An Investigation of Jiangsu High School Teachers’ Cognition in Writing Instruction 江苏高中英语教师写作教学认知调查.doc

江苏高中英语教师写作教学认知调查an investigation of jiangsu high school teachers cognition in writing instructioncontents摘要iabstractiiia list of tablevia list of figureviichapter one introduction11.1 background of the research11.2 significance of the research21.3 structure of the thesis3chapter two literature review52.1 writing and l2 writing instruction52.1.1 nature of writing52.1.1.1 writing as written communication52.1.1.2 writing as processes of thinking62.1.1.3 elements of good writing82.1.2 l2 writing intrusion92.1.2.1 historical overview of l2 writing instruction92.1.2.2 communicative and genre approach to l2 writing92.1.2.3 process approach to l2 writing instruction102.1.2.4 some new trends in efl writing instruction112.2 teacher cognition studies132.2.1 teacher cognition132.2.2 teacher knowledge152.2.3 teacher beliefs172.2.4 relationship between cognitions and pedagogical practices182.2.5 selected studies on teachers cognition in writing instruction19chapter three research methodology213.1 research questions213.2 participants213.3 instruments223.3.1 steps and resources used to develop the questionnaire233.3.2 the structure and content of the questionnaire243.4 procedures263.5 data analysis273.5.1 the quantitative analysis273.5.2 the qualitative analysis28chapter four results and discussion304.1 teachers cognition about efl writing instruction304.1.1 the overall level of teacher cognition in wi304.1.2 the goals and contents dimension314.1.3 the students and teachers role dimension334.1.4 the curricular materials dimension364.1.5 the methods and strategies dimension384.1.5.1 methodological orientation384.1.5.2 teaching procedure and activities404.1.5.3 frequency of writing practice444.1.5.4 assessment of students writing464.2 relationship between teachers cognitions and practices in wi484.3 biographic variables affecting teachers cognition in wi534.3.1 overview of the one-way anova results on the six variables534.3.2 further findings and discussions about the selected factors55chapter five conclusions605.1 major findings605.1.1 the conditions of teachers cognitions in writing instruction605.1.2 the relationship between teachers cognition and practice615.1.3 biographic variables affecting teacher cognition in wi615.2 the pedagogical implications of the research625.2.1 the perspective of goal and content dimension625.2.2 the perspective of curriculum knowledge625.2.3 the perspective of student and teachers role635.2.4 the perspective of method and strategy knowledge635.3 the limitation of the research and suggestions for further study64bibliography66appendix a: the questionnaire (chinese version)72appendix b: the questionnaire (english version)78appendix c: means and sd of statements investigating teachers cognition86appendix d: frequency and percentage of statement investigating beliefs.9094摘要教师认知是对教师心智生活的统称，包括各种影响其教学行为的知识、信念、思维、判断、决策等等。就教师认知的具体内容而言，与特定学科内容有关的教学知识，即shulman提出的学科教学知识（pck），是一个重要概念。就教师认知的而言，教师认知与教学实践、外显的公共理论与内隐的个人理念的关系，较为引人关注。近二十年来外语教学研究中教师认知已成为热门话题，但国内较少有关于英语教师写作认知的研究。在高中英语教学中，学生写作成绩不理想、写作教学实践质量不高的现实，值得我们去探究其背后的教师认知原因。本研究旨在以江苏省为例，探究高中英语教师写作教学认知及其与实践关系的状况。研究围绕以下三个方面展开：1）高中英语教师写作认知的总体水平和各个内容维度上的认知水平；2）高中英语教师的写作教学认知与其教学实践的一致性情况；3）影响高中英语教师写作认知的人口学变量（如教龄、学历、区域环境等）。本研究以问卷调查为主，由于没有直接可用的调查工具，问卷本身的研制成为一项重要的研究内容。经大量的文献学习与实践咨询，借助shulman等人提出的pck概念架构和参考前人有关写作教学信念的调查工具，经与导师的充分合作，编制出包括四个主要维度（目标与内容、学生与教师角色、教材与资源、方法与策略）、三大类反应题型（likert五级量表、选择与排序、开放问题）、二种表述角度（认知角度和行为角度）的，共计53个项目的“英语教师写作教学认知调查问卷”（etcwiq)。此外，研究者还根据研究需要进行了部分后续访谈。问卷通过网络媒介实施，共收回来自苏北、苏中、苏南和省城各类高中的182份问卷；根据研究问题，对客观题型分别采用了包括均分及标准差、频次及百分等描述统计，也进行了包括单因素方差分析和配对样本t-检验的等推断统计。对主观题型和访谈结果，进行了自下而上和自上而下的内容分析。数据分析得出如下主要结果：1）参研教师etcwiq（量表部分）总得分率在75%，总体而言，英语教师具有可以支撑其写作教学实践的基本知识，但达到理想水平还有较大差距；2）在写作教学目标和内容的认识方面，绝大多数教师有较全面的了解并且认同写作教学是为培养学生书面交际能力，但还没有较为细致的掌握；此外，写作教学的应试性目标十分明显；3）就学生和教师角色维度而言，大多数教师了解学生写作学习中的困难，认为语法和内容问题最大的教师居多，其次是词汇，认为语篇结构问题严重者相对较少；教师一般认可自己在写作教学中承担的多重角色，但对引导学生自主和合作全程参与写作过程（如同伴互评）的态度不一；4）从教材和写作教学资源方面看，绝大多数教师认为牛津高中英语中reading、task和project板块可以融入写作教学，不过多数教师以应试类材料为主进行写作练习与讲评，对阅读文本中的写作元素以及他写作资源的意识不强；5）就写作教学的方法和策略而言，总体得分情况不够理想，首先是对交际写作和过程写作的认识水平不高，其次是手段较为单一，以模板式作文、背诵范文、背词组等为主，还不善于围绕阅读文本中的丰富写作元素开展多种形式的活动；作文评价方式上的认识也有局限。关于教师写作教学认知与实践的关系，总体看，以etcwiq（量表部分）测得的教师写作教学认知水平与其实践水平之间存在明显差异，在同一命题的两种表述角度配对项目中，认知项目均分全部高于行为项目，且大多数呈显著性；进一步考察发现，差异最为显著的包括：关注语篇发展模式、文体多样化、同伴评价等。关于这些命题多数教师表示赞同，但较少有相应的教学行为。对此有几种解释，其中问卷项目的设计本身可能有一定关系，但从后续访谈得知，主要原因是老师们习惯于传统和应试导向，虽然对新的写作教学概念表示认同，但并未真正理解和成为自觉，加上时间、资源和教学策略的局限，所以实践不力。关于影响教师写作教学认知及行为的人口学因素，就整体得分对比看，本研究只发现教龄有显著影响，未发现在不同教育水平、所在地区、学校类型以及培训经历的分组之间有显著差异。就具体项目看，低教龄者在教法选择、段落模式、形式与内容权重、文体多样性等方面，显著低于较高教龄者；还发现，近三年参加过培训的教师，在课标要求、过程性写作、教师角色、教材使用方面，显著好于从未参加培训的教师。学历水平不构成显著影响值人们反思。本研究所得结果对改进英语写作教学实践、对于改进写作教学方面的教师专业发展有一定启示；本研究所研发的工具在教师写作教学pck的测评方面还是初步尝试，任需要完善和改进。关键字：教师认知，pck, 写作教学，教师知识，教师信仰，高中英语教学abstractteacher cognition is an inclusive term for various constructs of teacher mental life such as teachers knowledge, beliefs, thinkings, decision-making process etc. that shape teaching practices. in terms of constituents of teacher cognition, subject-specific pedagogical knowledge known as pedagogical content knowledge（pck）proposed by shulman is one of great importance. in the perspective of the characteristics of teacher cognition, attentions are paid to the relationship of teacher cognition and practice or explicit common knowledge and implicit personal belief.for the past decades teacher cognition has been an increasingly heated issue in language teaching research, few researches, however, were conducted in regard of writing instruction. with the unsatisfactory situations of high school english writing learning and teaching, it is worthwhile exploring english teachers cognitions in writing instruction. the present research, a survey study, was to discover what cognitions english teachers hold on writing instruction and how they related to writing teaching practices, with three main targets: 1) overall state of jiangsu high school english teachers cognitions in writing instruction both generally and in specific dimension; 2) the extent to which teachers cognitions in writing instruction are consistent with their teaching practices; 3) factors that affect the teachers cognitions and practices in writing instruction.having studied related literature and consulted teaching experts, the researcher first of all set to develop the questionnaire. shulman and his associates framework of pck was adopted and the instrument used in previous related studies was also referred. the instrument acronymed as etcwiq contains altogether 53 items which are on four main dimensions (the goal and content, student and teachers role, curricular materials. and methods and strategies pertaining to wi.), in three types of responding formats (5-point likert-scale, multiple choice, and open-ended questions) and from two descriptive angles (cognitions and practices). besides, the follow-up interviews were also adopted as the complementation of qualitative data.administration of etcwiq was completed through internet and 182 questionnaires were collected from high school english teachers distributed in northern, middle, southern jiangsu, and the provincial capital. the data analysis include descriptive statistics (mean score, sd, frequency, and percentage) as well as one-way anova and t-test for objective items. further qualitative analysis was made on open-ended items and interview.the following are major findings.regarding the conditions of teacher cognition in wi in general and specific terms, 1) the participants total scoring rate of etcwiq is 75%, revealing that most of the teachers possess a workable body of basic knowledge about writing instruction, but a considerable disparity exists between this level and the ideal one. 2) specifically, in the dimension of goals and contents, most teachers agreed that the goal of wi is to develop students ability for written communication and they showed reasonably good content knowledge about writing, however their mind map of curricular requirements in this regard seemed to be blurry. what is more, the exam-orientation seemed to be strongly held by the teachers. 3) in regard of students and teachers role, most of teachers showed good awareness of students difficulties in writing, among which grammar was deemed a no.1 problem, followed by vocabulary and content, and the problem in discourse structure was not deemed serious. about the multiple roles the teacher should act in wi, the respondents varied considerably, and particularly, the awareness of teachers role in guiding students to do self-reliant and peer-based work in writing was not strong. 4) in terms of curricular materials, the teachers seemed to know well that the sections of reading, task, and project in the unified textbook have a role in writing instruction, the actual use of them for writing was not satisfying, though. exam-preparation materials were found to dominate writing instruction and there is a shortage of teachers awareness to use other variety of writing resources. 5) the teachers cognitions in the methods and strategies dimension were found unsatisfying. the teachers seem to hold fussy knowledge of the process approach and communicative approach to writing; and with limited strategies of using various activities, they seem to rely much on templated writing practice and recitation of model test-papers. and teachers knowledge about ways of feedback and assessing students writing seemed limited.regarding the relationship between teachers cognitions and practices, judging from the scoring of the paired cognition vs. practice items, a remarkable disparity exists between teachers cognition in writing instruction and their practice, with all the cognitive-angle items scored significantly higher (t0.002）than their behavioral counterparts. further examination found that paired items on discourse development patterns, variety of writing type/genre, and peer-revision showed the largest cognition and practice disparity. as for the reasons to account for such a gap, we deem different responding statements designed for cognitive items and behavioral ones might be a factor, but more important reasons were found in the interview. the teachers confessed they were just too customed to the traditional and exam-oriented writing instruction to accept the innovative conceptions, though they did agree generally on them; it was difficult for them to really take in these ideas and put them into practice, particularly when limited with time, resources, and practical strategies. from such a finding, the researcher believes that what really impact teachers practice is the internalized knowledge or what is called core beliefs.about biographic variables affecting teacher cognition in iw, generally, the only significant influential factor found was years of teaching, with teachers of 5 years significantly lower than the other teaching-age groups; and no significant difference was found among teacher groups by education levels, school areas, and school types. specifically, the knowledge that teachers of 5 years lack concerns both teaching content and methods. some specific aspects of teacher wi cognition such as curricular requirements, process approach, teachers role, textbook utilization were found significantly different between teachers with recent training experiences than those without. the result that education level has no any impact on wi cognition is surprising, which deserves reflection on the part of teacher education institutions.it is hoped that this research can shed some light on writing instruction practice and teacher professional development in this regard. the questionnaire etcwiq was a preliminary attempt made on measuring teachers cognitions in writing instruction，which has large room for refinement.key words: teacher cognition, pck, writing instruction, teacher knowledge, teacher beliefs, high school english a list of tabletable 1 biographic information of the participants.22table 2 demographic information of four interviewee teachers.22table 3 the structure f section i of the etcwiq24table 4 the framework of the questionnaire- section two.25table 5 results on the goals and contents dimension31table 6 teachers awareness of students conditions in project-based writing34table 7 teachers perceptions of students most problematic aspect of writing.35table8 results of items in methodological orientation category.39table 9 teacher cognition and practices about pre-writing activities.41table 10 teacher cognition and practices about while-and post-writing activities.42table 11 teacher cognition of more teaching procedures and activities.42table 12 teacher cognition about frequency of writing practice.44table 13 teacher practices about frequency of writing practice.45table 14 ways of assessing students writing (1) .46table 15 ways of assessing students writing (2).46table 16 teachers scoring weight in writing assessment47table 17 mean score and mean difference between cognition and practice.49table 18 results of one-way anova on general mean scores of groups by six factors.54table 19 the results of anova of the years of teaching factor on individual items.56table 20 anova of training attendance on teachers cognition in writing instruction.58a list of figure figure 1 teachers awareness of students conditions in project-based writing.34figure 2 teachers perceptions of students most problematic aspect of writing.35figure 3 whether and how teachers utilize model writings.37figure 4 how teachers get resources of model writings.38figure 5 how teachers think about frequency of writing practice.45figure 6 how often teachers practice students writing.46figure 7 ways of reviewing students writing.47figure 8 teachers scoring weight in writing assessment.48figure 9 differences in the general mean score between groups by education levels.55figure 10 differences in the general mean score between teaching-year groups56figure 11 differences in the general mean score between groups by school types.57figure 12 differences in the general mean score between groups by training attendance.58chapter one introduction1.1 background of the researchaccording to the national english curriculum, the ultimate goal of english as foreign language teaching is to develop students integrated abilities to use the language, an essential part of which is the four language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. compared with the other skills, however, writing has always been a difficult area for second language (l2) learners. the effectiveness of writing instruction is perceived problematic and in many high schools there is no proper systematic instruction of english writing except for doing exam-mimic and template writing practice again and again (guran shimin 2011). recently, more attention has been paid to writing instruction and some efforts have been made to resolve these problems (eg. hu yingyan, 2013. pan zhengkai, 2012. dong yuejun, 2012. hu jieyuan, 2012). some writing instruction approaches were proposed such as process writing and communicative writing (wang qiang, 2007). however, in order for those innovative approaches to be actually implemented, we should not only pay attention to the observable teaching practices but also to the thinking process and knowledge base that underlie such practices. it is believed that teachers actions follow their cognitions, which are formed basing on their past experience both as learners and teachers (richards & lockhart, 1994), and which is very influential on practices though often implicitly held. as guan shimin (2011) observed the problematic practices in writing instruction are directed by at least two misconceptions: one is that writing is a pure motor skill and learning to write equals to imitation and recitation of exemplar articles; the other is that writing is just a means of consolidating vocabulary and grammar rules, not an aim to be achieved as a needed communicative skill.teacher cognition, which is used in contrast to teacher behaviors or practices, generally denotes things like thoughts, beliefs, knowledge held by teachers. teacher cognition study arose in general education around early 1980s, when behaviorism was replaced by cognitivist. research themes in teacher cognition have evaluated and developed considerably in the past decades, among which, teacher beliefs and teacher knowledge seem to have attracted most interests. one line of research is about teachers subject-specific knowledge of teaching called pedagogical content knowledge (pck), an important concept posed by american educationist l.shulman. teacher cognition study surfaced in the field of l2 teaching research around late 1990s, about a decade later than in general education (e.g. johnson, 1994; woods, 1996, cited from liu 2007). according to s. borg (2008), earlier teacher cognition studies in l2 were mostly generic descriptions of language teachers cognition rather than study on their specific-content-related cognitions. s. borg (1999)s investigation of teacher cognition in grammar teaching was one of the first researches on l2 teacher cognition in specific subject. according to borg observation (2003), only two curricular areas in language teaching have been specifically examined; these are grammar (22 studies) and literacy instruction