Abstract:

English Language has, still and will always play a very significant role in the education system of any country. So is it in the context of the Malaysian education system, particularly with the advent of the 21st century. This paper presents part of a broader research that had explored the English Language primary school teachers’ views on the characteristics of effective literacy teachers in the Malaysian education context. A group of very experienced English language teachers from selected primary school teachers were randomly-sampled for the purpose of this study. Qualitative data were firstly gathered via two different phases of the study – the individual teacher’s views phase by using open-ended questionnaires, and the focus-group reflection and discussion phase that focused on the teachers’ experiences within the context of primary schools learning and teaching. These views, that were shared and debated within the focus-group sessions with the appointed moderators by the group members, contributed to the ‘consensus thinking’ of these literacy teachers.
Next, a very experienced officer from the District Education Department in the northern region of Malaysia was interviewed to establish similarities and differences with the school teachers’ responses. Thus, the profile of literacy teachers was constructed by comparing and contrasting the responses of the teachers and the English Language Officer. Generally, the findings of this study had suggested five main characteristics which ultimately make up the Profile the literacy teachers need to endorse. They are: Teachers should be experts in their own fields; Teachers should always strive to upgrade their knowledge and skills in surfing and using the internet to find relevant and useful materials; Teachers should always be creative and innovative; Teachers should always be willing to put in their efforts to make their classes interesting; and Teachers should always try to be excellent in their own ways. It is hoped that the findings of this study would serve as a guide for the authorities concerned who are responsible for planning and conducting teacher training courses to ensure that the teachers trained are highly qualified to educate the learners.

Keywords:

Profile, Literacy, Focus group, Creative, Innovative.