Teaching English in the Priy Classroom | Page 78

Conclusion This book investigated the beliefs and the classroom practices of primary English teachers, in order to find out whether they reflect traditional or more up-todate approaches concerning the way young learners think and learn, and the way they learn languages. For this reason, a research was carried out in the District of West Macedonia, Greece, which employed a combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods for collecting and analyzing evidence. The research findings indicate that teachers do not have a principled knowledge concerning the issues under investigation. Rather, they hold individual beliefs, which are usually implicit to them, and which derive from a mixture of traditional and more fashionable approaches, which are usually inconsistent. The same inconsistency is also observed between some of the progressive beliefs teachers hold, and their teaching practices, most of which are still influenced by behaviouristic assumptions about language learning. However, as the beliefs and practices of the above teachers do not match with the orientation of the curriculum which is being implemented, a disparity arises between what is planned and what is being implemented, which renders the curriculum incoherent. Moreover, it is considered that, unless teachers are convinced that their practices are ineffective, there is the danger that they will resist to any prospective innovation, by continuing to teach according to the way they consider appropriate. For this reason, the book concludes by suggesting that teachers should be engaged in programmes of in-service training, and makes reference to a number of principles which such programmes should based on in order to be effective. Finally, it should be stressed that, although the limited scope of the research does not allow for generalizations to be made, it is considered that its contribution lies in that it has indicated an area which seems problematic and which needs to be further explored. For example, given the fact that the present coursebooks will soon be replaced by new ones which would reflect the orientation of the new curriculum, it would be interesting to find out how teachers will respond to these new books, and whether they will have adjusted the way they teach, or they will continue to teach the new books according to their traditional way. 78