CONTEXTUAL FACTORS THAT IMPACT ON TEACHER’S BELIEFS

Abstract

Mexican teachers working in the area of English language, provided the context for the study. In Mexico, English teaching in the basic education system is still incipient, irregular, in progress, and not yet compulsory in all institutions. Therefore, this study aims to describe contextual factors that influence what teachers believe to be possible or not to foster in their own teaching practice. The study uses qualitative content analysis to explore teachers’ narratives displaying beliefs of 9 Mexican teachers working in a state in Central Mexico. The in-depth analysis led to the identification of concrete factors that in Teachers’ Beliefs hinder the use and fostering of strategies used in the process of learning a language, also known as Language Learning Strategies (LLS), in their teaching practice. The findings, based on two specific kinds of strategies; metacognitive and social, show that for the teachers in this state there are three main beliefs that hinder the use and fostering of LLS. The identification of such contextual factors is of relevance to Teacher Education as a result of the interaction between the actual teaching practice, the previous knowledge and the personal beliefs, which frame the contextual factors and guide the teachers’ pedagogical decisions.