en evaluation of the implementation of the competency- based approch in the algerian secondary school

Abstract

The Competency-based Approach (CBA) was adopted by developed countries in their educational systems a long time leaving away teacher-centered approaches that have prevailed over centuries. This pedagogy has imposed itself in the field of education as a means to meet the new generation needs and to integrate learner-centered approaches of teaching into the pedagogical area. Therefore, it was necessary for Algeria to adopt such an approach in 2003 as a result of the educational reform in the primary, middle, and secondary schools in terms of the implementation of new curricula and a new approach based on competencies. The purpose of the present research work is to evaluate the implementation of CBA in the Algerian secondary school, particularly through the third year textbook „New Prospects‟. This research aims also to confirm or disconfirm the assumption that third year Algerian secondary school English teachers‟ hold a positive attitude to the implementation of CBA. To do so, the following questions have been asked: to what extent is CBA implemented in the third year secondary school textbook “New Prospects”? What are the attitudes of secondary schoolteachers to the CBA? Does the textbook “New Prospects” meet the learners‟ needs? Our investigation has been carried out through classroom observation that took place in 7 secondary schools in Jijel as well as through the analysis of a teacher‟s questionnaire delivered to 18 third year secondary school teachers for the sake of collecting more information about the teachers‟ attitude to the implementation of CBA as well as the circumstances that surround their practice when applying such an approach. Against our expectations, the results show that the majority of teachers hold a negative attitude to the CBA, but they try to implement it in their classes regardless of the difficulties that they face such as, the level of learners, the problem of large classes, the lack of materials, time constraints, the absence of communication between teachers and learners, and so forth. In the light of the above-mentioned hindrances, the teachers affirm the need to overcome those difficulties in order to make the implementation of this approach more practical.