Teacher Cognition as a Research Area

a. Teacher Cognition as a Research Area

Teacher cognition received scant research attention before the 1970s, when studies on teaching within the field of general education were characterized by the behaviorist paradigm. For many years, the focus of much research activity was on teaching effectiveness, which was explored by correlating patterns of teaching behavior with students‘ academic achievement. Underlying this approach of research is a conception of teaching proposed by Cochran-Smith Lytle 1990:2 wherein teaching behaviors are considered ‗causes‘ and student learning is regarded as ‗effects‘. Then in the 1970s, a paradigm shift occurred when increasing attention was paid to the ―mental lives of teachers‖ Clark Peterson, 1986. It was thought that understanding the ways in which teachers think would throw more light on the processes of teaching and learning than a narrow focus on what teachers do in the classroom. Calderhead 1996: 710 stated three major reasons account for the emergence of this new line of research. First , there was a growing dissatisfaction with the behaviorist tradition, which defined teaching effectiveness in terms of behavioral skills and ―left much of the skillfulness of teaching out of the account‖ Second , developments in cognitive psychology led to the realization that teaching is a thoughtful process. Cognitive theories suggest that one‘s knowledge and beliefs play a central role in thinking and acting and that such knowledge and beliefs shape how and what individuals learn. In conducting research on teaching, therefore, the thought processes that lie behind observable perpustakaan.uns.ac.id commit to user instructional behaviors must be properly understood. Third , ethnographic and qualitative methodology was gaining in currency and significance in educational research. In one of the first studies on teachers‘ cognition, for example, Jackson 1968 drew on the qualitative tradition and described in impressive detail the mental constructs and processes that underlay the behavior of 50 elementary teachers. In particular, Jackson‘s distinction between pre-active and interactive teaching provided the theoretical framework there was repeatedly drawn on in subsequent studies on teachers‘ decisions. By the time, Chaudron 1988 found a large number of studies in 1980s focus on the language classrooms which have been classified under the rubric of ‗classroom-oriented research‘. Topics that were investigated in depth included teacher talk, student talk, learner strategies, and teacher-student interaction. Studies on these topics have two major characteristics. First , they tended to derive their data from laboratory or contrived contexts rather than genuine classrooms, a method which Nunan 1991 critiqued as being uncontextualized. Second, they tended to focus on classroom process variables which were tangible. There were few studies that examined the knowledge and beliefs of language teachers. Beginning from the late 1980s, it was increasingly realized, by both general education researchers and applied linguists, that teaching is ―a complex cognitive skill‖ Leinhardt Greeno, 1986. In consequence, Freeman 1995:581 stated that teaching cannot be studied by reducing it solely to behaviors, observable phenomena, or investigations of what people do in classrooms. Instead, teaching should be understood in its own terms, i.e. from perpustakaan.uns.ac.id commit to user teachers‘ perspectives. This initiated a change in research emphasis, and studies on teacher cognitions as ―a new area for enquiry‖ began. A range of thought processes of ESL teachers have been examined, including: teachers‘ decision- making, teachers‘ self-reflection, teachers‘ pedagogical reasoning skills, teachers‘ knowledge, teachers‘ principles, teachers‘ language teaching expertise, teachers‘ personal practical knowledge, and teachers‘ beliefs. In brief, recent years have seen a growing interest in teachers‘ beliefs in both general education and second language teaching research. Clark 1988 declared the new area of research on teach ers‘ belief is based on two cognitive assumptions. The earlier assumption is teacher beliefs influence perception and judgments which, in turn, affect what teachers say and do in classrooms. The next assumption is teacher beliefs act as ―intuitive screens‖ which have a filtering effect on how teachers learn to teach. These intuitive screens are used to make sense of pedagogical information, i.e. to interpret new information about teaching and learning and to decide how that information is translated into classroom practices. The practical consequence of these assumptions is that to understand teaching and to improve teaching practices, the beliefs that teachers hold must be properly addressed.

b. The Definitions of Teachers’ Beliefs