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Teacher cognition in oral English instruction in Chinese EFL university classrooms
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Type
Thesis
Author
Chen, Zan
Supervisor
Goh, Christine Chuen Meng
Abstract
Research into language teacher cognition has witnessed rapid growth in the last few decades. While there is a massive expansion of research from first language teaching contexts to second and foreign language contexts, the Chinese context, despite its largest EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher population, remains under-explored from a teacher cognition perspective. In relation to specific curricular domains, a dominant focus has been on teacher cognition in the teaching of reading, writing and grammar, but limited attention has been directed at listening and speaking instruction. There is therefore an urgent need for more efforts to be made into these less-explored domains. This study makes such an attempt to investigate teachers’ cognition in oral English instruction in the EFL context in China. Three major aspects of teacher cognition were examined: teacher beliefs, teacher knowledge and teacher thinking about oral English instruction. Also examined were the factors that influenced the teachers’ cognition.
The study adopted a mixed-method research approach. Data were collected through a large-scale questionnaire survey (N = 527), follow-up semi-structured interviews (N = 30), and a multi-method case study (N = 2) which comprised the use of video-recorded classroom observation, stimulated recalls, questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews. The aim of employing these combined methods was to achieve an enriched understanding of teacher cognition from different angles and also to strengthen the rigour of the overall study.
Results showed that the teachers in this study, in general, held a positive attitude towards developing students’ communicative competence (M = 4.19, SD = 0.70). They were, however, less concerned about focusing on linguistic accuracy which involves correcting students’ grammar and pronunciation errors and expecting them to speak with native-speaker accuracy (M = 2.34, SD = 0.79). The study also identified several difficulties that the teachers encountered in oral English instruction. The most reported challenge was imposed by the teachers’ low self confidence with regard to their oral English proficiency and insufficient pedagogical knowledge about oral English instruction.
In addition, results found that a majority of the teachers felt that they did not have adequate pedagogical content knowledge for oral English instruction. They seemed to be least knowledgeable about spoken grammar, with 90% of the teachers reporting to have no or limited knowledge in this aspect. Their knowledge about students’ oral English characteristics was also less than adequate, indicating that the teachers may not have taken these into account when planning speaking activities and lessons.
The study also shed interesting light on the relationship between teacher cognition and specific features in their professional profiles. Three variables that exert statistically significant difference in the teachers’ beliefs and knowledge were teachers’ learning experiences, self-perceived speaking ability and familiarity with teaching methodologies.
Results revealed the teachers’ thoughts and decision-making during the pre-active planning, interactive decision-making and post-active reflection phases. The case study further uncovered interesting aspects of the similarities and differences in the thoughts and decision-making of the experienced and novice teachers in their specific but largely similar teaching contexts. The findings confirmed that teachers’ thoughts and decision-making are context-specific, personal, and under the influence of multiple and interwoven factors.
The findings of this study will help determine potential needs in teacher education and professional development programmes for improvements in teachers’ knowledge, beliefs and decision-making processes related to oral English instruction, which will, in turn, help teachers gradually improve the effectiveness of their teaching.
The study adopted a mixed-method research approach. Data were collected through a large-scale questionnaire survey (N = 527), follow-up semi-structured interviews (N = 30), and a multi-method case study (N = 2) which comprised the use of video-recorded classroom observation, stimulated recalls, questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews. The aim of employing these combined methods was to achieve an enriched understanding of teacher cognition from different angles and also to strengthen the rigour of the overall study.
Results showed that the teachers in this study, in general, held a positive attitude towards developing students’ communicative competence (M = 4.19, SD = 0.70). They were, however, less concerned about focusing on linguistic accuracy which involves correcting students’ grammar and pronunciation errors and expecting them to speak with native-speaker accuracy (M = 2.34, SD = 0.79). The study also identified several difficulties that the teachers encountered in oral English instruction. The most reported challenge was imposed by the teachers’ low self confidence with regard to their oral English proficiency and insufficient pedagogical knowledge about oral English instruction.
In addition, results found that a majority of the teachers felt that they did not have adequate pedagogical content knowledge for oral English instruction. They seemed to be least knowledgeable about spoken grammar, with 90% of the teachers reporting to have no or limited knowledge in this aspect. Their knowledge about students’ oral English characteristics was also less than adequate, indicating that the teachers may not have taken these into account when planning speaking activities and lessons.
The study also shed interesting light on the relationship between teacher cognition and specific features in their professional profiles. Three variables that exert statistically significant difference in the teachers’ beliefs and knowledge were teachers’ learning experiences, self-perceived speaking ability and familiarity with teaching methodologies.
Results revealed the teachers’ thoughts and decision-making during the pre-active planning, interactive decision-making and post-active reflection phases. The case study further uncovered interesting aspects of the similarities and differences in the thoughts and decision-making of the experienced and novice teachers in their specific but largely similar teaching contexts. The findings confirmed that teachers’ thoughts and decision-making are context-specific, personal, and under the influence of multiple and interwoven factors.
The findings of this study will help determine potential needs in teacher education and professional development programmes for improvements in teachers’ knowledge, beliefs and decision-making processes related to oral English instruction, which will, in turn, help teachers gradually improve the effectiveness of their teaching.
Date Issued
2013
Call Number
PE1068.C6 Che
Date Submitted
2013