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INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
4. Expectations from the English teacher in Saudi Arabia
JUNE 2011
VOL 3, NO 2
Teaching is an art as well as a science. Without a proper development of teaching skills a teacher
can’t prove himself to be an effective instructor in his classes. He has to justify his position by
showing different traits and skills while teaching the target learners. Apart from some well
known qualities of a teacher in general such as qualification, training and experiences, a teacher
is always expected to display some modest but significant behavior patterns and characteristics
in his day to day interaction with the learners. If a teacher lacks the following characteristics he
is supposed to attend teacher development programs in order to modify his teaching potential,
attitude and readiness to deliver in the best possible manner.
4.1. Characteristics of an English Teacher: Pedagogic perspective
On the basis of my educational background, teacher training, and relevant experience, an
effective teacher’s qualities may be summed up as under:
A teacher of English is primarily a knowledgeable person not only in his subject but also in the
foundations of education/teaching: psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic etc. He should also know
what and why he is teaching a subject like English, and how can the subject be taught in the best
possible manner. In order to be effective and learner centered, he is expected to prepare his
lessons well before starting a new unit especially functional grammar. In order to be target
oriented in his approach, the teacher should assess the performance of the students on individual
basis as well as among colleagues. In this case, it is better that he keeps current records of the
students and update the same from time to time. If a teacher is professional, he will always share
his pedagogic experience with his colleagues as well as the administration. Being a facilitator, an
effective teacher is required to motivate the learners as the learning of English as a foreign
language usually becomes monotonous.
Education is a life-long process, and formal teaching continues until one is in his
profession, therefore continuous development is also as natural as the practice of teaching. In
order to grow further, a dedicated teacher should stay in touch with the latest advancement in
the field of ELT such as integrated curriculum, integrated English, communicative approach to
language teaching etc. This can facilitate him to discover the possibilities of innovations in
teaching and exploitation of available resources such as technology and e-learning material.
Above all, the teacher is expected to be able to diagnose the learning difficulties and accordingly
evolve innovative teaching/learning strategies for better results.
4.2. Background of English teachers in Saudi Arabia: The practical Experience of
Teaching English in Saudi is quite thought provoking and knowledge oriented. There are many
factors that contribute to the existing situation. Saudi Arabian educational context is different
from many developing countries for two important reasons: controlled population, and
government's specific policies and implementations. The Saudi government is able to invest
the amount of money whatever is required. And, the Saudi population is not that much like
India or China that the government can’t focus on each and
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