Rural Malaysian Teachers’ Perception and Classroom Implementation of the CEFR-Aligned English Language Syllabus
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15282/ijleal.v16i1.12531Keywords:
Curriculum reform, CEFR, Teacher perception, Teaching instructions, Rural contextAbstract
Contextual inequalities between rural and urban schools can affect the implementation of curriculum reform. However, less attention has been paid to the role of rural schoolteachers as key players in the process of change. With the recent alignment of the English language syllabus in Malaysia to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), the responses of rural teachers are particularly worthy of investigation. This qualitative paper explores the perceptions of rural schoolteachers regarding the curriculum in general and the manifestation of their perceptions through classroom instructions, using the Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). Semi structured interviews with nine English-language teachers were conducted to identify how they perceived the new curriculum reform, while 27 classroom observations were carried out to investigate the delivery of the new syllabus. Each teacher was observed three times, and their teaching instructions were recorded. These nine teachers were purposively recruited because of their geographical situation, being in rural schools. All data were thematically analysed. Results indicated that insufficient training, technological limitation and limited resources had negatively influenced the curriculum implementation, despite the positive reactions expressed regarding its contents. The findings of this study are relevant to curriculum developers as they address the concerns of rural teachers in achieving the desired outcomes of the reform.
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