CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2. 1 Introduction

Pedagogical training involves preparation and delivery skills. Therefore, there was need to page pedagogical skills as one of the requirements for one to be employed as a teacher in School.  This chapter presents the literature that has been reviewed in line with this study. The purpose of literature review was to establish the existing theoretical background of the study so that the investigation was not carried out in void. It s presented according to the objectives of the study.

2.1 Theoretical review [Bandura’s Social Learning Theory

The study was underpinned by Bandura’s Social Learning Theory (Bandura 1977).  According Bandura, behaviors are learned through observation and modeling. His social learning theory posits that children learn by observing the actions of others, including parents and peers, individuals that are observed are called models. In society, children are surrounded by many influential models, such as parents within the family, characters on children’s TV, friends within their peer group and teachers at school. These models provide examples of behavior to observe and imitate, e.g., masculine and feminine, pro and anti-social.

The social learning theory furthermore, indicates that children develop new skills and acquire new information through observations in a school setting the learners are constantly observing the teachers and imitating them.  This theory will be used in examining teachers’’ use of pedagogical skills to the teaching of English language. It can be asserted that children learn when they are able to learn from their peers’ behavioral skills that can help them to acquire skills in subjects like English language. Since the theory also indicates that learners learn through observation, it is therefore imperative to note that pupils learn by following the teacher’s ways of teaching. This theory therefore emphasizes that teacher’s pedagogy is very imperative on determining how the pupils perform in a specific subject.

One of the primary strengths of Bandura’s theory is its flexibility to explain differences in a child’s behavior or learning strategies. The theory notes that children learn at different levels there are faster learners and slow learners therefore the teacher’s pedagogical skills are imperative in catering for the learning levels of children. There are four mediational processes proposed by Bandura:

Attention: The individual needs to pay attention to the behavior and its consequences and form a mental representation of the behavior. For a behavior to be imitated, it has to grab our attention. We observe many behaviors on a daily basis, and many of these are not noteworthy. Attention is therefore extremely important in whether a behavior influences other imitating it.

Retention: How well the behavior is remembered. The behavior may be noticed but it is not always remembered which obviously prevents imitation. It is important therefore that a memory of the behavior is formed to be performed later by the observer.

Much of social learning is not immediate, so this process is especially vital in those cases. Even if the behavior is reproduced shortly after seeing it, there needs to be a memory to refer to.

Reproduction: This is the ability to perform the behavior that the model has just demonstrated. We see much behavior on a daily basis that we would like to be able to imitate but that is not always possible. We are limited by our physical ability and for that reason, even if we wish to reproduce the behavior, we cannot.

Motivation: The will to perform the behavior. The rewards and punishment that follow a behavior will be considered by the observer. If the perceived rewards outweigh the perceived costs (if there are any), then the behavior will be more likely to be imitated by the observer. If the vicarious reinforcement is not seen to be important enough to the observer, then they will not imitate the behavior.

The theory highlights that children learn in a social context. This reinforces the idea that when there is a change in the child’s environment, the child’s behavior may change as well. For example, a child may have trouble following directions in a relaxed home environment, but have no problems with authority in a stricter school setting. On the other hand, the theory may be limited to support the levels of accountability for actions of children in a class room environment whether at home or in schools (Eun, 2019). However, despite the above weakness this theory will still be relevant to the study because the children when taught English subject they learn at different levels in a school environment which has direct influence on how they behave and process information or acquire the knowledge skills.

2.2 Empirical literature review

This section will review the study inline to the objectives of the study;

2.2.1 Teachers’ Pedagogical skills and the teaching of English language

Pedagogical skills are one type of skills that absolutely need to be mastered by teachers. Basically, pedagogical competence is the ability of teachers to manage the education of learners. Pedagogical skills refer to skills of teachers to deal with three aspects of teaching skills, namely lesson planning, implementing teaching and learning process, and assessing learners ‘learning. According to Susilo (2011), pedagogical competence is the ability of teachers to manage the education of learners, include: setting up the learning device, implementing the learning, and assessment.

According to Cullen et al. (2002) Pedagogy can be defined as teaching-learning process for the children that can be extended to informal setting outside the educational institutions. Whereas, the fundamental of receptive pedagogy remains the obvious purpose of the educator to make learners have confidence in their individual competency; meet challenges; to make learners’ aptitude stronger to effectively manage comprehensive projects and self-efficacy; and to grow their inclusive self-concept (Smith et al., 2016).

On the other hand, pedagogical skills include teaching-learning related skills like planning the lesson properly, managing the class, choosing appropriate strategy for instruction, supporting the learners in their learning process (Choy et al., 2013; Nind & Lewthwaite, 2018).

Khan (2008) found in her study that knowledge base; control over teaching quality; reflexion and self-assessment; resources and environment of working place are the critical components for the teachers in their professional life. Smith et al., (2016) concluded from their study that, pedagogical skills contribute to make pupils believe in their individual competency, capability to complete their coursework magnificently, ability to judge themselves and overcome challenges successfully.

Through the work of the teacher, the value and potential of a nation are assessed. Gbagi (2011) instructors’ insufficient efforts to educate their learners is the reason why candidates performed poorly in the public exams. According to Ayedun (2011), who agreed with Gbagi, instructors are mostly to blame for learners’ failures. However, Olukoya (2011) contended that the failing of learners is not their instructors’ faults. He continued by saying that a candidate’s achievement in any exam was a product of a variety of things, including their education, upbringing, teachers, classmates, and the government, because they are the public faces of education, teachers are frequently the easy scapegoat when a learners is performing below expectations. Then, despite all other obstacles, teachers must be committed to search out better ways to instruct learners in classrooms. There needs to be approaches that instructors might take to increase the educational process and, in turn, the success of the learners’ learning experiences (Ma, 2022).

One of the most difficult limitations teachers must work under is the allotted instructional time. Effective class management is a skill that top-notch teachers must possess. Careful preparation can help maximize the use of time in the classroom. The amount of time learners spend actively participating in learning activities and their academic success are related (Mastropieri & Scruggs, 2000). The achievement of the learners may consequently be impacted by the instructors’ capacity to plan, oversee, and devote quality time to education. Few instructors truly make sure that their learners are engaged and actively occupied with activities aimed toward the learning of the subject during the assigned time, despite the fact that most teachers arrange and allocate the proper amount of time for learning.

The imperative in recent years about improving learners outcomes is also about improving the quality of the teaching workforce. In recent years, however, recruiting and retaining quality teachers has become a challenge among some OECD countries. In addition to the ageing of the teaching workforce, some countries experience high rates of attrition among new teachers and a shortage of quality teachers in high-demand subject areas and disadvantaged schools. There is also concern about attracting high-achieving and motivated candidates into teacher education programmes and the lowering of qualification requirements in the certification and licensing of new teachers. Issues such as these have an impact on the quality of the resulting teaching workforce that is tasked with improving learners outcomes. For example, the ageing of the teacher workforce entails the loss of experienced teachers through retirement. High attrition rates among new teachers is costly to the system and may prompt education authorities to fill teacher shortages by lowering qualification requirements for the certification of new teachers or by assigning teachers to teach subjects or grades for which they were not trained. In such cases, the quality of the teaching workforce is negatively affected.

Teaching methods are often divided into two broad categories: teacher-centered methods (also called direct instruction) and learner-centered methods (also called indirect
instruction or inquiry-based learning). An effective teacher knows several methods,
some teacher-directed and others learner-directed. From among these methods, a
teacher selects the one method or combination of methods most likely to achieve a
particular lesson’s objectives with a particular group of learners (Elizabeth, 2010).

2.2.2 Teachers use of the pedagogical skills in the teaching of English language

Quality teaching is highly correlated with the use of effective pedagogical techniques to bring learning to learners. It involves several dimensions, such as designing an effective curriculum and course content, the use of a variety of learning contexts (guided independent study, project-based learning, collaborative learning, and experimentation), soliciting and using feedback, and effective assessment of learning outcomes. It also involves well-adapted learning environments and learners support services.

English language was very important because it would ease people to update new information globally. Millions of children, especially in Asia, have been learning English. It has made English teachers work hard to teach them. This was because teaching English to children (young 25 learners) was not easy. The teachers should search for and use interesting, effective, and suitable media to teach English in the class. According to Patel and Jain (2008) teaching material and instructional are used based on the teacher’s objectives, whether it is skill of reading, understanding, writing and speaking or sub skills of skills. In teaching English for young learners, teachers are free to use any instructional media in accordance with the learning objectives to be achieved. For example, when teachers could not use any instructional media in teaching English because of the limitations of media, so the teacher can use the media ‘learners themselves’. As Harmer (2007) stated that learners are the most useful resources in the classroom so teachers can do many things with the learners as the media of learning. For instance, in the teaching of parts of the body if there is no picture available, the teaching would be interesting, effective, and suitable media was to attract the children’s attention in learning English. Suyanto (2008) stated that young learners liked the materials that were visualized. It was more interesting and joyful. Using pictures, flash card, and songs were the examples of interesting, effective, and suitable media to make the children happy in learning English. According to Medina (2003) as cited in Heriyawati (2010), songs could share all the same aspects of oral story. Songs also could ease the children to remember words, patterns, and chunks of language (Paul, 2003). While flash cards were important teaching resource that could be used to introduce and practice specific language targets (Paul, 2003).

Even though the quality of teaching in higher education has an impact on learners’ learning outcomes, it is confronted with various challenges from different directions. Gaps are often found between the expectations of learners and the readiness of instructors to provide appropriate lessons in the education sector. Instructors are highly expected to engage in designing curricula, conducting assessments, and delivering conventional classes in their teaching through integrating new technologies.

The absence of pedagogical training of primary school teaching often results in the maintenance of the old methods of teaching, which often focus on the instructors instead of the needs of learners and on the subject matter instead of the transfer of knowledge. A good teaching method helps learners to question their preconceptions and motivates them to learn, by putting them in a situation in which they come to see themselves as the authors of the answers and the agents of responsibility for change. In the traditional system, instructions are teacher centered, and the learners’ needs and interests are not considered. Therefore, instruction must be changed toward a method in which the needs of pupils are considered, so that active behavioral change can occur.

2.2.3 Teachers’ pedagogical skills and learners’ performance in English language

Odalen, et al., (2019) found that training of School teachers enhances their ability to teach confidently, carryout reflection on individual delivery practices as well as being acquainted with major teaching and learning strategies such as learners-centered methodology. School academic staff pedagogical skills training has been recounted to have an enormous influence in not only lesson planning, classroom control and continuous assessment but also enhancing active learners’ participation during the teaching and learning processes (Negassa & Engdasew, 2017).

Offering effective teaching and producing good-quality graduates requires teachers to possess a combination of knowledge of the subject matter and pedagogical skills. Most of the teachers who are engaged in primary education have not been properly trained in well-grounded teaching methodologies. As a result, they lack confidence since they are not given further training opportunities, books, and similar teaching aids to participate fully in the scenario (Trifitriana et al., 2020).

Self-confidence about the professional skills and responsibilities are crucial for the teachers as they will be outdated if failed to enhance their skills with the demands of time (R. Khan, 2008). Teachers’ commitment to work and professional accountabilities are needed to transform their professional skills (Richter et al., 2011). Skills related to teaching-learning that are essential for the teachers like- designing appropriate lesson plan; managing own classes properly; picking up suitable and effective teaching-learning method; being a support system for the learners in terms of their learning are considered as pedagogical skills (Choy et al., 2013; Nind & Lewthwaite, 2018).

Teachers professional skills is something about the record and reflection of experiencing, learning and then applying in a professional setting with the intention to enhance one’s skill (Lorriman, 2011). In teaching, pedagogical skills refers to the enhancement of teaching skills among the teachers that comes from their own responsibility (R. Khan, 2008). Among the teachers, pedagogical skills mainly focuses on the way in which good teachers explain the content and understand the appropriate way of the learners’ learning (Bausmith & Barry, 2011).

In United Kingdom, technology is used widely in applying innovative pedagogical practices allowing the learners to be more independent and target oriented that brings change is traditional pedagogical practices (Harris, 2002). In Finland there is a continuous research-based discussion on the teachers’ education over several decades resulting great achievements of their learners in the global setting (Toom et al., 2010). The Finish teachers also undergo various pre and in-service training sessions and being financed for pilot projects on CPD when necessary to be prepared for providing their learners with inclusive and equity-based teaching (Valijarvi, 2003).

In United States of America, effective teachers are expected to have qualities like- deep knowledge on the content; planning well-organized lessons; using time effectively; giving frequent feedback to the learners; having good term with learners etcetera (Haynie & Stephani, 2008). On the other hand, China is passing through a pedagogical reform in order to cope with the rapid socio-economic change creating new challenges for the teachers (Tan, 2017). Singapore is always concerned about its teacher education system to ensure quality teachers who are able to fulfil the needs of their learners where National Institute of Education ensures standard teacher education through different programmes (Lim, 2014).

2.4 Gaps in literature review

The current criteria for recruiting school teachers prioritize educational qualifications over pedagogical knowledge. Effective teaching and quality graduates necessitate a balance between content knowledge and pedagogical skills. Unfortunately, there has been  lack of research on pedagogical skills in teaching, creating a gap in knowledge. To address this gap, this study aims to explore The Use of teachers’ pedagogical skills in teaching English subject.

In response to the need for pedagogical training, many teachers have been offered training programs to equip them with essential pedagogical skills. The importance of teacher training in higher education has recently gained recognition through the adoption of a professional accreditation scheme by the Institute for Learning and Teaching in 1999. However, there are challenges due to differing opinions on the objectives of this training.