Understanding Macau novice secondary teachers’ beliefs and practices of EFL writing instruction: A complexity theory perspective

Yu, Shulin; Xu, Hao; Jiang, Lianjiang; Chan, Iris Ka Ian

doi:10.1016/j.jslw.2020.100728

Cited by 29 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In summary, although the above studies regarding L2 teachers’ written feedback practices as well as NES and NNES teachers’ assessment in L2 writing are inspirational and thought-provoking, there are still two research gaps. Firstly, the majority of studies on teachers’ practices about written feedback are conducted in L2 contexts outside of mainland China, so little is known about how L2 teachers implement written feedback in this context ( Mao and Crosthwaite, 2019 ; Yu et al, 2020 ). The findings of studies in other L2 contexts may be not generalized, all the time, to the mainland Chinese EFL context.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To date, ample studies on teacher written feedback have adopted an intervention design to examine the relative efficacy of different types of WCF. However, relatively little attention has been paid to how practitioners implement written feedback in their specific teaching contexts ( Lee, 2013 , 2020 ; Alshahrani and Storch, 2014 ; Yu et al, 2020 ), and such limited studies tend to be conducted outside of mainland China ( Mao and Crosthwaite, 2019 ; Yu et al, 2020 ). Given the powerful influence of context on teachers’ teaching practices ( Borg, 2015 ; Bao, 2019 ; Sun and Zhang, 2019 ; Gao and Zhang, 2020 ), more relevant studies in the mainland Chinese EFL context are called for.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Teacher Written Feedback on English as a Foreign Language Learners’ Writing: Examining Native and Nonnative English-Speaking Teachers’ Practices in Feedback Provision

Cheng

Zhang

2021

Front. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

While previous studies have examined front-line teachers’ written feedback practices in second language (L2) writing classrooms, such studies tend to not take teachers’ language and sociocultural backgrounds into consideration, which may mediate their performance in written feedback provision. Therefore, much remains to be known about how L2 writing teachers with different first languages (L1) enact written feedback. To fill this gap, we designed an exploratory study to examine native English-speaking (NES) and non-native English-speaking (NNES) (i.e., Chinese L1) teachers’ written feedback practices in the Chinese tertiary context. Our study collected 80 English as a foreign language (EFL) students’ writing samples with teacher written feedback and analyzed them from three aspects: Feedback scope, feedback focus, and feedback strategy. The findings of our study revealed that the two groups of teachers shared similar practices regarding feedback scope and feedback strategies. Both NES and NNES EFL teachers used a comprehensive approach to feedback provision, although NNES teachers provided significantly more feedback points than their NES peers and they delivered their feedback directly and indirectly. However, their practices differed greatly with regard to feedback focus. Specifically, when responding to EFL students’ writing, NES teachers showed more concern with global issues (i.e., content and organization), whereas NNES teachers paid more attention to linguistic errors. With a surge in the recruitment of expatriate NES and local NNES English teachers in China and other EFL countries, our study is expected to make a contribution to a better understanding of the two groups of EFL teachers’ pedagogical practices in written feedback provision and generate important implications for their feedback provision.

show abstract

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teacher Written Feedback on English as a Foreign Language Learners’ Writing: Examining Native and Nonnative English-Speaking Teachers’ Practices in Feedback Provision

Cheng

Zhang

2021

Front. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The principle and methodology of CDST provides a new method of analyzing the conundrums of applied linguistics. Scholars have started to use CDST to depict the relationship between teachers' beliefs and practices (Xiong, 2019;Yu, et al, 2020). Yu et al (2020) explored two Macau novice secondary teachers' beliefs and practices about writing from the perspective of complexity theory through classroom observations, interviews, and pedagogical documents.…”

Section: Theoretical Framework: Complex Dynamic Systems Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Scholars have started to use CDST to depict the relationship between teachers' beliefs and practices (Xiong, 2019;Yu, et al, 2020). Yu et al (2020) explored two Macau novice secondary teachers' beliefs and practices about writing from the perspective of complexity theory through classroom observations, interviews, and pedagogical documents. They found that while teachers could keep the consistency between their beliefs and practices, there were still divergences due to different curricula and school policies.…”

Section: Theoretical Framework: Complex Dynamic Systems Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Language Teachers' Beliefs About the Medium of Instruction and Actual Practices Using Complex Dynamic System Theory

Gao

Ya-fang

2021

Front. Educ.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper explores the relations between teacher beliefs and practices about the medium of instruction from the perspective of complex dynamic systems theory. Through a functional framework of teacher classroom discourse, mixed analytical models were adopted to fully describe the close interaction and non-linear relations between teacher beliefs and practices. Data were collected through classroom observations and semi-structured interviews from three college teachers working in a typical research-based university in northeast China. The findings revealed the complex and dynamic relations between teacher beliefs and practices about the medium of instruction. The consistency and inconsistency between the analysis of interviews and classroom observations represented the tensions and changes between teacher beliefs and practices about the medium of instruction. The study calls for attention to the socially situated and co-evolving relations between teacher beliefs and practices and how they develop with contextual affordances, attractor states, flexible goals, and high dependence on initial conditions.

show abstract

“…Such research gains its popularity again because of scholars' interest in teacher cognition in mainstream education research where, there is a general recognition that teachers are active, thinking decision-makers who play a pivotal role in shaping classroom teaching (Shulman, 1986;Zhang and Ben Said, 2014). Understanding language teachers' cognitions is central to understanding their teaching; and research along this line is burgeoning (e.g., Sun, 2017;Clark-Gareca and Gui, 2019;Yu et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Sociocultural Perspective on English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) Teachers’ Cognitions About Form-Focused Instruction

Qiang

Zhang

2021

Front. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There has been much research into teacher beliefs about teaching and learning as seen in the general teacher education literature. In the field of language teacher education, this line of research has been evolving, with the recent trend being streamlined into “teacher cognition” as a generic or umbrella term. Despite increasing amounts of research output so far, research into foreign language teachers’ cognitions about their own teaching and decision-making is still insufficient, particularly with regard to university-level English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teachers in China. Drawing on Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory, this qualitative research focused on EFL teachers’ cognitions about form-focused instruction in Chinese university settings. It intended to discover how teachers’ cognitions changed when they were expected to teach in actual classrooms and what factors contributed to these changes. Data collected from four teacher-participants through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations and follow-up stimulated recall interviews showed participants’ support for focus-on-form instruction, which means they not only paid attention to the grammatical form of the language but also to the meaning it is intended to convey. However, data also showed that the teacher-participants shifted from focus-on-form to focus-on-formS instruction in actual teaching, which suggests that they might have realized the challenges of carrying out teaching activities surrounding focus-on-form and would like to take an easier approach by only teaching the grammar of the language by focusing on formS. Such incongruences are interpreted with reference to a plethora of sociocultural factors including traditional Chinese thinking and institutional expectations. The implications of the findings for stakeholders in universities, including faculty members, students, and curriculum developers in similar contexts, are also discussed.

show abstract

Understanding Macau novice secondary teachers’ beliefs and practices of EFL writing instruction: A complexity theory perspective

Cited by 29 publications

References 23 publications

Teacher Written Feedback on English as a Foreign Language Learners’ Writing: Examining Native and Nonnative English-Speaking Teachers’ Practices in Feedback Provision

Teacher Written Feedback on English as a Foreign Language Learners’ Writing: Examining Native and Nonnative English-Speaking Teachers’ Practices in Feedback Provision

Exploring Language Teachers' Beliefs About the Medium of Instruction and Actual Practices Using Complex Dynamic System Theory

A Sociocultural Perspective on English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) Teachers’ Cognitions About Form-Focused Instruction

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About