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johnslat · Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 10:55 pm Post subject:

Claims, no claims - doesn't matter. Here's the bottom line:

"Studies aside, the fact is that in some regions of the world, including Europe and North America, a CELTA or equivalent is a basic tool for getting entry-level jobs. Employers are obviously convinced that the course produces more effective teachers."

I'd add the Middle East, as well.

If you're content NOT to teach in such places - or to have a bottom-feeder job there - well, fine. I rather doubt any research will ever be able to "prove" that ANY training program produces "better teachers."

But some pieces of paper can usually produce better jobs.

Regards,
John

The Great Wall of Whiner · Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Posts: 4946 Location: Blabbing

Chinese schools by-and-large find that teachers with a CELTA, TESOL, TEFL, TOEFEL, TOFFEE, COFFEE, TEA, CRUMPET whatever... are more reliable and this is why my school at least asks for them. Separates the backpackers from those who actually want to teach.

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

coledavis · Joined: 21 Jun 2003 Posts: 1838

coledavis · Joined: 21 Jun 2003 Posts: 1838

On the question of teaching young children, I would certainly concede the point that a specialist training in teaching them would be far more useful than the CELTA/Trinity Cert.

Sashadroogie · Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 7:33 am Post subject:

I'm afraid that I do not see the point of attacking all certs like this. The OP asked about China, it is true. And a cert isn't really needed there, from what has been said many times here. But a gross generalisation about the ineffectiveness of all TEFL certs and CELTA in any context was fed in to the thread. No support made for this claim, except that 'there are no studies' around. DOSes, employers, certified teachers, government authorities are all mistaken, it seems.

Were a similar claim to be made like 'only teachers who never got a cert believe they are of negligible value in a classroom', it would be easy to see what a sweeping statement it is. Totally groundless, and very easy to dismiss.

Sashadroogie · Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 7:37 am Post subject:

It is also a truism that CELTA does not do much in training for teaching children. However, a neglected point worth re-stating is that if someone has at least a CELTA or equivalent, then they will probably be at least in some way trainable, either on site or even, unbelievably, on a CELTYL course.

SahanRiddhi · Joined: 18 Sep 2010 Posts: 267

artemisia · Joined: 04 Nov 2008 Posts: 875 Location: the world

The question raised here doesn�t just concern the value of gaining a particular TEFL certificate, but rather it suggests that if TESOL is a "pseudoscience� then any kind of training, initial or more extensive, is a pointless or mere vanity exercise. Of course it�s not going to be possible to refer to any one one-size-fits-all generic study done about a basic certificate as the nature of language teaching is so variable. It�s clear that language teachers work in many different countries, contexts, with differing age groups, and they may also bring years of training in another field to add to their knowledge and expertise. Many teachers also study alone to increase their subject knowledge and educate themselves. None of this undercuts the value of having some training in the field in which you teach, no matter how basic that training may be initially.

Generally most reputable pre-entry courses will focus on current approaches and methods in language teaching that are known to be effective, as Spiral78 has already outlined. You should receive a basic introduction to communicative and functional ways of teaching. Some of the studies I�m aware of on teacher training course effectiveness are very specific to a region, age group etc and such articles require membership access online. However, this is an article that outlines a study of English language teacher trainees in Turkey before and after a pre-service course on communication was made available to some of them.
http://www.jlls.org/Issues/Volume%205/No.1/kdakpinar.pdf
Some excerpts:
"This study hypothesizes that:
[i]All ELT teacher trainees come to pre-service education programs with previously formed belief structures about communication and communication skills in their minds.
Effective communication skills can be taught through a course resulting in changes in students� already existing belief structures about communication.
Taking the course will cause a positive influence on teacher trainees� self-efficacy beliefs regarding the use of effective communication skills in their future teaching practices....
Much of teaching is about sending and receiving messages. Carefully planned and skillfully delivered messages can issue invitations to students that school is a place to share ideas, investigate, create, and collaborate with others."

To the OP: if you�re interested in teaching in China, you might also be interested in reading this article on communicative teaching approaches with Chinese students, whether you decide to opt for TEFL training or not. I don't know if you're interested in continuing to teach young children or if you're also considering a change to adults.
http://elechina.super-red.es/anderson.pdf