Teaching a skill or using a tool? : Studying Finnish EFL teachers’ beliefs about the teaching of reading and writing

Abstract

How teachers construct their beliefs about foreign language (FL) teaching in shifting educational contexts is an important, yet little known area. This study addresses this issue through a discourse analysis of research interviews conducted with 16 Finnish English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers about their views of teaching reading and writing. It identifies four different subject positions: ‘unaccountable’, ‘old-time’, ‘modern’ and ‘authentic’. The study shows that the participating teachers’ beliefs are contradictory and that although the teachers are aware of more recent discourses of language teaching, they find it difficult to link these with their teaching practice.