On English Teachers’ Beliefs From The Perspective Of New Curriculum Reform

Teachers’ beliefs are the major theories, basic concepts and opinion judgments teachers have about teaching and learning. The beliefs influence the teaching practices and the development of students. However, researches about the beliefs of English teachers in vocational high schools are rarely involved. In order to develop English teaching in vocational high schools, it is necessary to probe into English teachers’ beliefs. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the beliefs held by vocational high school English teachers by answering the following research questions:(1) What core beliefs do English teachers hold about the process of teaching and learning English in vocational high schools? Are these beliefs consistent with accepted learning principles or teaching approaches?(2) What are the influences of vocational high school teachers’ beliefs on their English teaching and professional development? And (3) what changes should be advocated in teachers’ beliefs along with the new curriculum?To answer the above questions, the researcher carried out a survey and some interviews. The samples of the questionnaire and interviewees are English teachers of vocational high schools in Fuyang, Zhejiang province. After the survey and interviews were made, the data was analyzed and described in tables and figures. The results of the study were displayed in six aspects including teachers’ beliefs on the vocational curriculum reform, teaching, textbooks and other teaching materials, assessment of students’ work, self-efficacy sense and professional development.The results of this study reveal that vocational high school English teachers in Fuyang share a similar and consistent set of beliefs which are basically in accordance with the conception required and advocated in the new English Curriculum under the background of vocational education reform. Besides, the study also has found that successful vocational high school English teachers generally have the following characteristics:a good command of the English language, a correct view on the teaching materials, assessment and students, a strong ability to manage the class, and effectively using various classroom teaching skills. At the end of the paper, the author also points out the limitations of this study and gives implications for further studies.