Exploring the Extent to which the Initial Primary Teacher Education programme develops Teachers' Classroom Interactional Competence: A Case of Four Public Teacher Training Colleges in Malawi

Abstract

Lack of proper interaction between teachers and learners in Malawian primary school classrooms makes lessons to be passive, therefore, posing a risk on learners’ communication benefit in and outside the classroom. However, little effort has been done to reveal how teachers are trained in the Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs) to manage the classroom interaction. The present study explored the extent to which the Initial Primary Teacher Education (IPTE) programme in Malawi develops teachers’ Classroom Interactional Competence (CIC) in Teacher Training Colleges. It was a qualitative study which used an interpretive paradigm and was guided by Professional Competence theoretical framework. It answered the following three research questions: How do the Initial primary English teacher educators understand Classroom Interactional Competence? How do the Initial Primary Teacher Education programme in Malawi support teachers’ development of Classroom Interactional Competence? What strategies do the Initial Primary Teacher educators employ when teaching English? The study was conducted at four public Teacher Training Colleges in the Central, South and Eastern regions of Malawi. It used English lecturers and their students as research participants to collect data. Interviews, Focus Group Discussion, lesson observation and document analysis were employed for data collection. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The study found out that the Initial Primary Teacher Education programme partially develops teachers’ Classroom Interactional Competence with shortfalls in English curriculum and lecturers’ interactive pedagogical knowhow and skills. The results demonstrate that English lecturers in the mentioned Malawian TTCs need to possess second language teaching competences, skills and very high sense of personal linguistic proficiency in the language of instruction. In addition, curriculum developers should ensure enriching the IPTE programme English modules with necessary curriculum input to make it competence-based.