Teachers’ Maxims in English Language Teaching; a Challenge in Education for Social Transformation in Kenya

Abstract

Teachers being thinking human beings and not robots, they do not just implement the curriculum as designed. To improve Language Teacher Education (LTE) and English language teaching (ELT), general research in teaching language and on second language teachers, concerning their mental images, thoughts, and processes that they use while teaching have been carried out. These mental processes provide interpretive frames that teachers use to understand and approach their own teaching. The principles function like rules for good behavior or maxims. These maxims guide the teachers’ choice of instructional decisions. Analysis of teachers’ accounts of their teaching and lesson protocols reveal the nature of their maxims. The purpose of the study was: to examine the maxims that guide teachers in ELT, and to establish factors that influence the choice of teachers’ maxims in ELT for social transformation. It used ethnography research method. The research instruments used were: document analysis, informal interview, and observation. Findings reveal that teachers are guided by the maxim of ‘value addition’ which significantly affects the implementation of the curriculum. The teachers’ maxims are influenced by a number of contextual factors such as: the school administration, external examinations and Quality Assurance and Standards Officers. Teacher educators should train student teachers and design workshops for practicing teachers to improve their maxims of: planning, accuracy, efficiency and conformity to the designed curriculum.