Inquiry-based English instruction: Teacher perceptions and classroom practices in upper secondary school following LK20

Abstract

The 2020 curriculum reform introduced inquiry-based approaches to all school subjects in Norway. According to the new core curriculum, such practices could be implemented in various ways and should aid in preparing students for the future (The Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research [NMER], 2017). The aim of this study has been to investigate teacher perceptions and practices of inquiry-based approaches. The overarching research question of this thesis is: What characterizes inquiry-based English teaching in two upper secondary schools following the renewal of the curriculum? To answer this question, I have employed data from two schools, collected in collaboration with the EDUCATE project. My sample consists of six teacher interviews, which I have analyzed to illuminate how teachers describe inquiry-based approaches. The interviews have been paired with six lessons containing inquiry-based approaches, led by three of these teachers, to investigate what the roles of teachers and students can be in teaching that includes inquiry-based practices. Findings from the interviews indicate that the six English teachers perceive inquiry-based approaches as relying on close follow-up from the teacher on independently working students, with emphasis on transferable skills over detail knowledge and subject-specific content. The teachers appeared confident and largely in concurrence in their descriptions. These patterns were mirrored in the lessons, where the students were allowed freedom to various extents, while the teachers scaffolded in various ways and prioritized teaching transferable skills over content. As regards didactic implications, the evidence from this study suggests that inquiry-based approaches do not need to be shunned as too cognitively demanding based on a lack of support from teachers. However, there is a need for testing the effectiveness of various scaffolding practices to investigate what type of teacher support needs to be provided. Additionally, since the implementation of the new curriculum is still in the starting phases, the balancing of content and skills might be drastically different in the future when both students and teachers have benefitted from practice.