Chapter One Introduction to the Present Study
1.1 Introduction
This chapter is the general introduction to the whole study, including thebackground, objectives and significance of the study. The structure of the thesis isalso introduced at the end..So teachers’ beliefs become an exploring topic to the linguists, educationists,or even someway psychologists, and then many researchers have done a lot to developthis notion. However, many issues and questions still need further investigation onthis topic. Now that teachers’ beliefs are about teachers inner world, whatteachers’ beliefs do EFL teachers in high schools hold in the current situation? Dohigh school EFL teachers’ beliefs vary in relation to gender, years of EFL teachingexperience and teaching grades? The present study initiates the substantiveinvestigation of these questions, intended to obtain a better understanding of theteachers’ inner thoughts.
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1.2 Background of the Study
Since the New English Curriculum Standard for Senior High Schools wasissued in 2003 to fulfill the requirements for social development as well as toenhance high school EFL teaching effectively, high school EFL teaching in China haschanged a lot, that is, it is shifted from being teacher-dominated and knowledge-oriented to the state of being learner-centered and application-oriented. The newcurriculum reform has been making the EFL teaching situation in high schools moreand more complicated. In this situation, high school EFL teachers have to face greatchallenges. Firstly, they should update their views on language, which should be ameans of communication instead of a system of linguistic knowledge. Secondly, theyshould also renew their teaching methods, paying extra attention to task-basedmethods, cooperative learning and so on. Thirdly, high school EFL teachers need toimprove their professional competence, namely, language proficiency andpedagogical ability. Fourthly, the EFL teachers’ roles should also be switched fromdistributors of knowledge to organizers, advisors and even participants.As is generally considered, high school EFL teachers are the key to the reform.As a consequence, the study on EFL teachers becomes especially significant. Onlywhen high school EFL teachers have managed to totally change their traditional wayof EFL teaching – a combination of the Audio-lingualism and Grammar-translationmethod, will the reform make sense. According to Clark(1986), it is teachers’ innerbeliefs that decide the process of classroom teaching.
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Chapter Two Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
This chapter of literature review provides the definitions of teachers’ beliefs,the contextual and theoretical background of the related study on EFL teachers’beliefs abroad and in China, classifications of teachers’ beliefs and the theoreticalframework of the study. Additionally, the literature review in this chapter offers atheoretical and practical support for the present study. Meanwhile, domestic researchers also tried to give a definition to teachers’beliefs. Qu (1998) defines teachers’ beliefs as the affirmations and firm beliefs of aneducational concept and ideology. As for Yu and Xin (2000), they think overallteachers’ beliefs refer to the teachers’ judgments about some theories, attitudes andviews related to the teaching-learning process. According to Zhao (2003) and Zhu(2003), teachers’ beliefs are usually viewed as the concept, idea, and hypothesis aboutthe word and the pedagogy, which lies in the inner pace of teachers’ mind and affecttheir behaviors unobserved.All in all, teachers’ beliefs are held by teachers consciously or unconsciously.Under the background of the New English Curriculum Standard, the researcher ofthis thesis thinks teachers’ teaching beliefs can refer to the views and attitudestowards learning, teaching and learners in the real teaching process.2.3 Studies on Teachers’ Beliefs Abroad.
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2.2 Definitions of Teachers’ Beliefs
Harvey(1986) stated that a belief system is a set of conceptual representationswhich indicates to its holder a reality or given state of affairs of sufficient validity,truth or credibility to assure reliance upon it as a guide to personal thought and action.Pajares (1992) also indicated that belief systems serve as a personal guide by helpingindividuals to define and understand the world and themselves. He put forward furthera most complete concept of beliefs including attitudes, values, judgments, axioms,opinions, ideology, perceptions, conceptions, conceptual system, preconceptions,dispositions, implicit theories, explicit theories, personal theories, internal mentalprocesses, action strategies, rules of practices, practical principles, understanding, andsocial strategy, 20 aspects in total. Woods (1996) proposed an integrated network offoreign language teachers’ beliefs, assumptions and knowledge, which is useful fordefining the key construct under investigation. Richards (1998) believed thatteachers’ beliefs referred to teachers’ pedagogic beliefs. They were information,attitudes, values, expectations, theories, and assumptions about teaching and learningthat teachers accumulate over time. Borg (2001) regarded teachers’ beliefs as a termused to refer to teachers’ pedagogic beliefs or the beliefs of relevance to anindividual’s teaching. In the study of Bullock and Stable (2002), teachers’ beliefs arereferred to as the thinking and interrelating process of their teaching procedure,comprising their attitudes, decisions, feelings and experiences.
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Chapter Three Research Design .......15
3.1 Introduction ......15
3.2 Research Questions.......15
3.3 Participants.......15
3.4 Instruments …........17
3.4.1 Semi-structured Interview.......17
3.4.2 Questionnaire ......17
3.5 Data Collection.........20
3.6 Data Analysis......21
Chapter Four Results and Discussion ....22
4.1 Introduction .......22
4.2 Results of the Interviews .....22
4.3 Results of the Questionnaire....25
4.3.1 General Analysis of Teachers’ Beliefs .........25
4.3.2 Analysis of Teachers’ Beliefs in Relation to the Three ......26
4.3.3 Classified Analysis of Teachers’ Beliefs ......30
4.4 Summary ....38
Chapter Five Conclusion.....38
5.1 Introduction ......39
5.2 Findings of the Study....39
5.3 Implications of the Study .........40
5.4 Limitations of the Study .....41
5.5 Suggestions for Future Study.........41
Chapter Four Results and Discussion
4.1 Introduction
In this chapter, the data obtained through the questionnaire and semi-structuredinterview have been analyzed, summarized and grouped. The results of the study onwhat teachers’ beliefs on learning, teaching and learners high school EFL teachershold and whether high school EFL teachers’ beliefs vary regarding gender, years ofEFL teaching experience and teaching grades have been presented. First, experience is the best teacher. When asked why EFL teachers choose acertain teaching method, they may explain that it comes from their teachingexperience. “According to my teaching experience ” is a common beginning intheir statements. When asked the question of how to improve the interviewees’teaching, teacher B said, “We can get better ways of teaching by watching otherteachers’ classes. And it is also helpful to ask for other teachers’ advice on wherethere is something needing improving.” Some occasional teaching incidents can alsohave an important effect on teachers’ beliefs. Teacher C talked about one of herexperiences. She used to think female students had a better and quicker understandingin English than male students. But she changed her view when she gradually noticedthat the ones who got very high scores in the College Entrance Examination are malestudents. This is an issue interesting and worth further discussion.
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Conclusion
The summaries of the findings based on the present study are presented in thefollowing statements.First, the study shows that how teachers’ beliefs are formed are in close relationto the four aspects: experience from watching other teachers’ classes, their advice orimportant teaching incidents; the guidance of theories on education, which plays animportant role in forming EFL teachers’ beliefs; self-reflection on their professionalimprovement and a positive relationship between teachers and learners. And in turn,high school EFL teachers’ beliefs reflect on their attitudes towards EFL learning,teaching and learners. In EFL teaching practice, teachers use different teachingapproaches, either traditional or modern, but most of them are student-centered. Moreimportantly, EFL teachers combine their teachers’ beliefs on learners in the teachingprocess. They care about the desire of learners; they are patient to learners’incompetence. They have extraordinary responsibility for their career. As for EFLlearning, EFL teachers also regard effective communication, practical situations andmeaning contexts more significant than mechanical practice and rote memorization.What’s more, they hold a tolerant attitude towards learners’ errors.
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