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Teacher cognition in comprehension strategy instruction in Singapore secondary school English language classrooms
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Type
Thesis
Author
Keveri d/o Rajoo
Supervisor
Renandya, Willy A.
Abstract
Although research in the field of teacher cognition involving language teachers and a wide spectrum of learners, ranging from primary school children to young adult learners, has been continually growing as a body of study in academia in the last couple of decades, its branch of teacher cognition in second language instruction took time to gather pace and concentrated primarily on elementary school teachers in the western context. Little attention was given to formal instruction in the field of reading comprehension. The scant research on teacher cognition in Singapore schools too focused on pre-primary or primary teachers and language areas such as oral communication and grammar instruction. This dissertation attempts to study the key processes of teacher cognition–teacher beliefs, teacher thinking and teacher knowledge-in Singapore English Language secondary school classrooms in the field of reading comprehension strategy instruction. Adopting a case-study approach, data were collected from open-ended questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, pre-lesson observation interviews, lesson observations and post-lesson observation interviews (stimulated recalls). Six teachers teaching secondary two students from the Express, Normal Academic and Normal Technical streams were involved in the study. The results showed consistencies between teacher beliefs and practices in most areas. The few inconsistencies that surfaced were due to contextual factors. The results further showed that even though teachers employed different strategies during reading instruction, the explicit teaching of these strategies was absent. Based on Borg’s (2006) Model on Language Teacher Cognition, the results of the study suggested that teachers’ schooling experiences, teacher education programmes, classroom experiences and contextual factors had an impact on the teachers’ beliefs, thinking, knowledge and instructional practices in the classrooms.
The results of the study merit close attention for they have pedagogical implications for teacher preparation and ongoing professional development on comprehension strategy instruction. It is hoped that this study will interest academics and make a humble contribution to the literature on teacher cognition in second language instruction.
The results of the study merit close attention for they have pedagogical implications for teacher preparation and ongoing professional development on comprehension strategy instruction. It is hoped that this study will interest academics and make a humble contribution to the literature on teacher cognition in second language instruction.
Date Issued
2018
Call Number
LB1631 Kev
Date Submitted
2018