Investigating the Beliefs on English Grammar Instruction among Norwegian Students and Teachers in High School. The beliefs of Norwegian L2 learners of English on grammar instruction, and the correlation between grammar knowledge and learner beliefs

Abstract

The objectives of the present study were to gain insight into the beliefs of high-level English second language (ESL) students and teachers from a Norwegian high school on grammar instruction as well as to investigate if grammar knowledge had an influence on these beliefs. To do this, a questionnaire was designed to measure the participants’ preferred grammar instructional method out of the four construct pairs: meaning- versus form-focused instruction, focus on form (FonF) versus focus on forms (FonFs), implicit versus explicit instruction, and inductive versus deductive instruction. Additionally, I tested the participants’ grammar knowledge and proficiency in English by having them complete a proficiency test and a grammaticality judgement test. After analysing the data from the proficiency and grammaticality judgement test, the students were divided into two groups: The high scoring group (those who scored above the mean score in both tests) and The low scoring group (those who scored under the mean score in both tests). Overall, the participants in the high scoring group showed a preference for meaning-focused and inductive instructional approaches (as did the teachers) and the participants in the low scoring group reported to prefer focus on form and deductive instructional approaches. What this suggests is that there is in fact a correlation between grammar knowledge and one’s instructional method preference.