Retracted: The future of Ukrainian EFL professional education: Certificates of excellence or certificates of attendance
Authors: Bulakh Valentyna P. , Shandruk Svitlana I. 
Published: January 2022

The current post‐secondary educational system for professional preparation of the Ukrainian EFL teachers is not satisfactory. This paper attempts to make an objective comparative analysis of professional training programmes of American ESL teachers versus Ukrainian EFL teachers with the purpose of improving its current state. The questionnaire on professional standards and teachers’ evaluation and second language acquisition was created. English faculty members of Central Ukrainian State Pedagogical University and Uman State Pedagogical University were surveyed. The study pointed out the five mandatory TESOL standards in preparing EFL/ESL teachers such as language, culture, instruction, assessment, professionalism and provided reasoned arguments why it would be prudent to include some of the TESOL fundamental core subjects such as first language acquisition, second language acquisition, bilingual pedagogy and professional ethics into Ukrainian educational curricula. The authors eliminated some deeply rooted and widespread professional stereotypes about teaching English that still exist among many Ukrainian EFL professionals. The research clearly revealed a significant contrast between academically competent and professionally qualified teachers and allowed 55 experienced Ukrainian EFL teachers with advanced postgraduate academic degrees to freely express their opinions about some severe problems that exist in today's national EFL educational system. The study contributes to the body of research concerning the training of professional EFL teachers in Ukraine. Additionally, these findings can be useful for ordinary EFL teachers in their everyday professional practice for improving their classroom instruction and delivery methods or for designing their teaching and learning materials.

Context and implications

Rationale for this study

Teachers represent their universities and public education system and, accordingly, play a vital role in the moral, emotional, intellectual, cultural, spiritual preservation of any society. The authors believe that many modern Ukrainian EFL teachers enter their early teaching professionally incompetent and profoundly incapable to meet the linguistic and academic needs of their students, the majority of whom become decades‐long learners without progress in studying English. Thus, it is of great importance that the existing modern US theories, principles and concepts in preparing ESL professionals are analysed and professional training curricula of American ESL teachers are compared with curricula of Ukrainian EFL teachers to check if there are things that may be adjusted or applied to the current Ukrainian EFL educational programme.

Why the new findings matter

It is necessary for Ukrainian educators and academic institutions to reshape their thinking and further explore the topic of proper teaching EFL in Ukraine by deeper understanding of this issue, designing proper curricula for professional schools and releasing necessary students’ textbooks. The study contributes to the research concerning the training of professional EFL teachers in Ukraine. Academic institutions may take into consideration the study findings and decide whether some fundamentally needed and occupationally relevant subjects should be integrated. Among them, the authors proposed FLA, SLA, bilingual pedagogics, professional ethics, official bilingualism, independent external school‐exit evaluation adopted from US model professional preparation of ESL teachers in order to improve the quality of EFL teaching in Ukraine.

Implications for teachers

The findings can be used by EFL teachers in their everyday classroom instruction and delivery methods, in the design of teaching and learning materials.