Pre-service Teachers' Belief Change In A Computer-Assisted Language Learning Course

This study explores the belief change of a group of 17 English graduate students as pre-service teachers in a Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) course and factors that have influenced the changes with both quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative data are obtained from a CALL teacher belief survey before and after the course to see the general trends of the belief change, while the qualitative data such as classroom observation notes, participants'course products, and informal interviews are collected and analyzed in order to gain insights into the process of participants'belief change. The major findings of the study are summarized as follows:Firstly, of the three belief domains (e-literacy, the learning and the teaching with computer), the most obvious changes that participants have gone through are found in their beliefs about learning in a CALL context as different from learning without technology support. The survey results supported by qualitative data reveal a gradual change in their understanding of CALL in promoting more interaction, collaboration and critical thinking. In addition,"learning by doing"is a new belief the participants gained during the learning process, although still some reported difficulties in changing from their habitual"learning by listening"to this new mode of learning by doing.Secondly, survey results do not show significant changes regarding participants'beliefs about e-literacy, but most participants reported their deepened understanding of the new language-related knowledge and skills in the qualitative data. Of all the new beliefs, their netiquette belief has undergone the most obvious changes, from the beginning ignorance to the increasing awareness of its importance in effective online communication.Thirdly, participants'beliefs about teaching have also gone through some changes. According to the survey results and qualitative data, they gradually realized students'needs as critical for the course and activity design. Computer can be a valuable instructional tool but needs to be integrated into teaching with careful consideration of learner needs and teaching objectives. Teacher's role in students'learning should be a facilitator, a helper and guide, not just a lecturer. Besides, all of them view the CALL course as a starting point on their way to become a qualified teacher in this information era.Many factors have been identified as important to have influenced the participants'belief changes. Facilitating factors include the instructor's guidance and modeling, peer help and project-based learning experience. The inhibiting factors are time constraint and course management-related issues.Based on the above findings, the researcher draws some implications from the study that may be helpful for CALL course design and pre-service teachers'professional preparation, including the need to carry out more classroom discussions about theories and practice to deepen the understanding of CALL course design, adopting reflective learning for self-awareness of belief changes and more examples of expert CALL teacher's modeling for putting the beliefs into real practice.