Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Finish:
1. Thomas (2003, p. 240) is of the view that To be fully professional we must account
for all of what we do, and do it with full awareness of the context.
Elaborate on this view of professional accountability and her arguments for and the
meaning of quality.
According to the article The arguments for and the meaning of quality written by
Helen Thomas, the concept of quality in Education is more complex and need for broad
understanding. the quality of professional accountability can be defined by a few criterions.
For example, set objective are achieved, fitness for purpose, added value and client satisfaction
(Vroeijenstijn 1992). Nevertheless, according to Thomas (2003), based on her straw poll
among practitioners. teachers and managers during her seminar, the quality in education can
be explained in three categories: excellence, improvement, and fitness for purpose. However,
in her article, she is stressing more on the improvement and the fitness of purpose.
The quality of education is related to improvement. Thomas (2003) notes that the ensure
the quality in education, the improvement must strike immediately as a comfortable and
acceptable interpretation. Improving knowledge, skills, and opportunities in life. Improvement
can also cover on lesson, resources and results
She summarizes that the quality for the professional teachers means being committed
to different interpretation of quality not only to improvement but to standards, fitness for
purpose, and fitness of purpose too. In fulfilling the needs of improving the quality, all the
education practitioners should commit themselves to an ethos in the institution, the sector in
which they work, and in the broader economic and political context
2. What is fitness for purpose and how is it different from fitness of purpose
Fitness for purpose is important to ensure that the curricula and their delivery are
capable to allow students to achieve the intended aims. For example, in certain subject,
what is being taught in the university is not determined by external reference point but
the department decides what is going to teach and how. In this situation, what is
evaluated is the extent to which the institution does what it says it is doing.
However, there is something more to quality rather than fitness for purpose. The
relevance or appropriateness of what we teach are also part of the quality. In other
words, it is not just fitness for purpose which is important, but fitness of purpose. It is
because, by ensuring that our programmes are fit of purpose is also part of professional
behaviour. Therefore, to improve the quality of our work context, we must look at the
what, and the what for which are the quality is process and product, and the relevance
of the product
3. According to Hyde (2000a, p.272) the power of experiential learning from role reversal,
i.e., for foreign language teachers to experience or re-experience what it is like to be a
foreign language learner, will help to bridge gaps of cultural knowledge and
professional experience between native and non-native teachers. In your view, how can
this promote ELT professionalism among ELT teachers in your work
environment/context?
Secondly, the FLT should explore the local teachers' learning background: their
learning of English, how they were trained, and their educational culture (mainly
educational). For example, an England teacher can visit Teacher Training College or in
Malaysia we call as Institut Perguruan to observe how the teachers were trained to teach
English.
Thirdly, it is important for the FLT to see the language from the outside: teaching
their own language helps trainees to find out how a non-native leams it. As a result, they will
be able to figure out more about their own language, and discover more about teaching,
getting instant educated feedback from their 'students' (linguistic and pedagogical). For
instance, when the teachers from Peninsular Malaysia were posted to Sabah and Sarawak,
they are encouraged to learns about the local language as it will help in building the rapport
among students and teachers an at the same time, enhancing their interest in English learning.
Last but not least, the FLT should also gain in intercultural understanding:
participants in the role-reversal gain a better understanding of key attitudes to language and
language learning, and related (mainly cultural) issues.
To summarize, the education practitioners like teachers and future teachers will get
benefit from the opportunity to reflect on the experience of being language learners, which
should be varied and consistently developed
4. In their needs analysis framework for implementing ELT innovations, Waters and
Vilches (2001) stressed the point that teacher learning entailed meeting foundation-
building needs and potential-realizing needs. Explain how these two concepts of
professional needs can help enhance the professionalism of teachers.
while potential-realizing needs means . Explain how these two concepts of professional
needs can help enhance the professionalism of teachers.
I still remember 3 years ago when I had visited Australia for my first time. At that time, I was
staying with a lady called Kak Zahra, who is working at the Malaysia Consulate Office in
Melbourne. Shes married an Australian guy for 8 years with 3 kids. Thus, when I was sitting
in the bedroom with her daughter Zahra Harding, she questioned me and said, Why my
mother always brings the stranger home? I just smiled and said, Your mother is a kind-
hearted people. Then she replied, You mean person isnt? I think you dont know English
very well. It is not people. It is person she corrected me. Since then, I realized that there are
still increasingly thing to be improved and to be discovered. Yes, I do agree that by staying
there even for 2 weeks had improved my English, my skills in language especially speaking
very well. It is just like, I do my revision back when I was there. Therebefore, in my
view, by (20 marks)
4. .
Elt innovation
(10 marks)
5. The SFDA model proposed by Waters and Vilches (2000b) was found to have led to
higher professional self-esteem for ELT teachers in the Phillippines.
School based
a. Briefly explain their use of the metaphors Seminar Island, Sea of Teacher
Learning and School Land under the SFDA system.
(15 marks)
b. Provide an example of how the SFDA system has helped teachers to develop
a greater awareness of their own capabilities and an increased feeling of
professional self-worth.
(15 marks)