3.8 Conclusion

The literature considered in this review reminds us of the importance of beliefs in understanding the behind-the-scenes realities of what happens in the classroom. More importantly, the review provides us with a preliminary perspective on how teachers respond to new ideas, knowledge, new theories and technologies. Many of these studies will no doubt serve as useful points of comparison and as a means of understanding some of the beliefs in the present study.

Along with the literature which was reviewed in this chapter, we have a conceptual and historical framework on which we can draw in order to interpret teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning FSFL in OLEs. This framework draws on existing knowledge about methodological approaches used throughout the last 100 years in language teaching. It also draws on our current knowledge about use of technology in second-language instruction. The role of the theories of behaviourism and constructivism in technology use and in second-language instruction is also highlighted. Such background knowledge about "official theories" will assist in our understanding of teachers’ "implicit theories", personal knowledge or cognitive maps which they use to respond to reality.

One important contribution which this study makes to the literature on teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning FSFL in OLEs is the use of technology to collect data. Through one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many conversations and discussions, teachers are given the opportunity to reflect on, share and articulate their beliefs. The methodology used in this study is unique, not only because it has not been used in other studies to gather beliefs but because of the way in which the methodology suits the topic. Using online environments to gather beliefs about online environments seems a logical approach to adopt. Not only is it logical, it is also innovative and effective. The following chapter explains in detail how the techniques of multiloguing, dialoguing and monologuing are combined in order to state what would otherwise be tacit, to make explicit the implicit, to make known what would otherwise be unknown, to reveal that which is hidden.