Paradigm Shift And EFL Pedagogy: Myanmar Secondary School EFL Teachers’ Experiences And Their Perceptions Of EFL Pedagogy

This dissertation presents a study on the current phenomenon of EFL education in Myanmar secondary schools in the context of a paradigm shift.Myanmar was under military rule from 1962 to 2010.Since 2010,it has been becoming a more democratic country.With its political and economic transitions,EFL education in Myanmar has been experiencing paradigm shifts regarding both the domestic education system and the global second language education.In this context,this dissertation reviews EFL paradigm from three aspects: ontology,epistemology,and methodology at macro and micro levels.At a macro level,ontology refers to the world view of language while epistemology is the knowledge to get access to language acquisition.At a micro level,ontology is regarded as a group of people’s perceptions of language while epistemology is related to the way they understand their language teaching.At both levels,the methodology includes the methods and strategies applied to get language efficiency.The dissertation study found,throughout the history of EFL education in Myanmar,the changes in these aspects above had triggered off a switch or a shift in EFL paradigm.One of the significant changes was the implementation of English as a medium of instruction(EMI)at upper secondary and university level in 1981.Ever since then,communicative language teaching(CLT)has been prescribed by the Ministry of Education to use in teaching English and other science subjects such as physics,chemistry,and biology at the upper secondary level.Although the policy of using EMI and CLT has been laid down for over 30 years in EFL education of Myanmar,few studies were conducted to investigate the condition of the current EFL pedagogy in Myanmar secondary schools particularly concerning the effectiveness of policy implementation.To fill the gap,this dissertation examined the current phenomenon of EFL teaching in Myanmar secondary schools through the perspective of a paradigm shift.A qualitative case study approach was employed to study eight high schools of Mandalay city,Myanmar.Direct classroom observations and semi-structured interviews were used as the main instruments of the study.Ten secondary school EFL teachers were directly observed at their workplaces throughout a whole unit of EFL teaching,and semi-structured interviews were followed after each observation.Besides,further data were collected through the use of document analysis(including English curriculum review for upper secondary level;2006,Grade 10 English textbook;2014-2015 academic years,EFL teachers’ lesson plans and their notes of a lesson,teacher’s handbook or manual,their weekly schedules,school calendar and timetables).The study found that the present EFL pedagogy remains unchanged in spite of the shifting paradigm over time.The findings revealed that the current EFL teaching policies(EMI and CLT)were not implemented in Myanmar secondary schools.Despite the growing trend of English as an international language and the policy reform in EFL education of Myanmar,English was still being taught merely as a school subject in Myanmar secondary schools.A big gap between language policy and the actual teachers’ teaching practices existed;the paradigm of an official EFL pedagogy seemed shifted,however,the pedagogy in practice was still in the old paradigm which was fixed.Major issues that emerged from the study such as inadequate teacher training,exam-oriented teaching,ineffective assessment system,and insufficient support for EFL education,have caused Myanmar EFL teachers’ resistance to making a pedagogical change.Based on the findings,the current EFL pedagogy in Myanmar secondary schools was recognized to be reviewed and committed to reform in accordance with the shifting paradigm.These findings were beneficial to the policymakers and curriculum innovation as this research filled the gap of the need for reviews or follow-up studies after implementing a policy.Another significant contribution was made to the teacher education program as it can address some issues raised by in-service teachers.From an empirical point of view,this study shed lights on the field of EFL education at the secondary level and Myanmar EFL teachers’ professional development.