Development of functional literary discourse models of advanced skills in teaching for prospective english teachers

Abstract

A cohort of skilled pedagogues indoctrinated with advanced skills for a system of holistic and effective education, ‘making India a global hub of skilled manpower’ should be the outcome of teacher education programme. “Most prospective English teachers are inadequately prepared to handle the demands of 21st-century ESL classrooms, when traditional teacher preparation programmes often fail to address the evolving needs and complexities of modern language teaching” (Richards, 2017). The art and science of pedagogy of English as Second Langugae on the discipline-based specificity of functional, literary and discourse orientation is to be redefined to fit in twenty first century classrooms. To address this gap, the study aimed to develop and validate Functional Literary Discourse (FLD) Models of Advanced Skills in Teaching English with focus on the generation of a theory on pedagogic skill acquisition. The qualitative research study had framed six objectives on need analysis, identification of pedagogic skills, development of FLD models, testing the appositeness of the developed model through qualitative experiment, validation and theory generation. Teacher educators in English language education, prospective English teachers, secondary school students and experts in ELT served as the purposive and theoretical samples for the study. The study followed a multi-stage process in the constructivist grounded theory (CGT) framework starting with the identification of advanced skills through initial sampling of prospective English teachers and interviews with teacher educators. Designing the model and conducting field trials, including opinion surveys with target group school students, field observations, interviews and focus group discussions with prospective teachers, formed the methodology to refine the model. An analysis of the rubric data on field trial was carried out to map and address potential challenges in implementing the model. The appositeness of the model was established through focus group discussion and validation by experts in ELT. Generation of a theory on Pedagogic Skill Acquisition through Functional Literary Discourse Models was the definitive phase of the study. The pedagogic skill sets developed with advanced skills and process skills and the structure of the FLD models designed with the new concepts of composite phases and focal segments for practice sessions are the major contributions of the study to address the quantum leap in ELT. A pragmatic theory on pedagogic skill acquisition was also generated. To assess the mastery level in the acquisition of the developed advanced skill sets rubrics on the performance of identified skills for prospective English teachers have been developed. The decisive phase devolves on the appositeness of the outcomes of the research study in the context of a transformational change in the pro-active curriculum of teacher education programme in India.