title: Orienting to pedagogical innovation: A case study of Vietnamese teachers' beliefs and practices regarding Task-based Language Teaching

authors: Nguyen, Gia Viet

subjects: teachers' beliefs

abstract: Although research into language teacher cognition has become a well-established domain of inquiry for applied linguists over the past few decades, few in-depth studies have explored language teachers’ beliefs regarding task-based language teaching (TBLT). Furthermore, in the context of Vietnam, where TBLT is claimed to be adopted in the current national English curriculum and textbooks, no studies have been carried out to investigate the extent of orientation of the teachers toward TBLT.
This qualitative case study aims to occupy such a research space. Following an extensive review of the literature relating to TBLT principles, task characteristics and teachers’ beliefs, an analysis of the mandated textbook was carried out to consider the extent to which it followed the principles and characteristics recommended by TBLT proponents. The study employed a multi-method approach to data collection. Specifically, it has investigated the beliefs and practices of a group of eleven English language teachers in two provincial Vietnamese upper secondary schools. Ten collaborative lesson planning sessions, twenty-two observations of skills lessons, twenty-two stimulated recall sessions of the observed lessons, and two focus group sessions were carried out to collect the data. The data, together with insights of the context, were subject to a procedure of grounded analysis, through which the data from various sources were compared and contrasted to identify significant themes.
The data showed that the teachers’ patterns of practices were not related to current TBLT principles and favourable task characteristics. For example, the teachers tended to employ activities that were forms-focused, and conducted classroom activities in a non-communicative fashion. Their beliefs were found to incline to a structure-based approach, where language items were pre-taught before activities could be performed. A wide range of hindering factors were identified as constraining the implementation of TBLT in the context, such as the teachers’ current state of knowledge and beliefs about language teaching, their perceptions of the significant others, and the role of examinations. In light of a sociocultural perspective, the teachers’ beliefs in the present study were situated, shaped by their experiences as language learners and language teachers, and their interactions with the contexts in which they worked. Their beliefs were also found to be resistant to change. Teachers’ beliefs and practices in this study were also viewed through the lens of the Theory of Planned Behaviour through which core beliefs were identified to have close relationships to teachers’ behaviours in the classroom.
The findings of the present investigation, being a case study, cannot be generalised beyond the context in which the data were collected. Nevertheless, they make an original contribution to academic understanding of teachers’ beliefs and their practices in the context of Vietnam, and in relatable contexts. Drawing on the findings, implications for theory, research, teacher professional development and language teaching policies are offered.

text: Orienting to pedagogical innovation: A case study of Vietnamese teachers' beliefs and practices regarding Task-based Language Teaching Although research into language teacher cognition has become a well-established domain of inquiry for applied linguists over the past few decades, few in-depth studies have explored language teachers’ beliefs regarding task-based language teaching (TBLT). Furthermore, in the context of Vietnam, where TBLT is claimed to be adopted in the current national English curriculum and textbooks, no studies have been carried out to investigate the extent of orientation of the teachers toward TBLT.
This qualitative case study aims to occupy such a research space. Following an extensive review of the literature relating to TBLT principles, task characteristics and teachers’ beliefs, an analysis of the mandated textbook was carried out to consider the extent to which it followed the principles and characteristics recommended by TBLT proponents. The study employed a multi-method approach to data collection. Specifically, it has investigated the beliefs and practices of a group of eleven English language teachers in two provincial Vietnamese upper secondary schools. Ten collaborative lesson planning sessions, twenty-two observations of skills lessons, twenty-two stimulated recall sessions of the observed lessons, and two focus group sessions were carried out to collect the data. The data, together with insights of the context, were subject to a procedure of grounded analysis, through which the data from various sources were compared and contrasted to identify significant themes.
The data showed that the teachers’ patterns of practices were not related to current TBLT principles and favourable task characteristics. For example, the teachers tended to employ activities that were forms-focused, and conducted classroom activities in a non-communicative fashion. Their beliefs were found to incline to a structure-based approach, where language items were pre-taught before activities could be performed. A wide range of hindering factors were identified as constraining the implementation of TBLT in the context, such as the teachers’ current state of knowledge and beliefs about language teaching, their perceptions of the significant others, and the role of examinations. In light of a sociocultural perspective, the teachers’ beliefs in the present study were situated, shaped by their experiences as language learners and language teachers, and their interactions with the contexts in which they worked. Their beliefs were also found to be resistant to change. Teachers’ beliefs and practices in this study were also viewed through the lens of the Theory of Planned Behaviour through which core beliefs were identified to have close relationships to teachers’ behaviours in the classroom.
The findings of the present investigation, being a case study, cannot be generalised beyond the context in which the data were collected. Nevertheless, they make an original contribution to academic understanding of teachers’ beliefs and their practices in the context of Vietnam, and in relatable contexts. Drawing on the findings, implications for theory, research, teacher professional development and language teaching policies are offered.

year: 2013

title: Early childhood student teachers’ beliefs about the role of the teacher and how young children learn

authors: Mitchell, Jill Winifred

abstract: The purpose of this research was, firstly, to explore early childhood student teachers’ beliefs about the role of the teacher and how young children learn. Secondly, it was to examine formative influences on participants’ beliefs and, thirdly, to ascertain any changes or modifications over a three-year period. Seventeen students completed five questionnaires and of these seven, who were the case study students, were interviewed and observed on teaching practice. Stories were written with each of these seven participants and their case studies prepared. Data were coded, analysed and grouped into themes. Changes or modifications to beliefs were charted for group and individual data for all 17 students. The results indicated that the beliefs student teachers’ construct are powerfully informed by experiences prior to the teacher education programme and that the family is perceived as particularly influential.
Beliefs were dynamic; they developed and changed over a three-year period. Some of these beliefs were reflected in practice. To demonstrate the dynamic nature of beliefs, a taxonomy was developed to explain the status of the different beliefs held by students. It is argued that it is simplistic to speak of student beliefs as though they all have the same degree of tenacity, power and influence over how a student teacher thinks and acts. Implications for teacher education and further research were discussed.

text: Early childhood student teachers’ beliefs about the role of the teacher and how young children learn The purpose of this research was, firstly, to explore early childhood student teachers’ beliefs about the role of the teacher and how young children learn. Secondly, it was to examine formative influences on participants’ beliefs and, thirdly, to ascertain any changes or modifications over a three-year period. Seventeen students completed five questionnaires and of these seven, who were the case study students, were interviewed and observed on teaching practice. Stories were written with each of these seven participants and their case studies prepared. Data were coded, analysed and grouped into themes. Changes or modifications to beliefs were charted for group and individual data for all 17 students. The results indicated that the beliefs student teachers’ construct are powerfully informed by experiences prior to the teacher education programme and that the family is perceived as particularly influential.
Beliefs were dynamic; they developed and changed over a three-year period. Some of these beliefs were reflected in practice. To demonstrate the dynamic nature of beliefs, a taxonomy was developed to explain the status of the different beliefs held by students. It is argued that it is simplistic to speak of student beliefs as though they all have the same degree of tenacity, power and influence over how a student teacher thinks and acts. Implications for teacher education and further research were discussed.

year: 2001

title: 'No-body' is my friend: Cultural considerations of young children's 'imaginary companions'

authors: Hayes (Bluett), Shilo Jane

subjects: imaginary companions

abstract: The variegated relationships young children may have during their early childhood education (ECE) years have long been of interest to theorists and teachers alike.  Relationships, and understandings of companionship, can take multiple forms. Our understandings of what these relationships may look like are frequently informed by complex social and cultural constructs; therefore, seeking to apply a one-size-fits-all interpretation is theoretically and culturally problematic, especially when the companions young children may spend time with may be unseen or unnoticed by surrounding adults.
A common Euro-western notion is that unseen companions are not real; hence they are generally referred to in the literature as being imaginary.  In an extensive literature review, this thesis explores whether companionship with the unseen are one of many possible forms of relationships.  Dominant Euro-western claims that such relationships are imaginary are considered critically before the analysis widens in theoretical scope to draw on various alternative cultural accounts.  The analysis draws on the theoretical work of Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault and Karen Barad, in particular.  An additional exploration considers the author’s own situated experiences of parenting a child who during her childhood years had companions that were unseen to the author.  The final analysis, based on a small selection of carefully chosen autoethnographic accounts, draws on the significance of ancestral inheritance. Within this specific research context that inheritance comprises my daughter’s Māori ancestry and our shared Celtic ancestry. 
Ancestral inheritance provides reflexive companionship for the entire thesis.  Examining inheritance sheds light on ways that traditional Euro-western claims of the imagined worlds of children, and consequently childhood, have produced a legacy of ideas which have subsequently held the term imaginary in place.  These dominant worldviews are shown to fall short in their capacity to cover the diversity of lived realities of children and their unseen (to others) companion(s).  Inheritance also denotes the culturally mediated birthright that may travel alongside a young child and how this birthright may provide insight and alternative cultural knowledge and understandings of various multiform relationship companions.
As a result of analysing several possible perspectives on the relationships under study, this thesis proposes the new term culturally compatible travelling companions (CCTC): companions who travel alongside children as ordinary, expected features of their lifespan.  This shift in term acknowledges that diverse notions of companionship, and the forms this may take, are integral and salient constructions of each culture’s historical and narrative accounts.  
This is timely research, as currently nearly 64% of young children aged between birth and four years of age attend some type of Early Childhood Education (ECE) service in Aotearoa New Zealand (Ministry of Education [MoE], 2019).  The national ECE curriculum document Te Whāriki (MoE, 2017) recognises the significance of young children’s relationships and understands those relationships within the rich and complex cultural knowledge patterning that travels alongside a young child.  
The aim of this research is to add to the theoretical understandings of the forms, functions and features of the multiple, complex relationship companions who may share the lives of young children, whether or not these companions are seen or discernible to those around the children.  It suggests an alternative perspective to the dominant view and offers provocations for those who work alongside young children to think differently about whether these relationship companions are indeed only imaginary.

text: 'No-body' is my friend: Cultural considerations of young children's 'imaginary companions' The variegated relationships young children may have during their early childhood education (ECE) years have long been of interest to theorists and teachers alike.  Relationships, and understandings of companionship, can take multiple forms. Our understandings of what these relationships may look like are frequently informed by complex social and cultural constructs; therefore, seeking to apply a one-size-fits-all interpretation is theoretically and culturally problematic, especially when the companions young children may spend time with may be unseen or unnoticed by surrounding adults.
A common Euro-western notion is that unseen companions are not real; hence they are generally referred to in the literature as being imaginary.  In an extensive literature review, this thesis explores whether companionship with the unseen are one of many possible forms of relationships.  Dominant Euro-western claims that such relationships are imaginary are considered critically before the analysis widens in theoretical scope to draw on various alternative cultural accounts.  The analysis draws on the theoretical work of Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault and Karen Barad, in particular.  An additional exploration considers the author’s own situated experiences of parenting a child who during her childhood years had companions that were unseen to the author.  The final analysis, based on a small selection of carefully chosen autoethnographic accounts, draws on the significance of ancestral inheritance. Within this specific research context that inheritance comprises my daughter’s Māori ancestry and our shared Celtic ancestry. 
Ancestral inheritance provides reflexive companionship for the entire thesis.  Examining inheritance sheds light on ways that traditional Euro-western claims of the imagined worlds of children, and consequently childhood, have produced a legacy of ideas which have subsequently held the term imaginary in place.  These dominant worldviews are shown to fall short in their capacity to cover the diversity of lived realities of children and their unseen (to others) companion(s).  Inheritance also denotes the culturally mediated birthright that may travel alongside a young child and how this birthright may provide insight and alternative cultural knowledge and understandings of various multiform relationship companions.
As a result of analysing several possible perspectives on the relationships under study, this thesis proposes the new term culturally compatible travelling companions (CCTC): companions who travel alongside children as ordinary, expected features of their lifespan.  This shift in term acknowledges that diverse notions of companionship, and the forms this may take, are integral and salient constructions of each culture’s historical and narrative accounts.  
This is timely research, as currently nearly 64% of young children aged between birth and four years of age attend some type of Early Childhood Education (ECE) service in Aotearoa New Zealand (Ministry of Education [MoE], 2019).  The national ECE curriculum document Te Whāriki (MoE, 2017) recognises the significance of young children’s relationships and understands those relationships within the rich and complex cultural knowledge patterning that travels alongside a young child.  
The aim of this research is to add to the theoretical understandings of the forms, functions and features of the multiple, complex relationship companions who may share the lives of young children, whether or not these companions are seen or discernible to those around the children.  It suggests an alternative perspective to the dominant view and offers provocations for those who work alongside young children to think differently about whether these relationship companions are indeed only imaginary.

year: 2020