Reflecting on teaching principles as a meta-cognitive strategy in enhancing EFL teachers' practices and professional development

Abstract

Teaching principles that EFL teachers adopt, in fact, determine their ways of thinking and teaching practices. Hence, it is noteworthy to investigate the principles of EFL teachers in the light of what they consider as fundamental in teaching the foreign language. In addition to articulating one’s teaching principles, the reasons for considering them as important components of pedagogy need to be equally investigated. Moreover, it is crucial to explore, in depth, how EFL teachers put their principles into action. In this perspective, this qualitative study explored the principles of twenty-eight EFL teachers teaching grades 5-12 in governmental schools in the Sultanate of Oman. To answer the research questions of this study, a case study approach with four research instruments was applied. The instruments were initial self-reports, teachers’ written journals, classroom observations and semi-structured interviews. The obtained data were coded manually and analysed thematically. The initially generated data, which were based on the self-reports’ answers showed that the participants, at the beginning of the study, were not fully aware of their principles and how to reflect on them duly. However, after showing them one example of a teaching principle and its reflection, they were able to identify 125 principles which were analysed and classified into twelve themes. Furthermore, the eight classroom observations revealed two embedded principles that teachers practised while teaching English. The interviewed fourteen participants revealed four effects their teaching principles had on students’ language learning. After analysing other interview responses, eleven sources of forming language principles and two types of challenges in reflective exploration and implementation of all these principles were found. In addition to that, the fourteen participants propounded eight recommendations to maximize the use of principles in language teaching and they also revealed many benefits for exploring principles of language teaching and reflect on them to encourage other EFL teachers to discuss their principles. The findings of the current study may assist in the following four aspects: 1. raising awareness towards the importance of the teachers’ principles in language teaching, 2. motivating the Ministry of Education, EFL supervisors and teachers to augment the use of principles in light of the proposed recommendations, 3. offering a model for EFL teachers to follow when they intend to explore their principles and reflect on them systematically and finally, 4. providing other researchers with further research suggestions.