English Teachers' Beliefs On Teaching And Learning: An Investigation Of English Teachers In No.3 Middle School Of Lanhua

There is a growing body of evidence to indicate that teachers are highly influenced by their beliefs. Beliefs have a greater influence than teachers' knowledge on the way they plan their lessons, on the kinds of decisions they make and on their general classroom practice. A number of researches on teachers' beliefs have been investigated abroad on different subjects and various profession groups. But very little field work can be found in China. Some articles are just the translation of teachers' beliefs on teaching and learning in Chinese.Nowadays, the main problems in middle school English teachers resource are the lack of teachers and unqualified educational level. Since English is an important subject in China (even English is taught in Grade I of primary schools), it is of great significance to investigate English teachers' beliefs on teaching and learning to make a better understanding of what's in teachers' mind so as to make English teaching more effective by the limited number of English teachers. Also, this study provides the subjects and other colleagues with the view of self-reflection and lifelong education.This paper is composed of seven parts. The first part starts with the importance of teachers' beliefs in teaching practice and the present situation of English teachers in middle schools, then followed by the significance and aims of this study. Part Two clears some terms of teachers' beliefs and reviews the previous studies on this topic at home and abroad. The third part introduces the theoretical framework of this study: a social constructivist theory which indicates the self-awareness with regard to their beliefs and a humanistic approach which permits to pursue the freedom to have ideas, beliefs and values. In Part Four, at first, the research questions are presented: 1) What do the English teachers believe about teaching and learning? 2) Are there any significant differences of beliefs among English teachers with different English learning backgrounds? If there are, what are they? 3) How do beliefs influence their English classroom teaching? Then some information concerning the subjects, experimental procedures about questionnaire of teachers' beliefs about learning, interview about teachers' beliefs on teaching and field work of 4 subjects are presented. In the fifth part, results of the questionnaire, discussion of interview and discoveries in field work are concerned. The results show great examples and classifications of teachers' beliefs on teaching and learning and the ways of teaching for colleagues to use for reference. Problems also appear and aresummarized in Part Six. The problems are: 1) Many teachers seldom reflect what they taught. 2) They are lack of self-awareness of the importance of beliefs in English teaching. 3) There is inconsistency in what they believe in teaching and teaching practice. And the paper ends with the Seventh Part which mainly contains the implications and suggestions for teachers to reflect themselves and make effective teaching.In accordance with the problems, English teachers should progress professionally through private reflection and interaction with colleagues. The suggestions are: 1) Personal reflection with rethink a plan in the light of the last lesson. In order to get over these problems he/she will find it necessary to write something down. 2) Asking learners by arising open questions that enable them to say what they want to say and feel the intention within himself/herself simply to listen and learn. 3) Sharing with a colleague by informing a discussion with the aim of finding a solution or discussing a new method. 4) In-house staff meetings held to provide a forum for sharing reflections, problems and successes.