An Investigation Into English Teachers' Beliefs In Colleges

With the development of teaching reform in Chinese education, more and more attention has been paid to changing the teaching approaches from teacher-centered to student-centered in English teaching. Teachers and researchers begin to lay more and more emphasis on students' role in English teaching. However, student-centered language teaching does not mean the decrease of teachers' function in English classroom. In fact, teachers play an indispensable role in successful teaching. An investigation into English teachers' beliefs may contribute to our understanding of teachers' beliefs and can provide some useful implications and suggestions for teachers' professional development. In this way, teachers can improve their teaching efficiency and get more confidence and guidance in their own career development.Seventy-six English teachers participated in this research. They were selected from three universities in Jiangxi Province. Two instruments employed in this research were questionnaire and semi-structured interview. The purpose of this research was to examine the current situation of English teachers' beliefs and compare the differences in teachers' beliefs among different groups of teachers. It aimed at answering three research questions:(1) What is the current situation of college English teachers' beliefs?(2) Are there any differences in teachers' beliefs between teachers in Normal university and those in Comprehensive university?(3) Does the year of service affect teachers' beliefs? Descriptive statistics, Independent Samples T-test and one-way ANOVA were used to analyze data.The major findings of this study demonstrated that,(1) The English teachers' beliefs were inclined to be positive and optimistic. Of the five dimensions, English teachers were very active in beliefs about learning and curriculum while they didn't have high beliefs about their profession;(2) The teachers' beliefs in Comprehensive university were a little higher than those of teachers in Normal university. Teachers from Normal university only had more open beliefs about learners and profession, and held more negative beliefs about teaching, learning and curriculum;(3) English teachers in different stages of year of service got positive beliefs in the five dimensions. Novice teachers held higher beliefs in the four dimensions except teaching, while the elder teachers were very passive in teachers' beliefs exceptlearning.In view of the research findings, some implications are proposed for English teachers' professional development.(1) The educational departments should provide more financial support and favorable policy for English teachers. They should provide teachers with better welfare, higher income and more sponsorship.(2) Teachers should be given more chances of classroom practice in their pre-service training, and this can help them become more skilled in classroom teaching.(3) English teachers in Normal universities should do more reflections about their teaching and try to improve their teaching quality.