L2 teachers and their beliefs about grammar pedagogy.

Just like Instant Noodles: L2 teachers and their beliefs about grammar pedagogy.

Stephen Andrews. Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, Vol.9, No.4, November 2003.

I selected this article to see the methodology used by Stephen Andrew who has done a lot of research in the areas of teacher awareness and cognition in order to see what techniques he used to identify associations between cognition and teaching practice.

This research focus on teachers’ cognitions (beliefs, feeling, and understanding) concerned with grammar and grammar pedagogy. The survey revealed no significant association between their cognitions about subject matter and individual background factors. However, there were interesting patterns of association between the teachers’ belief and their levels of language proficiency and explicit knowledge of grammar. Interviews revealed patterns of cognitions about subject matter associating with certain pedagogical practices with considerable variation between individuals. In order to identify general patterns o beliefs, feelings, and understanding among a group of L2 teachers, a case study approach was employed to investigate in detail the relationship between the beliefs, feeling, and understanding of two teachers and their pedagogical practice. The qualitative data showed clearly how individuals’ experience of teaching their subject in a particular context influenced their beliefs and their pedagogical practice.

Some relevant studies:
Clandinin (1992) emphasises the importance of context and experience in
shaping the development of the teacher’s personal practical knowledge. The practical knowledge and teaching behaviour may show some associations which can reveal patterns of response to context and experience, and also individuality of response. The author provide a good summary of the association patterns in a table form. The patterns of cognition and pedagogical practice seem to be strongly influenced by the experience of teaching within the context of the Hong
Kong secondary school. The data show clearly how teachers are influenced by ‘… their understanding of the system in which they work and their roles within it’ (Richards, 1996, p. 284).

For the individuality of response, each teacher’s beliefs and practices are influenced not only by the macro-culture of society (and such factors as the syllabus, the textbooks, the examination system, the expectations of parents, and student characteristics), but also by the micro-culture of their particular institution. Many of the individual variations may be associated, at least in part, with differences in teaching conditions between schools.

From the analysis of teachers’ principles and classroom practices in Breen et al. (2001), they identify complex relationships between principles and practices: for instance, that a shared principle might be implemented through a diverse range of practices, while a common practice may be justified by a variety of principles (Breen et al., 2001, pp. 495–496).

shared principles ------ diverse range of practices
------ Learning is a process of accumulating entities (deductive, inductive)

common practices ------ justifies by a variety of principles
------ form-focus presentation (explicit knowledge of grammar, prepared
for written exams, learn something specific)


Methodology:
The 170 subjects completes a 60-item beliefs inventory questionnaire, specifically concerning their beliefs about language and language learning. Then they took a battery of tests focusing on their explicit knowledge of grammar.
The first step of the questionnaire analysis was grouping the items together according to the themes of six areas (e.g. form-focus, deductive, inductive, meaning-focus, drilling, and metalanguage).
Then the each subject was interviewed twice using semi-structured interview framework on each occasion. The second interview presented an opportunity for their teaching reflections. Each subject was observed teaching grammar lessons and videotaped. The statements of beliefs made by individual during the interviews were triangulated with data from other sources (their writing and questionnaire responses); and with their pedagogical practice in the two observed lessons. The interview transcripts were analyzed and statements relating to beliefs, understanding, and feelings were highlighted. Four broad categories of statements emerged. The interview responses of the 17 subjects were summarized on a grid and quantifies. Finally, relevant triangulated data were added to the summary grid.

The analysis of the qualitative data suggests that there are general patterns in the cognitions about subject matter and these associate with certain features of their pedagogical practice (see Table III). At the same time, each teacher’s beliefs and practices are influenced not only by the macro-culture of society (syllabus, text books, the examination systems, the expectations of parents, and students’ characteristics) but also by the micro-level of their particular institution. Many of the individual variations noted in earlier discussion may be associated with difference in teaching conditions between schools.