EFL Teachers' Reading Beliefs And Its Effects On Students' Reading Strategies: A Case Study

English teaching is a complex process that involves cognitive, affective and behavioral dimensions. Teaching beliefs, as implicit aspects, direct and influence the whole teaching process. The topic therefore attracts more attention in the research field. Researches on teachers'beliefs have been conducted better abroad, which will provide theoretical and practical guide for the researches in China. This study focuses on beliefs of junior middle school English teachers in rural areas. The results of this research on teachers'reading beliefs will make great contribution to the successful reading teaching. In addition, research on the effects of teachers'reading beliefs on students'reading strategies will enhance teachers'awareness of their own beliefs and improve teachers'professional development in that area.The present study investigates foreign language teachers'reading beliefs in junior middle schools in Xiangcheng County, Henan Province. A total of 21 foreign language teachers in two country schools that rank in the intermediate level have participated in the investigation. The questionnaires for teachers and students include 30 items respectively, referring to four reading theoretical orientations: whole language, phonic orientation, skill orientation and balanced reading orientation. Classroom observations and interviews are followed to see the consistency between what the teachers state and what they behave in the classroom. For the data, descriptive and quantitative analysis are applied to see what reading beliefs foreign language teachers hold. As to the effects of teachers'reading beliefs on students'reading strategies, 76 students taught by one English teacher take part in the pretest and posttest after three months. And changes of reading strategies have been tracked and studied. Regression analysis has been conducted to see the effects of teachers'reading beliefs on students'reading strategies.The results are stated as follows: 1)teachers in Xiangcheng County in general hold skill-oriented reading beliefs, and reading beliefs in orientations of whole language, phonics and balanced reading ones exist in a balanced way. 2) Students' reading strategies show great changes which has the same tendency to the teachers. Regression analysis shows that the effects of teachers'reading beliefs on students'reading strategies are significant in some aspects. Based on the present study, the researcher puts forward some practical suggestions: 1) Teachers should be aware that their beliefs will impact students'strategies, and 2) timely reflections and adjustments of their own reading beliefs are needed for a better reading teaching.