, I sorted out the names of the reluctant students, particularly about doing their homework, and developed their portfolios under their consent which helped me to assign a particular kind of homework for certain students and follow them before the deadline of their home assignments. As a result, the students who procrastinated in submitting their home assignments gradually improved and began to submit their home assignments a bit faster than earlier. They started sharing their problems of solving home assignments and other problems related to teaching and learning, which supported me in preparing further plans for overcoming the problem of delayed submission of home assignments.
Changing the ways of teaching
By exploring a connection between ways of teaching and the submission of home assignments, I reviewed and changed my previous ways of teaching in the classroom. I minimized the lecture method and focused on students centric teaching methods, such as class discussion and group work, just to name a few. Changing ways of teaching assisted me in solving the problem of lack of clear understanding of the lesson in the class. As a result, I found the majority of the students who delayed submitting their home assignments were actively participating in the classroom activities. I kept on following and inspiring them by highlighting their latest progress in classroom activities. Gradually, I realized the change in their classroom performance and submission of their home assignments before the deadline, which inspired me to work further to change their ways of working with assignments. Thus, changing the way of teaching assisted me to some extent in overcoming the problem of delayed submission of home assignments by promoting students to solve the problems and making them more responsible in the assigned work.
Dealing individually with students
In addition, I started dealing individually with some of the students who were still nagging about submitting the home assignments and making various excuses such as forgetting or missing their exercise copies, having an urgent piece of work at home so forth. They often would give me word that they would come the following day with the assignments; however, they never kept their promises. Then, I decided to deal individually with such students, which made it easier to explore further and understand them and to make them responsible for doing the home assignments. I initiated assigning different tasks for each such student instead of homogeneous kinds of work, which prevented imitating from each other’s copies and supported me assigning the work based on the standard of the students. The result was wonderful, as I found most of them submitted on the assigned time. Very few of them still did not submit on time. However, there was an improvement in their way of working.
Assigning on students’ consent
Finally, I developed another strategy, such as assigning home assignments on students’ consent for those who (very few of them) were still remaining back on submitting their homework on time. Thus, I asked them some questions before assigning some work to them, such as “Could you complete this work in the given time”? “Could you solve the following problem?” After finding some positive responses from such students then only I began assigning work to them. Later on, I found successful results after doing this as they improved them by following the given timeline of their home assignments and solving the problem in better ways instead of making various excuses like earlier. However, I found some students would like to receive very few home assignments compared to the other students in the class. Thus, it took me a bit more time to assign them the homework on their consent; nevertheless, I did not give up. Ultimately, I found adopting such a strategy supported me in overcoming the problem of delayed submission of English home assignments.
Conclusion
This article reflects some causes/reasons for delayed submission of English home assignments. It provides some practical solutions for solving the problem, such as establishing friendly relationships with students, changing the way of teaching, dealing with each student individually, and assigning the work on students’ consent. This reflective writing showed a single strategy has not been adequate for addressing the problem of delayed submission of home assignments and provides clear direction for further exploring the problem.
Kim, K. R., & Seo, E. H. (2015). The relationship between procrastination and academic performance: A meta-analysis. Personality Individual Differences, 82, 26-33. https://doi.org/org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.02.038
Kuftyak, E. (2022). Procrastination, stress and academic performance in students. ARPHA Proceedings, 5, 965-974. https://doi.org/10.3897/ap.5.e0965
Shaked, L., & Altarac, H. (2022). Exploring academic procrastination: Perceptions, self-regulation, and consequences. Journal of University Teaching Learning Practice, 19(3), 15. https://doi.org/https://ro.uow.edu.au/jutlp/vol19/iss3/15
About the author: Surendra Prasad Ghimire is an MPhil Scholar at Nepal Open University, Nepal, and lecturer of English at Hetauda School of Management and Social Sciences, Makwanpur, Nepal.
It is our great pleasure to release the third quarterly issue (July-September) of 2022.
While working for ELT Choutari we realized that teachers are reluctant to writing despite the fact that they are good communicators. Their experience remains undocumented, causing a situation where the grassroots realities of ELT classes are not reflected well in academic discourse. There are two main reasons behind this case; the first is that the teachers do not consider writing their work. Second, they think they cannot write. However, we believe that teachers can write and must engage in the practice of writing because writing is paramount for teachers’ professional development.
It is argued that the teachers who do not engage in the writing process themselves cannot adequately understand the complex dynamics of the process and cannot empathize with their students’ problems (Hairston, 1986). While engaging ourselves in writing, we better understand writing as a process since we become more conscious of the writing process, its mechanisms, and its importance, which is very important for a successful teacher.
Writing as a process helps the ELT practitioners share their experiences. The habit of sharing creates multiple platforms for both parties; the writers and the readers. In this light, writing helps to maintain professional solidarity. Similarly, reflection through helps them enhance their professionalism since they carefully note their successes, failures, and plans for improvement.
Writing does not necessarily equal a fine-tuned final product; instead, it is a recursive process that allows reflection and revision, and includes a series of processes like planning, drafting, editing, reviewing, revising and preparing final draft (Harmer 2006). While working to develop ideas, organize them and incorporate comments and feedback, the writers understand their strengths and weaknesses, which helps them refine their writing strategies and hone their creativity and confidence.
Teachers do not always need to research and write a well-formatted research article. They can start writing from their day-to-day experience, practice, and challenges they tackle in their professional life. While dealing with them, they think and work on multiple possible solutions and finally discover the best one. The teachers can make an issue about their challenges and explore this issue based on their practice with possible answers in their writings. Initially, these things look simple but can be an asset in academic discourse.
Writing a fine-tuned scholarly article can be an intimidating experience for school teachers and novice writers. As a beginner writing practitioner, the teacher can choose to write blog posts since they are flexible in length, structure, and themes and are beneficial for their professional development. For it, ELT Choutari can be a good choice for novice writing practitioners since it encourages local scholarship providing a common platform to communicate in academic circles. It prioritizes narrations and reflections from ELT practitioners to full-fledged research-based papers. Moreover, it gives space for local methods and practices, which in turn assists other related practitioners boost their classroom performance practically rather than merely enlarging their theoretical knowledge horizon.
Last but not least, one cannot be a good writer over night. It needs a step-by-step process. Writing blogs can be the first step. We can pick up a simple idea, prepare a writing piece, reach a broader audience, receive constructive feedback, and address them judiciously while revising it. This practice of our writing assists us in developing our writing habits in academia.
Papers and post on this non-thematic issue covers professional development ideas, reflections of teachers on online teaching and teachers’ exploitation in higher education.
Yadu Prasad Gyawali in his article Bridging the gaps of learning through learner centered integrative approaches (LCIA): A reflection explores how learner centered integrative approaches bridge the gap in learnability. Moreover, he reveals how these approaches result in enhanced learners’ motivation, self-preparedness and learners’ engagement.
Likewise, Rajendra Joshi on his post Online education during COVID-19 pandemic: an experience of a teacher reflects on the challenges the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic entailed and the opportunities it brought. He further explores alternative learning platforms and strategies schools incorporated in the pandemic, which can be useful in the future crisis too.
Similarly, Bimal Khatri on his paper Part- time teachers’ well-being in urban community campuses: a narrative inquiry raises questions on discriminatory treatment to teachers at higher education, and unfolds how teachers’ well being affect both teachers’ and students’ academic performance.
Finally, in the editor’s pick post, we have included a multimodal blog, in which an English teacher and teacher trainer shares some ideas of teaching grammar to students
Here is the list of posts for your further exploration:
Finally, I would like to thank our co-editor Nanibabu Ghimire for extending invaluable support throughout the entire process. We jointly are thankful to all our editors and reviewers, Ganesh Kumar Bastola,Mohan Singh Saud, Ashok Raj Khati, Jeevan Karki, Sagar Poudel, Ekraj Koirala, Jnanu Raj Poudel, Karna Rana and Rajendra Joshifor their relentless effort and contribution.
If you enjoy reading these blog posts, please feel free to share in and around your circle, and of course, drop your comments in the boxes below. Likewise, please write and send us your teaching-learning experiences for which we will be happy to provide a platform at Choutari. Our email is 2elt.choutari@gmail.com
Thank You.
References
Hairston, M. (1986). When writing teachers don’t write: Speculations about probable causes and possible cures. Rhetoric Review, 5(1), 62-70.
Harmer, J. (2006). How to teach writing. Pearson Education India.
Karuna Nepal, Lead editor of the issueNanibabu Ghimire, Co-editor of the issue
English as a second language (ESL) first-year university students often face challenges with academic writing because of the linguistic, cultural, and instructional differences between the education system in the U.S. and their home countries (academic writing conventions in English and their first languages). This paper aims to present an ethnography of writing as a framework to familiarize the ESL first-year university students with the basics of academic writing, which directly speaks to the educational, social, and cultural contexts of U.S. higher education. The paper concludes that ESL students benefit immensely from using Grabe and Kaplan’s (1996) ethnography of writing as a framework to introduce academic writing in English to cope with their academic writing challenges.
Keywords: academic writing challenges; freshman ESL learners; ethnography of writing; U.S. higher education; linguistic, cultural, and instructional differences
My Tutoring and Teaching Academic Writing Experiences
I have gotten an opportunity to become an ESL educator for different aged students in different educational contexts. First, I have been an ESL teacher in Nepal. I have taught reading and writing to high school and undergraduate students. Second, I worked as a writing tutor at a regional level teaching university in the Midwestern region of the U.S. I tutored both domestic and ESL international undergraduate and graduate students. Third, I have been teaching reading, vocabulary, and writing courses in the Intensive English Language Program (IEP) at the Midwestern U.S. university for four years. Primarily, I follow a process-based approach (Zamel, 1983; White & Arndt, 1991) and the genre-based approach (Hyland, 2004; Swales, 1990; Tardy, 2008) to teach academic writing to my ESL students who come from diverse educational, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds. I guide my students by helping them explore resources, services, and contacts in and outside of the university. These learning resources are essential to alleviate their academic writing difficulties in the U.S. higher education context (Chauhan, 2021). Sharing experiences of ESL instructors’ academic journey, including coping strategies, is critical to improving their academic writing skills (Odena & Burgess, 2017). However, existing literature shows that academic writing in English is challenging for ESL students at both undergraduate and graduate levels (Chauhan, 2021) because they come from diverse social, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds (Duff & Anderson, 2015). The diversity of their backgrounds can also be an asset to acknowledge and utilize for enhancing their academic writing skills in English.
Nature and Scope of Academic Writing in Higher Education Context
Academic writing (AW) refers to the writing used in the college and university-level writing courses (Johnson, 2016). Additionally, AW has become the primary communication medium between scholars in academic subjects and disciplines in a higher education context (Greene & Lidinsky, 2015). AW is simple, clear, focused, and formal. It is also technical, objective, impersonal, concise, logical, and well-organized. An academic writer must meet genre-specific expectations and stylistic conventions (Ferris, 2018; Giltrow et al., 2014; Osmond, 2016; Starkey, 2015). AW is specific to context, task, purpose, and audience (Ferris, 2018; Grabe & Kaplan, 1996; Starkey, 2015). In parallel with these ideas, Gottlieb and Ernst-Slavit (2013) stated that“[t]he distinct purpose, audience, and context of communication result in clear differences in terms of language use in the selection of words, formality, sentence construction, and discourse patterns” (p. 2). AW is seen differently by scholars based on the features mentioned above. Osmond (2016) argued that AW projects writers’ in-depth knowledge, critical thinking skills, and analytical skills while studying different academic subjects within their disciplines and majors. It is also seen as an inquiry because writers can discover their values, beliefs, strengths, and areas to improve when they engage in the writing process (Starkey, 2015). Grabe and Kaplan (1996) recommended that each writer understands AW from the lens of an ethnographic approach. Echoing similar ideas, Ferris (2018) has summarized the features of successful academic writers and standards of writing used in academia.
Writers must have at least an adequate grasp of the content they are writing. They must understand the rhetorical situation, including the purpose of the writing and the knowledge and expectations of their audience of readers. They need to appreciate the constraints and boundaries accompanying genres, tasks, and text types. Further, writers need advanced control of the linguistic features (vocabulary, spelling, grammar, cohesive ties) and extra-linguistic features (punctuation, capitalization, formatting) appropriate for their text’s content, genre, and target audience. (p. 75)
Ethnography of Writing as a Framework to Introduce Academic Writing
As I mainly tutor and teach academic writing to freshmen ESL first-year university students, I am well acquainted with their writing challenges based on my teaching experience and research study. Current research study has also found that ESL undergraduate students faced many challenges with academic writing in the U.S. university context.
To illustrate, Chauhan (2021) concluded that ESL “undergraduate students experienced academic writing challenges [including] content (gathering information/ideas), organization, academic vocabulary, genre awareness, grammar and mechanics, and citing and referencing sources” (p. 148) because the standards and genre-specific expectations of AW in English are different from those of in ESL students’ L1s (Ferris, 2018; Giltrow et al., 2014; Osmond, 2016; Starkey, 2015).
To address the AW challenges of my ESL first-year university students, I employ Grabe and Kaplan’s (1996) ethnography of writing, which provides a theoretical framework to understand AW regarding its social and cultural contexts in U.S. higher education. Before creating any written text, all writers must ask this fundamental question: “who writes what to whom, for what purpose, why, when, where, and how?” (Cooper, 1979, as cited in Grabe & Kaplan, 1996, p. 203). They further stated that this framework considers academic writing as a combination of writer, reader, subject matter, and text as a writing triangle in which the writer persuades the readers in terms of logos (reason/text), pathos (values, beliefs/audience), and ethos (credibility/writer). Overall, the ethnography of writing is one of the best frameworks to introduce AW to the freshmen ESL students because this framework examines the text’s audience, the writer’s purpose, the genre required by the task, and the situation in which the wiring is used (Grabe & Kaplan, 1996).
Taxonomies of Ethnography of Writing
Grabe and Kaplan (1996) introduced eight types of taxonomies of ethnography of writing to discuss further how this framework operates in a broader academic context. Their framework is further explained together with how I employed this framework to teach writing to my ESL first-year students in a Midwestern U.S. university.
Who
Grabe and Kaplan (1996) state that the first parameter of ethnography of writing is a taxonomy of who, i.e., writers. Knowing the writer and their background is critical to understanding writing well. It is essential to understand whether the individual is a beginning writer or a mature writer and whether the writer is a student who will be evaluated by their teachers or an independent scholarly writer who writes for an academic journal. This background information of the writer influences the audience for whom the writing is produced.
Considering this parameter, I often emphasize the writer’s role in my writing class. As an L2 writing instructor, I know that my students come from different first language (L1) backgrounds. The writing system in their L1s works differently from the writing system in English. I am aware that they are beginner writers in L2 and need more explicit instruction, support, and encouragement from me. I do understand that they are at the initial phase of creating their identity in L2 writing. In the meantime, I am also aware that their authorial voice is critical. So, I orient my students to use academic language and concrete words that embody meaning in the academic context (Bailey, 2018; Brun-Mercer & Zimmerman, 2015; Johnson, 2016), which ultimately helps the writers to make their voices strong. Also, I ask my students to use active structures to strengthen their authorial voice.
Writes
The second taxonomy of ethnography of writing is writes, which focuses on the linguistic nature of writing. This taxonomy of ethnography considers the entire process of text construction, its different linguistic parts, and their organization (thesis statement, topic statements, coherence, cohesion, word choice, reference, transition words (Grabe & Kaplan, 1996), sequencing information (Atkinson, 1991), and overall rhetorical arrangement of information (Bruthiaux, 1993). Overall, in the process of text construction, the writer considers audience, purpose, context, and the genre requirement (Grabe & Kaplan, 1996), discipline-specificity, and disciplinarity (Christiene & Maton, 2011; Flowerdew & Costley, 2016). There are two approaches that I use to teach writing: a process-based approach and a genre-based approach.
First, I follow a process-based approach (White & Arndt, 1991; Zamel,1983) to teach writing in my class. For example, selecting topics (they select topics themselves which they are passionate about writing), gathering required information, creating an outline, preparing the first draft, seeking feedback from peers, writing center tutors, and teachers, addressing feedback, editing, and finally submitting the final draft to the instructor for evaluation (Johnson, 2016; White & Arndt, 1991). Each step in this writing process is equally important for them because my students need to undergo various stages of the writing process to write essays. Also, they will receive points for an outline, first draft, and final draft separately.
Another approach that I employ to teach writing to my students in my class is the genre-based approach (Hyland, 2004; Swales, 1990; Tardy, 2008) because genre-based instruction enhances L2 students’ knowledge in four main areas, which include “formal knowledge of target genres’ features and conventions, the process knowledge of the methods used to produce, distribute, and consume these genres, rhetorical knowledge of target genres’ functions, characteristics, strategies, and subject matter knowledge of disciplinary content and skills” (Tardy, 2009, p. 21). By recognising the usefulness of a genre-based approach to writing, past research studies emphasized the responsibility of L2 educators to develop L2 students’ genre knowledge (Ferris & Hedgcock, 2013; Hyland, 2004; Tardy, 2008, 2009). Highlighting the importance of genre, Hyland (2004) stated “to fail to provide learners with what we know about how language works… denies them the means of both communicating effectively in writing and analyzing text critically” (p. 42). As the L2 students are not much acquainted with different types of genres, it is imperative to teach them genre knowledge explicitly. Also, they need to know that written texts are specific to each academic discipline, program, and major (Christie & Maton, 2011; Hyland, 2017).
Therefore, I provide a sample essay to my students, and they are engaged to analyze and identify all parts of the essay. They include an introduction (hook, background information, and thesis statement), three body paragraphs beginning with topic sentences, supporting details (explanations, reasons, examples, data, experiences, observations, etc.), and a conclusion that summarizes the main points of the essay and restates the thesis statement. In doing so, my students internalize all parts of the essay, which will help them to create their essays later. Ferris and Hedgcock (2013) and Tardy (2008) also stress that it is crucial to train beginner writers with skills that enable them to participate in intertextual systems.
What
The third taxonomy of ethnography of writing is what, i.e., the content or message. Grabe and Kaplan (1996) emphasize that this writing parameter should be described in terms of content, genre, and register. So, this taxonomy of writing seeks to answer these questions: to what extent does the writer need to have background knowledge (content) to create a particular text, what type of texts does the writer produce, and in which fields they are used? The what aspect of writing “must take into account the phenomenological world (a theory of world knowledge), a theory of genre, and some specification of register” (Grabe & Kaplan, 1996, p. 205). In other words, the writer’s background knowledge (schema theory) is crucial in this taxonomy of writing because it provides the writer with the knowledge of the genre and the techniques to organize academic discourse for a specific purpose (Grabe & Kaplan, 1996; Swales, 1990). So, it is critical for ESL writing instructors to allow their students to choose their topics to write.
In my writing class, I do not assign any essay topics to my students. Instead, I provide them with the freedom to choose their topics themselves because I want to promote social justice in my writing class. I also encourage them to choose a topic based on their background knowledge because it is difficult for them to write on a topic that is entirely new to them. For example, the student majoring in Finance ended up choosing a topic from their field, such as Three Ways to Make Money Legally in the U.S. However, the student who is specializing in Sports Management wrote Three Strategies to Improve Cricket. Unlike these two students, the next student who is majoring in Nursing decided to write on Three Benefits of Homemade Breakfast. Besides that, I also provide them with a sample essay to follow because I follow a genre-based approach to teaching writing. This approach allows them to be acquainted with the framework of a text used in the academic context. In doing so, they can write their essays on their topics by following sample essays given to them.
To Whom
Another powerful taxonomy of writing is to whom, which refers to the audience. Grabe and Kaplan (1996) call it a theory of audience or readers because the audience is always at the center of creating a text. Also, the audience plays an essential role in the meaning-making of the text. The writer needs to ponder some of these questions regarding the audience. Are the readers known or unknown to the writer? If they are known, how close or distant are they? How much-shared knowledge exists between the readers and the writer in general? How much-shared knowledge exists between them on a particular topic. Grabe and Kaplan (1996) further state that the audience’s parameter influences the writer’s writing, including the number of persons who are expected to read the text, the extent to which the readers are known or unknown to the writer, the level of status (can be either higher, equal, or lower) between them, the extent of shared background knowledge between readers, and the extent of specific topical shared knowledge between readers and writers.
Building on Grabe and Kaplan’s (1996) framework, recent research studies also highlighted the role of the audience. Before the author writes any text, they need to consider their audience because the type of audience determines their writing (Swales & Feak, 2012). Similarly, Kirszner and Mandell (2015) argued that while writing any text, the audience should be kept in mind because they determine the purpose of the paper. While writing, academic writers envision a specific audience who share knowledge regarding a topic or issue they are writing about (Grabe & Kaplan, 1996; Singh & Lukkarila, 2017). Realizing the significance of to whom parameter, I often ask my students to decide their audience because it is critical for them to know who is going to read their essays. They know that two types of audience read their essays. They include their classmates and their instructor/s.
For What Purpose
As its name suggests, this taxonomy refers to the purpose of producing a text. Grabe and Kaplan (1996) state that every written text is created purposefully. They add that when the writer thinks of purpose, they need to ask these questions: to what extent is it possible to define purpose in a writing task? Are there single or multiple purposes in the task? How does purpose interact with genre and audience? As most writings are meant for audiences, they expect the purpose of the paper when they read them. Therefore, most writers mention their goal of writing to facilitate the readers to make better meaning of the text.
Before writing anything, the writer should be clear about the purpose of writing. Kirszner and Mandell (2015) argued that it is the purpose that limits the writer what to say and how to say it. According to Bailey (2015, 2018), there are three main reasons for writing: (i) to argue on a subject of common interest and give the writer’s view, (ii) to report on a piece of research study and create some type of new knowledge, and (iii) to synthesize research conducted by others on a topic. So, AW is unique because the writer shares inquiry-based knowledge to inform a particular academic community (Singh & Lukkarila, 2017). Considering this taxonomy, all writers need to know the purpose of the academic texts they are writing.
In keeping in mind this taxonomy, I mention to my students that each piece of writing has a certain purpose. My students mostly write five types of essays, and these are five-paragraph essays. For example, when they write a cause-and-effect essay, they show cause and effect relationship of a particular topic. However, when they write a descriptive essay, the purpose is to describe a place, person, object/thing, and process. Unlike these two essays, when my students write classification essays, the objective is to describe three main categories of a particular topic in an interesting way. For example, one of my students chose to write on Three Types of Roommates, whereas another student was interested to write on Three Types of Cell Phone Users.
Why
According to Grabe and Kaplan (1996), the notion of why people write refers to underlying intentions or motives that may or may not be revealed by functional purpose. However, if the writer’s motive is apparent, it helps the readers comprehend the text better. Therefore, genre-based texts overtly express the writer’s motive to facilitate schema instantiation. So, the why component of writing depends on the paper’s audience, topic, and purpose.
In order to make sure my students maintain the why component in their writing, I encourage them to engage in peer review. When they participate in the peer review process in different phases of their writing, they are provided with opportunities to read their course mates essays. In doing so, they not only write on only their topics but also get an opportunity to read and offer feedback on their classmates’ essays. First, they are provided with a checklist (based on a rubric) and asked to give feedback focusing on higher-order concerns such as content/ideas, organization, and vocabulary because they play an important role to convey the writers’ message to their readers. Then, they also give their feedback concentrating on lower-order concerns such as grammar, mechanics, and formatting.
When and Where
According to Grabe and Kaplan (1996), this parameter refers to text creation’s time and place. This taxonomy of writing plays a more minor role than the rest of the taxonomies. However, its relevance depends on the type of text. For example, in official emails and letters, the date and place they are sent may be more critical for both the writer and receiver (reader).
In my writing class, when the parameter is crucial for my students because every writing assignment has a fixed deadline to complete and submit to me. The deadline is clearly mentioned in my writing course which every student is provided with both printed and digital copies of the course syllabus on the first day of the class each semester. Also, the deadline for each writing assignment is also mentioned on D2L (an online learning platform used in most U.S. universities and colleges). My students strictly follow the deadline to submit each writing assignment. If students are unable to submit their writing assignments due to any unexpected circumstances, they inform me via email and request an extension of the deadline. In that case, I extend the deadline depending on each student’s situation. In that case, I also provide additional time for individual conferencing with that student to support their writing development.
How
Although this is the final parameter of the writing’s ethnography, this is probably the most important because it examines how the text is created. Therefore, this parameter is also called “a theory of online writing production … or a theory of writing process” (Grabe & Kaplan, 1996, p. 213). Mainly, there are two things this parameter emphasizes. First, writing is a recursive process because the writing process stages, namely planning, drafting, revising, editing, and sharing, do not come in a neat linear sequence. Instead, the writers move backwards and forward several times to create a text (Hyland, 2003; Zamel, 1983). Next, the cognitive mechanism remains at the center of this parameter because it “provides [the writers with] the means for exploring notions such as audience, content, and writer intension from a composing perspective” (Grabe & Kaplan, 1996, p. 213).
This parameter is crucial for my students. For each writing assignment, they must go through all writing stages. They also know each stage has its significance in terms of learning and assessment. For example, they are aware that they cannot create a good outline without gathering sufficient information on a topic. Similarly, no good first draft can be written without a good outline. Without seeking and addressing feedback on the first draft, the final draft does not turn out to be perfect. My students understand this process; therefore, they love to follow all phases of the writing process because they receive separate points for outlines, first drafts, and final drafts.
Conclusion
To sum up, I have found that Grabe and Kaplan’s (1996) ethnography of writing is a useful framework to introduce AW to my ESL first-year university students. My students have developed an understanding of the basics of AW after I employed this approach. This framework has been very effective for me for two reasons. First, this framework promotes the teaching and learning of AW by asking the ESL students to analyze the writer’s process before composing any written text. As Paltridge (2017) stated, the students are asked: “to undertake any analysis of the context in which the text they are writing occurs and consider how the situation in which they are writing impacts upon what they write and how they write it” (p. 12). Second, this approach considers the intended audience, their background knowledge, values and understanding, conventions, genre awareness, and discipline-specificity and disciplinarity (Christie & Maton, 2011; Paltridge, 2017) because of people working in the academic community share “ideas, beliefs, values, goals, practices, conventions, and ways of creating and distributing knowledge” (Flowerdew & Costley, 2016, p. 11). Therefore, the ESL writing instructor’s responsibility is to train first-year university students to familiarize themselves with these elements when writing for academic purposes.
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White, R. & Arndt, V. (1991). Process writing (1st ed.). Longman.
Zamel, V. (1983). The composing processes of advanced ESL students: Six case studies. TESOL Quarterly,17(2), 165-187. doi:10.2307/3586647
Author’s Bio: Dr Padam Chauhan works as a Retention Specialist for the International Center and an ESL Instructor for the IEP at Minnesota State University (MNSU), Mankato, Minnesota, USA. Prior to that, Padam worked as a Writing Consultant for MNSU’s Writing Center. He has earned MEd in English Education from T.U., Nepal, MA in TESOL, and EdD from MNSU, Mankato. Before joining MNSU, Mankato, he taught ESL at the high school level and served as a high school (10+2) principal in Nepal. Padam voluntarily served NELTA Central Committee as its member, treasurer, and general secretary. Padam has presented at the NELTA, IATEFL, TESOL, AAAL, and TESL conferences in Nepal, the UK, the USA, and Canada. His current research interests include academic reading and writing, Writing Center tutoring pedagogy, and equitable access to English language education.
Whether mother tongue should be allowed or not in the EFL/ESL classrooms has been a debatable issue for many years, especially after the Grammar Translation (GT) method was considered ineffective in teaching English in non-native contexts (Paker & Karaağaç, 2015). Krashen (1981) claims that the use of the mother tongue (L1) deprives the learning of the English language (L2) in a natural setting, while the monolingual approach would maximize the effectiveness of learning the target language. Turnbul (2001) and (McDonald, 1993) are among other scholars who join Krashen in arguing that the use of the mother tongue hampers the learning of English and the best way to teach English is through English only.
However, the English-only approach – or the notion of teaching English through English (Richards, 2017) – is gradually being challenged as an impediment to teaching and learning English (Butzkamm & Caldwell, 2009; Pan & Pan 2010; Savage, 2019). The use of L1 not only creates the foundation for a better understanding of the L2 curriculum but also develops a positive attitude among children towards the schools that teach L2 (Savage, 2019). The use of L1 will be particularly relevant to the students from introductory to lower-intermediate levels (Pan & Pan 2010). According to Cook (2001), L1 creates a mental link between L1 and L2 and, thus, equips learners with the language competence they need to learn the second language.
Languages are linguistically interdependent, argues Cummins (2007), who, in the 1970s, developed the Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis. Here,, the use of the mother tongue in the classroom reinforces the interdependence and enables the students to learn the second language through language transfer. Monolingual policies or prescriptions are actually contrary to and inconsistent with current understandings of how people learn (Cummins, 2007). In the same vein, Cook (2001) demonstrates that English-only policies and assumptions are wrong and urges instead to treat L1 as a classroom resource both for teachers and students to convey meaning, explain grammar and promote collaborative learning. Urging to use English where possible and mother tongue where necessary, Weschler, R. (1997) goes on to suggest developing a hybrid method drawing on the best of both schools of thought; English only approach and judicious use of mother tongue while teaching English.
At the beginning of my teaching career, 15 years ago, I was also influenced, like many beginner teachers, by the monolingual approach. I also used to think that English-only was the right approach, even aware that I was teaching on a public campus in which most of the students were from public schools with poor English competency. My preference for the conventional style of teaching English was to be an ideal teacher who could speak English fluently in the classrooms forbidding students from using their native languages.
Later, I realized that my approach was wrong particularly after my students started shifting to another class where the teacher used students’ mother tongue (Nepali in my context) as a medium (for instruction, teaching grammar, warming up, explaining homework and also the meaning of some technical words). Realizing the students’inclination towards their mother tongue went bilingual and saw the impact of it on the retention of students and their interactive participation in teaching-learning.
In the subsequent sections, I am sharing my own latest classroom practices in which I have used LI as a resource to teach writing skills and vocabulary. It was practised among 40 students of Bachelor of English Education at a Public Campus in Kathmandu. almost all the students were from Govt schools, with limited English proficiency. Most of them were from the ethnic communities that would speak Nepali as a lingua franca.
Practice 1: Each student was assigned to write a paragraph (8 lines) describing their own culture in English within 20 minutes. Out of 40 students, only 2 students (5%) completed the assignment. Eight students (20%) wrote some four lines of a paragraph. Twelve students (30%) wrote hardly two lines and 18 students (45%) wrote nothing (sat passive biting a pen throughout the 20 minutes). The body language of almost all students would tell that the practice was dull and dispirited.
Practice 2: Students were divided along with their cultural/linguistic background and were asked to write a half-page about their culture in LI, Nepali in this case, within 20 minutes. Almost all the students completed the assignment in time. Unlike the first assignment, students were happy, engaged and motivated to complete the exercise to the best of their ability.
Practice 3: Each group was, then, asked to translate the text into English and present it to peers. In case of difficulty finding an English term, they were allowed to retain Nepali term/s. Each group tried their best to translate what they had written, and presented among their peers highlighting the words/phrases they could not translate. I jotted down the highlighted words or phrases on the whiteboard. After the presentation, each group was asked to seek help from the other groups (using LI) to help find English words/expressions in their writing. After listening to the students, I stepped in to help them, explaining that certain cultural words might be difficult to translate, such as the name of community-specific food: Yomari (Newari food), Ghongi (Tharu Food), Sargemba (a food item of pig blood), Thekuwa (sweet cookie of terai people) and so on.
It worked well. Students were cheerful and fully engaged. No one seemed hesitant to share and express. On the contrary, everyone had something to offer and help a fellow student in need. It was truly collaborative. The mix of L1 and L2 would create a new environment of learning.
Impression
The use of LI is very helpful in EFL classrooms in a multicultural setting, like ours in Nepal. Foremost of all, it firms up the bond/connection between a teacher and students and helps create an inclusive environment in which students learn from each other (e.g., culture-specific vocabulary, writing skills, interpersonal communication) on an equal footing. It enhances inter-cultural respect among students and promotes collaborative learning.
The use of LI creates an environment in which everyone becomes an active learner. No one sees English as a burden. Instead, learning English becomes fun. As Pan and Pan (2010) rightly put it, “if L1 is utilized well and presented communicatively, it can be a facilitative tool that will improve the language proficiency of students” ( p.8 ) by motivating them to engage in learning exercises. L1 helps to develop students’ intercultural competence by providing learning content that is familiar to them (Chinh 2013). It is easy to build on familiar content, which also creates a level playing field for all to engage equally in learning without any sense of superiority or inferiority.
As argued by Weschler (1997), L1 opens the door to many possibilities for L2 while creating a natural learning environment. Learning cannot be imposed. It should not be a burden. Learning should instead be fun, which is possible through the use of the mother tongue.
The L1 versus L2 debate is not limited to educationists and teachers alone. Even our parents are drawn into it. Many of them want to see their children trained in the English-only fashion, unaware of perhaps the contribution of L1 to L2. Our teachers should also bridge the gap between the parental expectation (of L2) and the need of the students (of L1) by making the parents aware of the importance of L1 in getting their children where they want them to reach.
References
Butzkamm, W., & Caldwell, J. A. (2009). The bilingual reform: A paradigm shift in foreign language teaching. Narr Francke Attempto Verlag.
Chinh, N. D. (2013). Cultural Diversity in English Language Teaching: Learners’ Voices. English Language Teaching, 6 (4), 1-7.
Cook, V. (2001). Using the first language in the classroom. Canadian modern language review, 57(3), 402-423.
Cummins, J. (2007). Rethinking monolingual instructional strategies in multilingual classrooms. Canadian Journal of applied linguistics, 10(2), 221-240.
Krashen, S. D. (1981). Second language acquisition and second language learning. The University of Southern California.
McDonald, C. (1993). Using the target language. Cheltenham, UK: Mary Glasgow.
Paker, T., & Karaağaç, Ö. (2015). The use and functions of mother tongue in EFL classes. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 199, 111-119.
Pan, Y. C., & Pan, Y. C. (2010). The Use of L1 in the Foreign Language Classroom. Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal, 12(2), 87-96.
Richards, J. C. (2017). Teaching English through English: Proficiency, pedagogy and performance. RELC Journal, 48(1), 7-30.
Savage, C. (2019). The importance of mother tongue in education. Independent Education Today. Available at: https://ie-today.co.uk/comment/the-importance-of-mother-tongue-in-education/ (downloaded on 30 March 2022)
Turnbull, M. (2001). There is a role for the L1 in second and foreign language teaching, but…. Canadian modern language review, 57(4), 531-540.
Weschler, R. (1997). Uses of Japanese in the English Classroom: Introducing the Functional-Translation Method. Kyoritsu Women’s University Department of International Studies Journal, 12, 87-110.
Author’s Bio: Ms Ganga Laxmi Bhandari is a lecturer of English education at Mahendra Ratna Campus Tahachal (T.U.), Kathmandu. She has over 15 years of teaching and training experience in ELT. She has also been working as a Central Committee Member of NELTA. Currently, she is pursuing a PhD degree from Tribhuvan University. Her area of research interest is teacher professional development. She can be reached at gbgangakattel@gmail.com
One day, in the morning class, I was teaching in B.Ed. first-year students in a community campus. I asked a student to read a text given in the coursebook. She felt odd and did not get up to read the text. I encouraged her to just read the text the way she could, but was shy and showed no willingness to read. After a brief silence, she told me that she would read the text the following day. I did not force her more as I thought that she did not want to lose her face in front of her friends. I also asked other students to read. Some of them were reluctant to read. Those who tried reading lack clear pronunciation and fluency in reading. They could not even produce the simple words correctly.
Likewise, the same day, in the afternoon, I was teaching the students of the first semester of Diploma in Civil Engineering in a community technical institute. I asked some students to read a text from their English course. A boy read the text and pronounced the words as /kəmɪment/ for ‘commitment’, /mæzestɪfɪkesən/ to ‘mystification’, /skɪberd/ to ‘discovered’, /ɔ:skərd/ for ‘obscured’, /sərvɪs/ to ‘serves’, /pɪjrs/ to ‘preyers’ etc. Moreover, I also taught the students of Diploma in Agriculture (Animal Science) on that day and I asked the students to read a text of their course because it was interesting to me that the students who were studying at the Diploma level could not read the text fluently with the correct pronunciation. A girl stood up and pronounced the word ‘fidelity’ as /fɪlɪtɪ/, ‘reminiscence’ as /rɪmkens/, ‘anything’ as /enðɪs/, ‘eye’ as /ɔɪ/, ‘anthropology’ as /entolozi/, ‘spectacle’ as /spekʊlər/, ‘glorious’ as /glɪsɪrɪjs/ etc. while she was reading the text. I am shocked to see the reading proficiency of the students of B. Ed. and Diploma in a technical institute. It is found that they are too weak in reading. Thus, in this write-up, I try to explore some problems regarding this issue in my effort to improve students’ reading.
Introduction
Reading is the process of decoding a message from the given text. Going through a written text in order to understand and comprehend its message can be called reading. Eye movement and word recognition are the essential factors in the reading process. Reading is the main source of information and a means of consolidating and extending our knowledge. It is a kind of practice of using text to create meaning. If there is no meaning being created, there is no reading taking place. Teachers should engage students in reading activities to develop their reading skills.
Munby (1979, as cited in Khaniya, 2005) argues that reading skill incorporates different sub-skills such as recognition of the script of a language, deducing the meaning and use of unfamiliar lexical items, understanding explicitly stated information, understanding conceptual meaning, understanding relations within the sentences, understanding relations between parts of a text through lexical and grammatical cohesion devices, identifying the main points or important information in a piece of discourse, skimming, Scanning, and transcoding information to diagrammatic display that should be internalized and learned by the students for their proper development in reading. My experience in teaching shows that the students have not developed these sub-skills of reading even if they are studying at the Bachelor’s level. It is essential that the students have to develop all these sub-skills while reading the text appropriately.
Causes of Students’ Poor Reading Proficiency
To explore this issue, I discussed it with students in the class and observed their reading practice and found the following main causes:
Effect of COVID-19 Lockdown
The COVID-19 pandemic affected all sectors of life. Education is one of the highly affected sectors. To safeguard the people from coronavirus, the government declared the lockdown. As a result, schools remained closed. The schools could not continue the teaching and learning activities smoothly. Students could not take their regular classes and reading activities halted for several months. Teachers could not engage their students in reading practice either in the face to face or online mode because most of the community schools also could conduct their classes neither physically nor on online mode. The students missed the opportunity of the practice of reading in their class. Students who I have been teaching said that they did not take part in reading activities because of the lockdown, and their teachers completed their courses in a rush without giving attention to developing their reading skills.
No exam: No Reading
Because of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government could not run the School Education Examination (SEE) and the schools also did not take terminal and annual examinations. Students were promoted to the next class without attending any formal examinations. On the one hand, students did not attend regular classes; on the other hand, they passed without giving an examination. Our students do not study hard if they do not have to take part in the exam. One of the students asserted that ‘neither we give exams nor we study hard’ because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He further mentioned that pariksha dinu parne bhae po padhnu. hamile padhne abhyas garenau ni! (If we have to take an exam, we used to read. We have not practised reading). In this context, neither they read effectively in the class nor did they sit in the exam. As a result, they became weak in their reading.
Declining Reading Culture
The main cause of students being weak in reading is the poor reading culture. Students do not want to read themselves. They want to listen to their teachers reading out the text for them. They do not like to read since reading is difficult for them because it demands the enactment of several subskills at the same time. Reading is a time-consuming and challenging task. One of my students shared her experiences of reading as ‘reading takes much time because I have to search for pronunciation and meaning of the difficult words in the dictionary which is alchhilagdo (lazily) and jhanjhatilo (troublesome) task for me’. She further said that it is also boring to read alone at home. When they are poor at reading, they lack interest in it. We can also say that when they lack interest in reading, they become poor at it. If they read regularly at home, they can develop their reading skill.
Teacher-Centred Reading Practice
Generally, English teachers in community schools just read out the text and explain its meaning to students. They do not provide an opportunity for the students to read or to work out the exercises in the text on their own. Instead, the teachers encourage their students to recite the answer to the question which have been provided by them writing on the whiteboard. Consequently, many students fail to develop their reading skills. They adopt the teacher-centred method to teach reading. They themselves become active to read, interpret and convey the meaning through translation.
My Effort for Developing Reading Skill
As a reading teacher, I have used the following techniques to address the abovementioned reading problems faced by my students at the advanced level.:
Daily Reading Practice in the Class
Normally, advanced-level students are not asked to read in the class. They are expected to comprehend and take part in reasoning and thinking after self-reading practice. However, I ask them to read the text line by line in my class. In the beginning, they felt hesitant, shy and had the fear of losing face before their friends. When they realized that they can improve their reading if they involve in daily reading practice in the class from my counselling, they began taking part in reading activities actively. Although it is time-consuming and burdensome for me, I engage them in reading practice. Regular and continuous practice of daily reading even in B. Ed. class brought a noticeable change in the students that some of them can read the text with correct pronunciation at a slow pace. A few days ago, a new student came to my class. I asked her to read but she hesitated. Seeing her hesitation, another student encouraged her “Sir le hamrailagi padhna bhannubhaeko ho, padhana, yasari yaha ra gharama padhda mero peni padhaima sudhar bhayo [The teacher has told her to read for us. Read the text. I have also improved by reading here and at home]. It was quite satisfying for me to hear such positive feedback on my effort.
Reading at Home with Dictionary
I also motivate my students to read the text at home by using dictionaries. I tell them to underline difficult words and write their pronunciations and meanings with a pencil just above the words and read continuously to develop their reading. Some of them have followed this strategy and found it quite helpful. Those who read at home using dictionaries can read the text easily in the class, and those who come to class without reading at home find it difficult to understand.
Short Oral Question-based Reading
I ask students some short oral questions which are based on the reading text. I tell them that I will ask some short questions from the reading text so that they should read the text at home. The uses of short oral questions encourage students to read the text with a clear purpose. Such questions also give them direction, which ultimately contributes to their reading skill.
Reading in Pair
In my observation, there are two types of readers in the class. Some can read the text wholesome and can not even utter the words clearly. Keeping these two types in mind, I form reading pairs of ‘able’ and ‘ weak’ students. In a pair, they read together, talk and discuss. They read the text collectively. The able student helps his/her pair to read the text. If pairs are formed carefully, they do not hesitate to share their ideas with each other. This reading practice has become beneficial for the students in my classroom
Conclusion
Reading is a pivotal skill to develop students’ vocabulary and content knowledge. Students cannot develop their reading skills if they do not involve in reading activities themselves actively. Continuous, and active involvement of the students in reading texts supports them to develop their reading skills. They should read the text themselves without any hesitation no matter which level they are in. Daily practice of reading in the class with the support of the teachers, reading at home using dictionaries, reading to respond to short oral questions, and reading in pairs are some of the techniques for developing the reading skill of our students. At present, even advanced students are found grappling with reading texts in Nepal as stakeholders of ELT, we need to be aware of this problem and take some concerted effort to address it. For it, I think a long-term action research-based study is needed to explore in-depth the problems of reading students and to find out practical ways of overcoming them.
References
Khaniya, T.R. (2005). Examination for enhanced learning. Kathmandu: Author.
Author’s Bio: Nani Babu Ghimire is a Lecturer at Siddha Jyoti Education Campus Sindhuli, Nepal. He is currently a Ph. D. scholar in English Education at Tribhuvan University.
English is taught and learnt as a foreign language in Nepal. I teach students from varying levels ranging from school to university. Teaching English at school and university is a tough and tedious job for every practitioner. It has been more challenging for all many of us. Normally, we believe that students in our context lack competency and proficiency in English language learning contexts. Motivating such learners to learn the English language is a very aspiring as well as a rigorous task for teachers like me. I often try to bring innovative ideas and activities to my classroom context. Unfortunately, my students do not pay proper attention to their studies and at some point, I feel as if they are studying English just to score passing grades. I realized that the students having ‘Nepali’ as the specialized subject focus only to score required grades or pass marks in comparison to students having ‘English’ as the specialized subject. . As an EFL teacher, I have to fully depend on prescribed course books’ task and activities to complete on time. This nature of the course has given no freedom for teachers to apply tasks and activities based on classroom explorations and context. The administration timely does an inquiry about the course progress whether the teacher has met the target of the course for terminal examination or not. Students also have developed their mindset to read any topic or lesson from an exam viewpoint. One of my students asked me during the teaching phase, “ sir, is this exercise important for the exam?” I replied yes to know the response of the student and how important he/she gives to that particular exercise. I found the students who asked me whether this exercise is important for exams or not prepared notes on that topic. From this classroom scenario, I realized to motivate my students to engage in the creative and critical tasks and activities beyond course books.
Fostering the creativity of learners plays a vital role in developing their analytical, critical, and problem-solving skills to enhance effective communication with peers and teachers naturally. In this regard, Tomlinson (2020) pointed out the significance of being creative for EFL teachers in-order to encourage their learners to be creative. Maley (2016) has suggested the following principles for developing various forms of creativity:
Use heuristics at all levels- do the opposite, reverse the order, expand or (reduce ) something,
Use the constraints principle
Use the random principle
Use the association principle
Use the withholding-information principle
Use the divergent thinking principle
Use feeder fields
Regarding the notion of being creative teachers, we have to come out of the comfort zone to discover and explore newness for teaching creatively having a strong belief that creative teachers are not born and have to abandon the fear of being wrong. The ongoing trends and shifts in teaching expect teachers’ willingness to be creative and demonstrate innovative concepts, beliefs, methods, and skills in teaching. How can a teacher teaching with low resources and less professional opportunity familiarize him with creative and critical aspects of teaching? To address the issue of the above question, I believe, there should be passion among teachers for self- continuous professional growth and learning. Teachers have to be motivated themselves and always devoted and committed to bringing significant changes in their classroom practices forming their own agency.
The rationale for my reflection
Rationalizing the status and ability of students in English, I happened to inquire how I could inspire my learners to be responsible for their own learning. Many questions are stuck in my mind:- Are there any ways I could apply in my teaching to achieve transformative learning? Are there any explicit and creative activities that I could employ in my classroom context for better learning outcomes? Are there any specific ways I could apply to engaging students interactively and collaboratively?
These are some of the leading questions that made me reflect critically on transforming my teaching from content provider/ knowledge transmitter to knowledge explorer and reformer through dialogic interactions with interlocutors. In this write-up, I share my classroom practices on how creative response in ELT can foster students’ creativity, critical thinking, analyzing skills, and problem-solving skills, as well as develop communication skills to integrate various language aspects. The objective of this reflective writing is to rethink and critically reflect and analyze our classroom practices whether or not we are creating a favourable learning environment for our learners to develop their creativity. Moreover, this paper also encourages teachers teaching with less access to professional opportunities and fewer resources to be responsible for self-learning and grow professionally to connect with a wider ELT association of professional networking.
Vignette
I began my teaching career without job induction training and mentoring. I struggled for my survival in the teaching profession during my initial days. There was no staff development programme and professional development opportunity for teachers. Teachers were seniors/experienced based on their years of teaching rather than updated skills and knowledge. I realized proficiency and competency-based training, seminars, workshops, webinars, and short-term practical courses empower teachers to advance their teaching careers. I also became a member of ELT associations like NELTA and TESOL for my continuous professional development and networking with the wider community. The following anecdotes illustrated my professional development activities.
I attended a six-day intensive course on “Fundamentals of Teaching” organized by the British Council on March 25-30, 2018. It was my first experience participating in a 6 days long training for individual professional growth. The takeaways from the training helped me shape my teaching to keeping learners at the centre of the learning process by applying recent approaches to language teaching, group division techniques, designing tasks and activities for lesson planning, managing heterogeneous classes, fostering creative and critical aspects of learners, Think, pair share technique and ways of maximizing interaction and collaboration.
Based on the skills and knowledge from this training, I presented a workshop on Designing Activities for Teaching Reading at the National Conference of NELTA held at Solidarity International Academy, Hetauda, Nepal on March 2-3,2019. TESOL-NELTA Regional Conference and Symposium held at DAV Sushil Kedia Vishwa Bharati Higher Secondary School, Jawalakhel, Lalitpur on November 20-23 was another professional development opportunity to participate and interact with scholars from home and abroad for professional networking. At this conference, I presented a workshop on Using Short Stories for Enhancing Reading Comprehension of EFL Learners. I got an opportunity to participate in a Creative Writing Workshop facilitated by an ELT expert Alan Maley on November 24, 2019. That creative writing workshop engaged me in various ways of writing creative poems and also inspired me to apply the technique in my classrooms to foster creative writing for my students. It is my belief that the best part of learning is sharing in a wider community. I presented a workshop entitled Enhancing Creative Writing in the EFL classroom at the Third Annual ELT and Applied Linguistics Conference on February 21-22, 2020 organized by the Department of English Education, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Recently, I also successfully completed a nine months-long online course entitled “TESOL Certificate: Advance Practitioner (TCAP) getting a scholarship from Regional English Language Office (RELO) US Embassy, Nepal. This course provided theoretical knowledge and practical skills needed for teaching the English language effectively and innovatively by applying modern approaches, methods, and skills. I got an opportunity to participate TESOL convention and English language expo virtually in 2021 and 2022. Attending the TESOL convention virtually made me familiar with recent practices of teacher education, teacher research, innovative classroom practices, and more importantly ELT in the present world. Scholars across the globe shared their beliefs, knowledge, practical ideas based on their classroom exploration, and research findings to empower teachers like me to rethink English language teaching. I was the award recipient of ‘Rosa Aronson Professional Learning Scholarship’ of TESOL 2020.
My classroom practices
My classroom practices focus on the development of the creative and critical skills of the students. In order to enhance creativity and critical thinking, I create a conducive learning environment to foster engagement from the students. I use Icebreaker to initiate the discussions, sometimes during the while phase of teaching and at the end of the class. Using icebreakers in English language class incorporates different language skills. Icebreaker is one of the effective strategies for generating new ideas. I spend around 5-10 minutes on the icebreaker with a clear purpose. The selection of the icebreaker is based on the nature of the text. I use prompts, quotations, riddles, and questions for engaging students in productive learning.
Social media are also the best platform for learning new ideas and concepts for self-professional development through professional networking. I have added many ELT scholars from home and abroad as my Facebook friends. They post innovative concepts of ELT, call for proposals and abstracts for international conferences, seminars, and workshops, and share resources, practical teaching ideas, and links for joining webinars. I found the following activity in the Facebook post of Marjorie Rosenberg, past president of IATEFL. I found this activity engaging so I used it in my classroom.
Activity 1: Icebreaker
I asked the students to complete the following information using the first letter of the last name. They were a bit confused about how to be engaged in this activity. To make them understand how to explore information for completing it, I asked for the last name of any students in the class and wrote the last name on the board. For example, if the last name of the student was Gurung, he/she had to complete the given items using the first letter of their last name (G).
Wear……………..
Drink………………
Place……………….
Food………………..
Animal……………..
Girl’s name…………………..
Boy’s name…………………….
Profession…………………………
Describe someone………………………..
Something in your home…………………….
Body parts………………………………………
Your last names………………………………….
Students actively participated in this activity. I found that students were very curious to share their responses. After the sharing session, I ask the students to write the names of the animals (donkey, elephant), a place to visit (Dharan, Illam), Favourite food (momo, biryani), clothes (sweater, T-shirt) on a piece of paper. I provided them with the structure (If I were a (insert the word generated above), I would……) to write sentences based on the words they generated above. For example: If I were a donkey, I would carry your goods.
If I were a sweater, I would keep you warm from the cold.
Students constructed creative and surprising sentences and compared and evaluated their generated sentences with their peers. This activity energized them to create new sentences based on the structures.
Activity 2: Using Acrostic poems for introduction to new students
An acrostic poem is based on a word written vertically. I used acrostic poems to introduce newcomer students. This activity of writing poems encourages students to write poems about themselves. Acrostics poems can be used to write poems on objects, things, places, and so on. To make my students familiar with writing acrostics poems, I present some samples to make them clear on how to write them. During the sample presentation, I address the query raised by the students.
For Example: Dog
Docile
Obedient
Growling
After presenting the above example, I ask the students to write an acrostic poem based on their own name or about someone’s name they know well.
For example: Ganesh
G Goal-oriented
An Active achiever
N Nurturing naturally
E Excellent endeavour
S Sincere Sociable
H Honest humane
After students wrote poems about their names, I asked every student to share how they wrote them.
Activity 3: What Makes Me Happy?
I use this activity to promote positive thinking and also want to know the sources of my students’ happiness. I write “What Makes Me Happy?” on the board and asks the student to write their happiness based on the stem I wrote on the board. To make them clear, I write ‘Eating momo at a restaurant with my friends makes me happy.’ Based on this information, students explore their happiness and write creative and surprising sentences and chunks individually. I divide them into groups with five students in each. Now, students select one writer and the remaining students do the work of editing to shape their poems. Each group shares their final product of ‘What Makes Me Happy?’
Activity 4 : Bio poems
Bio poem enhances students’ creativity to write poems about a place, concept, event or individual they learnt through reading texts. Students write poems about the characters of the story or novel based on the sample. Students have read biography or autobiography of famous people, historically and naturally popular places or any events or concepts introduced in the text. In the form of poems, students organize and synthesize a large number of ideas creatively. The following template can be used to write a poem:
Line 1: First name
Line 2: Four traits that describe the character
Line 3: son/daughter relative of
Line 4: who feels/ verbs………….( 3 items)
Line 5: who needs/verbs……….( 3 items )
Line 6: who gives/verbs………..( 3 items)
Line 7: Who would like…………..
Line 8: Resident of………………….
Ending: Last name
Activity 5: Story Wheel
I attended a workshop on ‘Creative Response to ELT’ last year. In that workshop, the facilitator introduced the concept and practical ways of assessing the ‘story wheel’ in our classrooms. The story wheel required paper and pencil and can easily be used without overnight preparation and planning. Baker (2021) emphasizes that the story wheel can be used to expand learners’ retelling capacities, as well as to hone critical-thinking skills, and provide oral language practice. I use this activity in my class to retell the story students read or heard. Before I use this tool, I ask the students to read the story. I draw a circle on the board and divide the circle into segments. In the segment, I write the name of the story and its writer, the characters of the story, the setting, the plot, the picture that describe the best scene of the story, and key vocabulary. The segments in the story wheel depend on the nature of the story and the level of learners. I distribute pencils and A4 size paper to the students. I form a group with five students in each. They discuss in a group and make the story wheel based on my instructions. I offer my help to them if needed. The story wheel is easily transferable to a post-reading strategy with adaptations.
Reading Activities
Enhancing the reading comprehension of my learners is another challenging part of teaching due to the complex nature of reading texts. Students develop their critical and interpretive skills through maximum exposure to readings texts. In our context, we have given very less amount of reading practice to our learners to improve their comprehension. Students seem bored and passive in reading lessons. This classroom scenario made me re-evaluate my teaching on how to design engaging, creative, and critical activities and tasks to assess reading interactively and collaboratively to motivate demotivated learners. Reading texts enhances the interpretive abilities of the students. In my reading lesson, I begin my class by creating a learner-friendlier atmosphere motivating them to participate in the discussion to share their prior knowledge they have about the topic. I initiate the interaction and elicit information shared by the students by making a connection with their previous knowledge about the reading text. I use the K-W-L chart (What I know-K, What I want to know- W and What I learned-L) to engage students individually in organizing ideas of the text at pre, while, and post phases of the reading topic. Agreeing and disagreeing is another effective reading activity I prefer in my class to express the opinions of my students. For example, I write ‘ Arranged marriages are usually stronger than those based on love’ On the board. I ask the students: To what extent do you agree with the statement- strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree, and strongly disagree. Students think individually and share their responses with their classmates.
Questioning the author helps students develop inquiry about the text to understand it. Students explore the meaning that the author wants to convey through the text. It also develops the students’ interactive, explorative and interpretive ability to construct meaning based on their reading of the text (Beck, McKeown, Sandora, & Worthy, 1996, 387).
Visualization, summarizing, predicting, making connections, and inferring are frequently used reading strategies in my classroom. While designing tasks and activities for reading texts, I follow the stages of reading illustrated by Lazar ( 2009) to achieve learning goals through interactive tasks and activities. I also use a plot diagram to map the events of the story. Students organize their ideas based on the elements of the plot diagram- exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.
Conclusion
Exploring the creativity of the learners in the EFL classroom is the cry of a day. To address the issue of creativity in the EFL classroom, I have applied learnt skills and knowledge to bring positive learning outcomes to my learners giving them maximum exposure through engaging tasks and activities. Creating a democratic classroom scenario will motivate the students to be responsible for their own learning believing they are an integral part of teaching which builds a good rapport between teachers and students.
References
Maley, A. (2016). Creativity: the what, the why and the how. ELT Council: Malta
Baker, A. ( 2021 ). Using story retelling wheels with young learners. English Teaching Forum, 59(3), 14-24.
Gabay, L. ( 2017). I raise my voice: Promoting self-Authoring through a curriculum-based project. English Teaching Forum, 55(4),14-21.
Beck, I.L., McKeown, M.G., Sandora, C., & Worthy, J. (1996). Questioning the author:
A yearlong classroom implementation to engage students with text. The Elementary
School Journal, 96, 385–414.
Lazar, G.( 2009). Literature and Language teaching. Cambridge University Press.
Tomlinson, B.(2015). Challenging teachers to use their coursebooks creatively. www.teachingenglish.org.uk
Author’s Bio: Bishnu Karki has an M.Ed. in English Education from Tribhuvan University. He is an Assistant Lecturer of English Education at Janta Multiple Campus, Itahari, Sunsari and Secondary level English teacher at Chandra Sanskrit Secondary School, Dharan. Mr Karki is joint secretary of the NELTA Sunsari branch and a global member of TESOL. His special interest lies in fostering creativity in ELT, teaching literature in the EFL classroom, and teacher education.
Collaborative teacher development is the process of sharing together for enhancing and cooperating the quality of teaching and learning practices. It occurs when the teachers and learners work together in the process of teaching and learning. This paper is based on my presentation at the 22nd international conference of NELTA 2017. The teachers and learners have the common goal to overcome the problems occurred in the practices of teaching and learning. The teachers’ association like NELTA in Nepal is helping in energizing language teachers and researchers to be professional as well as professional growth. Personally, by joining NELTA, I am benefitted from growing professionally and academically. The teachers can play a pertinent role to collaborate with the people involved in teaching and learning practices. Collaborating together, the teachers explore more opportunities for the learners so that the learners can envision several steps of learning.
Likewise, teachers can also enhance expertise and build good confidence with their learners. The teachers exchange their ideas and knowledge with other participants in teaching and learning and that led them to be professionally sound. Therefore, collaboration is one of the ways for teachers’ professional development. Regarding collaboration, Vygotsky (1978) as cited in Barfield, (2016, p. 222) states, “Collaborative learning can be seen to occur through dialogue, social interaction, and joint-decision making with others and these shared processes contribute greatly to individual and collective growth as well as to co-constructed understanding and knowledge”. As a language teacher and researcher, I have had a similar experience in my classroom and outside of the classroom.
Similarly, Hargreaves, (1994, p.186) says, “To a point where teachers can learn from each other, sharing and developing their expertise together”. The learning becomes effective while sharing because they can generate meaningful ideas and information. Furthermore, Medgyes and Malderez, (1996), as cited in Barfield (2016, p.222), state, “collaborative teacher development is founded on dialogue, questioning, and discussion in working together towards educational change and improvement” and it is supported by Datnow (2011, p.155) that “it is at its most effective when it emerges voluntarily and spontaneously from teachers’ own beliefs that working together is productive and enjoyable”. It means teachers can feel comfortable if they apply the collaborative work to practice. Similarly, my experience in teaching is teachers can professionally forward in sustained and meaningful ways if we are able to do so together. Here, I transformed myself into a professional teacher and researcher.
This article explores the needs and importance of collaboration for teachers’ professional development. It is my own experience of encountering collaborative and non-collaborative teaching and learning. The theoretical studies of the collaboration in the field of language teaching and learning enhanced my pedagogical skills and also helped to explore more innovative ideas and skills. Likewise, this paper sets to explore collaborative teaching and learning to envision how it is one of the sources for teachers’ professional development.
Collaborative Teaching and Learning for Teachers’ Professional Development
As a teacher and a member of NELTA, I participated in seminars and conferences and understand that teacher is not only empowering her/his students but also growing professionally. I also understand that professional teachers always try and stand in search of learning knowledge. Maggioli (2004, p. 5) defines, “professional development as a career-long process in which educators fine-tune their teaching to meet student needs”. As Maggioli suggests it is clear to say that professional development is not a day or night development for one’s career, it is an ongoing process where one should professionally develop and grow through joining different minds together. It gives the vivid concept that if the teacher understands themselves as a learner and expert to fulfil the demands of the students.
Collaborative teaching and learning make a sense of learning by sharing and engaging together. It also builds harmony in our Nepalese context. The teachers’ collaboration and an active engagement with their students and different agencies could explore more innovative ways and skills of learning. The literature also focuses on collaboration which means working together especially in a joint intellectual effort so that one could stay sound and confident in language teaching-learning practices. According to Richards and Burns (2009, p. 239), “it is a social process that is contingent upon dialogue and interactions with others, processes through which teachers can come to better understand their own beliefs and knowledge as well as reshape these understandings through listening to the voice of others”. It is clearer in our Nepali context that our country is diverse which helps to understand the social phenomenon. Similarly, teaching and learning practices enhance when there is equal dialogue and interactions. Through collaborative teaching, teachers can come and interact with other people. Regarding their understanding, experience, and subject matter build confidence and broaden their skills. Likewise, it helps to exchange ideas, skills, and understanding with other fellow teachers, researchers and policymakers in the language field.
Similarly, Johnston (2003) considers collaboration as a wellspring of teacher professional development. Collaborative teaching and learning are fundamentally social processes. It creates collegiality and quality in the teaching profession. Edge (1992) states, “self-development needs other people…by cooperating with others, we can come to understand better our own experiences and opinions”. I also understand that self-determination in learning with other people enhances both confidentiality and collegiality. Likewise, we need collaborative teaching and learning for teachers’ professional development because Johnston views state collaborative teacher development as any sustained and systematic investigation into teaching and learning in which a teacher voluntarily collaborates with others involved in the teaching process, and in which professional development is a prime purpose.
Collaboration is crucial and influential in teaching and learning, which is concerned with the teacher’s professional development that gives the update and current affairs of knowledge. Cook (1981) states, “concern for the ultimate clients, the students, and for intermediaries, the teachers are apparent in all programmes, and this concern is directed toward sound educational and professional development rather than the gratification of immediate needs and desires.” Collaboration in teaching is not only meant for programme development, it is meant for individual development too. It creates an ample opportunity for the teacher to integrate and come up with the vision, increased understanding among teachers at all grade levels and in varied subject areas.
In my experience, I understand collaboration while engaging and interacting through different agencies such as NELTA, LSN, and so on. In doing so, I developed my skills and confidence not only in classroom teaching but also beyond classroom teaching. Likewise, it helps me to explore my techniques, strategies and methods to apply in and outside of the classroom. Doing collaborative works and finding its relevance in academia is described by Darling Hammond and Richardson (2009).
To make it more explicit, Cook (1981) states, “collaboration is to provide a means for improving the professional education, it is important to consider not only the meaning and implication of “collaboration” but also the nature of “improvement”. Collaboration creates an environment where the teacher can work together and learn together to improve their professionalism. The dialogue and interaction which led through collaboration also build trust, confidence and collegiality. Teaching/learning in such a way could give sound satisfaction with satisfactory achievement, which would orient them to professionalism. This could become like cooperation but not exactly cooperation. Collaboration is somehow different from cooperation. Let’s see the differences.
Collaboration and Cooperation
Killion (2012) states, as cited in the essential guide to professional learning Aitsl (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership) “the more one educator’s learning is shared and supported by others, the more quickly the culture of continuous improvement, collective responsibility, and high expectations for students and educator’s grows.” Collaboration is a community where learners and teachers are involved together to share their knowledge, skills or ideas to recover the issues and challenges seen in teaching and learning. According to Aitsl, collaboration creates a community of working to achieve a common goal through the sharing of practice, knowledge and problems. And, effective collaboration encourages ongoing observation and feedback among colleagues where a culture of professional sharing, dialogue, experimentation and critique becomes commonplace. What I also observed through experiencing collaborative teaching, it makes sense of collegiality and mostly to get to know how things are going on worldwide.
Brook et al. (2007) state, “collaboration creates a base of pedagogical knowledge that is disturbed among teachers within a school as opposed to being held by individual teachers” as cited in Aitsl. It clears that if the teacher is suffering from the pedagogical problems they would get the chance to solve them through collaborative work that may not be solved by an individual. AITSL clearly defines both collaboration and cooperation where collaboration is concerned with working with another or others in a joint project. Collaborative works, it has a common goal and a high level of trust. It is a job-embedded long term program and works with joint planning, decision making, and problem-solving methods.
Cooperation has individual ownership of goals with others providing assistance for mutual benefit. Generally, cooperation is spontaneous and passive engagement by others. Therefore, cooperation and collaboration have not much comparison. Collaboration is far better than cooperation in academia. We can say that doing collaborative work makes professional growth. Therefore, to grow professionally collaboration with the teachers’ association, colleagues, researchers and teachers enhance the skills needed for professional development.
Why do we need collaborative teacher development?
Collaboration is viewed as a process that facilitates teacher development, serves to generate knowledge and understanding, and helps to develop collegiality and one of which teachers should have or share control. It is an organizational and inter-organizational structure where resources, power, and authority are shared, and where people are brought together to share common goals that could not be accomplished by a single individual or an organization independently, Kagan (1991, p. 3) as cited in Rainforth and England (1997, p. 86). The work accomplished by the group may not be solved by an individual and mostly they become unfamiliar with the phenomenon or process used to accomplish the task. When they come together they would have common goals which can be shared together and can be easily accomplished. In other words, the most common things in collaboration are it facilitates every individual to share and learn the issues one is facing.
Similarly, teacher development is a social process that is contingent upon dialogue and interaction with others, processes through which teachers can come to better understand their own beliefs and knowledge as well as reshape these understanding through listening to the voices of others. It can be viewed as teachers learning, rather than as others getting teachers to change. In learning, the teachers were developing their beliefs and ideas, developing their classroom practices, and attending to their feelings associated with changing, Bell and Gilbert (1994), as cited in Evans (2002, p.126). It seems clearer that joining hands and working together means helping an association as well as helping an association means building a nation together.
Likewise, Goddard and Goddard (2007) states, “when teachers have opportunities to collaborate professionally, they build upon their distinctive experiences, pedagogies, and content” as cited in Burton, (2015, p.6). If we collaborate, our work and ideas together in a group could bring the lived experience in the field of professionalism. I’m not sure the satisfaction that I got during a teaching in a particular situation is equal to others in their own field. However, in my experience of teaching and learning in a group, I explore more ideas and opportunities to overcome problems with solutions. We need collaboration not only for individual improvement but also for our program development.
Yarger (1979) suggests, as cited in Cook (1981, p. 99) “collaboration in teacher education is not related to quality and improvement in program development”, it should provide a breadth of perception and vision, an enrichment in terms of resources and an opportunity for increased understanding among the teachers at all grade levels and in varied subject areas. It could then lead to effective programs of professional development.
Different Forms of Collaboration for Teacher Development
Collaborative Teacher Development (CTD) can take the initiation of effective teaching/learning along with professional growth. Nowadays it is one of the major concerns to be professional in one of the fields and teaching/learning is integrated into all the other development of the people. It helps learners and teachers to explore more innovative skills to find and accomplish the task according to their interests. To decide who, where and how the teacher gets collaborates for further development is necessary to know. We could say that five fingers are stronger than one finger, in the same way, working together by involving collaboratively could bring a concrete result which is most beneficial for all.
There are different forms of collaboration where teachers are the centre point to achieving the goal. According to Johnston, (2003), as cited in Richards and Burns (2009, p. 242), there are four different forms of collaboration that teachers can involve in their professional development.
Teachers can collaborate with their fellow teachers
In this group, the teacher and their fellow (peer) teachers worked and discuss together. This is the most balanced relationship in terms of power. Collaboration among language teachers may well focus on instructional issues such as materials exploitation, classroom management, classroom language use, and other related issues. The language teachers are likely to point them toward certain common concerns and interests. Their professional understanding and depth of knowledge can help everyone involved in the group. It creates a lot of interaction related to the subject area and enhances the other further skills and knowledge. Here, we could say that meeting with different expertise minds certainly helps other minorities who have difficulties with resources and facilities in teaching/learning.
Collaboration between Teachers and University-based Researchers
As a teacher and researcher, I am much benefited from these forms of collaboration. I explore more innovative ideas and skills needed for the teachers and learners. For doing educational research such kind of collaborations are commonly initiated by the researcher to find out lived experiences of the teachers. Teachers and university-based researchers collaborate together and talk about the general and specific issues, and challenges that occur in the language field. Sometimes they do the classroom research to find the solutions; creating such an environment teacher could easily enhance their skills and knowledge whereas researcher also gets the credit for research and that could develop their professionalism as well as collegiality. Teacher and university-based collaboration may have a great inspiration for the teachers because the researcher could provide access and authentic resources to overcome the problems.
Teachers with their Students Collaboration
This type of collaboration makes an arrangement and offers fascinating possibilities for learning in-depth about one’s own classroom and who is in it. This kind of collaboration encourages the teacher and students to accomplish the goal together. Here, the learners are empowered by the teacher and the teacher also comes to know the current affairs of knowledge related understanding in teaching and learning. This form of collaboration is action and problem solving oriented which is livelier in the field of language teaching. It is problem and action-oriented therefore it could fix the problems raised by the students or teachers so that they could get the prompt feedback from their students to achieve the goal.
Collaboration with Others Involved in Teaching/ Learning
In this form of collaboration, teachers can collaborate with the administrators, supervisors, parents, materials developers and so on. Teachers and administrators collaborate together to find the issues and challenges that cause the improvement of the teachers, institutions, and programs, for the development. Similarly, the teacher and the supervisors collaborate together to recover the problems in the teaching and learning field. Supervisors can give constructive feedback to the teacher for their professional development. The teacher can also collaborate with the materials developers and share the implications of the material in the language classrooms. Teachers can also collaborate with the parents who play a vital role to achieve the students’ goals. They could share the students’ attitudes toward learning and the teachers’ teaching. In doing so, many of these collaborations, in turn, have had a significant component of the professional development of the teachers.
Conclusion
Sharing one’s learning is the everyday experience of human behaviour. The knowledge is hidden; it would enhance and grow when human beings take part in the discourse. Even unknown and unfamiliar things become known knowledge and familiar when people come together to share and present. Collaborative practices lead teachers to re-conceptualize the innovative process, boosting learners to continue varieties of challenges, generate cross forms, and participate in constructionist and supportive practices, including an-alternative dialogues. Collaborative teaching and learning practices help both teachers and learners to explore creativity and construct new frameworks for learning. Likewise, it creates innovative ideas and skills to know together and learn together.
Burton, T. (2015). Exploring the Impact of Teacher Collaboration on Teacher Learning and Development. University of South Carolina Scholar Commons (Doctoral Dissertations). Retrieved from http://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/3107
Cook, G. E. (1981, May). Collaboration, Change and Concern: Professional Development through teacher centers. English education, 13 (2), pp. 97-104.
Evans, L. (2002, Mar.). What Is Teacher Development? Oxford review of education, 28 (1), pp. 123-137.
Rainforth, B. & England, J. (1997, Feb.). Collaborations for Inclusion: Education and treatment for children, 20 (1). Pp. 85-104.
Richards, J.C. & Burns, A. (Eds.). (2009). Second Language Teacher Education: Collaborative Teacher Development. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Maggioli, G. D. (2004). Teacher- Centered Professional Development. Association for supervision and curriculum development (ASCD). Alexandria, Virginia, USA.
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (aitsl). The Essential Guide to Professional Learning: Collaboration.
http://www.aitsl.edu.au/professional growth/australian teacher performance/and development framework.
Author’s Bio: Mr. Shaty Kumar Mahato is an MPhil graduate in English Language Education from Kathmandu University and working as an ELT teacher, researcher and trainer in the field of education. Since his Bachelor’s degree in 2005, he has been involved in teaching and research. He has presented his research paper in NELTA, LSN, TERSD and Asia TEFL. At present, he is working as a Project Coordinator-Education in Aasaman Nepal a national NGO. His area of interest is teaching methodologies, Collaborative Approach, Teacher Education, Language Policy, Discourse Analysis and Narrative Research Inquiry.
During my university degree and job in Nepal, I needed to read long texts, reports, and books, but I was a slow reader and would be distracted too easily while reading. Or let’s put this way, my reading strategy made it slow. Now, I’m a graduate student in a US university and reading demand is even deadlier, so I use different reading strategies to overcome the distraction and slow reading. In this blog post, I’ll share my reading strategies then and now highlighting some ineffective and effective strategies, which can be useful for students, researchers, and professionals.
How was my reading like?
We used to have five courses a year in campus and each course came with a couple of books or chapters to read.
“Guys, check the course books and the references list. These are the readings for this course.” Our teacher would say referring to course syllabus.
The course book would be one or two, but the reference list would be longer consisting of four/five other books or chapters to read.
One of us would ask, “Do we need to read all these for our exams?”
The teacher would say, “Well, yes and I would say you to read these for your life.”
I wouldn’t care what he meant by ‘read for your life’ but I was concerned the exams were based on those reading because we had/have paper-pencil-based annual exams and a majority of it would depend on our memory and writing speed. If each course would assign at least four readings, that would sum up twenty readings, which was worrisome. Oh my gosh! How could a person like me with a full-time job manage time for them?
My problem was I wouldn’t turn the next page until I know the meaning of every single word and make sense of every single sentence. I used to consult the bulky Oxford English dictionary and write the meaning of new/difficult words either in Nepali or in English all over the pages and sometimes I would note on a separate notebook to keep books clean. The funny thing was occasionally the meanings in the dictionary would be complicated than the words, which would further push me to check their meanings too! Can you imagine? Moreover, I would also go back and re-read sentences to make more sense, but this multiple ‘regression’ (Ahuja &Ahuja, 2008) not only impeded my reading speed but also impaired my comprehension because I used to engage in microstructures of text rather than inferring meaning and making sense from it in a big picture. Despite all this hard work, I would still be unable to make complete sense of the texts, which would result in ‘reading fatigue’. Then, I would be tired of reading and wouldn’t have any interest and motivation to read further. Isn’t that frustrating?
To make the matter worse, I often used to read aloud as I was told somewhere that it would make my pronunciation better (for speaking). Perhaps, read aloud benefitted my pronunciation somehow but it would result in slower reading and affect my comprehension terribly because I remember, while reading aloud, I consciously used to assess my pronunciation and lose the contextual cues and infer meaning from the text. The vocalization (even sub-vocalization) is subject to contribute to slower reading, reading fatigue and decreased comprehension (Ahuja & Ahuja, 2008).I wonder now, what was the purpose of my reading? Why was I distracted from the major purpose (which I believe is critical reading and meaning construction)?
Besides, I used to easily get distracted while reading. Does that happen to you? Like, you read a couple of sentences or paragraphs, then your mind is out on streets, playgrounds, café, parks, theatre, or it would dwell on some memories, though your eyes were still on the texts. These days, distracts are even deadlier with your mobile phones, tabs, or computers! It doesn’t only hold back our reading but also backfire our comprehension because when we pause reading, allow other thoughts to rule our mind, and resume it, we tend to forget the previous section. Sometimes, we don’t get the full picture without reading the entire section of the chapter or the entire text.
These were some of the reasons for me to get scared of long reading list in campus and similar was the problem with reading texts and reports in my job. Now, when I reflect on my reading journey, I find that it’s not how hard you read but how strategically you read that pays off. However, when we run behind making sense of every single word, it’s going to make things harder. It’s only a myth that one needs to understand every single word to construct meaning from a text. The knowledge of 90% words is enough for readers to comprehend texts(Hirsch, 2003), while mastery of ‘5000- 8000’ most frequently used words including key technical terms are good enough to construct meaning from texts as the rest can be guessed and ignored(Martinez & Murphy, 2012).Sticking on every single word would result in missing contextual clues, disconnect meaning between sentences, lose ability to infer the texts. Likewise, it’s also essential to retain the memory of the previous section/sentences and predict what’s coming up in the text. Reading also has a lot to do with smooth eye-mind coordination (Ahuja & Ahuja, 2008) and thought processing to maximize comprehension and critical reflection. Unfortunately, nobody ever taught me reading strategies and meaning construction processes from the text but only suggested the reading lists.
So, how do I read now?
When I joined the graduate program in a US university last Fall, I still had the same reading hangover and suffered a week or two. Professors would assign three to four research papers/chapters every week including weekly writing assignments. As I had two courses to study and one to teach, I was again trapped in reading (and writing). I would be doomed with slow reading and distractions as I had seven to eight readings worth 20 to 30 pages each. So, I started exploring the reading strategies of my classmates and also sought some advice from the professors, which relieved me to some extent. Based on these interactions, I changed my reading strategies and feel comfortable reading texts, papers, and chapters every day now.
First, I figure out the purpose of the assigned readings and the purpose of the authors. My class readings are basically aligned with the themes of the week and professors want us to have a general idea of the texts and dwell on a couple of major issues raised in it. So, I use skimming and scanning strategies. I skim through the title, abstract, key words, headings and sub-headings, infographs/tables/illustrations and reach the end. It gives me a very general idea of what’s the text is all about like having a big picture of forest before figuring out its trees. Ahuja and Ahuja (2008) compare skimming with overviewing the forest and scanning with spotting the trees.
After skimming, I only read those sections which are useful based on my task and purposes, then skip the rest. While reading these sections, I read the thesis statement or argument of each paragraph (and not read the entire paragraph) because that’s the crux of it and identifying the thesis sentence/argument in paragraphs also gives me idea of composing effective paragraphs. So, understanding writing helps reading and vice-versa, because the reading text is eventually a piece of writing.
I also make sure to highlight (underline, color or circle) striking ideas, arguments and major issues in the paper and write quick notes (very short) usually stating my feelings and evaluation over the ideas. I pay more attention in the conclusion section and would read every sentence because that’s where the author/s summarize the ideas of the papers, state the limitations, and show the scope for further studies. In doing so, I go through the notes or highlighted sections once again to summarize my understanding. Then I would pause and reflection on the ideas/issues raised and agree/disagree or advance my perspectives.
What about vocabulary? I still check a couple of words if there are new terminology on titles, abstract and key words section but I have stopped worrying about every new word that I came across. I know there are still multiple new/difficult words but believe me they don’t bother me much to construct meaning of the texts.
Another most useful strategy I use to avoid distraction and speed up reading is the timed reading. Yes, once I’m ready for reading, I turn off notifications on mobile or computer, disconnect Wi-Fi (on mobile) and set the time for the text, which has paid me off with great results in terms of both reading speed and meaning construction. When I set my target to achieve a definite amount of reading in a limited time, I train my mind and orient it towards my goals, which has been amazingly useful for me.
The reading strategies I discussed above are basically applicable for technical texts for university students, researchers or professional and I’m mindful these reading strategies can vary depending on types of texts (ex. literary texts) and purpose of your reading. So, I shared my personal reading struggles and lately practiced reading strategies, which may not necessarily reflect yours. As the purpose of this blog to generate discourse on reading strategies people use, I would appreciate if you could share your reading strategies in the comments below.
The author:Jeevan Karki is a graduate student and writing instructor at the University of Washington, Seattle Campus.
References
Ahuja, P. & Ahuja G.C. (2008). How to increase your reading speed. Sterling Paperbacks.
Hirsch, E. D. (2003). Reading comprehension requires knowledge—Of words and the world. American Educator, 10–29.
Martinez, R., & Murphy, V. A. (2012). Effect of frequency and idiomaticity on second Language reading comprehension. TESOL Quarterly, 45(2), 267–290.
Writing on my personal experience of thesis writing, I experienced a way of learning during the selection of the topic for research, planning for data collection and overall writing process which taught me to strive for academic excellence. No two researchers are the same and no two research journeys are the same, even though academic aspirations could be similar among researchers. What you go through and what you experience on this academic journey is always unique. Any initial difficulty we have with academic writing will pay off when we discover new ways of looking at the world and of making sense of it.
The phrase ‘thesis writing’ had become a catchy phrase for me ever since I filled the form of the fourth semester of Masters Level at Far Western University. I had heard the inspirational stories of thesis writing from senior students and my professors about how they did and succeeded. I found their stories interesting, inspirational, and fearful too. As the time passed, our teachers suggested us to select the area for our research to be carried out and to get approval from the department as soon as possible. I had to accomplish the writing in time and to get awarded earlier.
I was the 34th researcher to carry out thesis in the department where many seniors were also struggling to complete thesis writing. Being the newly founded University, I could see the lack of sufficient literature available in our library. This made me disappointed for the area to be selected for a while. I collected some research works from senior batch students and friends from Tribhuvan University. I dwelt among many research areas and disciplines for more than a month in course of finding the area that interests me. After the vehement effort, I made up my mind to carry out research on teaching literature which interested me at the end. With the fear in mind, I went to campus to consult my supervisor and discuss the area that I had selected. The supervisor gave silent agreement to that but waited to see the particular genre to further go through. He also suggested me to read the literature so that I could have an idea to decide the genre and narrow down the area of investigation. This meeting encouraged me to go through the literature. I returned home and made a call to my brother in Kathmandu to visit the central library of TU and get some unpublished theses in pen drive. This was the time; the government had recently imposed lockdown in the nation. The librarian, despite the lockdown, provided seven or eight research works to my brother. The theses supported me with sound knowledge of literature for my research.
Then I visited the central library and Department of English Education and got some research works. All those documents assisted me to sort out a genre of literature for my research work. It had been the most suffering and stressful time for me to sort out the particular topic. Finally, I narrowed down the area as teaching drama in secondary level and teachers’ perception towards it. Till the time I came to finalise the topic, English Department had divided the students into different groups under the supervision of professors from the department. I found my name in the list under the supervision of one of the assistant professors from the department. Shortly I met my supervisor to finalize my topic and with some suggestions he approved my topic. My supervisor advised me to make my research a comparative study. We discussed and pondered on the challenges and issues of comparative study. After having a meaningful discussion, he urged me to write the proposal for the research work. I got success in finalizing my topic as it seemed ‘teachers’ perception in teaching English drama’. It was the moment that brought extreme happiness and provided me with rays of hope.
Now I had to start writing the proposal for the research which was just as to crack the hard nut for me. I consulted my teachers and some of the senior batch students to write proposal. They provided me some valuable ideas about what to include in the proposal. After this, I started working on my proposal. I spent many sleepless nights on the completion of the research proposal. I worked on the first, second, third, and fourth draft getting it to the approved form. During this process of writing a proposal, I got incredible assistance from my supervisor, teachers, senior students and my classmates. I stepped back many times during proposal writing; it took me many weeks to go ahead.
Collecting the required data for the research work is another challenging task to be performed during the research work. When I found myself in trouble, I used to talk to myself. I often had long conversations all by myself, but I did not understand a single word of what I was saying. As I was thinking about preparing the data collection tools, I received a call from one of my classmates, and he shared his confusions regarding the preparation of tools for data collection. He suggested that we had to meet the supervisor and we together went to the college and met him. We shared our problems with him. He, very clearly, explained about the tools, their administration, and reliability and so on. The meeting made me clear on what data collection instruments are, their reliability, preparation, administration, and many more. I came to know that the tools we choose to collect data depend on the type of data (quantitative and qualitative). I was told that the data is the backbone of any research. This moment triggred me to move ahead in course of developing tool(s).I decided to collect data using a questionnaire. I prepared the questionnaire including open and close-ended questions that were divided into six different categories: -problems of teaching drama, way of using literature, the significance of drama, relevance of content presented in drama, techniques used in teaching drama, and language used in drama. After working on the first draft of the questionnaire, I met my supervisor to discuss the questionnaire. He advised me to limit the number of questions up to 25 and make some other necessary changes. It took a couple of days for me to finalize the questionnaire. I selected the private and government schools purposively under non-random sampling. Getting responses using non-random sampling is faster, more cost-effective because the sample is known to the researcher. The respondents responded quickly as compared to people randomly selected as they had a high level of motivation to participate. This method made data collection easier to some extent. It was the time when the nation was in lockdown due to the Covid 19 pandemic. It became difficult for me to visit the schools to meet the English teachers as my respondents. I explained to them about my research work, and provided them with the questionnaires. Using different ways, I collected the phone numbers of the selected schools and built rapport with them. Then, I visited the teachers at their convenient places and time.
My first day of data collection journey was very memorable that I want to share it. As I entered into the premises of one of the schools in Kanchanpur, I found it was made quarantine for COVID-19 suspected people. It was full of Covid infected people. I found myself to be reluctant for a while to move ahead that the school had turned into the quarantine. But I had to collect the data at any cost and I moved towards the office room. I met the secondary level English teachers, described my research work to them and provided them with the questionnaires. I found all the respondents very cooperative and supportive, and they returned the filled-up questionnaires physically in time.
After the collection of data, I was completely lost for two or three weeks in searching for ideas to analyze and interpret the data collected. I read some unpublished master’s theses submitted to Tribhuvan University on my area of investigation. I took a highlighter and circled each paragraph on analysis of the data. These researches helped me with some valuable ideas about how to analyze and interpret the data though it was not enough for me to go ahead. With some ideas in mind, I met my supervisor and discussed the analysis of the data. He told me that it was the most important part of research work where researcher analyzes the data and give meaning to the data in terms of existing literature and looking the meaning from a theoretical lens. And finally he or she came to the certain generalizations. After spending a couple of days, I came up with the ideas to analyze and interpret the data. Then I struggled to write the very first draft, a rough draft by entering important data and interpretation. It was incomplete and rough. With the regular collaboration and guidance of my supervisor, I worked with the first, second, third and many drafts to bring it into the accepted format.
To sum up, it is really challenging work to research in a way to succeed and make it a model. I learned how to abide by the common principles of research and ask the right kind of questions, deal with seemingly insurmountable problems that had no obvious solutions. The experience gave me the confidence later on to propose and develop my knowledge base about research. The research experiences come in many forms in the lives of students. At this point, the key is to focus on exploring what interests the researcher, and what he/she does not enjoy doing which sometimes can be even more important. We do not need to be disappointed while researching though it can not be accomplished overnight. It requires rigorous effort, certain processes to be followed, and dedication on the part of the researcher. There is a saying “some people dream of success, while OTHERS wake up and work hard at it.” I kept myself under the quoted OTHERS, as I woke up and worked hard to make my dream come true. The journey of writing master’s thesis as a beginner in research sometimes becomes a very inspirational story for me to explore further. At the end, I am truly indebted to the pious souls whose contribution made my journey of wring thesis the most enjoyable and encouraging. Most importantly, I extend my sincere gratitude to my respected gurus and the supervisor for their incredible guidance, suggestions and love throughout the writing process.
Author’ bio: Deepak Bhatt is an M.Ed. in English (TESOL) from Far Western University. He has a decade experience of teaching English from primary to secondary level. Mr. Bhatt is currently working as an English Teacher at Sainik Awasiya Mahavidyalaya, Teghari Kailali.
