Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) in Rwanda Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) schools: a case study of Rwanda Polytechnic

Abstract

In 2009, Rwanda has officially declared the English language as the medium of instruction at all education levels. Previously, the medium of instruction was French. Moreover, in 2008, Technical and Vocational Education Training was introduced in Rwanda to end poverty and produce a competent workforce in the labor market (Ministry of Education, 2008). Thus, two institutions have been created under the Ministry of education to enhance this particular education. The Workforce Development Authority (WDA) was in charge of organizing the whole TVET program at the national level and the Integrated Polytechnic Regional Center (IPRC) developed the program at the provincial level through centers of expertise. Reform continued taking place in this sector and in 2017, the Government of Rwanda established Rwanda Polytechnic (RP) to coordinate and implement the TVET program in the country (Ministry of Education, 2015). Mainly, courses that are offered in TVET schools are practical-based (hands-on skills). Nevertheless, teaching the English language as a foreign language in technical schools is not something that students care much or pay attention to and it leaves a breach of concentration. This research seeks to highlight the need and methodology of TEFL in Rwanda TVET schools, especially within an EFL classroom scenario as to produce a workforce who are good at communication as well. Learning a foreign language has always been beneficial academically and personally level (Fernández, 2021). The in-depth interviews with EFL teachers were used as data collection tools under the qualitative research method. The results shown that most of EFL Teachers in TVET of Rwanda apply GTM in their teaching sessions while students on their side lose interest to deal with languages.