Beliefs and Expectations in the Writing Classroom

概要

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Instructional settings, more commonly referred to as classrooms, must create a local culture in order to perform the work of teaching and learning. Throughout the course of instruction, meanings about expectations, goals, and achievement emerge within the classroom culture. This creation of culture becomes complex when teacher and students originate from different cultures. Lying beneath the expectations and goals of teachers and students are beliefs, which are often only tacitly understood. The purpose of this study is to investigate student and teacher beliefs about learning how to write in a second language and how these beliefs influence instructional practices and perceptions of instructional success and failure. This study suggests that different cultural belief systems can result in conflicting, yet parallel instructional experiences. Although instruction proceeded for the teacher and students, there were clear differences regarding what was and was not learned. The teacher's perception of learning and goals focused on skill development, whereas the students' interest focused on knowledge of language. While the teacher perceived writing development as the ability to express ideas, the students viewed it as the learning of language items and structures. This study has implications for teaching methodology, and the influence of belief systems on knowledge and language acquisition.
1995-12-20