A Case Study Of The Relationshipss Between English Teachers' Beliefs About Reading Instruction And Classroom Behaviors Under The Background Of New English Curriculum Standards

Teachers' beliefs have a great impact on teaching behaviors,and reading is regarded as a very important way of acquiring language in a foreign language context.It is generally accepted that teachers' beliefs about reading instruction provide a basis for their actions in classrooms,including the goals,contents,teacher-student roles,instructional activities and feedback on students' performances in reading instruction classes.Therefore,it is of great importance to conduct a research on teachers' beliefs and classroom behaviors about English reading instruction both theoretically and practically.However,few studies have been conducted on the relationshipss between senior high school English teachers' beliefs and classroom behaviors in reading instruction under the background of new curriculum reform in China.The present study aims to explore senior high school English teachers' beliefs about English reading instruction,address the relationshipss between their beliefs and classroom behaviors in reading instruction and investigate the influencing factors,hoping it can shed light on English reading instruction in senior high school.The present study is carried out to answer the following questions:(1)What beliefs about reading instruction do teachers hold under the background of New English Curriculum Standards in China?(2)How are teachers' beliefs about English reading instruction related to their classroom behaviors ?(3)If there is an inconsistency between teachers' beliefs about English reading instruction and their classroom behaviors,what are the underlying reasons for it?In order to answer these research questions,a qualitative approach involvingcollecting data from multiple sources: questionnaire,interviews,and classroom observations,is employed in this research.The research also seeks to understand teachers' beliefs about reading instruction through an in-depth focus on specific cases.Based on this design,data of all 34 participants are generated by questionnaires at first,and then,the qualitative data are collected from two case study participants through interviews and classroom observations.Findings in this study indicate that teachers' beliefs about the goals,contents,teacher-student role and instructional activities are in line with the requirements in English Curriculum Standards,but there is a gap between teachers' beliefs about feedback on students' performances and the requirements in the English Curriculum Standards.As for the relationships between teachers' beliefs and classroom behaviors in English reading instruction,most of teachers' stated beliefs are consistent with their classroom behaviors,while inconsistencies exist in the relationships between teachers' beliefs and classroom behaviors about teacher-student roles and teachers' feedback on students' performances in reading classes,especially for the less experienced teacher-Isabel in the present study.Finally,the study reveals that there are two categories of underlying factors that contribute to the inconsistencies between teachers' stated beliefs and classroom behaviors,namely,individual factors and contextual factors.