A study on Korean secondary school English teachers' beliefs and practices about English writing education in South Korea

Master of EducationThis thesis investigates the relationship between Korean secondary school English teachers' beliefs about and practices in English writing education and the factors that affect this relationship. By identifying the significant factors that influence the consistencies and the inconsistencies between teachers' beliefs and practices, this study attempts to advance English writing education in South Korea. In a number of subject area, teachers' beliefs, as one facet of teacher cognition, have been a major focus in studies of teaching to better understand teachers' classroom practices and to improve teacher education. However, the subject of teacher beliefs on second language writing has attracted relatively little attention from researchers. In addition, few studies have been conducted in a Koreanspecific context. This study therefore attempts to contribute to the literature on teacher cognition in relation to a Korean-specific context. Adopting an interpretive perspective, this study employed a qualitative multi-case study method to study Korean secondary teachers' beliefs about and practices of how to teach writing. Drawing on data that included teaching materials, literacy autobiographies, and semi-structured interviews with six Korean secondary school English teachers, the results of this study showed that generally teachers' beliefs about English writing education are consistent with their practices. However, some beliefs were not so strongly reflected in the teachers' classroom practices. The reasons for the weak consistencies between some beliefs and teachers' practices were related to issues of educational policy and teachers' professional development. Korean educational policy relating to English education, such as textbooks, the Korean College Scholastic Aptitude Test, large class sizes, was one factor that hinders teachers from actualizing their beliefs. Another significant factor identified in this study concerned teacher factors, including teachers' lack of confidence in giving English writing instruction. This research concludes with some implications in these two areas for further improvement of English writing education in South Korea