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Abstract
Recent developments in language teacher cognition research highlight the need to explore subject matter knowledge in relation to classroom practice. This study examines the impact of two foreign language teachers’ knowledge about grammar upon their pedagogical decisions. The primary database consisted of classroom observations and post-lesson stimulated recall interviews in which the teachers explained the rationale for their use of particular grammar teaching actions. The findings show that teachers’ decisions are influenced by a multiplicity of factors which are internal and external to them, one of which is their self-perception of their knowledge about grammar. This self-perception has been found to be grounded in a range of aspects and to influence diverse facets of grammar teaching. The results expand on our current understanding of knowledge about grammar and its impact on grammar teaching, and have strong implications for language teacher education and development.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Keith Richards and Leonardo Vecchioli for their feedback on a draft of this paper and the anonymous Language Awareness reviewer(s) for their insightful and helpful comments. The author would also like to express his deepest gratitude to the two teachers who participated in this study for their genuine commitment and invaluable collaboration.
Notes
1I am aware of the contested nature of the constructs ‘native’ and ‘non-native’. ‘Non-native’ is used here to mean that the target language was not the participant's first language or mother tongue. The teachers in this study spoke Spanish as their first language and started learning EFL when they were six (Emma) and eight (Sophia) years old.
2In LTC research, a distinction is made between ‘knowledge of language’ and ‘knowledge about language’, the former referring to language proficiency (knowledge that is largely implicit) and the latter referring to declarative or explicit subject matter knowledge.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Hugo Santiago Sanchez
Hugo Santiago Sanchez has worked as an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher, lecturer, teacher trainer, and researcher in Argentina and the UK. He currently teaches and supervises Applied Linguistics on master's and doctoral programmes at the University of Bath. His teaching and research interests include teacher cognition, teacher development, reflective practice, grammar teaching, and qualitative research. His most recent publications and conference presentations have focused on the study of pre-training beliefs, subject matter knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge in EFL contexts.