Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

1210

Date

2014

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

English

Concentration

Applied Linguistics

Committee Chair

Emily Thrush

Committee Member

Charles Hall

Committee Member

Mark Conley

Committee Member

Teresa Dalle

Abstract

My dissertation explores the impact of second language teacher education on the development of the pedagogic beliefs held by student teachers enrolled in the University of Guanajuato’s Licenciatura en la Enseñanza de Inglés. Specifically, my research investigates the origins of these students’ pedagogic beliefs, the development of their beliefs over the course of the four-year language teacher program, and the convergence of their beliefs and professional practices. The current research can be described as a synchronic, exploratory-descriptive study based on a cross-sectional investigation of participant beliefs. Repertory grid interviews were used as the primary method of data collection. The repertory grid technique (RGT or “rep grid”) is the best known of several data solicitation instruments associated with the field of personal construct psychology. Data was subjected to both qualitative and quantitative inspection, including principal component and FOCUS analyses. Despite the use of statistical interpretation, the RGT is firmly grounded in qualitative, constructivist assumptions. As with any qualitative research, conclusions are necessarily tentative and must be heavily caveated. However, a number of findings seem sufficiently robust to be worthy of mention. These include the following: LEI students do not appear to significantly change their pedagogic beliefs as a result of second language teacher education; LEI student beliefs about pedagogy look to be primarily concerned with socio-affective aspects of teaching; LEI student attention seems to be as drawn to the personal characteristics and behaviors of their teachers as to the formal educational information these instructors provide; and LEI students tend not reflect on practice.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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