Question 2. Teaching methods and English language

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To get a more practical example of the impact of educational reform, the study went to interview a cram school owner, called Lilian, to clarify certain points and to have her thoughts on the subject. Before Lilian’s cram school opened in September 2009, the school was a kindergarten but because of societal changes such as low birth rate and the high demand for English, and private courses, she decided to redesign the operational aspects of the school to make it more profitable.

The second question was targeting the impact of the reforms on Taiwanese cram schools; participant A answered our interview questions saying that “reforms clearly have had an impact on the survival of cram schools.” As a positive impact, she pointed, “Reading is no longer the only way to get through school as it was ten years ago (…) today we are encouraging students to diversify their knowledge and development.” She also argued that she tended to hire teachers that were willing to

“try new teaching methods in order to teach students in the most suitable way.” On the negative effects of the reform on cram schools, she mentioned that it affected the environment of learning. The fact that students are being grouped in classes where each one of them has different levels is hindering the outstanding students to progress and the other way around, making harder to those already struggling to follow through the class. At the end, the reforms have impacted the cram schools’ teaching methods by enforcing English language and making it a main subject for students.

Through this impact, cram schools have clearly affected the student’s way of learning and may also have enhanced their learning abilities.

4.1.2 Question 2. Teaching methods and English language

The study then sought to look at the teaching methods and its relationship with the developing desire for English language. The Taiwanese Education system’s teaching methods have been discussed as being mostly teacher-centred (Goh & Khine), this is in part due to the current test-driven education system in Taiwan, which uses the teacher-centred method as it was argued to be more suitable for students to get better scores in the examination.

Teaching methods and its impact

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Concerning the teaching methods, we took two of our respondents answers to illustrate the teaching methods in cram school: “For these two schools it is very challenging, as a teacher you can not change the Taiwan education of memorising, therefore this is the biggest challenge knowing that children do not learn much if they are being taught in this way.” By “this way”, the teacher means teaching in the Taiwanese way, which includes rote-memorization and most likely a teacher-centred education.

Then, the teacher added that the teaching method did affect the students in way of assimilating knowledge in the long term. The same teacher replied: “Children were un-entertained and did not learn anything from the lessons. The words were just memorised so there was no deeper understanding of English. In the first school only on the activity days was English properly taught, and children were engaged in the lessons. In the second school children could not speak any English after years of being in the school and could only read English.”

As to join to the first response, the second teacher delivered behaviours of students and how the teacher-centred system in cram school can lead to a rather poor learning outcome, “I try to practice critical thinking especially with my online students. The second cram school, students are like little robots. Most of them can only repeat and actually do not know how the rules apply to English unless showed or told how to do it. I have very few students in that cram school who actually “understand” English.

From rote-learning to new teaching methods

Throughout the literature review, the Taiwanese education system has been argued for persisting in using such methods (rote-learning/rote-memorizing). However, the researcher found that new teaching materials, innovative ways of teaching (online teaching) were strengthening and improving the current cram schools and that Taiwanese authorities were urging schools and teachers to enhance more creative citizens. It is showing the efforts to improve the current cram schools with tutoring methods which has improved the options for students who desire to increase their

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abilities but has also allowed them to access custom-designed material. The researcher has conducted two interviews with English language cram school owners that helped understand the “push for online English learning.”

The second owner of the cram school (Participant B) offered her perspective being in charge of an English language centre with an extended branch for online tutoring. The researcher started the interview by asking general information about the cram school, and the owner declared, “We have 16 classes of students with only a few students in each class sometimes one to two students, and three teachers in all. The students are from the age of ten to forty year of age. The adult cram school was opened to expand the business and provide a learning institution for our adult learners. (…) Our language centre offers both in-classroom and online learning to our students.” What about the teaching methods in your cram school? “Our teachers teach students based on the student’s needs. Teachers are constantly adjusting their teaching method to make sure students are learning to the best of their ability.” When asked if they tried to follow the regular school’s agenda, she declared that because the majority of her students are preparing for English-ability exams such as TOEFL, IELTS, etc. they offer different curriculum. When concerned about the budget will be spent for children to attend cram school, she said the company offered “packages” for instance

“one-year package” starting from $300NT per class, which is reasonable, cheap in comparison with other cram schools in Taiwan. Finally, when we asked about how she perceived the cram school in the coming 5 to 10 years, she said, “the company believes that the language school will continue to grow. Though online learning is becoming more and more popular, we have listened to the feedback of our online students and believe that in-classroom classes are still necessary.”

The cram school environment issue

Among our 6 cram school teachers interviewed, two teachers interviewed were English speakers in their twenties and had been working as cram school teachers since they have been in Taiwan, respectively for 2 years. Both revealed different

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experiences as a cram school teacher either in small or bigger firms, with small or larger class sizes, teaching children and adults as well as experimenting being an online-teacher. The environment in cram school can vary from a school to another, and throughout the interview process, we have found that the bigger the cram school, the less positive the experience will be.

Teacher experience: Participant F

As we look closer into the environment in cram schools and involving the teachers perspective, we understand that depending on the type of cram school, the experience will be different. In fact, the environment in the first school Participant F went to wasn’t as positive as for the online teaching position. However, one common aspect will remain similar to both Participant F and C is the type and size of cram school.

In fact, Participant F worked in one of Taiwan’s oldest cram schools, and another online English teaching school. The teacher declared that there was only little interaction during class between the teacher and students, but instead, long conversations would happen after class. We noticed that a more positive interaction took place when both the teacher and student were positively involved in the conversation. Other than that, there is high importance stressed over the environment and the way the teacher is treated by the school members. Indeed, when the staff members of the school were respectful to teachers, positive interactions occurred almost automatically, but if the school’s leadership and management was poor and the teachers did not feel as though they were treated with respect, they felt less fulfulled in their work, such as in bigger cram schools. For instance, late payment of the teacher or a lack of appreciation for their work created a less than positive perception;

“If I am treated like a number, and I am not getting paid, I don’t want to be there. I teach, and I leave.”

One more interesting fact about Participant F is his impression towards the students experience;

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“At my second cram school my students are in school from 7 am to sometimes 9 pm.

That is not healthy for any student. They are sleep deprived and under way too much pressure. They fear asking questions and fear saying the wrong answer. Students should be always asking questions. But it’s hard to change behaviors when they have been taught in this way for years. I try to create a peaceful environment for my students but since I only see them one hour a week it’s hard to build that trust.

Although I have had success in a few classes.”

Teacher experience: Participant C

Concerning participant C, the other English speaker, the researcher found out that she worked in three different cram schools, but as the first two cram schools were similar in size and type, the researcher decided to focus on the first and the third cram school.

In the same way as the participant F, she felt distinct impressions towards the environment of study and the way the staff members were treated. Once again, the bigger cram school firm took the negative side of the experience as she argued “the environment is not very good, as no staff are treated well by management and leadership. Nobody is happy working there, often you just have to complete the curriculum as quickly as possible so parents are happy.” One of the reasons why the cram school teachers are unhappy working in certain schools is in fact because no teaching is actually involved: “Answers are just copied off the board. The results of the exam have to be over 95% so there is no point in these tests being done and finally, teachers can’t analyse their student’s progression. As long as the parents are happy, the school is happy.” As for the second experience teaching in a smaller school, many positive feedbacks and impressions were given on the environment of teaching: “the environment of teaching was very good. The management of the school and the owners do a great job. They treat staff very well and are very appreciative.” She then explained that once teachers can teach their own curriculum, they are fulfilled and tend to teach for longer.

Teachers qualifications

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Indeed, while interviewing cram school teachers in Taiwan, the study sought to give a better understanding of the qualifications of cram school teachers, including the years of experience as a teacher, a training prior teaching and their belief on why they got employed as teachers. We have discovered that 100% of teacher interviewed didn’t receive any form of training nor in possession of a teaching certificate. They were actually “thrown” into teaching as participant F argued: “I was directly thrown into teaching and had to find my own style”. Participant C assumes she was picked because she was an English speaker but also because of her colored skin. She added that in the smaller size cram schools, they only hired white teachers, even though they are not native English speakers and have low English ability, the language ability does not seem to matter as much. Participant H is a Dutch-English teacher said that a Bachelor degree was sufficient to teach English in his first cram school but also because he fitted how they wanted a teacher to look like – Caucasian and tall. He then mentioned that nowadays, it was still important but teaching skills, good interaction with students, discipline in class and Chinese ability are becoming more valuable in 2016.

Here, we will look at the Taiwanese participants. Participant E has been teaching History, Geography, and Citizenship for at least 10 years and argued that having an extraverted personality and being reactive were key to becoming a teacher in cram school and admitted that he was employed because of the significant lack of teachers working in Cram schools. Participant D, a 27-year-old teacher said it was easy to become a cram school teacher and that the requirements are not high. Participant H who is a Taiwanese citizen teaching English language in Taiwan for more than 10 years in five different cram schools argued that no specific training is required before hand. However, he mentioned three elements that are important to become an English teacher: according to him; the educational background, teaching experience and a passion for teaching are key requirements for teachers working in cram school.

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