Mexican Teachers’ Beliefs about Language Learning Strategies

Abstract

This study aims to further the understanding of the beliefs teachers hold about Language Learning Strategies (LLS) and the way these beliefs shape the teaching practice. The purpose is to contribute to the understanding of the complexities of the teaching process as well as those of teacher development, since this understanding can contribute not only to expand the literature in Teachers’ Beliefs but also to ascertain how the conflict between well-stablished and new beliefs can be minimised.

Data on the beliefs teachers hold regarding the importance, desirability and possibility of using and fostering LLS were collected at different stages. The first stage gathered the explicit teachers’ importance and desirability beliefs, while the second stage concentrated on importance and possibility beliefs. Qualitative phases in both stages collected the narratives of teachers in one state of Mexico; these narratives provided implicit beliefs guiding the teaching practice. Comparisons between the explicit and implicit beliefs taking the three aspects were done and the data revealed that possibility beliefs carry a significant weight in the shaping of the teaching practice, and that joining the aspects of importance and possibility in Teachers’ Beliefs accounts better for the decisions made in the teaching practice.

Analyses conducted on the data unveiled teacher agency or lack of it to be closely linked to their implicit no-possibility beliefs. Further analysis compiled the main factors that impacted Teachers’ Beliefs of no-possibility and explored how these beliefs hindered the use and fostering of LLS. In the narratives analysed, evidence was found that teachers can make changes but only when they become aware of these no-possibility beliefs.
Based on the high impact possibility beliefs have on the teaching practice and the lack of awareness of such beliefs, a proposal was made to contribute to teacher development. The proposal is an instrument that allows to gather importance and possibility beliefs. A validation stage for the instrument demonstrated that TeBILLS proved to be a reliable instrument to collect Teachers’ Beliefs in an efficient manner, while the design makes it a tool that can foster reflection on teachers’ beliefs, exposing implicit beliefs and making them visible and changeable.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Laura Lewis: orcid.org/0000-0003-2782-7254

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