Professional Coursework

Ron did not receive professional training in language teaching prior to or during the study. He implemented his teaching based on his past learning and teaching experiences. On the contrary, Olivia had trained to be an English teacher for three years. In Olivia‟s case, she stated that her prior professional training had little impact

78

on her teaching in the real class. According to Borg, professional preparation did shape trainees‟ cognition; however, if programs ignored trainee‟s prior beliefs, the training may be less effective at influencing teachers‟ cognitive development.

Interviews and classroom observations revealed that Olivia lacked the ability to link theories into practical contexts. She often considered students‟ needs as the top priority in her teaching. When designing worksheets, she traced back to her past learning experiences and stuck in grammar-oriented instructions, which seemed to violate her prior teaching cognition. It seemed that the professional training she received failed to help her realize the contextual change. Olivia‟s case echoed some researchers‟ assertion that professional coursework may not have a major impact on teachers‟ cognitive development due to the short duration of the course training, teachers‟ knowledge of professional courses, teachers‟ concerns for achieving continuity in lessons, and the association with teachers‟ prior learning cognition (Almarza, 1996; Farrell, 1999; Kagan, 1992; Richard, Ho, & Ciblin, 1996). As Johnson (1997) contended, “Teacher educators should provide teachers with

opportunities to make sense of theory by filtering it through experiential knowledge gained as teachers and learners.” (p.780)

The study is showed that for successful professional coursework, it is vital to examine teachers‟ cognition, looking into what teachers believe teaching

methodologies can bring to the classroom and how they can be integrated.

5.1.2 Question 2: How do the two teachers’ cognition interweave with classroom practices?

In this study, the two English teachers were found to realize many teaching cognition in their teaching practices in the remedial program. Johnson (1994) argued that teachers‟ beliefs could be observed from their teaching practices. In this study, it

79

is found that the two teachers held various teaching cognition in their teaching practices, and revealed how the two English teachers‟ cognition interwove with their teaching practices.

In Ron‟s case, he held the same teaching cognition throughout the data collection semester. His cognition was found to dominate his teaching practices. Olivia‟s

teaching cognition was heavily influenced by her teaching practices. She often modified her teaching practices to match the situated contexts. Since Ron had taught English for six years, his cognition was formed rigidly from his past learning and teaching experiences, teaching contexts, and social contexts.

In contrast, this was Olivia‟s first year of teaching, so she was still forming ideas about how to be an English teacher. Her frequent modification of her teaching

practices showed that her prior teaching cognition was affected by the remedial context. As Borg (2003) indicated, experienced teachers have developed rich knowledge and well-established routines about how to conduct their courses and manage their classrooms while novice teachers lacked instructional knowledge and well-rehearsed routines, which lead teaching difficulties including keeping students‟

attention and having a smooth teaching flow. The two teachers‟ cases seem to support the assertion and showed that a teachers‟ cognitive development was affected by their teaching practices.

5.1.3 Question 3: How do contextual factors influence the two teachers’ cognition and practices in the remedial program?

Connelly and Clandinin (1985) contended that a teachers‟ knowledge was the reflection of an individual‟s previous experiences and of knowledge constructions and reconstructions through different situations. More specifically, the knowledge a teacher developed was through the process of teaching, conflict, and reflection to

80

solve the problems occurring in the particular course with regards to the classroom context. Leinhardt (1988) referred this knowledge as “situated knowledge” which focused on how teachers developed their cognition in specific context where they operated. In this study, contextual factors, namely the general goals of remedial education, the influences of the remedial program, and students‟ participation, were found to be influential to the teachers‟ cognition and teaching practices.

5.1.3.1 The General Goals of Remedial Education

Recently, the MOE and many foundations carried out the remedial education to minimize the large gap between high achievers and low achievers in secondary education after the implementation of the Nine-year Integrated Curriculum (Chen, 2008; Chen, & Yu, 2004; Hsu, & Chen, 2007). With the goals of the MOE in mind, teachers in the remedial program used different teaching methods to increase the equality of educational opportunities for disadvantaged minorities and improve their learning outcomes.

Ron‟s teaching goal was to increase the equality of aboriginal students‟

educational opportunities. He set the goal as his teaching top priority, which seemed to be less influenced by the educational context. However, in Olivia‟s class, she thought that her responsibility was to help students get higher grades on school exams than they used to get before. Her teaching goals seemed to match the goals set by the remedial education program. Compared with Ron, Olivia seemed that she concerned about school work and students‟ grades more than Ron. Even though Ron had taught English in Taiwan for six years, he previously did not pay much attention to the remedial education goals and social expectations. From the classroom observations, it found that Olivia was deeply influenced by the social values in Taiwan. This condition may influence her teaching, and hinder her from analyzing students‟ learning

81

difficulties, and students‟ learning outcomes.

5.1.3.2 The Influences of the Remedial Program

The remedial program aimed to help aboriginal students get into school contexts, enhance their academic performances, and discipline students‟ behaviors. Both Ron and Olivia kept those goals in mind while implementing various teaching methods.

Ron was more familiar with the goals than Olivia because of his extensive previous teaching experiences and his role as one of the chairmen in the remedial program. His full understanding of the operation of the remedial program and his involvement in the goal establishment helped him carry out goals set by the remedial program successfully. On the other hand, Olivia, teaching English for her first

semester, met several conflicts among her students and the remedial program‟s goals.

Olivia spent some time getting used to the remedial context by herself. The two cases showed that experienced teachers were able to tactically and efficiently handle

classroom events and teaching contexts while novice teachers set their own criteria for success in teaching and learning (Tsui, 2003).

In addition to familiarity with the goals of the remedial program, the results found that teachers‟ statuses and empowerment in the remedial program also

influenced their teaching cognition and practices. Unlike Ron, Olivia was hired by the administrator. She often felt uncomfortable to express her own opinions. Therefore, in her teaching practices, she made many compromises and tried to find a balance among the remedial program, students, and her goals.

Ron and Olivia had a different status in the remedial program, which influenced their interaction with the administrator and other colleagues. Ron was one of the chairmen in the remedial program, so he usually possessed more power than the administrator did. Due to his two roles in the remedial program, he shifted his roles

82

from English teacher to chairman when he discussed students‟ issues or the operation of the remedial program with the administration. He seldom shared his teaching with his colleagues. The lack of interaction with his colleagues may have hindered his cognitive development.

By contrast, Olivia, a novice teacher, heavily depended on the administrator and her colleagues‟ advice because she was afraid of being criticized. Moreover, the frequent interaction with them also limited her teaching practices. However, at the same time, Olivia was teaching elementary students in a public school, where she had high levels of autonomy over many issues of classroom instructions and management.

Olivia‟s case showed that she was highly influenced by the teaching subculture setting.

The subculture, according to Pacchter (1991), represents reasonably consistent views about the role of the teacher, the nature of their subject, the way it should be taught and expectations of the students‟ learning. Olivia‟s case shows that a teachers‟

cognition and practices may be affected by the subculture and a teacher empowerment might be deprived in the employer-employee relationship teaching context.

5.1.3.3 Students’ Participation

Before teaching the 7^th graders in 2010, Ron hoped that students could speak out English naturally and spontaneously, so he created an authentic language learning environment in his class. From the classroom observations and interviews with Ron‟s students, it is found that students‟ participations did not match Ron‟s teaching

expectations. However, Ron attributed classroom atmosphere and poor grades to students‟ laziness. On the other hand, Olivia adjusted herself to her students‟ learning conditions and was sensitive to their preferences. As a result, in her class, the learning atmosphere was warm and the relationship between Olivia and her students was supportive.

83

From the two cases, it indicated that Ron, as an experienced teacher with no professional training, tended to stick to his own teaching styles and seldom reassessed his teaching objectives. Olivia, as a novice teacher with professional training from TESOL, often responded to students‟ needs by modifying her teaching plans and goals. The difference between Ron and Olivia was that Olivia responded positively to problems by seeing them as good opportunities for her to improve her teaching. Her teaching seemed to be more flexible than Ron‟s teaching. When Ron faced difficulties, he tried to minimize problems, which hindered further development in his teaching ability. In line with Tsui‟s (2003), the critical differences between experienced teachers and novice teachers are about whether they are able to reinvest their mental resources to achieve a higher level of performance by taking on challenges and whether they are able to exercise their judgment on their current level of competence and the kinds of challenges that they can take on. The ability of facing the challenges and resolving them are very important. Teachers could revitalize their teaching career.

The two teachers‟ cases in the remedial program reveal that both experienced and novice teachers‟ cognition and practices are relevant to their teaching contexts. Using Borg‟s framework, the study indicated the three domains, which influence a language teachers‟ cognition and practices. However, Borg‟s framework only contains the broad themes, which do not clearly explain teachers‟ complex teaching cognition and

practices. This study adds subcategories, which stem from data to further specify teacher‟s cognitive development. Furthermore, the results from this study also claim that teacher training should encompass more courses related to remedial education, which could improve pre-service and in-service teachers‟ cognition and practices.

84

5.2 Conclusion

In the last part of this chapter, the major findings of the study are summarized.

Then, pedagogical implications, limitations of the study, and suggestions for future research are provided.

5.2.1 Summary of the Study

This paper adopted a case study approach to explore two English teachers‟

teaching cognition, practices, and their embedded contextual factors influencing the relations between the cognition and practices in the remedial program. Borg‟s

framework (2006) was adopted as the underlying theoretical and analytical framework to figure out the complexity of teacher mental lives. In the framework, three major factors were proposed to influence teachers‟ cognitive development in real classroom practices, including cognition and prior language learning experience, cognition and teacher education, and cognition and classroom practice. This study aimed to elicit the two English teachers‟ cognition, practices, and the contextual factors. Moreover, the study also examined how the two English teachers‟ cognition were formed and how the two English teachers‟ teaching practices interwove with their cognition in the remedial program. Data were collected from multiple data sources, including formal and informal interviews with two targeted teachers, their students, and the

administrator), weekly classroom observations, and teaching documents (e.g. syllabus, handouts, and supplementary materials).

The results of this current study revealed that the two English teachers held not only different cognition and knowledge concerning language teaching and learning but also different interpretations of their own teaching. The individual differences reflecting in their teaching practices seemed to be relatively influential to their teaching cognition. As Borg (2006) suggests, teachers‟ schooling has great impact on

85

their cognition. As revealed in this study, the two teachers‟ language learning and teaching experiences played a significant role in their decision-making to their teaching practice.

In addition to the two English teachers‟ schooling and professional knowledge, contextual factors from the situated remedial program also influenced the two teachers‟ cognition and teaching practices. In the remedial program, the experienced teacher had fewer influences than the novice teacher from the context because experienced teachers were able to handle classroom events and teaching contexts.

Also, they had more power to decide curriculum as well as courses. On the other hand, novice teachers needed time to get into the context. During this period, teachers relied greatly on the administrator and his colleagues‟ suggestions and opinions.

Furthermore, she regarded students‟ responses and academic performances as major references for their teaching modifications and cognitive reflections.

5.2.2 Pedagogical Implications

The findings of this study suggest several pedagogical implications. First, the results of the study suggest that teachers‟ roles in teaching contexts may influence their teaching cognition and practices. According to Borg‟s framework (2006), he concluded that factors which may affect teachers‟ cognitive development could be separated into three main domains, including schooling, professional trainings, and contextual factors. However, within the contextual factors, Borg did not further clarify this term. The current study found that the two English teachers‟ roles influenced their teaching practices in the remedial program. Experienced teachers who have more power in the teaching contexts tend to follow their own teaching instructions and seldom reflect what they teach while the novice teachers who have less power try to have a balance between their teaching cognition, practices and the remedial program‟s

86

goals. Novice teachers were prone to modify their teaching instructions at the beginning of the teaching period.

Second, experienced and novice teachers‟ different learning backgrounds and teaching experiences influenced different instructions they implemented in the remedial program and courses. For experienced teachers, they often seem to

successfully accomplish teaching tasks, anticipate upcoming problems, and then deal with problems with confidence. On the other hand, novice teachers easily get lost and doubted themselves whether their teaching is suitable for students in the specific context and continually modify their teaching and classroom management. Because they lack enough competence to apply professional training into the field of remedial courses efficiently, they mostly rely heavily on others‟ assistances to overcome both teaching and learning problems and to avoid tension between students and her. This study showed that mentor teachers should offer to teachers who teach remedial courses in the beginning of their careers. Tsui (2003) indicated that it was important for mentor teachers to lead student teachers into the teaching field during the teaching practicum. Through such training, novice teachers would have less trouble when starting in the teaching field and would have more confidence in believing that they could lead a new class.

Third, according to the findings, the contexts where teachers were situated were the most significant factor that could either facilitate or hinder teachers‟ classroom practices. One of the concerns revealed in this study was the different goals set by the remedial program, the administrator, and each teacher). To solve this issue, it is suggested that remedial programs and administrators should understand more about teachers‟ needs and give full support to teachers‟ instructions and decision-making in class. Furthermore, students‟ slow progress in their academic performances is another concern in this current study because teachers, under parents and educators‟ high

87

expectations, would feel pressure and are obliged to teach only what was included on exams, and catch up to the public schools‟ progress, thus causing the teaching to become exam- orientation. Students have hard time learning so fast and they are sacrificed again. Therefore, this study suggests that parents and educators should recognize that the implementation of remedial courses for underachievers and minorities is worth it in the long run.

5.2.3 Limitations of the Study

Three limitations were observed in this study. First, the data was collected in the classroom, which may limit data interpretations. In this study, two targeted teachers had interactions with the administrator, colleagues, and students out of classroom.

Thus, documenting those out-of-the-classrooms observations was important for the research because those interactions may reveal teachers‟ anticipation of students‟

learning needs and their decision-making in class that were ordinarily hidden in the classroom. Second, the data collection time of the two cases was limited to only one semester-long period. When the researcher collected data, it was the second semester of the year when Ron had already taught the same class for one semester. For Olivia, it was her first semester to teach this class so she had a lot of significant changes during the data collections. Therefore, it assumed that the time period for data collections should be prolonged a complete year, which may reveal more changes in teachers‟ cognition and practices. Third, the role of the researcher might have

imparted certain influence on the data interpretations for each participant. During the data collection, the researcher was teaching English in the same remedial program as Ron and Olivia did. Also, the researcher and Olivia studied in the same graduate school where Olivia was a senior. Thus, it was inevitable that the researcher might hold initial impressions on the participants, which may influence the data

88

interpretations because of their familiarity with her.

5.2.4 Suggestions for Future Research

The study investigated English teachers‟ teaching cognition and practices in the remedial program. The results provide insights into factors influencing teachers‟

decision-making in their teaching practice.

First, since the study only collected data in the second semester of an academic year, the two teachers‟ cognition in the first semester were undetected during the data collection period. It is unknown how the two teachers‟ cognition had changed when more teaching experiences were accumulated. Longitudinal studies were suggested to be conducted to observe the possible cognitive changes of experienced and novice teachers and explore factors attributing to the changes.

Second, since this study recruit both English teachers with diverse teaching educational backgrounds; recruiting participants with similar professional training can gain more understanding about the interplay between the teacher cognition and

teacher professional training. Future research may find it significant to include

experienced and novice teachers who receiving similar professional teacher training in

experienced and novice teachers who receiving similar professional teacher training in