Describing or Prescribing Teaching? A Scope Review of Studies on English Teaching in Chilean School Classrooms
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4151/07189729-Vol.64-Iss.2-Art.1542Keywords:
English language teaching foreign language speaking skill teaching professionAbstract
The persistent low performance of students in national standardization assessments, the pressing need for innovation, and the scarcity of recent studies evaluating the impact of proposed initiatives to enhance student achievement underscore the necessity of a meticulous inquiry as a means to delve into the internal dynamics of the classroom. To explore the current state of English language teaching in Chile, a fundamental and pertinent research question is proposed to facilitate advancement: What type of knowledge can be systematized from applied studies conducted in Chile between 2017 and 2022 regarding English teaching practices aimed at developing linguistic skills as a foreign language?
This study undertook a scoping review following the Prisma-ScR framework to map the body of research concerning English language teaching within school contexts in Chile. This methodology enables the collection of reliable and valid data while simultaneously assessing the quality of existing knowledge that can inform future investigations (Manterola et al., 2023). The aim of this scoping review is to classify and synthesize the available evidence from studies on English language teaching, distinguishing between knowledge concerning practice (descriptive) and knowledge concerning what should be taught (prescriptive). This analysis seeks to assess the level of theoretical advancement in English language teaching in Chile, particularly regarding the development of linguistic skills and the implementation of the communicative approach that underpins the national curriculum’s plans and programs. Such an assessment is essential to understand the state of English language education in the years following the disclosure of poor outcomes in the 2017 national evaluation.
This led to the main conclusion, which identifies the ongoing challenge of advancing a deeper understanding of what "actually occurs" in classroom settings. The scarcity of detailed studies on pedagogical practices within school contexts, coupled with students’ low performance in national assessments, highlights the pressing need for comprehensive investigations into the unexplored factors influencing student achievement.
Given the limited number of studies addressing pedagogical practices, it is important to consider the inconsistencies between practical knowledge and knowledge about practice: teachers’ perceptions of possessing strong pedagogical expertise and their positive appraisal of fundamental practices aligned with the communicative approach are contrasted by the high valuation of grammar instruction and the frequent use of translanguaging as a central practice in the context of teaching English as a foreign language. This discrepancy reveals a critical area for research in both initial and continuing teacher education, aiming to interrogate and respond to the documented evidence presented in other studies (Karatas et al., 2024; Kaya, 2019).
In summary, consolidating systematic evidence on the practice of teaching linguistic skills in English is crucial to achieving a clearer understanding of the challenges associated with innovation in this field.
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Copyright (c) 1969 Pamela Alejandra Celis Orellana, Andrea Veronica Bustos Ibarra
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