Libyan EFL Teachers’ Beliefs, Practices, and Challenges Regarding Target Language Use in Public High School Classrooms: Translanguaging Pedagogies to Achieve Balanced and Effective Teaching to Empower EFL Learners to Speak in the Target Language

Abstract

This thesis paper investigates EFL teachers’ beliefs, practices, and challenges when incorporating target language extensively in Libyan public high school classrooms. A sample of 140 English language teachers in Libyan high schools answered an online survey reporting their beliefs, practices, and challenges related to using English extensively in the classroom. Based on the reported data collected using the online survey, most EFL teachers in Libyan public high schools have a goal of 80 to 90% utilization of target language use in the classroom. However, their actual use of English (TL) in the classroom differs significantly and ranges roughly from 50% to 80%. This suggests that they value the importance of using target language extensively in their EFL classes and they seek to increase their use of target language. However, the reported teaching methods, even the translanguaging ones, reveal that most of them lack the knowledge and technology for more effective and creative teaching methods that would allow extensive use of target language. Findings illustrated that there were many challenges reportedly faced by EFL teachers, such as students’ negative attitude, anxiety, low attention span, lack of motivation, lack of family support, administrative support, technology, teaching methods and training, large class size, frequency of classes, time allotted to complete curriculum, teacher proficiency, range of students’ abilities and many more. In conclusion, the paper offers some effective translanguaging strategies for empowering students to speak the target language confidently and might work in the Libyan context to overcome some of these obstacles.