English Language Teachers' Attitudes towards Instructional Policy in Public Secondary Schools: An Interview Study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore secondary school English teachers' attitudes towards English language instructional policy as given in the official English language curriculum documents. This study intended to understand teachers' attitudes by exploring their beliefs, feelings, and practices constituting their attitudes. This study used a qualitative semi-structured interview research design, and a purposive sampling technique was used to recruit 15 secondary English language teachers from different public schools of Lahore, having at least three years of experience. A semi-structured interview guide was used to collect data. The analysis of the data revealed a gap between teachers' beliefs, feelings, and practices. Teachers believed that all proposed methods worth using, and they felt that the methods were beneficial for teaching English at the secondary level. However, the situation was quite different concerning practices. Discussion and cooperative learning strategies were the most preferred methods to use besides the lecture method at the secondary level. Teachers also described the factors which hinder the use of all policy recommended methods.