Browsing by Subject "EFL teaching"
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(2023)This thesis examines Finnish upper secondary school English teachers’ practices and beliefs regarding authenticity and autonomy in the EFL classroom. The aim of the study is to find out how EFL teachers promote experiences of authenticity and learner autonomy in the classroom and this way create connections to students’ use of English outside school. The study is also interested in English teachers’ attitudes towards authenticity and autonomy as well as the teachers’ support for students’ Extramural English use. Research on EFL learners’ Extramural English use has reported of a gap between formal and informal language learning settings, and this thesis investigates the applicability of experiences of authenticity and learner autonomy in bridging this gap. The data of the study consists of qualitative classroom observations and interviews with English teachers. Four upper secondary school English teachers participated in the study. Three lessons were observed from each teacher, which adds up to twelve observed lessons in total. The observations focused on the teachers’ motivational practice and teaching materials. In addition, semi-structured retrospective interviews were conducted with the teachers after the classroom observations. Qualitative content analysis was applied to both sets of data to describe the teachers’ practices and attitudes towards authenticity and autonomy in language learning. The data analysis shows that while the teachers used a variety of motivational strategies to promote authenticity and autonomy in the classroom, each teacher also had their preferred motivational practices that characterised their teaching. Comparing the classroom observation data and the interview data revealed a connection between the teachers’ practices and their definitions and attitudes towards authenticity in language learning. While the teachers considered authenticity and autonomy important in language learning, they perceived promoting them in class as difficult due to constraints such as available time and materials. Authenticity and autonomy were promoted in the classroom mostly by using strategies of teacher discourse, which aimed at arguing for the relevance or purpose of the learning tasks and connecting the learning to students’ everyday lives. Interestingly, the teachers were not especially keen on supporting their students’ Extramural English practices and questioned whether students desire experiences of authenticity and autonomy at all in school. The results of the study shed light on the complex relationship between formal and informal language learning settings from the EFL teachers’ perspective.
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(2024)This study examines the phenomenon of Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) in the Finnish lower and upper secondary school EFL classrooms from the teacher’s point of view. The purpose of the study is to find out how current lower secondary and upper secondary school EFL teachers in Finland view the phenomenon and how their possible previous personal experiences with FLA might inform their current teaching strategies. The study simultaneously examines the attitudes and beliefs of the teachers towards the phenomenon in order to answer the research questions it proposes. The study is inherently qualitative in nature as it uses as its primary data interviews of seven English teachers teaching at schools around Finland. The semi-structured interviews conducted for the study probed into the thoughts of the participants in order to gain insight into their beliefs and teaching strategies. By means of a thematic analysis of the data, multiple common themes were identified in relation to the symptoms of FLA as well as strategies to deal with FLA. The opinions the teachers had on these strategies differed somewhat when it came to matters such as accommodation and pushing students dealing with FLA to participate in activities. One out of the seven teachers who took part in the study shared that they had experienced FLA in the past which made possible a contrastive analysis between the practices and attitudes of teachers who had and those who had not had previous personal experiences of FLA. The results of the study concluded that the teacher who had had previous personal experience with FLA was more hesitant to push the students outside of their comfort zone and preferred to be more flexible when it came to their teaching strategies as well as ways of assessment. Next to this, it was clear that the majority of the teachers, even if they had not had previous personal experiences with the phenomenon, were still willing to learn about the topic and how to deal with it. This was evident in the way that all of the teachers agreed that FLA should be taught about more, both to future teachers as well as current teachers. Future studies should investigate this phenomenon from the point of view of the student, as well as in the context of the Finnish EFL classroom at large.
Now showing items 1-2 of 2