Page 132 - Apuntes de Investigación en la Enseñanza de Idiomas

116 Apuntes de Investigación en la Enseñanza de Idiomas

Methodology

Qualitative research was employed in order to explore the perceptions and challenges of the EFL
teachers. Qualitative research is known to “study human actors in natural settings, in the context
of their ordinary, everyday world” (Richards, 2003, p. 10) and in this study the human actors were
EFL teachers in their educational setting, their university. We consider this a case study because we
looked at the teachers in one specific context. As well, as part of qualitative research, we wanted
to explore their perspectives and we tried to “seek to understand the meanings and significance of
these actions from the perspectives of those involved” (Richards, 2003, p. 10).

With this in mind, we used a number of techniques, such as questionnaires (pre- and post- work-
shops), videos of the teachers’ classes and reflection, and lastly, a focus group discussion after the
second set of workshops. These three techniques were chosen to help triangulate the data to find
the teachers’ perspectives and challenges from a variety of sources.

The participants were 21 practicing EFL teachers who had a variety of educational backgrounds
(bachelors or masters), and a range of 10 to 27 years of teaching in a large public university. At
the beginning of the workshops, the participants gave their consent to be part of this research and
we have used pseudonyms to protect their identity. The researchers are not part of this university,
but were invited to give teacher training to the teachers. Once the data was gathered, it was read a
number of times to find emerging themes and then we used MaxQDA software to further confirm the
themes.

Results
The themes which emerged are 1) positive reflections of being updated and 2) challenges of teaching
in a TBLT curriculum. For the most part, the teachers showed a basis of knowledge of TBLT and
welcomed the training to refresh their knowledge. They felt more secure with the training and in the
videos they were able to put to practice the use of TBLT. Regarding the challenges, they faced a
number, such as large classes, limited time for task preparation and selection, and a tendency to fall
back on grammar. The teachers also expressed concerns as how to use or adapt the textbook to
the TBLT curriculum. The challenges mostly referred to how to put to practice TBLT while dealing with
the constraints of their university.

Conclusions

The conclusions showed that the teachers encountered a number of challenges within their teach-
ing of TBLT. At times, they felt overwhelmed with problems of planning and adapting the use of the
textbook to TBLT. Yet with the training, they voiced their opinions of understanding their challenges of
planning and how to deal with the textbook. Providing the teachers with a venue to revisit the theory
of TBLT proved valuable for them to have space and time to reflect on their practice. In essence, they
were bridging the gap of theory and practice and this seemed to be needed for their understanding
of their practice in relation to the theory of TBLT. Another conclusion of this research shows how
the participants were able to analyze their own teaching of TBLT and put it to practice in the videos.
They approached their classes using grammar in an inductive way and showed planning on their part,
which demonstrates that they seemed to have a basis for TBLT. To conclude, we found it important
for teachers to dialogue about their concerns as teachers and that they were able to update. These
conclusions shave implications for teachers, coordinators and curriculum designers.