Developing a Framework for Classroom Lesson Delivery to Improve English Teachers’ Performance in the Foundation Year Programme at a Saudi University

The current English programme provided to foundation year students at King Abdulaziz University is failing to equip learners with the desired level of English language. This paper assesses the teaching materials and proposes a teaching framework to improve teachers’ lesson delivery. The framework was designed to overcome some of the shortfalls in the mandatory course book series (Headway Plus). The framework adopted Kumaravadivelu’s (2010) principles for lesson delivery- diagnosis, treatment and assessment, and advocates the development of cognitive ability, encourages collaborative learning, problem solving, emphasizes process rather than product, communication skills, and self-inquiry. Fifteen English teachers participated in a pilot study by implementing the new lesson delivery framework over a 14-week course. A peer observation strategy was used to help the teachers reflect on their teaching methods and improve the quality of their teaching. Also, during the last two weeks of the course the head of the English unit and an external observer conducted observations to monitor and assess teachers’ development. The findings of the study revealed the new framework helped teachers improve their lesson delivery and encouraged them to use new teaching techniques such as problem solving and a student-centred approach. However, the results also indicated there was a need for teacher training courses to help teachers understand the principles behind the different teaching methodology. In addition, a cultural factor was found to be influential, as some teachers were reserved about criticizing other teachers’ performance.