A Case Study Of The Relationship Between Junior High School English Teachers' Beliefs And Classroom Behaviors In Creating Classroom Environment

"The English Curriculum Standard of Compulsory Education"(Ministry of Education,2017)advocates that junior high school English teachers should optimize classroom teaching,establish a teacher-student relationship featuring sincerity,understanding,and trust,organize classroom interaction in different forms,offer students opportunities as many as possible for language practice so as to guide them to learn both independently and cooperatively,and to create a harmonious classroom atmosphere.It thus can be seen that teachers play a key role in the creation of an ideal classroom environment.Meanwhile,there have been researches showing the close relationship between teachers'beliefs and their behaviors during classroom teaching process.Therefore,it is necessary to gain insight into junior high school English teachers' beliefs and behaviors concerning the creation of classroom environment,which is not only conducive to a better English classroom environment in middle school,but also beneficial to teachers'professional development.In the present study,the questionnaire and the case study were employed for the investigation and analysis of the relationship between junior high school English teachers' beliefs and behaviors in the creation of classroom environment.Specifically,it focused on the following three issues:(1)What detailed beliefs do junior high school English teachers hold in terms of creating classroom environment?(2)What actual classroom behaviors do junior high school English teachers show in terms of creating classroom environment?(3)What is the relationship between their beliefs and classroom behaviors?And what are the factors that influence such a relationship?To begin with,the questionnaire was conducted among 15 junior high school English teachers in the Middle School Attached to Huazhong University of Science and Technology(HUST)in Wuhan,Hubei Province,with its data analyzed by SPSS 23.0.Next,the case studies involved 3 teachers,with whom semi-structured interviews,classroom observations,and stimulated-recall interviews after class were conducted,as well as 15 students,5 in each of the 3 classes they taught,among whom focus groups were held.It was found that firstly,junior high school English teachers' beliefs about the creation of an ideal classroom environment are basically positive and consistent as they all believe in the significant role classroom environment plays in language teaching and learning and there are a lot in common among their beliefs in the five dimensions.But it also has to be pointed out that there isn't a complete consistency between teacher's beliefs as an individual and those held by junior high school English teachers as a whole.Specifically,in interviews,some of the teachers' beliefs,especially in the dimensions of teacher support and task orientation,are in contradiction with the creation of an ideal classroom environment.Secondly,the overall situation of junior high school teachers'behaviors in creating classroom environment is relatively good.Nonetheless,some of the teachers' behaviors are found to be in conflict with the creation of an ideal classroom environment in all the five dimensions.Thirdly,the relationship between junior high school English teachers' beliefs and behaviors in the creation of classroom environment is featured by high consistency overall as well as gaps in the dimensions of teacher support,task orientation and cooperation.Such inconsistencies are triggered by four major factors,including teachers' own learning experience,insufficient professional education,classroom practice with little teaching reflection,and contextual factors such as class size,facilities,classroom order,student level,teaching tasks,test pressure,students' individual situation,teaching concepts of colleagues and school leaders,and attitudes of parents.Based on the findings,some implications were offered for educational administrators and policymakers,school leaders and in-service English teachers.At first,educational administrators and policymakers need to increase the intensity of teachers' retraining,while incorporating pedagogical knowledge,new curriculum standards,linguistic theories and real classroom cases into the teaching material.Besides,school leaders have to recognize the importance of an ideal classroom environment in teaching and establish the platform for resource sharing and theory learning among teachers.Moreover,in-service English teachers themselves should reflect upon their own teaching in combination with teaching effects and students'responses.In addition,teachers should take initiative to participate in teachers'retraining organized by educational departments and teaching and research activities held by schools.