Cognitions and Practices of Early Grade English Teachers Across Career Stages

The study aims to identify the cognitions and practices of twenty (20) early grade English teachers across career stages (namely, beginning, proficient, highly proficient and distinguished) among the identified public elementary schools in the Schools Division of Lucena City. The data showed that there was a fit or a match between and among the participants’ cognitions and practices on ELT in the early grade. The uniformity of actions and practices of teachers regardless of their career stages can be attributed to the use of DepEd’s teaching guide, curriculum guide and learning materials that are highly suggestive and are readily available. DepEd’s in-service training on these curriculum materials with which teacher participants of this study claimed to be the source of their knowledge on ELT, greatly shaped teacher cognitions on ELT over the years.
The findings revealed that that the participants’ cognitions and practices on ELT in the early grade are mainly characterized by a communicative approach to second language teaching such that ELT activities and strategies focus on the use of the target language in context where learners would most likely be familiar with. While participant’s cognitions and practices are mainly characterized by CLT, misinterpretations such as the use of L1 translation still occur. The teacher participants were not aware that the learners’ L1 has no particular role in the communicative approach. Teacher participants from this study used and allowed the use of L1 in the teaching of English in the early grade.
Based on the findings and the conclusions presented, the following recommendations are offered: (1) For the Department of Education, National Educators Academy of the Philippines (NEAP) to use findings of this study as a basis for designing closely targeted, in-service professional development activities directed at improving ELT practices and cognitions of early grade teachers of English across career stages; to adopt an approach to in-service development that closely links growth in ELT content knowledge with pedagogical skills development based on the PPST. Under this strategy, new and different ways of teaching English in the early grade would be combined with building knowledge on ELT. Same recommendation is given to the Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) for pre-service training of early grade teachers of English. (2) For the Department of Education to consider linking NEAP’s in-service development activities in ELT at the early grade with course-work master’s degree programs conducted by selected Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) specializing in such course work programs; and rewarding graduates of such programs with accelerated advancement. (3) For future researchers to conduct another research on ELT, comparing the rich data of this study to the PPST indicators per career stage to see if these Master Teachers are indeed Highly Proficient, or their practice is at the Highly Proficient level.