An Evaluation of the English Teachers’ Guides of the Secondary Cycle in Saudi Arabia (Published)
The study was an attempt to evaluate the teachers’ Guides (TGs) of the first and second secondary classes in Saudi Arabia. Secondary TEFL teachers’ views were investigated towards these TGs used by the teachers to answer the following questions: (1) What are TEFL secondary teachers’ views about the TGs in terms of the following dimensions? (2) Do the TEFL secondary teachers’ views vary with respect to English teaching experience and qualification? The sample of the study consisted of 160 teachers in the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia who teach the first and second secondary classes. To achieve the purpose of the study, the researcher developed a questionnaire including 40 questions within eight subscales. The researcher used means, standard deviations and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to describe and analyze the teachers’ views about the questionnaire. The results of the study revealed that the teachers’ views about the TGs were negative, i.e., the TGs were of insignificant help to teachers in the teaching process. In addition the two-way ANOVA did not reveal any statistically significant differences in the teachers’ views due to teaching experience and qualification. The results of the study also indicated that the TGs did not contribute to developing teachers’ awareness of English language teaching theory and principles. The TGs lacked an introduction describing the objectives of the teaching materials. They did not provide linguistic and cultural information and they did not also help teachers through suggestions and procedural guidance to deal with contents of the teaching materials and unpredictable problems affecting the teaching process. In light of the findings of the study, the researcher recommended that the Ministry of Education provide TGs which mainly contribute to developing teachers’ knowledge and understanding of the English language teaching theory and principles. Moreover, the researcher recommended that the Ministry provide TGs including the general objectives of the teaching materials and specification of the objectives for each unit. It is also recommended that TEFL researchers conduct further studies investigating teachers’ views about the TGs in other regions of Saudi Arabia. Moreover, they were recommended to evaluate the TGs of the basic stage and investigate the TEFL teachers’ attitudes towards the effectiveness and usefulness of the TGs.
Keywords: Experience, Objectives, TGS, Teachers' Guide