The impact of early language learning experiences on EFL teachers’ language teaching beliefs and practices

Abstract

 

Based on a multiple qualitative case study design, this study investigated the impact of early language learning experiences on language teaching beliefs of Turkish in-service EFL teachers and aimed to find out how these experiences influenced their current practices. The participants included three Turkish EFL teachers working in English preparatory programs of different state universities. They were determined through purposive sampling so that they could provide rich and in-depth data for the study. The data were collected in the spring semester of 2014-2015 academic year through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, stimulated recalls and reflection reports. As for the data analysis, qualitative content analysis scheme of Creswell (2012) and the constant comparison method of Strauss and Corbin (1998) were used. The results revealed that the influence of prior language learning experiences was quite noticeable on the participant teachers’ language teaching beliefs and practices. It was also demonstrated that the participants had very initial conceptualizations on how languages were learnt and taught based on their language learning experiences in the past which included their teachers, language learning habits and language learning aptitude. Based on these findings, this study calls for further research that will focus on the notion of apprenticeship of observation among EFL teachers.

Keywords: Apprenticeship of observation, EFL teachers, Language teacher cognition

The impact of early language learning experiences on EFL teachers’ language teaching beliefs and practices

Based on a multiple qualitative case study design, this study investigated the impact of early language learning experiences on language teaching beliefs of Turkish in-service EFL teachers and aimed to find out how these experiences influenced their current practices. The participants included three Turkish EFL teachers working in English preparatory programs of different state universities. They were determined through purposive sampling so that they could provide rich and in-depth data for the study. The data were collected in the spring semester of 2014-2015 academic year through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, stimulated recalls and reflection reports. As for the data analysis, qualitative content analysis scheme of Creswell (2012) and the constant comparison method of Strauss and Corbin (1998) were used. The results revealed that the influence of prior language learning experiences was quite noticeable on the participant teachers’ language teaching beliefs and practices. It was also demonstrated that the participants had very initial conceptualizations on how languages were learnt and taught based on their language learning experiences in the past which included their teachers, language learning habits and language learning aptitude. Based on these findings, this study calls for further research that will focus on the notion of apprenticeship of observation among EFL teachers.

Keywords: Apprenticeship of observation, EFL teachers, Language teacher cognition