A Research Of The Relationship Between Teachers’Grammar Teaching Beliefs And Students’ Grammatical Competence In Senior High Schools

In the past20years, researches on teachers have transformed from teachers’explicit teaching behaviors to their implicit mental activities, and teachers’beliefs have become an important research topic. At present, lots of researches on teachers’beliefs have been conducted at home and abroad. However, few people dabble in grammar teaching beliefs of senior high school English teachers. English is a very important subject in basic education, and for Chinese students, grammar learning is the requisite foundation to learn English well. With students’ grammatical competence developing constantly, their pragmatic competence will gradually advance.This study investigates the grammar teaching beliefs held by senior high school English teachers, and explores the relationship between senior high school English teachers’ grammar teaching beliefs and students’ grammatical competence. Based on the review of the literature, three hypotheses are proposed:(1) Senior high school English teachers have their own beliefs about grammar teaching;(2) Their individual differences have impact on their beliefs about grammar teaching;(3) There is a correlation between the six categories of grammar teaching beliefs and students’grammar achievement in terms of their grammar test scores.To test and verify the above hypotheses,36teachers from Sanya No.1Middle School participate in the questionnaire survey. The Grammar Teaching Beliefs Questionnaire is adapted from the questionnaire designed by Andrews (2003). Meanwhile, grammar test is administered among400students in8classes of Senior Grade3in Sanya No.1Middle School. The software SPSS11.5is employed to calculate the quantitative data. SPSS11.5is used to obtain descriptive statistics and to conduct independent samples t-test, one-way ANOVA and correlation analysis.It has been found that:(1) The majority of the teacher subjects have their own beliefs about grammar teaching. They accept the basic principles of communicative approach while valuing the traditional grammar teaching methods.(2) Teachers’ beliefs are affected by their individual variables, such as academic degrees, years of teaching and grade of students they teach.(3) There is a positive correlation between all the categories of beliefs except Metalanguage and the students’ test scores. On the whole, teachers’ grammar teaching beliefs have impact on students’ grammatical competence in terms of students’ achievement in grammar test. The present research has implications for improving teachers’ teaching methods as well as teaching effects, enriching teachers’teaching beliefs, promoting their professional development and optimizing teaching environment.Limitations of the present study and suggestions for further study are also elaborated in this thesis.