Teacher Beliefs About the Introduction of Letters and Early Literacy Into Foreign Language Activities : Comparative Study of Elementary and Junior High School Teachers

Abstract

This study reports the results of the questionnaire survey motivated by the scarcity of published research on the current elementary school (ES) English teaching practice and teacher beliefs in terms of letter and early literacy instruction. The respondents were 311 ES teachers and 332 junior high school (JHS) teachers. It was found that the ES teachers tended to use activities they consider important more often in their classes, and that their determination of the importance was affected by the description of the Course of Study. Moreover, the ES and JHS teachers' attitude toward letter and early literacy introduction into FLA was still generally divided. However, more teachers expressed positive opinions and their reasoning was based on their own teaching experience and knowledge about literacy development. In contrast, the reasons described by the teachers with negative attitude were mostly on the basis of their personal feelings or opinions. Considering that teachers' beliefs and content knowledge affect their classroom practive, it is important to share information between ES and JHS English education systems as well as to provide teachers with knowledge about English literacy development and their roles in it.