Towards the Contributing Factors for the Inconsistency Between English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Teachers’ Equity-Oriented Cognition and Practices

Abstract

Backgrounds and Aims

Though EFL teachers now generally hold an equity-oriented mindset, they are often blamed for not implementing equitable practices in the actual teaching. The contributing factors causing cognition-practice inconsistency should be recognized and highlighted to ensure equitable teaching. Therefore, by taking an interpretative qualitative approach, this study explored in-depth the contributing factors that caused the mismatch between EFL teachers’ equity-oriented cognition and practices.

Methods

We adopted classroom observation and stimulated recall interviews with 10 university teachers to examine the contributing factors that lead to cognition-practice inconsistency.

Results

Our results showed two experiential factors (unpleasant schooling experiences and limited effective training) and five contextual factors (unfavorable student factors, inharmonious classroom climate, toxic school contexts, equity-deficient education system, and negative social cultures) mediated the relationship between teachers’ equity-oriented cognition and practices.

Conclusion

The findings shed light on an association between influential factors and teachers’ equity-oriented cognition-practice mismatch. Moreover, an equity-oriented teaching framework was thus proposed to help eliminate the constraining effect of these factors.

Keywords:

• educational equity
• English as a Foreign Language
• EFL
• contributing factors
• cognition-practice inconsistency

Data Sharing Statement

Original data related to the current study can be obtained by making a reasonable request to the corresponding author.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their sincerest gratitude to all the respondents for their participation in the study.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.