This post is based on a study carried out by Laura Molway from the University of Oxford. It was published in the journal System in 2020.
A brief digest of the study can be found here.
The original paper is here but behind a paywall. I was able to read the whole paper and thought you'd like to know a little about it.
Laura developed an MFL-specific 'student perception tool' for evaluating students' views of their French lessons. The 1370 students were aged 12-13 and came from 14 different secondary schools in the south-east of England. A pretty good sample, therefore.
In her paper, she also drew on interviews with six Heads of Department, correlating their responses with those of the pupils.
Assessing teacher/lesson quality is notoriously difficult, but should be based on more than just results or generic tick-lists of teacher effectivenss. "Teacher evaluations that rely on student attainment data and lesson observations ignore the insights and voices of some of the key stakeholders in the system: teachers, students and parents" (Section 2.3). her papre focuses mainly on students.
Having laid out eight principles of effective language teaching from Macaro et al (2016), Laura goes on to the results which should be of of interest to you, the language teacher. I'll pick out a selection of the results. The percentages represent the positive responses of the students. You'll see that they are generally not that high. (Keep in mind the possible unreliability of student responses.)
Principle 1: Target language input is essential for learning but it can be made more effective if learners are encouraged to check the understanding of it by asking questions of what the teacher is saying or asking the teacher to repeat.
My French teacher expects us to understand instructions in French. 66.8%
I feel like I can stop my French teacher and ask a question if I don’t understand something. 49.9%
Principle 2: Learners need to be encouraged to speak spontaneously and to say things that they are not sure are correct
In this class I feel safe to practise speaking in French. 65.7%
My French teacher encourages me to have a go and say things I am not sure are correct 68.4%
My French teacher expects us to speak some French in every lesson 78.6%
If I need to say something to the teacher, the teacher encourages me to say it in French 39.2%
Next...
Principle 8: The principal focus of pedagogy should be on developing language skills and therefore the teaching of linguistic knowledge (knowledge of grammar and vocabulary) should act in the service of skill development not as an end in itself.
In this class, it is more important to understand and communicate in French than to memorise all of the grammar and vocabulary. 51.9%
The things I learn in my French class would help me to speak to a real French person in the future 58.8%
Responses are listed for all the eight Macaro et al (2016) principles.
If I may pick out some other responses, not directly related to the eight principles, some of which are particularly concerning.
Classroom Management
My class gets on with the work and does not waste time. 39.5%
Students in this class treat the French teacher with respect. 64.5%
The students behave the way my French teacher wants them to. 47.2%
Students in this class respect each other’s differences. 64.4%
Below are two extracts from Laura's discussion:
"Two of the fifteen lowest-scored items indicate issues with students’ behaviour and engagement in language lessons. In combination with other low-scored statements, it appears that this may be connected with a prevalent perception that work in ML lessons lacks authenticity and real-life application." (my emphasis)
Pupils often fail to see the relevance of their class work to lives, preset and future. What can teachers do to help mitigate this? Can activities be made more communicative or task-based? Can we explain more clearly what the benefits of language learning are, both linguistically and culturally?
"The data gathered by the (survey) suggest that students often feel that their French teacher does not really know them as individuals. Students’ felt that behaviour in ML lessons was frequently not in line with teachers’ expectations and there are indications that many students do not see the value in learning French. Aspects of French lessons that students reported infrequent experiences of included exposure to authentic, cultural resources and the development of strategic approaches to language tasks. These findings have implications for language teachers and teacher educators – they suggest aspects of ML teaching that may currently be underdeveloped in England’s classrooms and that have the potential to improve students’ engagement and attainment in language learning."
In sum, therefore, Laura Molway's study revealed all sorts of interesting data and suggests that teachers would do well to find out more about their own students' perceptions of lessons. Student voice surveys and focus groups are not new (we did them routinely back in the 1990s and maybe you do them now). But if this is a gap in your department's work, it could be worth examining. There are obvious caveats: students may say what they think you want them to say, or they may not be honest in their appraisal of issues such as behaviour. Students may not know what is pedagogocally best for them. They may think memorising words and conjugations is good for them - is it the best use of time?!
A pretty central point to emerge from the Molway survey was that it's important to get to know students individually, as well as ensuring that behaviour management is effective. And yes... student behaviour remains a serious issue in many schools. Departments may need to do more on intercultural awareness/competence and on learning strategies too.
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