This study is concerned with teacher decision-making in the English as a
Second Language classroom. Specifically, the study examines the impact of
teacher beliefs and perceptions, context factors and second language theory on
planning and implementation decisions for the ESL instructional context.
Nine ESL teachers in three post-secondary institutions participated in this
qualitative study. Data were gathered through classroom observations, postlesson
conferences and interviews. These data were examined in terms of what
instructional decisions teachers made and the factors that influenced these
decisions from the individual teacher's perspective. Second, the data were
analysed for internal consistency between stated beliefs and instructional
decisions and external consistency between decisions and second language
theory.
In examining the role of the teacher in the ESL instructional context, this
thesis contributes to both research and teaching theory in English as a Second
Language. First, while regular classroom research has indicated that the role of
the teacher and the ecology of the classroom are central to understanding the
instructional context, ESL classroom studies have primarily focused on the
learner, the learning process and language learning outcomes in this context.
This thesis addresses this gap in the research by investigating the teacher's role
in the ESL instructional setting and the factors that impact on teacher decisionmaking.
Second, ESL classroom researchers have observed that theoretical
ideas are implemented in various ways in the formal setting. While researchers
have speculated on the reasons for teachers' eclectic use of theory in practice,
there has been little exploratory research conducted to investigate this
phenomenon. The findings from this present study indicate that teachers'
instructional decisions are centrally influenced by both individually held beliefs
about second language learning and teaching as well as experiential knowledge
of the ESL classroom. These findings not only contribute to our understanding
of the ESL instructional context from the teacher's perspective, but are also
significant for the development of instructional theory.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/3060 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Smith, Deborah Binnie |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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