The Knowledge Base of Bilingual EFL Teacher Cognition in Grammar
Keywords:
Language Education, Grammatical concepts, Teacher Cognition, EFL ContextAbstract
In foreign language education, research into grammar teaching has focused more on ‘how to teach’ than ‘what to teach’. However, given the fact that teachers are the major mediators of what and how students learn and that, in contrast to an ESL context, explicit grammar teaching becomes inevitable in an EFL context, teacher cognition in grammar knowledge base assumes greater importance. This study examined the knowledge base component of bilingual EFL teachers’ cognition in grammar, that is, teacher knowledge of grammatical concepts which are compatible with modern linguistics and considered essential for explicit grammar teaching. A grammar awareness test was administered to bilingual EFL teachers from colleges and universities. The data was coded and submitted to statistical analysis. The findings of the study revealed that two areas – identification of word function and style differentiation of grammar usage – remained the most problematic. It is suggested that teacher cognition be enriched by incorporating linguistic insights into language teacher education for better teaching performance and learning outcomes.
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