The complexity of language teachers’
beliefs and practice: one EFL teacher’s
theories
Li Li
The development of teacher cognition:
Since 1990s, there has been a surge of interest in
the study of language teacher cognition – what
language teachers know, think and believe.
• The special edition of System (2011)
• flourish of over 600 publications
The development of teacher cognition:
And it has changed from a relatively new and undeveloped
area to an important and well-researched field of inquiry in
understanding classroom instruction, pedagogical
effectiveness and teacher development.
One strand of research focuses on the relationships
between what teachers know and believe and how they
practice in teaching.
The relationship between beliefs and practice (1)
Contradictory view
beliefs play a central role in teachers’ decisions, judgments and
behaviour. In particular, teachers’ beliefs heavily influence:
• pedagogical decision making (Borg 2003, 2006; Farrell and
Kun, 2008; Golombek 1998; Johnson 1994; Ng and Farrell
2003; Pajares 1992)
• the acceptance and uptake of new approaches, techniques
and classroom activities (Donaghue 2003; Li 2008)
• choice of the subjects and evaluation in the classrooms (Borg
2001)
beliefs ‘affect everything that they [teachers] do in the
classroom’ (Williams and Burden 1997: 56–57).
The relationship between beliefs and practice (2)
Contradictory view
• Beliefs are seen to be the strongest factors through which we
can predict teaching behaviour (Pajares, 1992).
However, a great deal of empirical evidence has also suggested
that there exists inconsistency, mismatches and discrepancies
between teachers’ beliefs and their practices (e.g. Basturkmen,
Loewen, and Ellis 2004; Farrell and Kun 2008; Feryok 2008; Lee
2009; Nishino 2008; Orafi and Borg 2009; Phipps and Borg 2009).
The relationship between beliefs and practice (3)
Influential factors
Speer (2005) argues that methods and research designs might
cause the inconsistency of teachers’ beliefs and actions: shard
understanding
The contextual factors so far is still most widely recognized factor
accounting for the discrepancy between teacher cognition and
classroom practice
• Student: (Shavelson & Stern, 1981);
• school culture and its norms and recognized values (Davis,
2003; Li, 2008; Sato & Kleinsasser, 2004).
The relationship between beliefs and practice (4)
Three observations
• at a theoretical level, much of this work has been conducted
from a cognitive perspective, viewing beliefs as fixed
assumptions, representing teachers’ mental lives. In this
tradition, research tends to focus on the realm of reality
inside teachers’ heads. However, it might not be appropriate
to view beliefs from a single theoretical stance because a
cognitive-based perspective ignores the contexts and
interactive nature of teachers’ daily work in classrooms.
The relationship between beliefs and practice (4)
Three observations
• methodologically, research so far has mainly involved
elicitation of teachers’ perceptions using questionnaires and
interviews, in order to compare with their classroom activities
generally. The precise connections between teachers’ beliefs
and specific practices are rarely examined in any detailed
manner.
there is still a lack of similar parallel research with NNEST (Nonnative English speaker teachers) in teachers’ beliefs and
practices.
So this study…
• Takes an interactionist perspective of beliefs (Skott, 2001) and
theories of action (Argyris and Schön 1974) to understand the
relationship between beliefs and practice
• Adopts a detailed case study approach (interview, classroom
interaction and teacher reflection)
• Situates in an EFL context (an experienced teacher working in
a prestigious school)
An interactionist’s perspective of beliefs
– beliefs as ‘entities that may be transformed or even
emerge in and as a result of his or her interactions with
students’ (Skott, 2001).
– This perspective challenges the sole determinant role of
beliefs in shaping classroom practices.
Theories of action
• espoused theories; concerned with what people give
allegiance to and communicate to others (beliefs)
• theories-in-use, which govern what people do (practice)
Argyris (1980) makes the case that these two theories may or
may not match and the individual may or may not be aware
of the mismatch. If these two theories are compatible in any
particular instance, this leads to a better understanding of an
actor’s intentions, actions and consequences. However,
when a gap is noticed between these two theories, seeking a
connection creates a dynamic for reflection and dialogue – to
gain insights from the teacher.
A case study
Context and participant
2004-2010
Context and participant
•
•
•
•
•
Yuan had 26 years teaching experience (2005)
working in one of the best state secondary schools in Beijing
one of the first expert teachers in the city.
Diploma in TEFL and a BA in ELT.
had worked in different types of schools and witnessed the
transformation of pedagogy from translation methods to CLT
• ongoing professional development activities, such as an
overseas training course and overseas visits
Context and participant
• Yuan’s class had 43 students, a common class size in Beijing.
• Students were aged 16-17 and this was the students’ fifth
year of formal instruction in English as a foreign language.
• Yuan had been teaching them for almost two years and in the
following year, students take the National College Entrance
Test (NCET), GaoKao.
• The students’ English level was between intermediate and
upper intermediate.
Data collection
Research focus
Data elicitation and collection
Beliefs
Semi-structured interviews
Classroom practice
Video-recording and
transcription of classroom
interaction
Participant’s insights Video-clip based stimulated
into the relationship comment procedure
between beliefs and
practice
Data collection
 Two interviews, with the first one focusing on the macrocontext and the second on himself as a teacher and the
development of his pedagogical beliefs.
four 45-minute lessons of 180 minutes in total. The unit
had the topic ‘How English people celebrate Christmas’
and the classroom interaction data was from the first
lesson of the unit.
playback of the selected stretches of interaction and
Yuan’s interpretation and understanding of what was
happening.
Data analysis
Interviews: 3C approach (Lichtman 2009): coding, categorizing and
concept-emerging. Data then were categorized by clustering units
representing a teacher’s set of beliefs (see Speer 2008), which are
a small group of related beliefs that, in combination, describe a
teacher’s perspective on a particular topic: enhancing
communicative abilities’ across belief categories
Interactional data: detailed transcriptions of verbal and non-verbal
behaviours were made subject to micro-level analysis
Yuan’s comments: Yuan’s interpretations and reflections on specific
episodes are used to reflect insights of teachers’ perspectives
A collection of Yuan’s beliefs about ‘enhancing communicative abilities’
Teaching
Teaching should
focus on
enhancing
communicative
skills by using
authentic
materials, using
personal
experience and
helping students
to be
independent.
Learning
Learning is to
making sense
how language
works
through
participation,
collaboration
and
interaction.
Subject
English is a
tool to
communicate.
Culture is an
important
part of
language
learning.
Student
Students
should be
contributing to
the class
actively and
should be one
of the
knowledge
sources.
Peer feedback
is important.
Teacher
The teacher is
not the only
source of
knowledge,
should play
different roles
in teaching.
The teacher
should facilitate
classroom
discussion.
communicative ability lies at the heart of Yuan’s theories
Communicative ability is of the utmost important for a language
learner, and teaching and learning is all about enhancing
communicative skills (Interview 1, Extract 1)
communicative ability lies at the heart of Yuan’s theories
Methods and materials:
I use a communicative approach in my teaching… I use
authentic materials and tasks (e.g. personal experience) to
coach students to communicate in the target language…to
‘talk’ in context. The focus is on the learning process.
(Interview 2, Extract 1)
communicative ability lies at the heart of Yuan’s theories
Influence of the context
• Most of my students now learn English for their future needs,
for example, to go abroad to study or travel, and without
communication skills, they can’t do anything as English is the
world language now. (Interview 1, Extract 2)
• I didn’t know how to order food when I visited abroad for the
first time and it made me realize what’s the real purpose of
learning a language. (Interview 2, Extract 2)
• memorization and translation are the most effective ways to
learn but today, language is a tool to communicate rather
than a subject because it opens a door to another culture and
it’s a bridge to enter another community’ (Interview 1, Extract
3
communicative ability lies at the heart of Yuan’s theories
expectations for learners
• It’s important for students to get involved, in different forms,
for example, pair work, group work and individual work. I like
to give students opportunities to speak because they can
have very good points sometimes. It’s not about saying a
correct sentence; it’s more about the topic, and speaking
opportunities. (Interview 2, Extract 3)
• ‘students should contribute to the class actively’, ‘opening
students’ mouths’ (Interview 2, Extract 4).
communicative ability lies at the heart of Yuan’s theories
expectations for the teacher
• The only but most challenging thing is that I have to play
different roles, rather than being a knowledge provider or
instructor, I need to be a guide, a facilitator, an organiser, or a
participant, an observer, a critical friend. (Interview 2, Extract
5)
• I do feel challenged, every minute, every second. You know,
many students do know more than me in many aspects. And
I am learning to switch from ‘PPP’ to ‘CLT’ and on top of that,
our textbooks have changed so much in recent years.
(Interview 2, Extract 6)
Convergence: Yuan does what he believes
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Y
S
Y
S
Y
S
Y
((clapping his hands))(.)Ok!
(5.0)
can some group give me some information about how er (.)
English people spend their Christmas (.) and er (.) what er
is your discussion if possible?
(2.1)
NAME what about you?
(10.0)
En (.)they all er (.)have a very (.)
Sorry? I can’t hear you (.)louder please (.)they all have a
very what?=
=a delicious food=
=oh delicious dinner right?  yes? yes I am sure
(2.3)
on Christmas Eve or er on Christmas Day?=
=Christmas eve=
=on Christmas Eve? possible (.)what else? thank you
Yuan’s insights / understanding
• ‘students are all given opportunities to say something’
(Reflection, Extract 1)
• Yuan’s reflection upon this interactional exchange highlights
two factors influencing his decision-making: the student’s
character and level of experience and pedagogical goal.
Yuan’s insights / understanding: knowledge and experience
• His experience and knowledge about this particular student
told him that the student was trying to avoid making mistakes
by providing a minimal contribution. Yuan was not very
satisfied with the student’s brief contributions, so his strategy
was to elicit more talk by ‘asking further questions and push
her if necessary’ (Reflection, Extract 2).
• Students usually feel embarrassed to speak publicly and the
reason that I interrupted students was to slow down the pace
to ease the student. It’s more conversation-like rather than a
Q and A. The point is me being in the middle of the
conversation can encourage the student to stay in this
conversation. (Reflection, Extract 3)
Yuan’s insights / understanding: pedagogical goal
• The purpose of this activity was to ‘open students’ mouths
and let them contribute to the content’ (Reflection, Extract 4)..
• He considered embedded error correction (note in line 13, he
reformulated the student’s contribution to ‘dinner’) ‘a useful
approach to establish an equal relationship and reduce
anxiety in classroom to create a relaxing learning
environment’ (Reflection, Extract 5).
Divergence: Yuan does opposite what he
believes
1
2
3
4
5
S
Y
S
Y
the great writer er=
=the great writer (.)oh (.)who?
((2 unintelligible))
Hhhh (.) this kind of thing happens(.)Charles Dickens
right? Charles Dickens (.)yes (.)what are you going to say?
6
7
8
S
Y
the Christmas (.)
the Christmas carol right? (.) well I understand for some
new words you don’t know how to pronounce (.) you need to
9
pay attention to pronunciation using dictionary to see how
10
to can pronounce for some words (.)I am not sure (.)for
S
Y
example 那叫什么 Chinese
((what’s that called))
((2 unintelligible))
xie ji sheng… are you sure? xie! xie xie Chinese I mean
S
Y
((mistletoe))
Chinese pronunciation
Xie
are you sure? xie ji sheng 是吗 (.) 还是还是念别的((looking
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
((right?))((or it’s pronounced
as something else?))
at one student’s book))有人说念 xie 反正 Chinese (.)right?
17
18
((some people pronounce it)) ((anyway))
a kind of plant thanks you (.)
NAME mentioned some information very important even the
19
great writer Charles Dickens and he loves Christmas so
20
21
22
much right? Ok
(1.2)
and er by the way do you happen to know any other besides
23
Christmas carols any other written by this great writer?
24
25
(1.2)
yes! for example? 著作
((works))
(6.0)
who can you remember who can think of any book written by
26
27
28
29
30
31
Y
this great writer? you have to know something right?
Charles Dickens so famous a writer!
(2.3)
oh what is Chinese? Dickens!!! Dickens
Yuan’s insights / understanding
• Yuan acknowledged the tension between what he planned
and what actually he did, and described this ‘moving away’
from task as an interactive decision he had to make in that
situation.
• Yuan’s reflection upon this interactional exchange highlights
three factors influencing his decision-making: priority of
educational goals, subject content knowledge and selfpreceived responsibility.
Yuan’s insights / understanding
First of all, it is important for students to have correct pronunciation
particularly for those students who will have to take the oral test for college
entrance exam. And if I can categorize my educational goals, then improving
their linguistic knowledge (e.g. pronunciation) is a short-term goal while
enhancing communicative abilities would be counted as a long-term goal.
Short-term goal always gets priority… (Reflection, Extract 6)
Second, there is no need to go on and on to discuss details of Christmas
Carol and mistletoe [another topic that was brought up by a student that
Yuan chose to neglect for further discussion] because partially I couldn’t
comment on this student’s contribution as I don’t know much about this
myself [laughs embarrassedly] and partially I need to provide some useful
knowledge to students to make them feel they’ve learnt something from
me. (Reflection, Extract 7)
Conclusion
1. we cannot simply say whether a teacher’s espoused theories
are in alignment or in contrast with his or her classroom
practice; evidence of both is to be found in what a teacher says
and does even regarding one aspect of his beliefs in one
lesson. There is no strict one-to-one relationship between
espoused theories and classroom practice.
I believe in A but in class I sometimes do A and I sometimes do
B.
Conclusion
2. teachers’ theories are conceptualized in a given environment
and contextualized by this environment.
• Yuan’s espoused theories are developed and shaped by
student future needs, his personal experience, the status
of English and his understanding of the function of
language. These macro-contexts might guide overarching
pedagogy and instructional activities
• the classroom micro-contexts – the moment-to-moment
variables shaped what Yuan did in this particular lesson.
The relationship between teachers’ espoused theories
and classroom practices is one outcome of interactions
with the students.
Conclusion
3. methodologically, this study suggests that in order to
understand the exact relationship between beliefs and practice,
a fine-grained analysis of teacher behaviour through interaction
and teacher insights into the reasons underlying decisionmaking is important. It highlights the need to situate beliefs in
social acts.
Only by considering a detailed analysis of his classroom
interaction with students and the rationale behind this, can we
understand whether and why he did A or B.
THANK YOU
Questions?
[email protected]