A Case Study Of Experienced High School English Teachers’ Beliefs And Practices In Teaching Formulaic Sequences

Formulaic sequences,viewed as the continuum of lexicon and grammar,emphasize the holistic structure of language.Numerous studies have concluded that the mastery of formulaic sequences brings substantial benefits to learners of foreign languages.Given this,it has gained great pedagogical appeal among language researchers.However,most researchers have been keen on studying the effects of formulaic language instruction on students’ language competence from the students’ standpoint,with little research conducted from the perspective of teachers.Furthermore,as experienced teachers abound in professional teaching knowledge and skills,investigating their beliefs and practices is instructive and meaningful.This study aims to achieve a balance by conducting a case study on experienced teachers’ beliefs and practices regarding formulaic sequences instruction.In light of this purpose,the study focuses on answering the following research questions:1)To what extent do experienced high school English teachers’ beliefs on formulaic sequences instruction are consistent with their practices?a.What are high school English teachers’beliefs on formulaic sequences instruction?b.How do high school teachers practice formulaic instruction in the classroom?2)What factors,according to teachers,contribute to such(in)consistency?A four-month follow-up study was conducted on three experienced high school English teachers.Data were collected through classroom observations and semi-structured interviews.The major findings are presented as follows:1)Overall,experienced teachers exhibited a high level of consistency between their beliefs and practices,their beliefs regarding formulaic sequences teaching contents and methods were greatly matched with their practices.2)In terms of teaching beliefs,three experienced teachers have recognized the importance of formulaic language,they prioritized students’ retention and application of target formulaic sequences as teaching goals.Besides,they stressed the contextual explanations,meaning and usage interpreting of formulaic sequences.However,they have not yet formed a comprehensive understanding of formulaic sequences and overlooked the importance of inspiring students’ self-learning awareness;3)In terms of practices,they have incorporated formulaic sequences instruction into discourse analysis and adhered to"noticing,retrieving,and generating" guideline to consolidate students’ retention and application.But the evaluation tests they adopted were oversimplified;4)Factors that contributed to experienced teachers’ consistent beliefs and practices were self-efficacy and the school system’s support,while teachers’ competing beliefs and training quality shaped their inconsistency.Based on the research results and previous studies,the following implications are proposed.On the one hand,teachers should further expand their understanding of formulaic language,and try to ignite students’ self-learning awareness of formulaic sequences.In response to the oversimplified formulaic sequences tests,instructors can collaborate to diversify evaluation tests.On the other hand,while maintaining topicoriented teaching-research activities,schools should prioritize the quality of teacher training to help teachers update their beliefs and optimize their practices.