A Study of English Language Teaching, Policy Implementation and Guidelines for Aligning English Teaching in Secondary School with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages

Abstract

               This research was conducted by using a mixed method which included both qualitative research and quantitative research. The purposes of this research were to identify the current conditions of adopting CEFR as a framework for English teaching in secondary schools, study the policy implementation for aligning English teaching in secondary schools with the CEFR, compare the conditions between schools with high O-NET score and low score in English subject, and present guidelines for effective policy implementation of the CEFR in high schools. The samples were 181 school administrators from medium-size secondary schools, which have students attending O-NET English examination, under the Secondary Educational Service Area Office. The instruments for collecting data were a set of rubric-score questionnaires and the in-depth interviews. The data were then analyzed by mean, percentage, standard deviation, t-test and content analysis. The results showed that the schools aligned English teaching with the CEFR at a middle degree, while executed policy implementation at a low degree. The overall implementation of the policy between the schools with high and low O-NET score in English subject was significantly different at the statistical level of 0.05 where the schools with high English score was greater. Therefore, the guidelines for effectively implementing the policy were setting suitable learning outcome, adopting communicative language teaching method, aligning the test with the CEFR descriptors, encouraging teacher development, clearly explaining the objective of the policy, assigning responsibilities with practical instructions, getting financial support and knowledge sharing, and continual monitoring and evaluation as well.