فصلنامه نوآوریهای آموزشی (Sep 2009)
Cultural and psychological background of society for implementation of English education at primary schools and the students’ capability in this regard
Abstract
The main purpose of this study was to survey the “cultural and psychological background of society” and “the students’ capability” to learn English” at elementary level of education. In this study, descriptive–survey method was used. The sample was computed using Cochran formula. It consisted of 314 secondary schools’ English teachers who were selected through random classical sampling method, from four cities (Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz and Kerman). To access deeper information, 10 experts including university professors in English language, curriculum studies and psychology from the same cities were interviewed. They were selected via purposive sampling method. The data was collected using a 60 items researcher-made questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. The face and content validity of questionnaire and interview questions was determined using the specialists’ views and the reliability of the questionnaire was estimated 0.89 using Cronbach’s Alpha method. To gather the data, two methods were used: quantitative (a researcher-made questionnaire) and qualitative (semi-structured interview). A group of experts assessed content validity of the questionnaire and the interview questions. Reliability coefficient of the questionnaire was 0.89. The interview data were analyzed using categorization method, and the questionnaire data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (including frequency, percentile, mean, standard deviation) and inferential statistics such as independent sample t-test, ANOVA, post hoc Tuckey test and shared sample t-test. The results indicated that from the teachers and experts’ point of view, the “cultural and psychological background of society” for implementation English education at elementary level of education and “the students’ capability in this regard is more than average. In other words, there is both “cultural and psychological background” and “enough capability” to learn English at elemntary level of education.
