The Influence Of Teacher Behavior On Learners' Self-confidence In English Learning In FLT Reform Context

This study was undertaken to find out the influence of teacher behavior on learners'English learning self-confidence in the pedagogical reform context. The research questions to be addressed in the study are:1. Does teacher behavior exert an influence on learners'English learning self-confidence?2. If it does, what are the general characteristics of the influence?3. In what ways do different types of teacher behavior influence learners'English learning self-confidence in FLT reform context?The theoretical framework on which the study was based was the theory about educational psychology, including affect theory in SLA, constructivism and humanism, which have a profound impact on the advocacy of attaching more attention to learners'affect.Two research designs were employed in this study: a quantitative and a qualitative one. The former includes a questionnaire, consisting of 31 items, to investigate the influence of different types of teacher behavior on English learners'self-confidence; the latter an interview. The questionnaire involved subjects who participated in the reform of college English for one and a half year. 239 non-English major sophomores responded to the questionnaire.Eight subjects were selected out of the valid 239 subjects through stratified random sampling for the interview to find out the underlying factors responsible for how different types of teacher behavior influence English learners'self-confidence.The major findings of the present study are summarized as follows: 1. Teacher behavior does exert an influence on learners'English learning self-confidence.2. In big classroom instruction, teachers'instructional behaviors exert better effect on learners'self-confidence than teachers'interpersonal behaviors. Among teachers'various instructional behaviors, their organization of group work, appropriate feedback to learners'performance and introduction of learning strategies are considered to be the most influential to the development of learners'self-confidence.3. In small classroom instruction, teachers'interpersonal behaviors prove to be more conducive to the building up of learners'self-confidence than teachers'instructional behaviors. To be more specific, teachers'help with learners'problems, their enthusiasm to teaching and their attentiveness and patience to learners'problems could most effectively boost learners'self-confidence.4. In terms of autonomous on-line learning, both teachers'psycho-social and technical support play an important role in enhancing learners'self-confidence. Specifically speaking, teachers'commitment to and encouragement of learners'autonomous learning occupies the most important position in influencing learners'self-confidence, next come teachers'introduction of metacognitive strategies, their help of learners to plan and carry out autonomous learning, followed by their raising learners'awareness of autonomous learning.5. The results of the interview reveal that both in-class and after-class teacher behaviors exert influence on learners'self-confidence. On one hand, the instructional-methodological and interpersonal aspects of in-class teacher behavior, including the employment of focus-on-form approach to classroom instruction, the implementation of interesting task-based activities and the creation and maintenance of a facilitating learning atmosphere, contribute to the enhancement of English learners'self-confidence. On the other hand, the after-class teacher behavior, by providing readily obtainable individual on-line coaching, is also an important facilitator to learners'self-confidence. However, the existing examination-oriented evaluating system, to a certain extent, hinders learners'English learning and calls for improvement.The present study also has strong pedagogical implications. Teachers play a vital role in fostering learners'determination for success. By such nonverbal behaviors as smile and eye contact, teachers can help to reduce the learners'anxiety to an appropriate degree and build their self-confidence so as to improve the input efficiency. Teachers should change their attitudes and adapt to their new roles. From the humanism view, learners learn a language best when they are treated as individuals with their own needs and interests, and when they are provided with appropriate feedback about their progress. Effective teachers are supposed to monitor performance in class, providing appropriate feedback to different learners on how well they each perform.The study is limited in two ways.1. The range of investigation is not wide enough to include learners of different language levels and learners of different schools.2. Though randomly chosen samples were used for the interview, it might not ensure that the interviewees fully represent the population.