The Reciprocal Relationship between School Culture and Foreign Language Teachers’ Beliefs, Behaviors, and Instructional Practices

Main Article Content

Chantarath Hongboontri
Wimonnit Chaokongjakra

Abstract

This review article seeks to depict the reciprocal relationship between school culture and foreign language (FL) teachers’ beliefs, behaviors, and instructional practices.  To do so, we first review several works in the realms of organizational management and education to offer a definition of school culture.  Following are two discussion sections.  One reviews Rosenholtz’s seminal work on the impacts of school culture on teachers; the other one discusses the published works concerning the interplay between school culture and FL teachers of a few FL educators and researchers.  In essence, these two sections give meaning and nuance to how school culture shapes and re-shapes the beliefs, behaviors, and instructional practices of teachers and FL teachers.  Our article ends with a call for more research into this area to help situate a better understanding in FL education.

Article Details

Section
Articles
Author Biographies

Chantarath Hongboontri

Chantarath Hongboontri is a lecturer of Applied Linguistics at the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Mahidol University, Thailand.  He is currently conducting research on Workplace Culture and Organization: Teachers’ Beliefs, Behaviors, and Instructional Practices with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Robert C. Kleinsasser, Arizona State University.  He can be reached at [email protected]

Wimonnit Chaokongjakra

Wimonnit Chaokongjakrais teaching English at the Language Institute, Thammasat University.  Her research interests include teacher professional development and learner anxieties.  She can be reached at [email protected].

References

Ajaheb-Jahangeer, Shamim, and Abdul Cayum Jahangeer. “School Culture in a Private Secondary Institution in Mauritius.” International Education Journal 3.2 (2004): 247-254.

Banks, James A. “Multicultural Education: Characteristics and Goals.” Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives. 2nd ed. Ed. James A. Banks, and Cherry A. McGee Banks. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1993. 3-28.

Berger, Peter L., and Thomas Luckman. The Social Construction of Reality. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1966.

Billett, Stephen. “Relational Interdependence between Social and Individual Agency in Work and Working Life.” Mind, Culture, and Activity 13.1 (2006): 53-69.

Borg, Simon. “Teacher Cognition in Language Teaching: A Review of Research on What Language Teachers Think, Know, Believe, and Do.” Language Teaching 36.2 (2003): 81-109.

Bottery, Mike. The Ethics of Educational Management. London: Paul Chapman, 1992.

Bredeson, Paul V. “Teacher Learning as Work and at Work: Exploring the Content and Contexts of Teacher Professional Development.” Journal of In-service Education 26.1 (2000): 63-72.

Bruner, Darlene Y., and Bobbie J. Greenlee. “Measures of Work Culture in High and Low Performance Schools.” Research in the Schools 7.2 (2000): 71-6.

Bush, Tony. Theories of Educational Management. London: Paul Chapman, 1995.

Chaokongjakra, Wimonnit “University Foreign Language Teachers: How They Perceive Their Workplace Context.” Diss. Mahidol University, 2010.

Cheng, Yin C. “Profiles of Organizational Culture and Effective Schools.” School Effectiveness and School Improvement 4.2 (1993): 85-110.

Christensen, Clayton M. “What is an Organization Culture?” Harvard Business School 2.2 (2006): 1-8.

Colley, Kenna M. “Coming to Know a School Culture.” Diss. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1999.

Darling-Hammond, Linda. Professional Development for Teachers: Setting the Stage for Learning from Teaching. CA: The Center for the Future of Teaching & Learning, 2005.

---. “Securing the Right to Learn: Policy and Practice for Powerful Teaching and Learning.” Educational Researcher 35.67 (2006): 13-24.

Deal, Terrence E., and Allan A. Kennedy. Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life. Reading: Addison-Wesley, 1982.

---. “Culture and School Performance.” Educational Leadership 40.5 (1983): 140-1.

Deal, Terrence E., and Kent D. Peterson. Shaping School Culture: The Heart of Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1999.

Fidler, Brian, Sheila Russell, and Tim Simkins. eds. Choices for Self-Managing Schools: Autonomy and Accountability. London: Paul Chapman, 1997.

Flores, Maria A., and Christopher Day. “Contexts which Shape and Reshape New Teachers’ Identities: A Multiple-Perspective Study.” Teaching and Teacher Education 22.2 (2006): 219-32.

Fullan, Michael. The New Meaning of Educational Change. 3rd ed. New York: Teachers College Press, 2001.

---. The New Meaning of Educational Change. 4th ed. New York: Teachers College Press, 2007.

Fyans, Leslie. J., and Martin L. Maehr. School Culture, Student Ethnicity, and Motivation. Urbana: The National Center for School Leadership, 1990.

Gaziel, Haim H. “Impact of School Culture on Effectiveness of Secondary Schools with Disadvantaged Students.” Journal of Educational Research 90.5 (1997): 310-8.

Hargens, Donna M. An Explanatory Study of the Impact of the Organization on the Retention of High School Teachers. Diss. Seton Hall University, 2005.

Hargreaves, Andy. “Revisiting Voices.” Educational Researchers 25.1 (1996): 12-9.

Hongboontri, Chantarath. “Come Together: How Teachers Perceive Collaboration within Their Workplace.” Paper presented at GMS-TESOL Forum “Better English for Better Regional Understanding” Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai: Thailand. 2005. 67-73.

---. “EFL University Teachers in Thailand: Reviewing Their Perceptions and Environment.” Diss. The University of Queensland, 2003.

---. “Workplace Organizational Factors and Professional Development of University English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Teachers: Lessons from Thailand.” Qualitative Studies on English Language Teacher Development. Ed. Muhamad Kamaruk. Kabilan, and Vethamani. Malachi Edwin. Malaysia: Sasbadi Sdn. Bhd., 2008. 191-222.

Hongboontri, Chantarath, and Wimonnit Chaokongjakra. “Workplace Culture and Its Influences on Teachers’ Beliefs, Behaviors, and Practices.” Paper presented at the 30th annual Thailand TESOL International Conference “ELT in the Next Decade: Sharing, Caring, and Daring.” Bangkok, Thailand. 2010: 32.

Inger, Morton. Teacher Collaboration in Urban Secondary Schools. ERIC: Clearinghouse on Teaching and Teacher Education: Washington DC, 1993.

Kleinsasser, Robert C. “A Tale of Two Technical Cultures: Foreign Language Teaching.” Teaching and Teacher Education 9.4 (1993): 373-83.

---. “Professional Development School’s Evolution Potential: Teachers’ Initial Perceptions of their Teaching and Learning Community.” Learning Environments Research 2 (2000): 265-89.

Kleinsasser, Robert C., and Kazuyoshi Sato. “Professional Development in Context: Teachers in a Japanese High School English Department”. Studies in Languages and Language Teaching (SLLT) 14.1 (2007): 108-45.

Leithwood, Kenneth, and Daniel L. Duke. “A Century’s Quest to Understand School Leadership.” Handbook of Research on Educational Administration. 2nd ed. Ed. Joseph Murphy and Karen Seashore-Louis. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1999. 45-73. Print.

Little, Judith W. “Teacher Professional Development in a Climate of Educational Reform.” Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 15.2 (1993): 129-51.

MacBeath, John, and Peter Mortimore. Improving School Effectiveness. Buckingham: Open University Press, 2001.

Maslowski, Ralf. School Culture and School Performance. Enschede, the Netherlands: Twente University Press, 2001.

McLaughlin, Milbrey W., and Joan E. Talbert. Context that Matters for Teaching and Learning: Strategic Opportunities for Meeting the Nation’s Education Goals. Stanford University, CA: Center for Research in the Context of Secondary School Teachers, 1993.

Mees, Gregory W. “The Relationship among Principal Leadership, School Culture, and Student Achievement in Missouri Middle School.” Diss. University of Missouri, 2008.

Peterson, Kent. D. “Time Use Flows from School Culture: River of Values and Traditions Can Nurture or Poison Staff Development Hours.” Journal of Staff Development 2.2, 1999. Web. 22 July 2011.

Purkey, Stewart C., and Marshall S. Smith. “Too Soon to Cheer? Synthesis of Research on Effective Schools.” Educational Leadership 40.3 (1982): 64-9.

Riddell, Sheila, and Sally Brown. eds. School Effectiveness Research: Its Messages for School Improvement. Edinburgh: The Scottish Office, 1991.

Robbins, Pamela M., and Harvey B. Alvy. The Principal’s Companion. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 1995.

Rosenholtz, Susan J. Teachers’ Workplace: The Social Organization of Schools. New York: Teachers College Press, 1991.

Rosenholtz, Susan J., Otto Bassler, and Kathy Hoover-Dempsey. “Organizational Conditions of Teacher Learning.” Teaching & Teacher Education 2.2 (1986): 91-108.

Sagor, Richard D. “Three Principals who Make a Difference.” Educational Leadership 49.5 (1992):13-8.

Sato, Kazuyoshi. EFL Teachers in Context: Beliefs, Practices, and Interactions. Diss. The University of Queensland, 2000.

Sato, Kazuyoshi, and Robert C. Kleinsasser. “Beliefs, Practices, and Interactions of Teachers in a Japanese High School English Department.” Teaching and Teacher Education 20.5-6 (2004): 797-816.

Savignon, Sandra J. “Communicative Design for the 21st Century.” English Teaching Forum 40.1 (2002): 2-7.

---. “Communicative Language Teaching: State of the Art.” TESOL Quarterly 25.2 (1991): 261-77.

Schein, Edgar H. Organizational Culture and Leadership. San Francisco. CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1988.

---. Organizational Culture and Leadership. 4th ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2010.

Schoen, La Tefy, and Charles Teddlie. “A New Model of School Culture: A Response to Call for Conceptual Clarity.” School Effectiveness and School Improvement 19.2 (2008):129-53. Print.

Skaalvik, Einar M., and Sidsel Skaalvik. “Teacher Job Satisfaction and Motivation to Leave the Teaching Profession: Relations with School Context, Feeling of Belonging, and Emotional Exhaustion.” Teaching and Teacher Education 27.6 (2011): 1029-38.

Snyder, Karolyn J. School Work Culture Profile. Tampa, FL: Managing Productive Schools Training Programs, 1988.

Thacker, Jerry L., and William D. McInerney. “Changing Academic Culture to Improve Student Achievement in the Elementary Schools.” ERS Spectrum 10.4 (1992): 18-23.

Tye, Barbara B. Hard Truths: Uncovering the Deep Structure of Schooling. New York: Teachers College Press, 2000.

Valentine, Jerry W., Donald C. Clark, Donald G. Hackman, and Vicki N. Petzko. A National Study of Leadership in Middle School, Volume I: A National Study of Middle Level Leaders and School Programs. Reston, VA: National Association of Secondary School Principals, 2002.

Walker, Willard W. The Sociology of Teaching. New York: Wiley, 1932.

Williams, Jacqueline S. “Creativity, Connectedness, and the Spirit of Teaching: Factors that Contribute in Renewal and Longevity of Exemplary Teachers.” Dissertation Abstract International 62.2A (2001): 420.

---. “Why Great Teachers Stay.” Educational Leadership 60.8 (2003): 71-4.

Zigarelli, Michael A. “An Empirical Test of Conclusions from Effective School Research.” Journal of Educational Research 90.2 (1996): 103-10.