"It is not just a theory you should check off": Influences on grammar teaching practices, a case by case review

Sammanfattning: Research about grammar teaching practices in Sweden has shown that grammar is something which many teachers value. To further facilitate the development of different teaching practices the present thesis hopes to provide teachers with a reference point for how different teaching practices are constructed. The specific aim of the thesis is to discover how grammar teaching practices are influenced by the curriculum, teachers’ experiences with teaching, teaching context, and teachers’ formal knowledge about teaching. This understanding is formed through the lens of teacher cognition using the concepts practical knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and culture of teaching to direct the analysis along with four other constructs. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with four practicing English teachers from three different Upper Secondary Schools in Sweden. The interviews were recorded and after transcriptions were produced the data was coded deductively and inductively to generate descriptive themes. The results show that teachers’ decisions about grammar teaching are informed and influenced by multiple interacting factors, including the needs of their students, their knowledge about grammar teaching and their previous experiences with teaching. A common theme between participants was that context and pedagogical knowledge would dictate when to teach grammar and teaching experience would inform which practices were used to do so. Additionally, the results point towards the context as a contributing factor to how teachers develop new knowledge about teaching practices. These findings significantly support the idea that teachers believe grammar teaching is something their students benefit from and that their students’ needs are a main concern when electing to include grammar teaching.