خلاصة:
Despite the abundance of research on ELT teachers, little is known about teacher language awareness (TLA) with focus on its impact on pedagogical practice in the EFL context. To fill this gap, an in-depth study was conducted to examine the procedural dimension of TLA among eight EFL teachers with different teaching experiences (novice versus experienced) related to teaching grammar at Iranian language institutes. Data were collected through non-participant classroom observations and stimulated recall interviews (of at least 7 lessons per teacher) from eight EFL teachers at three private language institutes in Iran. The findings revealed the experienced teachers’ application of TLA in their pedagogical practices in comparison to their novice counterparts. Most importantly, the application of TLA in classrooms was affected by factors, such as context, time constraints, learners’ emotions, and previous experiences as learners and teachers. This study may expand the current understanding of TLA and its impact on grammar teaching and have implications for language teacher education and development.
ملخص الجهاز:
Teacher Language Awareness from the Procedural Perspective: The Case of Novice versus Experienced EFL Teachers Zahra Hesami, Golnar Mazdayasna*, Ali Mohammad Fazilatfar, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran Abstract Despite the abundance of research on ELT teachers, little is known about teacher language awareness (TLA) with focus on its impact on pedagogical practice in the EFL context.
To fill this gap, an in-depth study was conducted to examine the procedural dimension of TLA among eight EFL teachers with different teaching experiences (novice versus experienced) related to teaching grammar at Iranian language institutes.
As the declarative dimension of TLA (teachers‟ subject-matter knowledge) affects its procedural aspect (Andrews, 2007), all the 86 teachers were given a 60- item test of Language Awareness (LA) focusing specifically on grammar, which was adapted by Andrews (1999).
Finally, with respect to the fact that all the observed teachers were selected from the participants who got high scores on the LA test, the findings confirmed the claim that although subject-matter knowledge is useful in shaping teacher conceptions of language, "it does not always transfer to teaching, leaving a gap between teachers‟ declarative and procedural knowledge" (Bigelow & Ranney, 2010, p.
The second research question dealt with the factors which influence the impact of TLA on the Iranian English teachers‟ pedagogical practices of teaching grammar in the class.
5. Conclusion The current study was designed to explore the procedural dimension of TLA in the pedagogical practice of novice versus experienced Iranian English teachers teaching grammar.