Novice EFL Teachers’ Challenges in Mostaganem Rural Areas

Many EFL students graduate from Algerian universities every year. Some of them, regardless of their level or training, will have the opportunity to be either substitute or fully-fledge teachers in secondary or middle schools. Some newlyrecruited teachers tend not to be well-qualified and trained during their undergraduate studies and/or during the induction period into teaching.When they are newly recruited to teach in schools, they may face some difficulties which tend to hamper effective performance in the new occupation due to their lacking experience.Therefore, they would face some challenges of adaptation and struggles during theirearly years of teaching. This study, therefore, is an attempt to investigatethe expected challenges faced by newly-recruited or novice teachersin a number of rural areas in the city of Mostaganem, a town situated in the Western North of Algeria. To carry out this research, we administered a questionnaire to fourteen EFL newly-recruited teachers in middle and secondary schools from ruralregions in Mostaganem. Eventually, we put forward that a significant number ofnovice EFL teachers may encounter some obstacles with regard to a gap that does exist between their formation and the different requirements of the profession. The research findings reveal that some EFL beginning instructors are partly dissatisfied with their undergraduate and in-service training in teaching, thereby, experiencing some difficulties. Nonetheless, the informants in this study brought to lightsome factors which alleviate newly-recruited teachers’ challenges and help them well-experience their early years of teaching.


Introduction
The starting period of teaching is usually challenging for teachers of different subjects. Their little experience in the profession would bring about several problems and obstacles. This research strives to investigate the process of novice teacher's transition from students to teachers. That challenging period may be due to the awkwardness of the induction stage of teaching where everything is new, inexperienced and sometimes unexpected. The motivation intended for this research originated when a seminar was conducted with one of our university educators on the challenges of the 'real world 'of teaching. The educator mentioned that one of her former EFL students leave his occupation as an EFL teacher during the first year of teaching because he could no longer continue and survive his profession. Since then, we have had the impulse to inquire into how the transition process from a student to a teacher looks like for novice EFL teachers. For the purpose of our research a novice teachers has three years of teaching at maximum.
In this research we pose the following questions: 1. What are the difficulties do EFL novice teachers in some Mostaganem rural schools encounter? 2. Is there a gap between teacher formationand the requirements of teaching? 3. Have they received sufficient and effective training during their undergraduate education? 4. Dothey receive sufficient and effective formation during their occupation? Reflecting on the above research questions, we propose the following hypotheses: 1. Some novice EFL teachers in rural areas may face some difficulties: Pedagogical, Troubles with classroom management, Relationships with pupils and colleagues. 2. These difficulties may be due to a gap between their formation and the requirements of teaching. 3. Newly-recruited EFL teachers may havereceived insufficient training during their undergraduate education. 4. They may have, also, received insufficient and less effective training during their undergraduate education. To find answers to our research questions and in order to test the above mentioned hypotheses, we have administered a formal questionnaire for fourteen novice EFL teachers newly enrolled in middle and secondary schools.

Method
In this study, we adopt a descriptive research methodology. The type of this research is linked immediately to the type of our research questions that are primarily concerned with finding the 'what is', like: what is your opinion about teaching in the Algerian context?Do you think you are ready to teach in high (secondary) or middle school?Do you think your training was beneficial? Give some examples on some teaching ideas you obtained in your training.
We select to adopt a quantitative method. "Most quantitative research falls into two areas: studies that describe events and studies aimed at discovering inferences or casual relationships. Descriptive studies are aimed at finding out 'what is', so observational and survey methods are frequently used to collect descriptive data" (Borg& Gall, 1989). [1] The characteristics of quantitative research are: Data is collected and analyzed in terms of numbers, the use of charts and graphs to help the reader better understand data organization. The use of statistics like:frequencies, average, and percentages to measure data. To go through these steps, a questionnaire survey is designed to gather statistics. "The term survey is commonly applied to a research methodology designed to collect data from a specific population, or sample from that population, and typically utilizes a questionnaire or interview as the survey instrument" (Robson, 1993) [2] There are two main methods of collecting survey data which are questionnaires and interviews. Questionnaire has several advantages; mainly because they are less expensive and easier to manage and organize than personal interviews. Besides, they guarantee full privacy to the participants, as well as it helps them answer the question on their own pace so that they manage to organize their thought. For these motives, we have selected to work on our research using a descriptive research methodology, and then design a questionnaire survey tool to collect data and analyze the perceptions of our selected sample.

Participants
Our participants have been selected at random, nevertheless, the choice of the participants tend to represent the entire population. " the term random may imply to you that it is possible to take some sort of haphazard or ad hoc approach...to be random sample, every individual in the population must have an equal probability of being selected"( Mathers& Fox and Hunn, 2009, p.11) [3].
Our research sampling falls into 'stratified random sampling' category. Gay (1987)contends that this type of sampling is a good research methodology in the sense that it permits 'meaningful comparison between sub-groups in the population' [4]. On the other hand, Leary (1995) claims that stratified random sample tend to represent the aspects of the entire population [5].
To obtain a good result about the challenges faced by novice teachers, we could gatherresponses from fourteen (14) novice teachers of English language in high and middle schools.Our choice of the sample was stratified random sampling involving teachers working in different regions in Mostaganem: Bougirat, Sidi-Lakhdar, Souaflia and Achaacha and Safsaf. These teachers have 3 years of teaching at maximum.

The Research Instruments
Inthis research study, a questionnaireis addressed for some EFL novice teachers those who are teaching in some high and middle schools in Mostaganem, the questionnaire contains closed questions where the potential answers are defined in the questionnaire, and opened-questions where the respondents are allowed to express their own ideas with their own words.
The teachers' questionnaire contains nineteen (19) questions it comprises four sections: (1) personal information, (2) novice teachers' perceptions about teaching, (3) EFL novice teachers' training and professional development, (4) difficulties faced by novice teachers during the first years of teaching. In each section, we move from general questions smoothly to the specific questions. The purpose beyond this questionnaire is to figure out what type of challenges and difficulties novice teachers encounter during their early years of teaching.

Data Analysis
As mentioned above the questionnaire consists of three sections. In each section; we will analyze the respondents' answers thoroughly. Section One

Novice EFL Teachers' Perceptions About Teaching
This section is devoted to novice EFL teachers' perceptions and views as current EFL teachers and former EFL students. We strive to find out, through this section, whether their views about teaching have changed after having experienced it for the first time on the ground. We seek also to know about their attitudes toward teaching and the difficulties they may face during the first years of teaching.
Q1: How much do you like teaching?
The aim beyond this question is to find out whether novice teachers have positive attitudes toward teaching.  Table 1 reveals how much novice teachers like the profession. More than half of the informants (57%) allege that they like teaching 'very much'. Likewise, (43%) of the answers were 'somewhat'. On the contrary, none of them said that they like teaching 'slightly'. It seems that postgraduate teachers have positive attitude toward teaching profession in general.
Q2: how do you perceive teaching as a novice teacher? Through this question, we strive to know how newlyrecruited teachers see teaching profession when they experience it on the ground. This question paves the way for comparison with question 3.  Table 2 reveals the answers of EFL novice teachers' perception, the majority beginningteachers (37%) tend to regard teaching as 'tiring', and a considerable number of them think of it as 'interesting'. Nevertheless, some of them (25%) perceive is as 'enjoyable'. however, only one respondent say that it is 'boring'.Some of their comments were: "It is enjoyable in some degree, but tiring at the same time" "Students nowadays are not giving much attention to English" "Teachers face some social problems that are considered as obstacles" Q3: How did you perceive teaching as a former EFL student?
The aim of this question is to compare the informants' views on teaching as former EFL students and as current new teachers. In the above table, the majority of the respondents (37%) perceived teaching profession as 'interesting' when they were students, (31%) saw it enjoyable. But fewer informants (25%) considered it as 'tiring', and only one of them thought of it as 'boring'.
When comparing table 2 and table3, we figure out that the informants' expectations and attitudes on the profession as new teachers and former students are somehow convergent, the majority view teaching as interesting and enjoyable both as novice teachers and former Students. Nonetheless, the responses imply that there is a considerable shift in their views on the profession; we notice a rise in percentage on the third answer (tiring) between 25 % as former students to 37% as novice teacher's,and from 31% (enjoyable) as former students to 26% as novice teachers. Though, we conclude that change in views and an expectation is not huge.
Q4: To which extent do you feel that the real atmosphere of teaching, as a novice teacher, corresponds withyour previous expectations (as a former student)?
We aim through this question to see to which extent answers in table 3 and table 4 are convergent or distinctive. In table 4, most participants responses vary between 'somewhat' and 'slightly' (28%) Hence, the respondents in this study express their feeling of distinctiveness between their expectations toward teaching as former EFL novice teachers and current EFL teachers,and only some of answers (14%) were 'A great deal' and fewer say 'Slightly' this confirms our conclusion about our comparison between table one (expectations as novice teacher Vs expectations as former student) that there is a gap between the two visions (student Vs teacher) towards the real practice of teaching. Answering questions 4 (to which extent do you feel that the real atmosphere of teaching, as a novice teacher, corresponds withyour previous expectations, as a former student?), some informants pointed out: "…but in some degree, we become obliged to cope with the real atmosphere either being well expected or not". "Unfortunately the level of our pupils is in the bottom". "They are somehow different than we were students; it is a trying yet…" Q5: to which extent do you think that your motivation is increasing?
The purpose behind this question is to figure out whether novice teachers are comfortable with the new profession, if not, this would designate that novice teachers may face some challenges. In table5, one can see that the majority of novice teachers, that is 36%, said that their motivation increases 'slightly'. Likewise, 36% of them allege that their motivation 'somewhat' increases throughout their career. It seems that in spite of the fact that novice teachers love their job, their motivation is low. One of the respondents asserted: "Teachers become demotivated because the circumstances are not like they were before, everything has changed".
" Sometimes you give it your best shot, but no result, it becomes tiring and demotivating.
"lot of efforts are spent all time but non value what you perform".
Hence, this fact implies that novice teachers face some challenges and difficulties that would decrease the amount of motivation among them. This confirms that there is a gap between the mental vision about teaching and its real practice.This what some scholars in the field of education call 'reality chock' [6] (Farrell 2008). To this extent, Morey, Bezuk, and Chiero (1997) stated, "As new teachers enter their classrooms for the first time, they face unprecedented challenges related to changes in societal context, increasing ethnic diversity, and the condition of public education. As a group, they struggle with the transition from college student to classroom teacher; they encounter situations where they question whether they have the necessary knowledge or problem-solving skills to respond effectively" (p. 22) [7]. Section Two

Novice EFL Teachers' Training and Professional Development
This section is devoted to EFL novice teachers' opinions about their formation during their undergraduate studies as well as during their career as EFL instructors. This section is intended to reveal the importance of training for the informants in this study as well, its role in developing their teaching practice, and thereby helping them overwhelming the difficulties they may stumble on during the first years of teaching.
Q6: Do you think that your specialty fits your occupation?
The purpose of this question is to know the impact of specialty choice on student teachers preparation and formation for the teaching profession. A considerable number of the respondents, that is 57%, said their specialty fits the teaching profession. On the other hand, 43% said 'no' studies fit the teaching profession. Concerning this question, we have three main cases. (1) those who belong to the classical system. The majority of them said that their specialty fits the profession. Though the informants have bachelor degree of four years and had no specialty yet; nevertheless, they consider that their undergraduate studies fit their occupation. (2) Those who have undergraduate degree under LMD system (three years licence + two years master ". They see that their specialty, which is didactics and applied linguistics, is related to the teaching profession. (3) Those who belong to LMD system but think that their specialty is not related to the profession. These specialties are: sociolinguistics and gender studies, British civilization, and American literature. One of them said: "My specialty was totally different from whatI am experiencing now" Thus, the correlation of specialty or its content with the teaching profession does affect novice teachers in the two sides, either positively or negatively.
Q 07: Do you think that your university (or institute) provided you with necessary teaching skills? Through this question, we aim at investigating whether novice teachers are satisfied with undergraduate studies in relation to their profession. As table7 shows, most informants (57%) see that their undergraduate studies did not provide them with basic teaching skills that help them be effective practitioner in the genuine terrain of the profession. Though most of them view that their specialty fits their occupation, it seems that they are not satisfied with their preparation for the teaching profession in terms of the things they need on the spot: like grammar, school legislation, classroom management and so on, which are inevitably their main concerns as real practitioners. To illustrate, some respondents claim: "My specialty was totally different from what I'm experiencing now".
" …because we learnt unnecessary subject while grammar, vocabulary were forgotten..." "For 3 years, no grammar and no phonetics offered. Moreover, they don't teach school legislation".
Q 08: Did you receive undergraduate training?
The aim beyond this question is to figure out whether EFL novice teachers were trained in the real terrain of the profession during their undergraduate studies. In the above table, one can notice that the majority of our informants (57%) did not receive undergraduate training, whereas a considerable number of them (43%) pursued training during their undergraduate studies. Having inadequate formation, would render novice teachers less ready psychologically and pedagogically for the real practice of teaching especially in the initial years of teaching; whereas, those who made training show a great amount of satisfaction with what they learn from their training; some of them said: "It was very beneficial for me. I got some skills and experience in how to deal with schoolchildren" "Training provide teachers with high skills" "I did twice, middle and secondary school, it was beneficial, it was my first contact with pupils, it was my first time as a teacher".
"It was a great experience, we learned a lot from that. Though it lasts just for 15 days" From these claims, one can conclude that training, in some way, contribute to the preparation of students teacher for the profession and help them be ready and more excited for it.
Q 09: Have you received any sort of training as a beginning teacher?
We purpose to know through this question; if novice teachers are helped to overcome some difficulties they may face and be trained for the new profession. The majority of novice teachers in this study (57%) have pursued training during the induction period, and a considerable number of them (43%) din not.
Was in-service training beneficial? We aim to know whether novice teachers are satisfied with in-service training.  Table 10 reveals that participants' responses on their satisfaction with in-servecie training mostly varries between 'somewhat'(14%) and 'slightly'(43%) that is four inforamant out of seven (who receive traning) do not see that in-service training was benefecial for them as novice EFL teachers, and only 3 respondents, that is 43% regard their traning as fruitful.Those three informants said: "Iattended lessons with teachers to benefit from their experience" "it is a formation which isorganized annnually by the university of education for noviceteachers" "project workshops with other novice teachers(lesson plans, exams,.." So, the vast majority of EFL novice teachers in this study are devided into two groups: those who did not have the chance to receive any sort of traning or foramtion and those who receive formation but it was not very beneficial for them.
Q10: Do you think that EFL novice teachers need more training and support to overcome their difficulties during the initial years of teaching?
The objective beyond this question is to figure out the extent to which novice teachers are concerned in training, and whether they need more support as beginners. As table 11 displays, all respondents (100%) in the present study contend that they need more training and support to reduce the difficulties during the first years of teaching.This confirms that during the intial years of teaching, most EFL novice teachers in the present study are not well-trained and supported to copewith some difficulties and obstacles they tend to stumble on in their early years of teaching; to illustrate, when they were asked whether they need training and support during the induction period, all of them(100%) show that they are avid for an effective traning to help them get in the education domain with less awkwardness. When the informants were asked why, some of them pointed out: " at the beginning, EFL teachers will find difficulties to teach effectivelly if they do not receiveinitial training".
"because there are teachers who start teaching directly after graduation; that is why they need more trining..".
" you can benefit more if you set the right training". These claims demonstrate that in-service traning is indispensable for beginning teachers to develop their practice and be effective instructors. It seems, also, that novice teachers in this study see that in-service traning they pursued is not veryeffective and it is necessary to be providedespecially that new post graduate students who succeed in annual contest do not receive sufficient traning provided that it lasts only for few weeks before they start teaching in shcools; on the other hand, new subtitute EFL teachers get into teaching directly without any form of formation.
Section Three

Difficulties Faced by Novice EFL Teachers During the Early Years of Teaching
This section is divided into two parts. The first part is administered for pedagogical difficulties that EFL novice teachers may happen on. The main concerns of this part are difficulties with lesson plans, adaptation of lessons to pupils' levels, the use of ICT tools. The second part is assigned to EFL beginning teachers' rapport with pupils and colleagues, as well as difficulties with classroom management.
A. Pedagogical Difficulties Q 11: How much do your teaching techniques make your pupils more interested and motivated in the classroom?
The intention beyond this question is to know whether teachers are self-confident and satisfied withtheir teaching techniques in terms of its effectiveness. In the above table, the majority of novice teachers' responses' vary between'somewhat' (64%)and 'slightly', and only a minority(22%) asserted thattheir teaching strategies are motivating and interesting to pupils,. It seems that most beginning teachers, in the present study, are not quite sure and confident that their teaching techniques are effective.
Q 12: How much, do you find difficulty in preparing your lesson plans? As table 13 displays, most respondents (54%) assert that they 'slightly find difficulties in preparing the lesson plan, on the contrary none of them (0%) answer with 'a great deal' and only a minority said 'somewhat', this implies that novice teachers do not really find difficulties in preparing the lesson plan.
Q 13: Do you adapt your teaching to different levels? Through the answers given by most respondents, we notice that they are aware of having mix-abilities classes where pupils' levels are different. They take into account to make the teaching materials accessible and understandable by all pupils especiallyto those with less cognitive abilities, to illustrate, some of them asserted: "Understanding a lesson depends on the learner's capacity to acquire knowledge, in thiscase, sometimes I feel the need to simplify as possible as I can" "Most of the time, few pupils understand from the first time. So, I have to facilitate and reformulate my questions for the others. Q 14: How is your way of teaching? Ourintention behind this question is to know how teachers see their way of teaching.
A largenumber ofinformants (79%) regard their way of teaching as modern, and a 'minority' asserts that their way of teaching is 'traditional' and few of them (21%) see their way of teaching as 'traditional'. It seems that EFL novice teachers in the present are inclined to the modern way of teaching, but it is not necessarily modern as they claim. They may face obstacles that hinder their way of teaching being modern. This will be found out in the following question.
15: How often do you use ICT tools in your classes per week?
The purpose beyond this question is to find out whether novice teachers' way of teaching is modern with regard to the use of ICT. As displayed in table 15, the majority of EFL novice teachers in the present study (72%) tend to use ICT once a week, whereas few of them use it twice (21%) or three times a week (6%).Though most EFL novice teachers (79%) in the present study consider their way of teaching as modern, they rarely use ICT tools in their Classes, even if their responses is once or twice a week do not necessarily that the use of ICT occurs on a regular basis for instance if one of the respondents employs ICT once week, the frequency of its use tend to be between one to three to four times per month at maximum.
Q 16: Do you encounter obstacles which hinder the use of ICT in your classes?
Our intention behind this question is to know whether EFL novice teachers have at their disposal enough opportunities to use ICT often. As displayed in table 16, a larger number of informants (64%) asserted that they do face obstacles which hinder the use of ICT in the classroom to illustrate; here are some examplesof their responses: "they are always not available, if they are, they will not work properly, or they are usedby other teachers".
"Electricity, availibility of internet rooms, the number of pupils".
"the lack of equipment, there's no free rooms for adapting ICT, the problem of elcetricity,sometimes one hour becomes unsufficient to pressent the whole lesson while adapting ICT tools".
"puplis are very noisy and talkative, and they are numerous, the use of ICT needs smaller class size".
As shown in table 15,the majority of informants (79%) regard their way of teaching as modern. This implies that they want it to be so and may make effort to develop it, Nevertheless, they find themselves struggling with many obstacles; mainly: the lack of equipment, usually a school has one projector for all teachers, long programs and insufficient hours for ELT, electricity, class size which is usually big. Through these claims, one can notice that even most EFL teachers in the present study assert that their way of teaching is modern. As far as ICT is concerned, the frequency of its use and the obstacles that hinder its utilization in the EFL classrooms designate that their way of teaching is not that modern with regard to the use of ICT tools.
B. Difficulties with Classroom Management/Rapport with Pupils and Colleagues Q17:Do you encounter difficulty in providing a wellmanaged classroom and a calm atmosphere during your classes?
The purpose of this question is to figure out whether EFL novice teachers in this study face problems related to classroom-management. As table 17 demonstrates, most informants (38%) asserted that they 'slightly' encounter difficulties in terms of classroom management, on the contrary only a minority's answer was 'very much'. It seems that EFL novice teachers in the present study do not have serious behavioral problems with most of their classrooms. Though the word 'slightly' and 'somewhat' in the responses may designate that a calm atmosphere is not easy to provide on a regular basis. On the whole, it seems that classroom management is not one of the major problem facing EFL novice teachers in the present study provided that most EFL novice teachers in this research teach in rural areas.
Q18: Have you managed to establish a good rapport with your pupils?
The objective of this question is to know whether EFL novice teachers in the present study have difficulties in establishing a good rapport with their pupils. As demostrated in table 18, suprisingly,it seems that a considerable number ofnovice EFL teachers in the present study (42%) are self confident and satisfied with their own rapport with their pupils. Their answer 'all pupils' is very likelyto mean most pupils; likewise, a considerable number of them assert that they have positive rapport with 'some pupils'. On the contrary, only a minority said they have possitive rapport "with few pupils"(14%) and "very few pupils"(9%). As a researcher, I tried to reveal if there are factors helping our respondentsestablishing a good rapport with their pupils. We found that: (1) most participants in this study have two or three years of teaching as beginning teachers (experience), (2) 57% of them show their passion towards teaching, (3) 57% of them pursued in-service training and asseted that it is beneficial, (4) 100% of themsaid they want more training( they have a will to develop their practice), Q 19: do you have a positive rapport with your colleagues?
The aim of this question is to know whether EFL novice teachers in the present study have difficulties in establishing a good rapport with their colleagues.
The majority of EFL novice teachers in the present study (93%) show their satisfaction with their rapport with their colleagues, on the contrary only minorities of them (7%) show their dissatisfaction on their relationship with their colleagues.
Q 20: How much, do experienced teachers guide and assist you as a novice teacher? In the above table, a greater number of EFL novice teachers in this research assert that EFL experienced teacher help and guide them a great deal (39%) and others said 'somewhat' (33%); to develop their teaching practice. It seem that experienced teachers play a key role in helping EFL novice teachers to overcome the difficulties they may come across as beginning in

Conclusion
After having analysed the informants' responses, we come up with several points and answers related to our research questions.First, the respondents' answers revealed that the majority of them think that the training they received during both their undergraduate education and the induction period was inadequate to have a successful induction experience.Second, we conclude that since newly-recruited EFL instructors received insufficient preparation, they often encounter some pedagogical deficiencies in training: adopting effective teaching methods, and adopting a modern way of teaching based on the use of ICT tools because of some obstacles.
Unlike the obstacle they stumble on in terms of the teaching pedagogy, they show a great relief with regard to classroom management and rapport with pupils, we found out that there are some key circumstances and variables that greatly reduce their struggles as beginning teachers in this study with regard to classroom management;mainly: teaching experience of two or three years, passion toward teaching profeesion. Furthermore, the research findings pupils in rural areas in Mostaganem are less troublsome and tend to bemore polite,kind,and more willing to learn and improve.This would potentially ease the process of induction into teaching for those teachers who start their first experience in rural areas. Nonetheless, this assumption is debateble; therfore, we suggest further researchs based on a comparaison betweennovice teachers'attitudes and experiences in urban and rural areas in some Algerian regions.
To this end , we need to understand the teacher's experience in their initial years of teaching. ( Kuzmic,1993) [8].