Correspondence between EFL Teachers’ Cognitive and Behavioral Manifestations of Pedagogical Beliefs: The Moderating Role of Teacher Grit

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran

2 Department of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Humanities, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Previous evidence suggests that teachers’ practices are invariably inconsistent with their beliefs. Different factors have been cited as responsible for such a lack of correspondence. To advance the accumulated scholarship, the current study examined the correspondence/non-correspondence between English as Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ cognitive and behavioral manifestations of pedagogical beliefs and the extent that teacher grit, as a personal variable, impacts the connection between these two manifestations. An initial group of 70 EFL teachers responded to L2 Teacher Grit Scale and Pedagogical Beliefs Questionnaire. Based on their performance on the Grit Scale, two sub-groups of fifteen teachers (with high and low levels of teacher grit) were selected to examine the alignment/non-alignment of their pedagogical beliefs and practices. Two instructional sessions per teacher were observed by means of an observation checklist designed based on the Pedagogical Beliefs Questionnaire. Comparisons across the teachers showed that whereas the two groups valued pedagogical beliefs roughly equally, only the teachers with high grit levels showed strong evidence of correspondence between their beliefs and actual instructional practices. Based on the findings, it can be implied that teacher grit can serve a prominent role in the correlation between EFL teachers' self-reported pedagogical beliefs and their actual practices.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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Teaching English as a Second Language Quarterly (Formerly Journal of Teaching Language Skills)
Volume 40, Issue 4
November 2021
Pages 35-60

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History

  • Receive Date: 18 April 2021
  • Revise Date: 17 August 2021
  • Accept Date: 29 August 2021

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