Teacher’s Role and Skills in Promoting English Language Competence in Semi-urban Schools

Abstract

Philosophy of teaching gives prominence to the development of teacher’s role. Various teacher educationists have explained the multifaceted teacher roles in terms of the teacher’s commitment to numerous roles s/he has to play in a variety of contexts as a coordinator, facilitator, participant etc. What is documented regarding teacher role actualizes in classroom that the students are definite to achieve the relevant goals, in the respective disciplines. In that sense, English is taught as a compulsory language from grade one to thirteen in Sri Lankan government schools. So, even in semi-urban areas, students are given text books, work books and the teachers are also provided with teachers’ guide. Despite these facilities, majority of the students in semi-urban areas do not have a good language competence compared to urban schools. Out of hundred students there may be one or two, depending on the situation, who can perform in English to satisfy the competence level stipulated in the curricula. The majority remain handicaps in English. Accordingly, it could be detected that the main reason for this low competence is the effectiveness of the role played by the English teacher. This research investigates how the teacher’s role affects the students’ language competence in semi-urban schools. It also examines how the teacher’s attitudes, learning experience, education, and knowledge of subject matter, methodology, and student’s needs impact on the improvement of the students’ language competence and also how does the teacher’s skills affect students’ language competence Accordingly, the objectives of the research are (a) to assess the effectiveness of the teacher’s role in enhancing students’ language competence by focusing on the teacher’s usage of methodology, knowledge about subject matter and understanding about students’ needs and (b) to assess the impact of the teacher’s skills such as imagination, adaptability, confidence and alertness to the current trends in the field impact on improving their roles and also student performance.