The core-peripheral belief dynamic and its impact on teaching speaking in English as a foreign language (EFL) in grade 8 in the Faroe Islands

Abstract

The objective of this qualitative parallel case study was to elicit the teacher cognition of grade 8 teachers in the Faroe Islands about teaching speaking in English as a foreign language (EFL). Teacher cognition and actions were studied in context based on data from semi-structured interviews, mixed questionnaire and observations. Manual thematic analysis through using a priori and post priori codes was adopted to parse data and establish the influence of teacher cognition on teaching in the classroom and identify any common trends among participants. The results show that teacher cognition has a marked influence on teaching speaking. Congruence between cognition and teaching is apparent, with some instances of incongruence. Congruence between teacher cognition and teaching speaking rests on two factors – the marked influence of ‘apprenticeship of observation’ i.e., the influence of teachers’ personal experiences from years of education that shapes their thoughts and teaching and teacher understanding of teaching speaking as ‘doing’ speaking i.e., providing opportunities for students to speak in the classroom. Incongruence stems from the core-peripheral belief dynamic, where the predominance of core beliefs over peripheral beliefs affects the efficacy of teaching speaking.