A Tentative Study On Pedagogical Beliefs Of University English Teachers In China

Teacher's pedagogical beliefs determine and influence their classroom practices. Over the years, there have been more and more researches on teacher's pedagogical beliefs. However, in China, researches pertaining to this area are mostly theoretical ones. The present study is an empirical one investigating pedagogical beliefs of university English teachers in China with the purpose of further understanding these beliefs and exploring the influence of these beliefs on teachers'classroom practices.The five questions that need to be addressed in this study are: what pedagogical beliefs do university English teachers in China hold? How have these beliefs changed? What are the sources that resulted in the changes? Is there a difference in pedagogical beliefs by years of teaching? How have teachers'pedagogical beliefs influence their classroom practices?In order to research on the five questions mentioned above, the present study utilizes a questionnaire and a Likert scale inventory. The questionnaire and Likert scale inventory were distributed to those university English teachers who participated in the China English Language Education Association's Annual Conference in 2005. Fifty-nine valid papers were retrieved. With the help of statistical analysis software SPSS 13.0, applying descriptive analysis and T Test to analyze the data, the following conclusions are drawn:Firstly, there are mainly eight categories of pedagogical beliefs, among which the top three are: beliefs about language input, beliefs about language output and beliefs about language learning motivations.Secondly, pedagogical belief changes are mainly reflected in the following three aspects: the change of basic teaching philosophy, the change of learner centeredness and the change of teacher confidence.Thirdly, the sources that resulted in the above changes are mainly student feedback, teacher's self-discovery and teacher's collaboration.Fourthly, there is a significant difference in teachers'pedagogical beliefs by years of teaching.Fifthly, pedagogical belief changes and the difference in pedagogical beliefs have great influence on teachers'classroom practices. It results in three different teaching approaches: input-based approach, rule-based approach and output-based approach.