High School English Language Teachers' Beliefs about Grammar Teaching and Their Actual Classroom Practices: Four High Schools in Amhara Region in Focus
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2008-06
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AAU
Abstract
The main purpose of this study was to inves tig.c;rte high school English language
teachers' beliefs about grammar and teaching methods, and their actual
classroom practices. It was particularly targeted at revealing whether the
teachers' actual classroom practices diverged from or converged with their belief s .
The need for uncovering such issues sprang from the fact that teachers '
pedagogical beliefs are believed to influence their instructional judgments and
educational outcomes. The required data for the study were gathered through
questionnaire, classroom observation and focus group discussion from high
school teachers. To analyze and interpret the data, the researcher used both the
qualitative and quantitative methods. The results of the questionnaire generally
indicated that teachers believe in the positive eff ects of the inductive grammar
teaching approach and communicative language teaching to enhance students'
language competences. The actual classroom practices, however, immensely
deviated from their expressed beliefs. It was also found out that the teachers had
unfavorable beliefs about tralIitional teacher-centered approach. The actual
classroom did not, however, commensurate with the teachers' beliefs. These
clashes are against what some scholars in the literature say about the decisive
effects of teachers' beliefs to guide their clas s room practices . It was then pointed
out that these discrepancies between teachers ' beliefs and their activities could
affect p edagogical outcomes, and it was generally concluded that such disparities
could have contributed their shares to the deterioration of high school students'
English proficiency. Finally, it is recommended that the Minis try of Education,
teacher educators and other concerned bodies should exert a maximum effo rt to
reconcile the teachers' beliefs and their classroom practices to alleviate the
negative impacts on the effectiveneSS of English language teaching.
Description
Keywords
inves tig.c;rte high school English language