A Comparative Study Of The English Grammar Teaching Beliefs And Practice Between The Novice And Experienced Teachers In Senior High Schools

Grammar teaching plays a significant role in foreign language teaching,even though it has experienced ups and downs during different development periods of foreign language teaching.The traditional grammar teaching method is still prevalent in most non-English-speaking countries.In addition to the importance of grammar,teachers' beliefs have a significant influence on their grammar teaching practice(Borg,2003;Kuzborska,2011).Teacher's belief refers to the ideas and opinions on language,language teaching and learning,learners etc.In the process of English teaching,teachers' beliefs have a great impact on their practice,and teaching practice reflects the teachers' beliefs.In the context of new curriculum reform,as the novice teachers with English grammar teaching beliefs are different from experienced teachers,their corresponding teaching approach and practice in class will be different.With the constant enrichment of experience,the novice teacher's teaching beliefs may also change.At present,many related researches at home and abroad select new teachers and experienced teachers in university for comparation in belief and practice.This study is based on the novice teachers and experienced teachers in high school.It is of great significance not only to form the correct beliefs which guide the English grammar teaching practice,but also provide a mutual understanding and learning opportunity for both new and experienced teachers in order to improve grammar teaching efficiency.The study has two aims: 1)to understand novice and experienced English teachers' beliefs about grammar teaching;2)to compare the grammar teaching practice of theselected teachers through observation.The data for this study are collected by questionnaire,classroom observation and semi-structured interview.By analyzing the acquired data,the study finds that both novice and experienced teachers' beliefs are dynamic and fluid.Their beliefs,influenced by many factors,change in different phases.In addition,teachers' beliefs are mainly affected by their own early learning and teaching experiences,and by contextual factors,which have a greater effect on novice teachers than on experienced teachers.As for the teaching practice,the novice teachers prefer the communicative teaching methodology,whereas the experienced group tend to teach using a traditional method.Grammatical terminology,structure analysis and L1-L2 translation are the main grammar teaching strategies in experienced teachers' lessons.Finally,it is found that there are consistencies and inconsistencies between teachers' beliefs and their teaching practice.The discrepancies may be caused by some context factors.Compared with the experienced teachers' beliefs about grammar teaching,the novice teachers' beliefs are more easily influenced by the teaching practice.On the basis of these findings,the author proposes some suggestions for novice and experienced English teachers: since the teachers' grammatical knowledge is insufficient,especially for new teachers,they should supplement their English grammar knowledge either by professional training or by self-study.In addition to the use of traditional grammar teaching methods,experienced teachers should use some new grammar teaching methods to improve students' interests in learning English grammar.