Chinese Teachers' Beliefs About Their Roles In ELT (English Language Teaching) Are A Main Cause To Influence Learners' Participation In Classroom Interaction: A Study Of College English Teachers In Sanywiang College

Many educators and scholars have examined current situation of ELT in China. As the researcher finds that some researches on ELT in China have regarded 'unsatisfactory classroom interaction'(Liao, 2002)as a main problem in ELT in China, she develops an interest in finding out the possible cause(s) for unsatisfactory classroom interaction. As a number of researchers also indicate that Chinese teachers of English failed to fulfill their roles as 'facilitator for students' learning' in classrooms, the researcher further wants to explore whether the Chinese teachers' beliefs about their roles are the main cause for 'unsatisfactory classroom interaction'—learner-learner interaction in ELT classrooms in particular. Therefore, she designs a small-scale research to explore the possible causes for that. By conducting questionnaires (Ten College teachers and their fifty non-English majors from Sanywiang College in China were recruited as subjects.) and interviews (three College English teachers), the researcher finds that some Chinese teachers' beliefs about their roles (as facilitators or controllers in ELT classroom interaction) are a main cause to influence ELT classroom interaction as many of them have not formed appropriate beliefs about their roles in ELT classrooms in accordance with communicative language teaching methods. These teachers' inappropriate beliefs about their roles in ELT classrooms result in their failure in providing ample activities to encourage students' participation in classroom interaction.However, by doing this research, the researcher also finds that there are some other causes for the 'unsatisfactory classroom interaction' in China, such as English language teaching tradition in China, the Chinese culture, the large classroom size, students' beliefs about their own roles and beliefs in ELT classrooms, the administrative factors, teachers' limited academic abilities and students' low language proficiency, the existing examination and assessment system in China and so on.Hence, the researcher concludes that on one hand, Chinese College English teachers do need to enhance their beliefs about their roles in ELT classrooms in accordance with communicative language teaching methods. On the other hand, the whole society, the educational authorities and other components concerned should be aware of the factors (as mentioned above) that constrain interaction (learner-learner interaction in particular) in ELT classrooms in China so that a suitable language teaching and learning context should be created.