A Research On The Correlation Between English Teachers’ Teaching Beliefs And English Teachers’ Classroom Teaching Behaviors Of Senior High Schools In Rural Areas

In 2013, the Ministry of Education announced reformation about University Entrance Examination. Whether English should be included in Gaokao became the most controversial topic. Together with the Curriculum Reformation which are put forward several years ago, English teachers’teaching beliefs in senior high schools has changed a lot. Therefore, Educators, related experts and people are taking a new look at the role of English teaching as well as English teachers. Accordingly, Teaching beliefs and teaching behaviors has been altered a lot. In recent years, the studies focusing on teachers’beliefs have emerged continually. A large number of researches prove that teachers’beliefs play a significant role in the practical classroom teaching behaviors. During previous researches, most of scholars select university English teachers as the research objects but neglect the importance of senior English teachers, especially senior English teachers in rural areas. Therefore, the present study makes an analysis of the correlation between English teachers’teaching beliefs and English teachers’ classroom teaching behaviors of senior high school in rural areas, in a hope of offering some suggestions to English teachers in senior school of rural areas.In this study, two questionnaires are used as the research instruments, and the subjects are senior English teachers from four senior high schools of rural areas in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The Senior English teachers’ teaching beliefs Questionnaire is developed from Zhu Yuanyu and Ye Yuzhu’s Teachers’ Beliefs Questionnaire (2000) and Lu Guanbo’s Doctoral Dissertation Questionnaire (2004) There are four dimensions in this questionnaire:English beliefs about curriculum, English beliefs about language teaching, English beliefs about English learning and English beliefs about students. The Senior English teachers’classroom teaching behaviors Questionnaire is developed from Teachers’Classroom Teaching Behavior Investigation Questionnaire developed by Yao Limin (2004) and Teachers’Classroom Teaching Behavior Evaluation Standard Investigation Questionnaire developed by Tian xin (2007). It includes three components:English classroom questioning behavior, English classroom presenting behavior and English classroom instructing.The three research questions addressed in the present study are:(1) What is the overall situation of senior high English teachers’ teaching beliefs in rural areas? (2) What is the overall situation of senior English teachers’ classroom teaching behaviors in rural areas? (3) Is there any correlation between English teachers’teaching beliefs and English teachers’classroom teaching behaviors of senior high school in rural areas? If yes, how are they related with each other?Through the study, the author has found out the following results:(1) English teachers’teaching beliefs of senior high school in rural areas stay at a medium level. Specifically speaking, English beliefs about students rank the top, followed by English beliefs about language teaching, English beliefs about curriculum, English beliefs about English learning. (2) The overall situation of English teachers’ classroom teaching behaviors in rural areas also stays at a medium level. However, the students’ abilities of cooperative learning are the weakest in class. (3) English teachers’ teaching beliefs and English teachers’classroom teaching behaviors of senior high school in rural areas are significantly correlated with each other.Based on these findings, some suggestions are put forward for teachers and schools in rural areas to develop more scientific teaching beliefs and better teachers’English classroom teaching behaviors. For teachers, they should have scientific conceptions in English teaching and perform well in the classroom. They should create a favorable classroom atmosphere in class, improve the teachers’ questioning behavior in class, cultivate the students’cross-cultural awareness in class, guide students to use suitable learning strategies in class, trigger students’intrinsic motivation and undertake reflective teaching. For schools, the suggestions are that more English learning resources should be provided for students and more attention should be focused on English teachers’ professional development.