Following the Heart or the Crowd: Epistemological Beliefs and Actual Practices of In-service Language Teachers in Taiwan

Abstract

The study aims to explore in-service teachers` epistemological beliefs about the following five critical paradigms in second language education and their corresponding practice s: (1) inductive/deductive grammar instruction, (2) intensive/extensive reading, (3) looking up unknown words in the dictionary/guessing from context, (4) focusing on accuracy/proficiency, and (5) task-based/test-based learning. The findings reveal that even though in-service teachers possess certain epistemological beliefs that shape the nature of their pedagogical practice, there is an ongoing negotiation between the dominant (e.g., students` test performance) and less-dominant factors involved in their decision making. The teaching practice is both an individual and socially constructed behavior.

本研究皆在探討在職英語教師針對下列五種有關外語教學之知識信念與其相對之教學實務之關係：（1）歸納法或演繹法文法教學、（2）精讀或廣泛閱讀教學法、（3）查字典或從前後情境請測字義、（4）著重正確性或流暢性、（5）任務導向或考試導向教學。研究結果顯示，即使在職教師受特定知識論之影響而採行某些教學策略，其實際教學仍受一些外在主控因素（如學生於測驗上的分數表現）及次控因素（個人知識信念）影響其教學決策。教學行為乃是結合個人與社會兩者共同建構之行為。