English language teaching in Transcarpathia

Data gathered around this topic were further subdivided into three subgroups. Meaning units that form the first subgroup refer to the process and characteristics of the educational management process. Quotes that belong to the second subgroup relate to English language teachers. The remaining units reflect on English language classes.

It was Herbert who stated that interest towards foreign languages revived five or six years ago, and he links it with the introduction of English in the second form of primary classes:

I don’t have documents at hand, but it was about five or six years ago. Now, it has been operating for ten years, according to the curriculum the tenth class goes according to the new curriculum. They have already started to learn a foreign language beginning with the second form. That is, the tenth form has been studying English for 10 years [Interview with Herbert, p. 1].

Introducing English in the second form of primary classes also expresses that there is a latent expectation on the side of the state towards learners to know a foreign language. Out of all foreign languages studied in Transcarpathia, all the respondents agreed that English is the most preferred foreign language. Therefore the expectations of the state are limited to English language learning in the region. But, during the interviews almost all respondents referred to the discrepancies between the expectations of the state and its provisions.

Paige, for instance, talked about the deficiencies of English language teaching, namely the lack of appropriate language textbooks, out-of-date methods (she refers to the grammar-translation method) applied by teachers, which is a similar finding to that of Nikolov and Csapó’s (2002) study carried out in Hungary. “From these textbooks that the Ministry of Education approves, and then get them published, it is not possible to learn a foreign language at that level [that is expected]” [Interview with Paige, p. 2]. In another interview Paige added:

When I was in Kyiv at a course, and there it was about foreign languages, one of the professor ladies there said, acoording to which methods the teachers work there. And…it was about almost ten years ago, now I won’t remember this. There she said, if we take teachers as 100%, then there are many teachers, who work according to the very old method, which was when I went to school, that is reading and translating, even though, today the requirement is the communicative method. Many teachers organize their classes in that way, lead their life in that way and believe that they do everything, and everything is all right [Interview with Paige, p. 6].

Paige and Tabitha evaluate the effectiveness of the language educational process from the points of view of learners. Paige denotes that extra classes and extra efforts are needed on

both the teachers’ and the learners’ side to prepare for subject competitions. These competitions are organized annually for learners to compete their knowledge. However, as Paige admits it the knowledge acquired during regular English classes is not enough: “As for instance, s/he knows that the child is studying for the district competition, and they only send the kids with that material that they learnt at school which is obviously too little to get to the regional competition and win places there” [Interview with Paige, p. 6].

Tabitha also talked about the learners’ need for extra efforts and private classes to be able to pass language exams: “In my opinion, that little bit of extra is needed. That is why many learners take English private classes, lessons, that is necessary to it. Because the two classes per week here at school is not enough for anything” [Interview with Tabitha p. 4].

In addition to the low number of language classes, Tabitha sees no opportunity for increasing the number of English classes: “…we requested English facultative lessons, we asked for English study groups and they don’t give it. We don’t know why, but dance group and music are found to be more important by the management” [Interview with Tabitha, p. 2].

In terms of language teachers both Tabitha and Betty talked about the need for native teachers and teachers’ lack of access to them:

-Was there any instance for that native teacher helped in teaching or in school life?

-Unfortunately, we couldn’t solve this. There is not such an attitude towards foreign language teaching here. Thus, they don’t help us with such opportunities. If we can bring materials with ourselves then we bring it. But, for them to help in book ordering or in organizing special courses is not possible” [Interview with Tabitha, p. 3].

Both Tabitha and Paige state that English teachers don’t use self-reflection techniques in their teaching practices. However, it is teachers who can affect to a large extent learners’

motivation (Busse & Williams, 2010). It was Paige, who compared the younger and more experienced teachers and concluded: “Thus, the teacher doesn’t realize his/her mistake and doesn’t know what should be done to improve the results of the learners, but in our district the

teachers are very young and one can work with them, because they have ambitions, willingness, they want to do and to achieve results” [Interview with Paige, p. 6].

According to Betty English classes are preferred to Ukrainian classes by learners, but ranked below physical training and computer sciences: “Regarding languages, then it is more popular than Ukrainian, but in many cases cannot compete with physical training or computer sciences” [Interview with Betty, p. 2].

Both Tabitha and Betty concluded that group work activities used during the English classes motivated learners, which is a conclusion supported by theoretical and empirical findings reported in Dörnyei (1994a):

It is inevitably important what kind of kids the learner is surrounded with. There is always a monthly task, that learners prepare in groups. In this case, the learner can work with that who is sympathetic to him/her.

Thus, we create groups in this way.

-Do they like it?

-Yes, they do. This task is done by almost everybody. I always call their attention to how good it is, if they receive good marks 11 or 12 for it. I know when we use grade “12” and I also know when and why we award them. But I think, that if they do such extra tasks and do it well, they serve good mark [Interview with Betty, p. 4].