Teacher Cognition

Understanding the relationships between pre-service teachers` cognition and classroom practice, delivered by Dr. Isil Kacar, 14.00-14.30, Saturday 16th April

The session was based on empirical research conducted at Middle East Technical University in Turkey.

Why is it important to do research about teacher cognition?

As Dr. Kacar explains, classroom practice is shaped by interacting and conflicting factors as well as teacher cognition. Teacher cognition has dynamic and complex nature, and it is affected by teacher workload and institutional context.

In this study, English pre-service teachers' cognition was investigated in a longitudinal and qualitative research.

The research questions:

1.What are the cognitions of pre-service English teachers?

2.Are there any changes in their cognition during the practicum?

3. Are there any relationships between their cognition and teaching practices?

According to the results, their cognition and teaching practices overlap to a great extent, but there are mismatches in terms of target language use, use of group work, knowledge of students' background and evaluation.

The most interesting finding is related to change in their cognition. As she told us, unlike the results of the previous studies, there were some changes in their cognition with regard to use of target language, CLT and inductive grammar teaching as these issues were constrained by the learners or institution. However, there was not any relationship observed between pre-service teachers' cognition and their classroom practices in relation to learner autonomy.

I'm glad that the practicum raised their awareness of being an effective teacher and having a harmonious interaction with student.

I am inspired by her research, and I wonder whether the results can vary in different contexts with different participants in Turkey.