An Armenian English language teacher’s practical theory of communicative language teaching

Previous studies have shown that teacher cognitions and practices can be inconsistent, particularly with claims about communicative teaching practices. This article describes the practical theory of a state school EFL teacher in Armenia who claimed to be using a communicative approach to language teaching by considering her stated cognitions and observed practices and the contextual factors that influenced them. Data included six months of e-mail interviews, two on-site classroom observations, and one on-site interview; this study will focus on the observation of a grade 9 lesson which the teacher described as communicative. Analysis of the interview data shows that the teacher articulated a cohesive, coherent practical theory. The observation showed that she implemented many of her stated cognitions; however, some cognitions appeared to diverge in practice. Both her cognitions and practices were influenced by her understanding of the context in which she worked; meeting different expectations in particular may have contributed to the divergence between cognitions and practices.