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.
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