A Study On Relationship Between Teaching Beliefs And Teaching Practices Of English Teachers In The Primary Schools

With the National Ministry of Education's request, all primary schools in China have begun to offer English courses gradually since the autumn of 2001. According to Jia Aiwu's (2005) studies that there nearly 10 million children are learning English in China. China has become a veritable kingdom for English education. And English education is flourishing in China. With the extension of English education to primary schools, the role of primary school English education becomes more significant than before. The English education of primary school is the foundation of English education in China. The results of the primary school English education relate to the future's development of the English education of China.Under the development of cognitive psychology, the influence of teachers'teaching beliefs to teachers'teaching practices draws more and more researchers'attention. Many researches have shown that teachers'beliefs had a significant influence on the teachers' classroom teaching practice. So the studies on the teaching beliefs of primary school English teachers can help us to develop teaching beliefs of primary school English teachers and improve their teaching practice. In the western world, studies on teachers'beliefs have got a great achievement, but there isn't an agreement on the problem that whether teachers' classroom practices are consistent with teachers'teaching beliefs or not. The domestic studies on teachers'beliefs began later than that in the west did. At present, the related studies at home on teachers'beliefs are mainly about the introduction to the research results made by western researchers, and few located studies are carried out. Among those studies, most of them focus on the university English teachers and neglect the importance English teachers of primary school.In the present research, the author employs the humanistic approaches and the social constructivist theories, through the questionnaire, interviews and classroom observation taking 15 primary school English teachers as subjects to explore what kinds of teaching beliefs they are holding and whether those teachers'teaching beliefs are consistent with their teaching practices. By the study, the author finds that though the primary school English teachers in Dalian City have accepted advanced teaching beliefs, they don't give up the traditional beliefs. During the classroom observation, the author finds that the traditional teaching beliefs still have a great influence on teachers'classroom practices and are consistent with the teachers'practices. However, advanced teaching beliefs aren't proved by teachers' teaching practices. The research result shows that traditional teaching beliefs still locates in the central position in the teachers'teaching belief system, and advanced teaching beliefs locate in the peripheral position. By the interview with the teacher, the author knows that the less of school hours, the difficulty of the textbooks, and the pressures from the parents, schools and social public opinions influence the application of teachers'advanced teaching beliefs to their classroom teaching practices. So in order to improve the English teaching and learning, the efforts are needed not only from teachers and school but also from the whole society.