Seventeenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand how teachers’ intentions to utilize Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theories change as a result of participation in a university SLA theory course. The research questions were: (1) To what extent do teachers indicate changes in their SLA theories resulting from course participation? and; (2) Which SLA theories presented in an SLA theory course do teachers indicate they are willing to apply in their classrooms? A total of seventy-five students participated in regular or online sections of the course over four semesters. In addition to weekly assignments based on reading research articles, students were asked to articulate their own personal theory of SLA once at the beginning and at the end of the semester. The analyzed results revealed that preservice teachers (68%) and practicing teachers (67%) were both quite likely to change their initial personal theories as a result of course participation. However, 82% of the international students changed their personal theories completely or somewhat, whereas only 61% of domestic students demonstrated similar changes. Regarding the application of their personal theories, no participants mentioned English for Academic Purposes in their initial theories, but it was the most frequently mentioned factor in their final theories. Moreover, Practice and Exposure tied for first place in their initial theories, but did not make their top ten theories at course end. Moreover, Bilingual Education, Feedback, and Learner Variability received no support in their initial theories but were among the top ten factors mentioned in their final theories.