The origin and impact of an ESL teacher’s beliefs on curriculum design

ABSTRACT

Teachers in institutions of higher education have a very high degree of freedom when designing curricula. They make decisions on learning objectives, content, content organization, teaching arrangement, and assessment. Teachers’ beliefs regarding curriculum design affect decision-making and planning processes, teaching approaches, and their relationships with students. This study aimed to examine the role beliefs played in influencing an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher’s curriculum design. The teacher’s beliefs, their origins, and their impact on curriculum design were investigated through the analysis of in-depth interview transcripts, course outlines, teaching and learning materials, and teaching reflection notes. The results of the analysis revealed that the ESL teacher believed that an ESL curriculum should be balanced, authentic, and enjoyable. While teaching experiences, article reading, and personal interests were shown to have shaped the ESL teacher’s beliefs, the most significant influencer was his personal experiences in a postgraduate Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages teacher education programme. This finding underscores that quality curricula will bring about positive learning experiences, which, in turn, will lead to better curriculum design.

KEYWORDS:

• Beliefs
• curriculum design
• ESL
• higher education
• teachers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Universidade de Macau [MYRG2018-00008-FED, MYRG2018-00119-FED].

Notes on contributors

Jin-Jy Shieh

Jin-Jy Shieh is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education, University of Macau. She has a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction and has been conducting research projects that are related to curriculum and teaching, including textbook analysis, learning assessment in higher education and school teachers’ curriculum evaluation.

Barry Lee Reynolds

Barry Lee Reynolds is Assistant Professor of English Education in the Faculty of Education, University of Macau. He holds a Ph.D. in Learning and Instruction and M.A. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Dr. Reynolds has taught English for General Purposes, English for Academic Purposes, English for Specific Purposes, and trained language teachers at thirteen institutions in the USA, Taiwan, and Macau. He conducts interdisciplinary research in the fields of Applied Linguistics and Language Teacher Education.