Why Is the Grammar-translation Method Still Alive in the Arab World? Teachers' Beliefs and Its implications for EFL Teacher Education.

Language teachers' agency to their belief system has been widely reported to influence classroom teaching practices. Whilst the bulk of research has dealt with second language learner teachers' beliefs, few studies have been conducted on how and why tenured EFL teachers activate their beliefs within a context of strictly controlled curriculum and imposed language teacher education programmes and what influence this may have on their teaching practice. Specifically, when EFL teachers adapt the imposed communicative language teaching approach (CLA) in teaching grammar, tensions are bound to arise and influence their decisions regarding implementation of the proposed curriculum. The study addressed this gap and contributed more broadly to our understanding of how attention to teachers' beliefs and self-initiated models of professional development such as reflection could aid the effectiveness of top-down policies. This paper aimed at exploring the interplay between EFL teachers' beliefs about grammar teaching and their reported practices in public schools in Saudi Arabia, and the extent of influence of teacher education programmes in informing such beliefs. The investigation utilized semi-structured interviews with four EFL Saudi teachers. Qualitative data analysis revealed that despite the mandated CLA approach and training programmes, teachers reported dominant forms-focused (traditional) grammar instruction which was for the most part informed by consistent beliefs and influenced by prevailing contextual factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]