TESL Methodology in Canada: A Study of Instructor Attitudes and Correlates

Abstract

This paper reports on a survey of ESL teachers' attitudes toward classroom techniques. Sixty-four teachers, sampled from 5 ESL centres across Canada, completed a 95-item questionnaire which investigated attitudes toward specific ESL techniques and the factors which might influence them. The results indicated that teachers' age, amount and type of TESL experience, and individual learning style are all related to TESL attitudes. These effects, however, were localized to particular clusters of attitudes. The characteristics of an instructor's teaCher-training course, on the other hand, affected the entire range of responses. A correlation of .85 was found between ESL teachers' attitudes and the methodological attitudes expressed by their TESL teachers during teacher-training. We conclude that the attitudes of both the ESL and TESL teachers are influenced by a set of "cultural norms and values" in which all members of the TESL community participate.