The present study investigates the impact on teachers' beliefs and teaching practices of their involvement in an innovative curricular project in Korea. The study explores the experiences of four teachers who were required to teach maths and science using English as the medium of instruction, and the inevitable changes to their practices that resulted when adopting the English language teaching materials. The investigation is a qualitative study, using face-to-face interviews as the main source of data, alongside teaching observations and the adoption of a research diary. Through an in-depth analysis of such data, the present study illuminates some of the concerns of the teachers embarking on the new curriculum, including their perceived lack of English ability, as well as perceived shortcomings of the English language program. However, all four teachers highlighted a number of positive experiences that they had not conceived of previously. The research reveals in some detail the process that the teachers went through from a position of doubt to a position of acceptance. This process reveals a range of emotions and challenges as well as evidence of personal and professional development leading to a broadened perspective on teaching. Overall, this study provides evidence of changes in teacher cognition and instructional practices in a context of educational reform, in which teachers are challenged to learn something new and subsequently, to change their pre-existing beliefs. The study reveals how positive aspects of teacher change can be experienced through their learning efforts, leading to a feeling of self-affirmation in their abilities as a teacher. This finding has particular implications for practitioners involved in teacher development in the field of ELT as well as teacher education more generally.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:633509 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Yeonsuk, B. |
| Publisher | Canterbury Christ Church University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://create.canterbury.ac.uk/13013/ |
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