Teachers’ Perspectives on Factors Affecting EFL Learners’ Course Learning Outcomes: A Case Study

ABSTRACT This study analyses EFL teachers’ perceptions regarding factors that impact the low or high attainment of students’ Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs). Using a detailed questionnaire to collect the related data from 138 teachers, who teach Regular English for Academic Purposes (REAP) and Intensive English for Academic Purposes (IEAP), the research paper asks teachers to provide their viewpoint on various factors such as teaching material in the form of books, supplementary material such as the online resources, students’ interest, teachers’ training on targeting their teaching to achieve the related CLOs, textbook exercises and time constraints to measure their impact on the actual attainment of the CLOs. The study is important as the respondents of the questionnaire are teachers who teach either REAP that expands over a period of four continuous semesters (two years) or IEAP that covers the same course in two semesters (one year). The study has been carried out in a way that the REAP and IEAP respondents of the questionnaire have been placed in two separate groups, adding another dimension for prospective researchers to the research in terms of evaluating how the time factor influences, either negatively or positively, the attainment of the students’ CLOs.


INTRODUCTION
The recent globalized harmonization of study models and educational structures (Lucena et al. 2008;Brennan, Patel, and Tang 2009), causing a profound programmatic as well as structural paradigm shift in higher education, have given rise to questions on the contextual validity and efficacy of modelling and measuring learning outcomes in English language teaching (McLean, 2018). Left unattended, the presence of uncongenial environment exacerbates the anxiety level of a second language learner (Horwitz, 2016;Oxford, 2017;Rodriguez, 2017). Almalki (2014) highlights that measurable learning outcomes as well as efficient assessment designs need policies revision as well as consistent reviews of institutions' guidelines. The same goes for the evaluation of Course Learning Outcome (CLOs) to be tested in any given context to ensure that all the CLOs for any given course are measureable as well as considerably representative of students' overall attainment in that particular course. through not only classroom teaching but also by encouraging teamwork, providing prompt feedback, in and out of the classroom feedback and a consistently improving teaching material (Schoepp, 2019;Hadjianastasis, 2017;Scott et al., 2010). Other than providing prompt feedback to students, effective teachers take measures to make their students into critical thinkers by motivating them towards active learning (Hammer et al., 2010). In addition to paying keen heed to the curriculum related issues, effective teachers are charismatic, zealous towards their profession, respectful and culturally sensitive (Paolini, 2015). The modus operandi of such teachers is that they set high yet realistic expectations of their students, encouraging them to ask questions to generate discussions of the higher thinking order and stimulate open communication. The secret of their successful journey lies in their efforts for continuous improvement through hard work and dedication. Hammer et al., (2010) assert that teachers' improvement depend considerably on the effective self-reflection and self-evaluation pertaining to their performance.

CONTEXT OF THE STUDY
As a matter of fact, Taif University English Language Centre caters for teaching courses such as Regular English for Academic Purposes (REAP), Intensive English for Academic Purposes (IEAP), and a host of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses for various disciplines such as engineering medicine and pharmacy etc. Being home to over 250 male and female teachers, with educational qualifications ranging from Masters to PhD, there has always been the need to evolve a quantifiably effective assessment approach towards measuring the effectiveness of CLOs that is uniformly applied through the operations of the Centre, impacting a large number of students.
Among the over 250 teachers, there are around 150 EFL teachers, who teach Regular English for Academic Purposes (REAP) and Intensive English for Academic Purposes (IEAP) at Taif University English Language Centre. Some of them teach ESP courses, however the majority of teachers teach REAP and IEAP courses. Before introducing new English course, the teachers were provided orientation sessions as well as necessary training on how to teach new course by the publishers (Cambridge University Press). The study is important as the respondents of the questionnaire are teachers who teach either REAP that expands over a period of four continuous semesters (two years) and IEAP that covers the same course in two semesters (one year). The study has been carried out in a way that the REAP and IEAP respondents of the questionnaire have been place in two separate groups, adding another dimension to the research in terms of evaluating how the time factor influences, either negatively or positively, the attainment of the students' CLOs.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The main objective of the study is to find out teachers' perception about the attainment of CLOs in terms of what factors are responsible for either the low or high attainment of these CLOs as measured through the performance of the students.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The study endeavors to answer the following research questions: 1. What are the factors responsible for the high or low attainment of CLOs, as measured through the students' performance in an EFL classroom? 2. In what ways do the perspectives of IEAP and REAP teachers differ from one another in terms of their view on the reasons responsible for the either high or low attainment of CLOs? Eksi et al. (2019) emphasize the importance of teachers' perspectives on ways to achieve CLOs. The whole process that leads towards the final attainment of CLOs involves a well though-out mechanism that must include the efficient heed to the viewpoints of teachers (Khorvash & Lotfi, 2019). For the current study, the related data was collected from REAP and IEAP teachers. A questionnaire was developed and sent to teachers after proper piloting. The questionnaire included a number of variables, asking the teachers to give their opinion on the reasons responsible for either low or high attainment of students' CLOs. Of the total 150 teachers, who teach either IEAP or REAP, 138 teachers completed the online questionnaire. Out of this total number, 107 (77%) teachers teach Regular English for Academic Purposes (REAP) and 26 (19%) teach Intensive English for Academic Purposes (IEAP). 60% of all teachers are aged between 23-35; 63% are aged between 36-40; 63% are aged between 41-50 and 14% are aged between 51-60. The majority of teachers (65% REAP and 54% IEAP) have BA and MA degrees in applied linguistics, English language teaching, TESOL, etc.

RESEARCH DESIGN, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
In general, REAP and IEAP teachers have similar teaching experiences in years with the only difference that there are more new REAP teachers (14% with a teaching experience between 1-3 years) compared to IEAP (4% of teachers with a teaching experience between1-3 years). The majority of IEAP teachers have 9-15 years of teaching experience compared to REAP teachers where the majority have 16-20 years of teaching experience.

The Role of Textbooks in Achievement of CLOs
Teachers' perceptions on the role of textbooks can hardly be emphasized when it comes to achieving the learning outcomes (Panezai and Channa, 2017;Oolbekkink-Marchand, Driel & Verloop, 2014). In the same vein, when asked about the role of textbooks as well as their efficacy towards achieving the CLOs, the respondents, in general, both REAP and IEAP teachers, think that the textbooks are appropriate for the students' levels (80% REAP; 73% IEAP). With regard to the importance of learning English for students, 78% REAP and 73% IEAP teachers think that learning English is important to their students. The following figure 1 and 2 provide the details of the perspectives of REAP and IEAP teachers: The importance of framing CLOs There is no denying the fact the way CLOs are framed needs to be well understood in a bid to avoid any future problems (Schoepp, 2019;Liang et al., 2018;Ling-Yee, 2011). With regard to the importance of how the CLOs are framed, in terms of how measureable and achievable they are in learning English, 78% REAP and 73% IEAP teachers think that the framing of CLOs is equally important. The following figure 3 and 4 provide the details of the perspectives of REAP and IEAP teachers:

CLOs and Learning English
Hung (2019) emphasizes the role of EFL learners' motivation as a key factor towards achieving the CLOs. Sheybani and Miri (2019) assert that the learners' motives behind their endeavours to learn English may lead the teachers to tailor the teaching process towards the maximum attainment of the learning goals. Teachers think that there are multiple reasons why the students took the English Unlimited course. Many teachers think this is because English is a major/minor requirement (32% REAP; 27% IEAP) closely followed by teachers who think that the students need English for their future jobs (28% REAP; 23 IEAP) and because English is general education (20% REAP; 19% IEAP). The following figure 5 and 6 provide the details of the perspectives of REAP and IEAP teachers:  Teachers are divided as to how much time their students spend studying for the English Unlimited course outside the class. The majority of teachers (35% REAP; 38% IEAP) think their students spend two hours a week studying for the English Unlimited course outside the class. Also, 32% of REAP and 23% IEAP teachers said that their students spend three hours a week studying outside the class. This is unexpected having in mind that IEAP students have 6 hours of English language classes per week compared to 3 hours per week for REAP students. The following figure 7 and 8 provide the details of the perspectives of REAP and IEAP teachers:

Reasons for Low Attainment of CLOs
When asked about the reasons for students' lack of interest in classroom teaching that leads to low attainment of CLOs, the teachers seemed to be divided about what the students liked the least about the course. Some teachers think that there was not enough explanation (16% REAP; 31% IEAP) followed by teachers who thought that there was not enough practice (24% REAP; 19% IEAP). Other teachers think that the topics and texts were not interesting enough (9% REAP; 19% IEAP) or they provided multiple reasons and/or other (26% REAP; 15% IEAP). Interestingly, there is some difference between REAP and IEAP teachers with regard to whether the course was too hard/too easy. 17% of REAP teachers think that the course was too hard but only 4% of IEAP teachers claimed this to be the case. By contrast, most of the IEAP teachers said that the course was too easy (12%) compared to only 8% of REAP teachers. As above, Hargreaves, Elhawary and Mahgoub (2019) also hold that the reasons behind the low attainment of CLOs can be varying in nature. The following figure 9 and 10 provide the details of the perspectives of REAP and IEAP teachers:

The Role of Textbook Exercises Towards Attainment of CLOs
Among all the factors, textbooks exercises play a crucial role in either low or high attainment of CLOs (Mao & Liang, 2019;Fukuta, Tamura & Kawaguchi, 2019). In general, the teachers think that the tasks and exercises in the textbooks were suitable and they helped the students learn well. The majority of the teachers thought that the reading exercises and tasks were suitable for the students' level (66% REAP; 73% IEAP). The following figure 11 and 12 provide the details of the perspectives of REAP and IEAP teachers in this regard:   Nijakowska (2019) states that the EFL teachers preparedness in further augmented by the study material that they provide to students to achieve their study goals. This supplementary material is as important as the textbooks that are taught inside the classroom (Ra 2019; Yang & Qian, 2019;Garcia-Pastor & Miller, 2019). For the current study, the majority of teachers said that their students used the online materials (85% REAP; 73% IEAP), and that it helped them a great deal in the attainment of CLOs. According to the teachers, the students use of the supplementary material contributed towards the attainment of CLOs such as workbook exercises (54% REAP; 31% IEAP); or multiple online materials such as workbook exercises/tests (35% REAP; 50% IEAP); workbook exercises/videos/tests (35% REAP; 30% IEAP); workbook exercises/videos (16% REAP; 20% IEAP).

THE ROLE OF SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL IN THE ATTAINMENT OF CLOs
When asked whether the online resources were useful for their students the majority of teachers said that they were (82% REAP; 69% IEAP). The teachers thought that the students liked the online materials because they could practise at any time or any place (55% REAP; 38% IEAP) or that they could practise many times by themselves (25% REAP; 23% IEAP). However, while 27% of IEAP teachers said that the online materials were useful and they supported the students' learning, only 14% of REAP teachers claimed this to be the case. When asked what the students liked the least about the online materials the teachers were divided. Some said the online materials were not interesting (32% REAP: 35% IEAP); they were too easy (22% REAP; 12% IEAP) or other reasons (25% REAP; 38% IEAP). Those teachers who said 'other' generally provided either technical or affective reasons. Some of the technical reasons were issues with login, internet connection, problems with the website, or needing book codes. Affective reasons included difficult, not interesting, too long, too easy. Moreira (2019) advocates the proper use of CLOs to make learning more measureable. Shih and Huang (2019) also advocate the use of supplementary material to multiply the positive impact of using CLOs to gauge learners' attainment of the learning goals. During the current study, both REAP and IEAP teachers thought that the use of CLOs improved their students' language skills. However, there are some differences between REAP and IEAP teachers where some IEAP teachers are sometimes neutral about this. Both groups of teachers said that the students learnt a wide range of new vocabulary (75% REAP; 69% IEAP); however, it is worth noting that 31% of IEAP and 13% of REAP teachers expressed a neutral view. It might be worth investigating this further especially for the IEAP course given the higher percentage of IEAP teachers that have a neutral view about whether the students have learnt a lot of useful vocabulary. The situation is similar for reading skills where the majority of teachers said that the course has helped the students to improve their reading skills (76% REAP; 67% IEAP); yet, a good percentage of IEAP teachers (31%) were neutral and 12% thought the course did not improve their students' reading skills (compared to 16% neutral and 7% for REAP teachers). It will also be useful to examine the reasons for this with a further qualitative investigation of both IEAP and REAP teachers' views. Furthermore, the teachers thought that the course improved the students' writing skills (74% REAP; 58% IEAP) but again there are some IEAP teachers who are neutral (34%, compared to 15% REAP) about this. A large number of teachers think that the course improved the students' speaking skills (84% REAP; 69% IEAP) but some 31% of IEAP teachers are either neutral (19%) or do not think the course improved the students' speaking skills (12%). According to the teachers, the course improved the students' listening skills (83% REAP; 77% IEAP) and grammar skills (84% REAP; 69% IEAP). It is worth noting that some IEAP teachers are either neutral (15%) or do not think that the course improved the students' grammar skills (16%). The present research recommends that prospective researchers may further investigate this issue in an EFL context.

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
The majority of the teachers think that the use of CLOs increases their students' interest in learning English (79% REAP; 69% IEAP) but 23% of IEAP teachers disagree (compared to 4% of REAP), while 8% were neutral (compared to 17% REAP). The teachers would generally recommend its usage in other courses (85% REAP; 61% IEAP) with some IEAP teachers (31%) who are neutral. The findings in this section suggest that REAP teachers tend to be slightly more satisfied with the use of CLOs than the IEAP teachers. However, the above trend needs to be interpreted cautiously having in mind that the number of REAP teachers is 107 and the number of IEAP teachers is 26. All in all, all the teachers support the use of CLOs, authenticating the fact that it makes the teaching of the course as well as its results more measurable. Keeping in view the nature of this exploratory study, more research is recommended to investigate CLOs in depth with a specific focus on framing its assessment practices.