Impacts Of Intercultural Learning Experience On Pre-service English Teachers' Beliefs

With the development of globalization,the exchange and integration between cultures have gradually increased,so has the emphasis on cross-cultural education and learning.Under such background,intercultural communication and cooperation between universities in different countries have also increased,such as various study abroad programs.To cultivate global citizens with intercultural competence is a new requirement that has been put forward on education in this new era.As the quality of teachers determines the quality of education,it is desirable that teachers have global visions,so normal universities now attach more emphasis on intercultural education for teachers,against the background of globalization.The Oregon International Internship Program in this study is a case of example.English teachers in China not only shoulder the responsibility of foreign language teaching,but also can help students learn more about foreign cultures and facilitate the development of next generation's intercultural competence.Teachers' belief is a crucial factor that influences teaching throughout teachers' career,during which teaching practicum or internship is an important stage.However,there are few study that is about the impact of international internship on pre-service English teachers' beliefs.With the theoretical foundation of constructivist theory and Kolb's experiential learning theory,combined with the perspective of intercultural learning,this study aims to find if the intercultural learning experience during internship in American schools has any influence on pre-service English teachers' beliefs.At the same time,the researcher hopes to broaden research perspective on pre-service English teachers and bring out some implications for the education of pre-service English teachers.Based on these objectives,the research questions are as follows: 1)Do the intercultural learning experience have any impact on participating pre-service English teachers' beliefs? 2)What dimensions do such impacts have on participating pre-service English teachers' beliefs? To answer these questions,case study was used to carry out a qualitative research.Four normal students majored in English education were selected as subjects,they were in their third year in a famous normal university in southwest China.As pre-service English teachers,they all participated in the Oregon International Internship Program in the same year.With semi-structured interview,reflective journals and document analysis being the main research instruments,it was found that this intercultural learning experience has different impacts on different dimensions of pre-service English teachers' beliefs.The most obvious impacts are found in their beliefs on English teaching,English learning,teacher-student relationship,learning environment and assessment.Based on the study,some implications are drawn for pre-service English teachers' education: pre-service English teachers' intercultural learning and teaching competence should be attached more importance;more opportunities to study and communicate in English-speaking countries should be given to pre-service English teachers;relevant training can be carried out before they set off for this kind of international internship program;during the intercultural learning process,timely and dynamic feedback and tracking system can be established,so mentors in normal universities can be better informed about the change of beliefs in pre-service English teachers.