Thesis Proposal (FU) 1

UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION,
WINNEBA
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES EDUCATION STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF APPLIED LINGUISTICSNNEBA

RESEARCH TOPIC
THE EFFECT OF ESL TEACHERS’ BELIEFS ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC
PERFORMANCE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE: THE CASE OF SENIOR HIGH
SCHOOLS IN UPPER DENKYIRA
BY
Osei Tutu (TESL MPHIL TOP-UP)
Outline of Presentation
 Background to the study
 Problem statement
 Objectives and research questions
 Theoretical framework
 Literature Review
Definition of Beliefs
Beliefs and Other Interrelated Aspects
Beliefs and Teachers’ Classroom Practices
The Main Sources of Teachers’ Beliefs
The Apprenticeship of Observation
Teacher Education
Cont’ Outline of Presentation
Belief Change
The Dominant Approaches of Language Teaching
Professionalism and Effective characteristics of Professional Development (PD)
Curriculum Development, Change and Alignment
 Methodology
 References
Background to the Study
• It is generally accepted that teaching takes place in different ways and
at different levels. Teaching is mainly an outcome of a teacher’s
perception.
• Williams and Burden (1994) posit that teachers’ beliefs play a pivotal
role in the teaching and learning process hence teachers must know
their own beliefs, philosophies or theories.
• Teachers’ beliefs could therefore receive a facelift by experience,
knowledge, professional development and making them aware of their
teaching approaches.
• According to Fisher et al. (2007), a teacher must understand his/her
teaching philosophies so that he/she can work on further improvement.
Problem Statement
• After many years of adoption of English as a second language in Ghana,
concerns about the falling standards of education have been raised (Amua-
Sekyi, 1997).
• Besides, Anku & Klu (2017) believe that “very little initiatives have been
instituted for the promotion of knowledge about language for both language
teachers and teacher trainees in the country” (Anku & Klu, 2017, p. 258).
• Studies conducted by Macaro, Curle, Pun, and Dearden (2018) and Faez,
Karas, and Uchihara (2019) within second-language environments often
made recommendations based on native speakers’ perspectives, which
mostly position second-language teachers’ classroom practices as
inadequate or insufficient to enhance pupils’ proficiency.
Purpose of the Study
• This study explores the effect of ESL teachers’ beliefs on
students’ academic performance in English Language.
Objectives of the Study
i. Examine the correlation between ESL teachers’ beliefs and senior high school students’
academic performance in English Language.
ii. Investigate the effect of ESL teachers’ beliefs on senior high school students’ academic
performance in English Language in Upper Denkyira.
iii. Explore appropriate measures to remedy ESL teachers’ beliefs on senior high school
students’ academic performance in English Language in Upper Denkyira.
Research Questions
iv. What is the correlation between ESL teachers’ beliefs and senior high school students’
academic performance in English Language in Upper Denkyira?
v. What is the effect of ESL teachers’ beliefs on academic performance of senior high
school students in English Language in Upper Denkyira?
vi. How can the impact of ESL teachers’ beliefs on senior high school students’ academic
performance in Upper Denkyira be addressed?
Significance of the Study
• Theoretically, it adds to the existing literature on the impact of ESL
teachers’ beliefs teaching in the ESL classroom as well as the
development of teacher classroom practices.
• The study also forms a fertile foundation and reference for any further
studies in the field of Applied Linguistics and TESL that seek to
investigate the influence of teachers’ belief on classroom practices.
• The study seeks to enhance current curriculum and professional
development and examining how all these elements are aligned to
enhance the goal of teaching English as a foreign language to
Ghanaian students.
Conceptual Framework for the Study: Planned Behaviour
Theory (PBT) and of Desimone’s (2009) Theoretical
Framework (DTF)
• The choice of these two frameworks was mainly influenced by

focusing on behaviours as they are (teachers’ current practices) taking
into account beliefs as a key source for structuring certain ways of
behaving.
• Whereas, the other zeros in on the change and development of those
behaviours through professional development.
Literature Review
Definition of Beliefs
Beliefs and Other Interrelated Aspects
Beliefs and Teachers’ Classroom Practices
The Main Sources of Teachers’ Beliefs
The Apprenticeship of Observation
Teacher Education
Belief Change
The Dominant Approaches of Language Teaching
Professionalism and Effective characteristics of Professional Development (PD)
Curriculum Development, Change and Alignment
Methodology
 Approach: Mixed Methods
 Design: Convergent Parallel
 Population: English Language teachers in senior high schools in Upper
Denkyira.
 Sampling techniques: Purposive and convenience
 Sample size: 100 English Language teachers in Upper Denkyira.
 Instrument: questionnaire, interview and observation
Approach
• Mixed Methods
• In research studies, Grover, (2015) asserts that a researcher can adopt a
specific approach based on the nature of the research problem being
addressed and the reason behind the choice.
• The reason for the choice of the mixed methods for this study is that it
enables the researchers to have in-depth knowledge and understanding
of incidences and concepts and preferably allows for examining and
studying theories, strategies and instruments helps to comprehend the
relationship between variables in beliefs and their effect on the teaching
of English Language as a subject in the senior high school classrooms.
• More so, it provides the researcher with a collection of flexible designs
that fit in supporting a rigorous examination of the study’s objectives.
Design
• Convergent Parallel
• A research design according to Cohen et al. (2018) “is a plan or strategy that is drawn
up for organizing the research and making it practicable, so that research questions can
be answered based on evidence and warrants” (p. 173).
• The research designs available to the researcher in the mixed-methods include
Convergent Parallel Design, Explanatory Sequential Design, Exploratory Sequential
Design and Embedded Sequential Design.
• Two different approaches namely qualitative and quantitative methods are mixed to
obtain the triangulated results in this design.
• In examining the effect of ESL teachers’ beliefs on students’ academic performance in
English Language, the researcher administers questionnaires and also conducts
interviews with teachers to understand the issue.
• Quantitative data is collected from the questionnaires and qualitative data from
interviews and examines if the findings obtained from these two different data sets
converge.
Population
• Creswell (2003) also opined that; it is a well-defined collection of individuals or
objects known to have similar characteristics.
• With this, Cummins (1978) is of the view that individuals or objects within a certain
population in every research work must be known to have common characteristics or
traits either of identity, habitat, culture, species, etc.
• In this study, the accessible population is 160 teachers at the senior high schools in
Upper Denkyira.
• In this study, the target population is geared toward teachers who teach the English
Language in Senior High Schools in the Upper Denkyira East and West
Municipal/District of the Central Region of Ghana. The senior high schools in Upper
Denkyira were primarily chosen due to the researcher’s familiarity with the areas in
general and schools for having taught in both areas.
• Moreover, proximity of access to the teachers was key in arriving at the target since the
researcher also teaches in one of the schools within the Upper Denkyira East
Municipal. Therefore, data collection from the same environment is more convenient.
Sampling Techniques
• Purposive and convenience
• Purposive sampling aids in selecting respondents who possess relevant knowledge
about the subject matter which is taught in secondary school classrooms as explained
by (Palinkas et al., 2016, and Clark & Creswell, 2008).
• Purposive sampling is used given the overall aim of the study and the population
target to be examined (who should be teachers).
• Convenient sampling is also employed due to the study area where the researcher
finds himself. Conveniently, the researcher’s familiarity with the areas in general and
all the seven (7) schools for having taught in both areas and still stationed in Upper
Denkyira East Municipal, would therefore, be deemed a great advantage to sample
participants from the same environs.
• Also, the researcher preferred English Language teachers to teachers teaching any
other subject due to the proximity of experience. This is because the researcher as an
English Language teacher in the same vicinity, investigating ESL teachers’ beliefs
and its effect on students’ academic performance is equally easy assessment and
observation classroom practices.
Sample
• 100 teachers
• The sample is the element in the population that is used to make inferences about
the general population. The sample must have the same characteristics as the
population being studied (Hopkins, 2008).
• In this case, the sample must be teachers who teach the English language in Senior
High Schools within the Upper Denkyira.
• the researcher adopts Yamane's (1967) formula to estimate the sample size from a
definite population.
• The Yamane formula is used since it gives an exact estimation of the sample that
can best be used for this study studies with huge population.
• It also follows some assumptions which allow for a certain minimum sample to be
selected from the population target and still creates room for error margins.
Instruments
Questionnaire
• According to Creswell (2002), questionnaires provide an efficient means by which
statistically quantifiable information can be collected. A self-structured questionnaire
was the main instrument for the data collection with close ended questions.
• The questionnaire was used because it allows for a lot of information to be collected
within the shortest possible time (McLeod, 2014). Also, questionnaires allow for the
anonymity of respondents which allows for honest answers.
Interview
• The use of the interview in research marks a move away from seeing human subjects
as simply manipulable and data as somehow external to individuals, and towards
regarding knowledge as generated between humans, often through conversations
(Kvale, 1996, p. 11).
• The researcher adopted the semi-structured interview through face-to-face and focus
group interactions with the respondents.
Cont’ Instruments
• It provides first-hand information. It can be adjusted to meet diverse situations due to its
flexibility. It is an opportunity to observe behaviours when participants cannot be directly
observed. The interviewees have the opportunity to freely express their views.
Observation
• According to Cresswell & Cresswell (2018), ‘a qualitative observation is when the

researcher takes field notes on the behavior and activities of individuals at the research site’
and thus, ‘in these field notes, the researcher records, in an unstructured or semi-structured
way (using some prior questions that the inquirer wants to know), activities at the research
site’.
• In this study, the researcher adopted the review checklist observation guide as the third
research instrument.
• The researcher therefore used this strategy to discover things for himself that remained
hidden during the other execution of the other strategies.
References
• Adey, P. (2004). The Professional Development of Teachers: Practice and Theory. Boston:
Kluwer Academic Publishers.
• Ahsan, N. M., & Anjum, T. (2012). A Study of Pakistani Teachers' Beliefs and Perceptions
about Teaching and Learning. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in
Business, 128-143.
• Ajzen, I. (1991). The Theory of Planned Behaviour. Organizational Behaviour and
Human Decision Processes, 179-211.
• Ajzen, I. (2002). Perceived Behavioural Control, Self-Efficacy, Locus of Control, and
Theory of Planned Behaviour. Journal Applied Social Psychology, 665-683.
• Ajzen, I. (2005). Attitudes, Personality, and Behaviour (2nd ed.). Milton-Keynes: Open
University Press.

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UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION,

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES EDUCATION STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF APPLIED LINGUISTICSNNEBA

THE EFFECT OF ESL TEACHERS’ BELIEFS ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC

PERFORMANCE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE: THE CASE OF SENIOR HIGH

SCHOOLS IN UPPER DENKYIRA

• The choice of these two frameworks was mainly influenced by

• According to Cresswell & Cresswell (2018), ‘a qualitative observation is when the

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