Exploring the influence of language teachers’ experiences of learning language on their teaching practices

Numerous studies have been conducted to understand why teachers teach in the way to do. Whilst a number of reasons have been given, none has been emphatically conclusive about what influences teachers to adopt certain teaching practices. Even though initial teacher preparation has been identified as a core influencing factor, it has also been observed that teachers teach in ways that do not take into account their teacher preparation experiences. This study therefore, explored how Kiswahili and English language teachers’ experiences of learning language have influenced their teaching practices. The study employed a qualitative approach and adopted a narrative inquiry design. It engaged four participants who are teachers of language in secondary schools. Data was collected through interviews and documents analysis. The study found that the experiences that teachers have with language learning from many years of schooling greatly influence their beliefs and practices of language teaching. Experiences with both excellent teachers and poor teachers have informed the teachers of the good and bad practices which they have adopted or abhorred. The study also found out that teachers have confidence and belief in their language teaching practices and view them as being good. This, however, could lead to complacency as the teachers do not critically reflect on their practices for improvement. The study made some recommendations in light of the findings to improve language teachers’ practices.