Research Article
“The Nail That Sticks Out Gets Hammered down”: The Influence Of EFL Context On The Teacher Beliefs Of A Native English-Speaking Teacher
Abstract
The 1970s witnessed a paradigm shift in research into language learning and teaching with focus moving away from process-product approach to the study of teachers and their cognitions. This shift in research led teaching to be viewed as a cognitive process not merely in terms of behavior, and teachers as decision makers in the classroom not as merely implementers of external theories. In the same decade, teacher cognition emerged as a separate domain of research that investigates what teachers know, think and believe. Teaching context is one of the factors that influence the formation of teacher beliefs and the enactment of these beliefs. The present study is an attempt at understanding the influence of EFL setting on teacher beliefs of a native English-speaking teacher. To this end, a single native speaker English teacher was selected and data were collected through a number of tools. The data were analyzed using grounded theory data analysis steps. The current study found that context has certain influence on teachers’ beliefs and teachers’ pedagogical practices. It also found that the changes that occurred in the participant teacher’s beliefs were behavioral rather than cognitive and that the context’s influence on which beliefs teachers enact in practice is relatively more marked.
References
- Abelson, R. (1979). Differences between belief systems and knowledge systems. Cognitive Science, 3, 355-366.
- Almarza, G. G. (1996). Student foreign language teacher’s knowledge growth. In D Freeman and J. C. Richards (Eds.), Teacher Learning in Language Teaching. Cambridge: CUP.
- Barcelos, A. M. F. (2015). Student teachers’ beliefs and motivation, and the shaping of their professional identities. In P.
- Kalaja, A. M. F. Barcelos, M. Aro, & M. Ruohotie Lyhty (Eds.), Beliefs, agency and identity in foreign language learning and teaching (pp. 71-96). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Barnard, R. & Burns, A. (2012). Introduction. In R. Barnard & A. Burns (Eds.), Researching language teacher cognition and practice: International case studies (pp. 1-10). Bristol, England: Multilingual Matters.
- Beijaard, D., Meijer, P. M., & Verloop, N. (2004). Reconsidering research on teachers’ professional identity. Teaching and Teacher Education, 20(2), 107-128.
- Bell, J. (2002). Narrative inquiry: More than just telling stories. TESOL Quarterly, 36, 207-213.
- Borg, S. (2003) Teacher cognition in language teaching: A review of research on what language teachers think, know, believe, and do. Language Teaching, 36(2), 81–109.
- Borg, S. (2006). Teacher cognition and language education. London: Continuum.
- Borg, S. (2009). Language teacher cognition. In J. Richards & A. Burns (Eds.), Cambridge guide to second language teacher education (pp. 91–101). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Borg, S. (2011) The impact of in-service teacher education on language teachers’ beliefs. System, 39(3), 370–380.
- Buehl, M. M., & Beck, J. S. (2015). The relationship between teachers’ beliefs and teachers’ practices. In H. Fives and M. Gregoire Gill (Eds.), Handbook of research on teachers’ beliefs. New York, NY: Routledge.
- Cabaroglu, N. & Roberts, J. (2000). Development in student teachers’ pre-existing beliefs during a 1-Year PGCE programme. System, 28, 387-402.
- Calderhead, J. (1987). Cognition and metacognition in teachers’ professional development. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Washington, DC.
- Calderhead, J., & Robson, M. (1991). Images of teaching: Student teachers’ early conceptions of classroom practice. Teaching & Teacher Education, 7, 1-8.
- Cave, S. (2015, October 19). The free-will scale. Retrieved from https://aeon.co/essays/free-will-is-back-and-maybe-this-time-we-can-measure-it
- Clandinin, D. J. (1985). Personal practical knowledge: A study of teachers’ classroom images. Curriculum Inquiry, 15(4), 361-385.
- Clark, C.M. & Peterson, P.L. (1984). Teachers’ Thought Processes. In M.C. Wittrock (Ed.). Handbook of research on teaching, third edition. New York: Macmillan
- Clark, C.M., & Peterson, P.L. (1986). Teachers’ thought processes. In Handbook of research on teaching, ed. M.C. Wittrock, 255–96. 3rd ed. New York: Macmillan.
- Cole, A. L., & Knowles, J. G. (1993). Shattered images: Understanding expectations and realities of field experiences. Teaching and Teacher Education, 9, 457-471.
- Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
- Crookes, G. & Arakaki, L. (1999). Teaching idea sources and work conditions in an ESL program. TESOL Journal, 8, 15-19.
- Duff, P. A. (2012). How to carry out case study research. In A. Mackey & S.M. Gass (Eds.), Research methods in second language acquisition (pp. 95-116). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
- Farrell, T. S. C. (2003). Learning to teach English language during the first year: personal influences and challenges. Teaching and Teacher Education, 19, 95-111.
- Fives, H. & Buehl, M. (2012). Spring cleaning for the “messy” construct of teachers’ beliefs: What are they? Which have been examined? What can they tell us? In K. R. Harris, S. Graham, & T. Urdan (Eds.), APA educational psychology handbook: Volume 2 Individual differences and cultural and contextual factors (p. 471–499). Washington: American Psychological Association.
- Golombek, P. R. (1998). A study of language teachers’ personal practical knowledge. TESOL Quarterly, 32(3), 447-464.
- Holt-Reynolds, D. (1992). Personal history-based beliefs as relevant prior knowledge in course work. American Educational Research Journal, 29, 325-349.
- Johnson, K.E. (1990) The theoretical orientations of English as a second language teachers: The relationship between beliefs and practice. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Syracuse University.
- Johnson, K. E. (1994). The emerging beliefs and instructional practices of preservice English as a second language teachers. Teaching & Teacher Education, 10(4), 439-452.
- Johnston, S. (1992). Images: A way of understanding the practical knowledge of student teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 8, 123-136.
- Joram, E., & Gabriele, A. J. (1998). Preservice teachers' prior beliefs: transforming obstacles into opportunities. Teaching and Teacher Education, 14(2), 175-191.
- Kagan, D. (1992). Implications of research on teacher beliefs. Educational Psychologist, 27(1), 65–90. Kumaravadivelu, B. (2003). Beyond methods: Macrostrategies for language teaching. New Haven/London: Yale University Press.
- Levin, B. B. (2015). The development of teachers’ beliefs. In H. Fives, & M. Gregoire Gill (Eds.), International handbook of research on teachers’ beliefs (pp. 48–65). New York, NY: Routledge.
- Lortie, D. (1975). Schoolteacher; A sociological study. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
- Mattheoudakis, M. (2007). Tracking changes in pre-service EFL teacher beliefs in Greece: A longitudinal study. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23(8), 1272-1288.
- Nettle, E. B. (1998). Stability and change in the beliefs of student teachers during practice teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 14(2), 193-204.
- Pajares, M. F. (1992). Teachers’ beliefs and educational research: Cleaning up a messy construct. Review of Educational Research, 62, 307 332.
- Pavlenko, A. (2007). Autobiographic Narratives as Data in Applied Linguistics. Applied Linguistics, 28(2), 163-188.
- Peacock, M. (2001). Pre-service ESL teachers’ beliefs about second language learning: a longitudinal study. System, 29, 177−95.
- Phipps, S., and Borg, S. (2009). Exploring tensions between teachers’ grammar teaching beliefs and practices. System, 37(3), 380-390.
- Richards, K. (2003). Qualitative inquiry in TESOL. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Richardson, V. (1996). The role of attitudes and beliefs in learning to teach. In J. Sikula (Ed.), Handbook of research on teacher education (2nd ed., pp. 102-119). New York: Macmillan.
- Rokeach, M. (1968). Beliefs, attitudes and values: A theory of organization and change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
- Rubie-Davies, C. M., Flint, A., & Mcdonald, L. G. (2011). Teacher beliefs, teacher characteristics, and school contextual factors: What are the relationships? British Journal of Educational Psychology, 82(2), 270-288.
- Sakui, K. & Gaies, S. J. (2003). A case study: beliefs and metaphors of a Japanese teacher of English. In P. Kalaja and A. M. F. Barcelos (eds), Beliefs about SLA: New research approaches (pp. 153-70). Dordecht, Netherlands: Kluwer.
- Sendan, F. & Roberts, J. (1998). Orhan: A case study in the development of a student teacher’s personal theories. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 4, 229-44.
- Skott, J. (2009). Contextualising the notion of belief enactment. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 12(1), 27-46.
- Smith, D. B. (1996). Teacher decision making in the adult ESL classroom. In D. Freeman and J. C. Richards (eds), Teacher learning in language teaching (pp. 197-216). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
- van Oers, B. (1998). The fallacy of decontextualization. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 5(2), 135–142.
- Williams, M., & Burden, R. (1997). Psychology for language teachers. A social constructivist approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Zheng, H. (2015). Teacher beliefs as a complex system: English language teachers in China. Basel: Springer International Publishing.
“Sivrilen Çivi Dövülür”: Yabancı Dil Olarak İngilizce Bağlamının Ana Dili İngilizce Olan Bir Öğretmenin Öğretmen İnanışları Üzerindeki Etkisi
Abstract
1970’ler dil öğrenimi ve öğretimi alanındaki araştırmada odağın süreç-sonuç yaklaşımından uzaklaşıp öğretmenlerin ve onların bilişlerinin çalışmasına kaydığı bir paradigma değimine tanık oldu. Bu değişim öğretimin yalnızca davranışsal olarak değil aynı zamanda bir bilişsel süreç ve öğretmenlerin de dış reçetelerin mekanik uygulayıcıları değil de sınıftaki karar vericiler olarak görülmesine sebep oldu. Öğretmen bilişi öğretmenlerin ne bildiği, ne düşündüğü ve neye inandığını araştıran ayrı bir araştırma alanı olarak ortaya çıktı. Öğretim ortamı öğretmen inanışları ve bu inanışların uygulanmasını etkileyen faktörlerden biridir. Bu çalışma yabancı dil olarak İngilizce bağlamının ana dili İngilizce olan bir öğretmenin öğretmen inanışları üzerindeki etkisini anlamaya çalışmaktadır. Bu amaçla, Türkiye’de çalışan ana dili İngilizce olan bir öğretmen seçildi ve veriler birkaç farklı araçla toplandı. Veriler gömülü teori analiz basamakları kullanılarak incelendi. Mevcut çalışma bağlamın öğretmenlerin inanışları ve onların pedagojik uygulamaları üzerinde belli bir etkiye sahip olduğunu buldu. Çalışma aynı zamanda katılımcı öğretmenin inanışlarında meydana gelen değişimin bilişsel olmaktan çok davranışsal olduğu ve bağlamın etkisinin öğretmenlerin hangi inanışları uygulama koyduğu konusunda daha belirgin olduğu sonucuna vardı.
References
- Abelson, R. (1979). Differences between belief systems and knowledge systems. Cognitive Science, 3, 355-366.
- Almarza, G. G. (1996). Student foreign language teacher’s knowledge growth. In D Freeman and J. C. Richards (Eds.), Teacher Learning in Language Teaching. Cambridge: CUP.
- Barcelos, A. M. F. (2015). Student teachers’ beliefs and motivation, and the shaping of their professional identities. In P.
- Kalaja, A. M. F. Barcelos, M. Aro, & M. Ruohotie Lyhty (Eds.), Beliefs, agency and identity in foreign language learning and teaching (pp. 71-96). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Barnard, R. & Burns, A. (2012). Introduction. In R. Barnard & A. Burns (Eds.), Researching language teacher cognition and practice: International case studies (pp. 1-10). Bristol, England: Multilingual Matters.
- Beijaard, D., Meijer, P. M., & Verloop, N. (2004). Reconsidering research on teachers’ professional identity. Teaching and Teacher Education, 20(2), 107-128.
- Bell, J. (2002). Narrative inquiry: More than just telling stories. TESOL Quarterly, 36, 207-213.
- Borg, S. (2003) Teacher cognition in language teaching: A review of research on what language teachers think, know, believe, and do. Language Teaching, 36(2), 81–109.
- Borg, S. (2006). Teacher cognition and language education. London: Continuum.
- Borg, S. (2009). Language teacher cognition. In J. Richards & A. Burns (Eds.), Cambridge guide to second language teacher education (pp. 91–101). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Borg, S. (2011) The impact of in-service teacher education on language teachers’ beliefs. System, 39(3), 370–380.
- Buehl, M. M., & Beck, J. S. (2015). The relationship between teachers’ beliefs and teachers’ practices. In H. Fives and M. Gregoire Gill (Eds.), Handbook of research on teachers’ beliefs. New York, NY: Routledge.
- Cabaroglu, N. & Roberts, J. (2000). Development in student teachers’ pre-existing beliefs during a 1-Year PGCE programme. System, 28, 387-402.
- Calderhead, J. (1987). Cognition and metacognition in teachers’ professional development. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Washington, DC.
- Calderhead, J., & Robson, M. (1991). Images of teaching: Student teachers’ early conceptions of classroom practice. Teaching & Teacher Education, 7, 1-8.
- Cave, S. (2015, October 19). The free-will scale. Retrieved from https://aeon.co/essays/free-will-is-back-and-maybe-this-time-we-can-measure-it
- Clandinin, D. J. (1985). Personal practical knowledge: A study of teachers’ classroom images. Curriculum Inquiry, 15(4), 361-385.
- Clark, C.M. & Peterson, P.L. (1984). Teachers’ Thought Processes. In M.C. Wittrock (Ed.). Handbook of research on teaching, third edition. New York: Macmillan
- Clark, C.M., & Peterson, P.L. (1986). Teachers’ thought processes. In Handbook of research on teaching, ed. M.C. Wittrock, 255–96. 3rd ed. New York: Macmillan.
- Cole, A. L., & Knowles, J. G. (1993). Shattered images: Understanding expectations and realities of field experiences. Teaching and Teacher Education, 9, 457-471.
- Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
- Crookes, G. & Arakaki, L. (1999). Teaching idea sources and work conditions in an ESL program. TESOL Journal, 8, 15-19.
- Duff, P. A. (2012). How to carry out case study research. In A. Mackey & S.M. Gass (Eds.), Research methods in second language acquisition (pp. 95-116). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
- Farrell, T. S. C. (2003). Learning to teach English language during the first year: personal influences and challenges. Teaching and Teacher Education, 19, 95-111.
- Fives, H. & Buehl, M. (2012). Spring cleaning for the “messy” construct of teachers’ beliefs: What are they? Which have been examined? What can they tell us? In K. R. Harris, S. Graham, & T. Urdan (Eds.), APA educational psychology handbook: Volume 2 Individual differences and cultural and contextual factors (p. 471–499). Washington: American Psychological Association.
- Golombek, P. R. (1998). A study of language teachers’ personal practical knowledge. TESOL Quarterly, 32(3), 447-464.
- Holt-Reynolds, D. (1992). Personal history-based beliefs as relevant prior knowledge in course work. American Educational Research Journal, 29, 325-349.
- Johnson, K.E. (1990) The theoretical orientations of English as a second language teachers: The relationship between beliefs and practice. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Syracuse University.
- Johnson, K. E. (1994). The emerging beliefs and instructional practices of preservice English as a second language teachers. Teaching & Teacher Education, 10(4), 439-452.
- Johnston, S. (1992). Images: A way of understanding the practical knowledge of student teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 8, 123-136.
- Joram, E., & Gabriele, A. J. (1998). Preservice teachers' prior beliefs: transforming obstacles into opportunities. Teaching and Teacher Education, 14(2), 175-191.
- Kagan, D. (1992). Implications of research on teacher beliefs. Educational Psychologist, 27(1), 65–90. Kumaravadivelu, B. (2003). Beyond methods: Macrostrategies for language teaching. New Haven/London: Yale University Press.
- Levin, B. B. (2015). The development of teachers’ beliefs. In H. Fives, & M. Gregoire Gill (Eds.), International handbook of research on teachers’ beliefs (pp. 48–65). New York, NY: Routledge.
- Lortie, D. (1975). Schoolteacher; A sociological study. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
- Mattheoudakis, M. (2007). Tracking changes in pre-service EFL teacher beliefs in Greece: A longitudinal study. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23(8), 1272-1288.
- Nettle, E. B. (1998). Stability and change in the beliefs of student teachers during practice teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 14(2), 193-204.
- Pajares, M. F. (1992). Teachers’ beliefs and educational research: Cleaning up a messy construct. Review of Educational Research, 62, 307 332.
- Pavlenko, A. (2007). Autobiographic Narratives as Data in Applied Linguistics. Applied Linguistics, 28(2), 163-188.
- Peacock, M. (2001). Pre-service ESL teachers’ beliefs about second language learning: a longitudinal study. System, 29, 177−95.
- Phipps, S., and Borg, S. (2009). Exploring tensions between teachers’ grammar teaching beliefs and practices. System, 37(3), 380-390.
- Richards, K. (2003). Qualitative inquiry in TESOL. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Richardson, V. (1996). The role of attitudes and beliefs in learning to teach. In J. Sikula (Ed.), Handbook of research on teacher education (2nd ed., pp. 102-119). New York: Macmillan.
- Rokeach, M. (1968). Beliefs, attitudes and values: A theory of organization and change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
- Rubie-Davies, C. M., Flint, A., & Mcdonald, L. G. (2011). Teacher beliefs, teacher characteristics, and school contextual factors: What are the relationships? British Journal of Educational Psychology, 82(2), 270-288.
- Sakui, K. & Gaies, S. J. (2003). A case study: beliefs and metaphors of a Japanese teacher of English. In P. Kalaja and A. M. F. Barcelos (eds), Beliefs about SLA: New research approaches (pp. 153-70). Dordecht, Netherlands: Kluwer.
- Sendan, F. & Roberts, J. (1998). Orhan: A case study in the development of a student teacher’s personal theories. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 4, 229-44.
- Skott, J. (2009). Contextualising the notion of belief enactment. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 12(1), 27-46.
- Smith, D. B. (1996). Teacher decision making in the adult ESL classroom. In D. Freeman and J. C. Richards (eds), Teacher learning in language teaching (pp. 197-216). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
- van Oers, B. (1998). The fallacy of decontextualization. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 5(2), 135–142.
- Williams, M., & Burden, R. (1997). Psychology for language teachers. A social constructivist approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Zheng, H. (2015). Teacher beliefs as a complex system: English language teachers in China. Basel: Springer International Publishing.
There are 52 citations in total.
Details
| Primary Language | English |
|---|---|
| Subjects | Other Fields of Education |
| Journal Section | Articles |
| Authors | |
| Early Pub Date | March 10, 2023 |
| Publication Date | April 15, 2023 |
| Published in Issue | Year 2023 Volume: 12 Issue: 2 |
All the articles published in the journal are open access and distributed under the conditions of CommonsAttribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Bartın University Journal of Faculty of Education