Teachers’ Constructions of Students: A Need for Transforming English Language Teaching Practices in Tanzania

Dr. Upendo P. Biswalo
St John’s University of Tanzania
Email: upendopsix@yahoo.uk/ubiswalo@sjut.ac.tz

Received July 8, 2020; Revised July 21, 2020; Accepted July 22, 2020

Abstract: This paper presents and discusses how teachers of English in the three secondary schools in Dodoma cityTanzania, constructed their students. It uses Foucauldian discourse analysis as a lens to understanding how students were constructed by their teachers in the teaching and learning processes. Data were collected through interviews from teachers of English, and classroom observations. The findings revealed that, teachers’ perceptions about their students, and the knowledge teachers held about teaching English allowed them to construct their students in a more deficit terms. Students were constructed by their teachers as “lazy”, “slow learners”, “difficult to teach”, “passive recipients of knowledge”, “quiet learners” “unmotivated”, and the like. The findings also revealed that teachers’ constructions of students influenced teachers’ pedagogical approaches and practices in the classroom. Moreover, teacher participants in this study appeared to relinquish their responsibility for students’ failure by placing blame on students, students’ families, and society, and on the government. This paper argues that, when teachers construct students in a more deficit terms, such constructions may impact on students’ learning. This study suggests that, teachers need to be made aware of how their deficit constructions of students produce negative and alienating positions for students. . This study, therefore, suggests that when students are given more opportunity to share their ideas and views in the classroom, they are enabled to learn English meaningfully and being able to interact and communicate effectively with other speakers of English around the globe, because, today English is regarded as the language of the world.