Thai and non-Thai English language teachers’ beliefs and practices of teaching English to low-proficiency Chinese tertiary students in Thailand
Abstract
Code-switching or using a native language (L1) is commonly employed in an EFL classroom to facilitate comprehension to low-proficiency learners. However, in a context where teachers and learners do not share the same mother tongue, it causes some challenges to language teachers. As teachers’ beliefs directly influence their practices, and research on teachers’ beliefs in teaching low proficiency learners has been limited, this study aims to investigate teachers’ beliefs and practices relating to this regard to better understand the phenomena. A qualitative approach was adopted for the study. Five teachers of English at a university in southern Thailand participated in the study. Their beliefs were investigated through semi-structured interviews, and their practices were observed throughout the first half of the semester to explore how they taught or how to tackle the language barriers. The results reveal that teachers’ beliefs and practices were interwoven. Most teacher participants viewed low-proficiency learners as those who had low motivation and lacked language competence to produce the target language. The major challenges were related to students’ low motivation and low proficiency which caused difficulties in communication and instruction. With reference to their practices, this study indicates that L1 still played an important role even when teachers and students could not communicate through their native language. Other practices were frequently observed included simplification, restatement, asking students to spell out the words, and visualization. The results of the study, therefore, provide insights into teachers’ beliefs and guide teachers’ practices relating to these instructional phenomena.
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