English foreign language teachers’ beliefs about adult learners’ engagement

Abstract

ABSTRACT How teachers understand their learners’ engagement and in-class behaviours affects their approaches to teaching, thereby making their beliefs critical mediators of their pedagogical and didactic practices. Yet, research on teachers’ beliefs about student engagement (SE) is scarce, especially in the context of adult language learning. To fill this gap, a qualitative study was conducted, using semi-structured, in-depth interviews, with nine teachers working in adult language teaching in Austria and Spain. The interviews explored teachers’ conceptualisations of engagement, their perceptions of fake and authentic engagement, their beliefs about factors affecting SE as well as their beliefs about engagement in contexts beyond the classroom and online. The findings revealed how these teachers’ beliefs impacted on their practices, their need for training about how to promote engagement in online learning spaces, their sense of lack of agency in connecting with learners’ lives beyond the classroom, and the challenges they face in distinguishing between fake and authentic engagement in person and online.