Educational Action Research

Several researched have been conducted to determine the real causes of unsatisfactory English in the country. In his paper (Al-Nasser, 2015), states that the prime poor results in poor results in English are due to the traditional approaches and unqualified teachers. With the advancement of technology, the English language has been voted as one of the vital tools for formal communication. The English language is considered a modern and fashionable language most people uses (Cole & Feng, 2015). Besides, today most worlds’ knowledge is preserved in English. English language teaching is not restricted to its linguistic usefulness but influences the economic, social, religious and political spheres at the state and international levels. It is quite satisfactory that presently the policymakers, the State, teachers, and students clearly understand s the importance of English and several efforts have been put forward at every level of education to increase the students’ proficiency.

Several reforms have been carried out in the education sector to ensure quality education in all learning institution. These reforms include; enacting a purposive curriculum, good overall planning, training qualified teachers and using integrated textbooks (Al-Nasser, 2015). However, despite these reforms in the education system, English performance in Saudi Arabia is still below the expectations. As a result of the teaching methods, students face problems in both writing and speaking skills (Khan 2013). Al-Nasser (2015), notes that the prime cause of low English performance in the country is due to poor assessment methods, inadequate teaching methodology, use of teacher-centered activities and inadequate textbook and teaching material. Therefore, in this educational action research, I have tried to examine the approaches teachers in Saudi Arabia uses for teaching English and suggest some of the strategies that can be employed to improve the level of English performance in Saudi Arabia.

Research Question 1. What are the teaching methods teachers in KSA uses for teaching English which has led to unsatisfactory results? 2. Setting for project In general, the main context of this paper is EFL teachers in Saudi Arabian public schools. The study focuses on EFL teacher's performance from the advisors’ perspectives and how teachers can improve students’ outcomes. Interviewing and data collection took four days. Literature Review The teaching of English in KSA has caught the attention of many researchers. Several studies have been carried out to determine the current state and real causes of the low level of English performance among Saudi Arabia students. Khan (2011) who examined the learning difficulties in English revealed that most issues which impact the process of learning of English were directly related to pedagogy.

He recommends that for the country to solve the pedagogic problems, the teachers have to be well equipped and analyse linguistically the nature and type of challenges students’ faces during the course of study so that they can develop fruitful approaches for the teaching of English that will decrease difficulties and yield better results (Khan, 2010). Also, Ellis (2009) conducted a study to examine how the teachers can use different corrective feedbacks to improve students’ second language acquisition. In his article, he noted some of the benefits of corrective feedback to language acquisition outline some of the utterance errors that can be corrected and how to correct them and later analyzed most effective corrective feedback approach. By using a specific strategy respond to particular errors committed by students significantly improves learners’ performance (Ellis, 2009).

The entire process of sending and gathering feedback from the questionnaire took one month. Ethical consideration Before commencement of this educational action research, data collection, analysis and results were submitted to quality assurance and ethical the organization’s ethics committee for approval. Besides, all participants were requested to sign an informed consent form before participating in the study. The responses were kept confidential and anonymously without mentioning their specific names. Study Findings and Analysis Data Findings Primary data was collected via questionnaire and interview, below are the charts that documents responses from the participants. Poor assessment methods result in an unsatisfactory outcome since it is only through continuous assessment methods a teacher is able to evaluate the understanding of their students and develop quick strategies to boost their learning process.

In terms of unqualified teachers who focus on teaching specific skills, my research agrees with (Cole & Feng, 2015) that stresses the need for employing qualified English teachers who adequate skills and knowledge in teaching the language. My study also agrees with (Elyas& Al Grigri, 2014; Khan, 2011) regarding the use of teacher-centered and traditional teaching methods. In their studies (Elyas& Al Grigri, 2014; Khan, 2011), noted that the use of teacher-centered and traditional teaching methods in Saudi Arabia was the prime cause of poor performance in the English language. To sum up, the study findings show some of the approaches teachers’ uses while teaching the English language in Saudi Arabia which have yielded poor English performance. They include; recast repetition, clarifications request, and explicit correction. In repetition, the teacher highlights learners’ utterance errors and repeats them by means of emphatic stress.

In an explicit correction, the instructor illustrates that an error has been committed, detects the error and then corrects it. By choosing a specific strategy respond to particular errors committed by students can significantly improve learners’ performance. Corrective feedbacks provided to the teachers can help them adjust the learning process, instruction, and material accordingly. Administration of final examination, term papers, and projects, a teacher can be able to determine the level of knowledge and skills attained at the end of the teaching program. Both formative and summative assessment method gives an instructor feedback on students’ progress which allows them to make some adjustments to improve student four major skills; writing, reading, listening and speaking. Student-Centered Teaching Often students learn best when they enjoy learning.

This approach makes learning relevant and fun since it is involving and gives even bored and frustrated students an incentive to keep trying. Cole and Feng (2015) noted that the learning-centered teaching approach engages and motivates students in existing ways compared to the traditional approach. The paper notes that often large class sizes are associated with the poor quality instruction, lower test scores, and disciplinary distractions. When a class has too many students, it becomes difficult for the teachers to understand each learner’s progress and their challenges. They recommend that when a classroom size is reduced to a low student-teacher ratio of 15:1, it becomes easier for a teacher to handle. Small class size creates a conducive learning atmosphere where each learner gets to be noticed and get an opportunity to participate and the learning process is enhanced as instructor get more feedback about students’ progress.