Influence of teacher cognition in the teaching and testing of english grammar in selected secondary schools of Luanshya district, Zambia
type: CreativeWork
description: Developments in cognitive psychology have stressed the complex relationship between what people do, what they believe and what they know. Teachers’ cognitive processes are important in the teaching process. The actual realization of the curriculum is dependent on teachers’ understandings, beliefs and experiences about language teaching even in the teaching and testing of grammar. Therefore, this study sought to examine how teacher cognition influenced how English language teachers understood, taught and tested English grammar in selected secondary schools of Luanshya District. The objectives were to; establish teachers’ understanding of grammar, analyse teachers’ beliefs on how grammar should be taught, analyse the beliefs of teachers on how grammar should be tested and examine how the experiences of teachers affected the teachers’ teaching and testing of grammar. The study was undergirded by the complex dynamic systems theory which posits that teacher cognition is a complex dynamic system where understanding, beliefs and experiences are internally connected and mutually dependent as proposed in the works of (De Bot, et al, 2005). It was also supported by Bernstein’s (1973) code and pedagogical discourses theory that states that classroom learning does not take place in a vacuum but it is affected by other factors such as the syllabus, learners and the whole education system. The study sample consisted of six schools and from those schools 12 participants were drawn. The 12 participants included 2 teachers of English from each school. The research method used in this study was a qualitative descriptive research design. Data was gathered through class observations, semi-structured interviews and document analysis. Data was analyzed by the use of common themes based on the objectives that guided the study. The findings from the first objective showed that the teachers understood grammar to be the rules of the language. The findings from the second objective showed tha…
abstract: Developments in cognitive psychology have stressed the complex relationship between what people do, what they believe and what they know. Teachers’ cognitive processes are important in the teaching process. The actual realization of the curriculum is dependent on teachers’ understandings, beliefs and experiences about language teaching even in the teaching and testing of grammar. Therefore, this study sought to examine how teacher cognition influenced how English language teachers understood, taught and tested English grammar in selected secondary schools of Luanshya District. The objectives were to; establish teachers’ understanding of grammar, analyse teachers’ beliefs on how grammar should be taught, analyse the beliefs of teachers on how grammar should be tested and examine how the experiences of teachers affected the teachers’ teaching and testing of grammar. The study was undergirded by the complex dynamic systems theory which posits that teacher cognition is a complex dynamic system where understanding, beliefs and experiences are internally connected and mutually dependent as proposed in the works of (De Bot, et al, 2005). It was also supported by Bernstein’s (1973) code and pedagogical discourses theory that states that classroom learning does not take place in a vacuum but it is affected by other factors such as the syllabus, learners and the whole education system. The study sample consisted of six schools and from those schools 12 participants were drawn. The 12 participants included 2 teachers of English from each school. The research method used in this study was a qualitative descriptive research design. Data was gathered through class observations, semi-structured interviews and document analysis. Data was analyzed by the use of common themes based on the objectives that guided the study. The findings from the first objective showed that the teachers understood grammar to be the rules of the language. The findings from the second objective showed tha…
author: Phiri, Juliet
language: en
keywords: English language--Study and teaching, English language--Grammar., English language--Study and teaching (Secondary)--Zambia.
date published: 2021
date modified: 2026-07-27T22:06:15Z
provider: University of Zambia
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: The University of Zambia