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Abstract

The research investigated pre-service teachers and in-service teachers'
beliefs and understandings of Languages teaching in Tasmanian government
primary schools. Pre-service and in-service teachers' understandings of languages
teaching were identified and analysed using a range of formal, practice-orientated
and experiential measures designed to ascertain pedagogical understandings, the
role of Languages in a primary curriculum and the requirements for successful
languages teaching. As the thesis is situated within the Tasmanian context, it
provided contextual information and recommendations that had the capacity to be
translated into the local learning environment.
The study used both quantitative and qualitative research approaches. The
main data collection methods were questionnaire and interview. The pre-service
participants for this study were first year and third year undergraduate pre-service
teachers from the Bachelor of Education program at the University of Tasmania
in Launceston. A total of 185 students were invited to participate in the study.
The majority of students was from throughout Tasmania and fell within a wide
age range, with the majority between the ages of 18 -25. In-service participants
were selected from government primary schools from across the state where a
Languages program was in place and where the teacher had been teaching
Languages for a minimum of four years.
Primarily, this research began with the need to find out more about how,
where and why Languages fitted into to both in-service and pre-service teachers'
beliefs — to find out the extent of their investment in teaching Languages and how
this investment was articulated through their beliefs about Languages and notions
of teacher knowledge and teacher identity. Several matters of significance have
emerged from the study that highlight the central role that knowledge plays in the
construction of teacher identity and the significance of belief systems for
supporting adaptive and pedagogically responsible teaching practice.

Item Type:	Thesis - PhD
Authors/Creators:	Ashman, Gregory Ian
Keywords:	Language teacherszTasmaniaxAttitudes, Language and languages, Second language acquisition
Copyright Holders:	The Author
Copyright Information:	Copyright 2009 the Author
Additional Information:	Thesis (EDD)--University of Tasmania, 2010. Includes bibliographical references. Ch. 1. Overview of research -- Ch. 2. Literature review -- Ch. 3. Languages teaching in Tasmania -- Ch. 4. Research methodology -- Ch. 5. Data analysis: pre-service teacher survey -- Ch. 6. Pre-service teacher: interview analysis -- Ch. 7. Discussion and recommendations
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