A Study Of Junior Middle School EFL Teachers’ Beliefs In Rural Areas

In recent years, the educational reform has been carried out by the nation, which makes researchers attach great importance to the development of teachers. And research about teachers’beliefs is treated as the relatively new branch of studies about teachers, which is also given a lot of attention to. Studies about teachers’beliefs show that studies about teachers shift from exterior behavior to implicit thinking. A great number of researchers have investigated teachers’beliefs, but almost all of them treat teachers who are working in cities as subjects. There are few researches about English teachers who are working in the rural Middle Schools, which signifies it is necessary and meaningful to investigate this field.The study has been implicated by the previous researches. Under the guidance of humanism and constructivism, this research adopts questionnaire and interview to investigate the development of English teachers’beliefs by surveying47English teachers in almost10rural Junior High Schools. The factors which have an impact on the development of teachers’beliefs are analyzed to put up with some implications.Through the analysis of the data, the following conclusions can be drawn:(1) the beliefs that rural Middle Schools English teachers hold are relatively traditional. In their process of teaching, their beliefs have changed more or less. Old teachers’beliefs tend to be modernized. But young teachers’beliefs become traditional.(2) It has been found that the factors influencing the development of teachers’beliefs including teaching surroundings, teaching experience, students’competence, parents’attitude toward learning, influence from colleagues and policy of national education and so on. Based on these affecting factors, it has put up with some implications for improving teachers’ development, which includes internal and external sides.(1)The teachers in rural areas should enhance the awareness of teachers’development.(2) School leaders should encourage teachers to observe their colleagues’ class to learn something useful and provide regular meeting, in which teachers can share with their teaching experience.(3)Educational departments should supply modern teaching equipment for teachers.(4) More teachers should be brought in for rural schools.This thesis is composed of five chapters: chapter one includes background of the study, purposes and significance of the study and layout of the thesis. Chapter two make up of theoretical foundations, something connected with teachers’ beliefs and studies on English teachers’ beliefs abroad and in China. Chapter three is methodology, which is made up of research questions, research subjects and research instruments, collecting and analyzing data. Chapter four mainly talks about results and discussion.In this part, teachers’ present beliefs will be shown and then factors influencing the development of teachers’ beliefs some implications will be presented. Chapter five is the conclusion, which mainly shows the major findings of the study, limitations of the study and suggestions for the future study.