Teacher cognitions on the integration of language arts in the new senior secondary English language curriculum in Hong Kong

Abstract

The study seeks an understanding of teacher cognitions and practices of the integration of Language Arts (LA) in the New Senior Secondary (NSS) English Language Curriculum in Hong Kong. This responds to Borg’s (2009) call regarding the scarcity of research exploring in-service teacher cognitions in school setting. Despite the burgeoning call in the curriculum documents (CDC, 1999; CDC & HKEAA, 2007) to enhance students’ exposure to literary language, research revealing various facets of teacher cognitions on this curriculum innovation remains an unchartered terrain. The study set into motion of inquiring into teachers’ thoughts and practices of integrating LA. It seeks to examine the connections between teacher cognitions and teacher practices in the process of integrating LA.

Adopting a qualitative approach, the study firstly explored teacher cognitions on LA integration through open-ended interviews with ten secondary ESL teachers in Hong Kong. Afterwards, two of the teachers with contrastive characteristics were studied in-depth through case studies, exploring the interplay of their cognitions and practices through lesson observations, open-ended post lesson interviews and documentary analysis.

It was found that individual traits, previous learning and teaching experience, and the teaching context of each teacher is unique; thus they hold different beliefs, assumptions, and knowledge (BAK) (Woods, 1996) which mediates their cognition and practices towards LA integration. Teachers reported that features of the exam-oriented education systems in Confucian-heritage contexts (CHC) altered their practices of LA integration arising from their individual desires and interaction with different parties. The data also revealed the significance of affective factors in shaping various components of teacher cognitions, which influenced their motivation to strive for an improvement in their personal practical knowledge and teaching expertise. Overall, this study provides evidence of the complexity of various components of teacher cognitions, exerting an influence on each other, in face of curriculum innovations. This work thus has clear implications for in-service teachers about the possibilities that LA offers for language learning among students of different abilities. It also carries implications for policy makers and teacher educators about the need for providing continuous and sustainable professional development opportunities to teachers when coping with education reforms and various stages of their career.