Language teacher cognitions: the role of context

This presentation is on the first stage of a study, situated with the framework of sociocultural theory, investigating the role of context and education on pre-service language teacher cognitions. It focuses on two groups in a New Zealand university TESOL program: local New Zealand students in a TESOL minor or Graduate Diploma, and Malaysian pre-service primary teachers. It uses a survey based on the one developed by Kouritzen, Piquemal, and Renaud (2009) for their study on the role of social context on the motivations and beliefs of foreign language learners in different countries. The first stage of the study focuses on the motivations and beliefs of the two groups. The second stage of the study, still underway, will focus on the impact of language teaching and learning papers on the participants. The study aims to answer three research questions: (1) what contextual factors play a role in motivations and beliefs; (2) how the relative effects of these factors differ in the two groups; and (3) whether these motivations and beliefs are affected by education, specifically two language learning and teaching papers. Preliminary results of a factor analysis aimed at the first (and possibly second research) question will be presented at the conference. Kouritizen, S. G., Piquemal, N. A., Renaud, R. D. (2009). An international comparison of socially constructed language learning motivation and beliefs. Foreign Language Annals 42 (2), 287-317.