Understanding ELT academics’ teaching methods in the United States: a qualitative study

Abstract

While much research delineates teaching methods for second language in English Language Teaching (ELT) field, few studies were conducted in the United States (US) context. Thus, the current study examines ELT academics’ teaching methods within the context of the US higher education. In this qualitative study, online semi-structured interviews, reflections and classroom observations were used to collect qualitative data from a sample group of 17 participants working in two US higher education institutions. The data were analyzed separately using content analysis. The results indicated that lecturers employ inquiry-based teaching and communicative teaching approaches enriched with technological facilities in their classrooms thereby enabling learners to improve productive and creative/critical thinking skills. To this end, it is recommended that ELT teachers and lecturers should create second a language learning environment in which topics regarding culture and real-life context are integrated into their teaching. Furthermore, this study also suggests that researchers do more study regarding teaching methods in ELT for future research.