Asian teachers' beliefs about teaching English to speakers of other languages: Eight case studies.

摘要

The purpose of this study was to investigate what beliefs a group of Asian English teachers brought to their pre-service teacher preparation program. In addition, the present study aimed at examining if teachers perceived change in their beliefs while studying in the program. Participants included eight Asian English pre-service teachers. This study employed qualitative, case study in order to uncover teachers' beliefs.;Data were collected over a ten month period using interviews, written documents, audio-recording, observation of teachers' micro and during internship teaching, a research methodology journal, and a self-reflection journal. Data were analyzed to identify teachers' beliefs and examine their perceived change in beliefs.;The findings revealed that teachers brought well-established, preconceived beliefs about teaching and learning by the time they entered the program. And during their studying in the program, teachers did not seem to radically change those beliefs that they may have developed through their experiences of learning, in a sense through an apprenticeship of observation (Lortie, 1975). Even though participants did not have radical changes in their beliefs, they reported that they reconstructed their beliefs during their studies in the program. The findings of research suggest that participants may not be able to acknowledge their change in their beliefs about learning and teaching since they did not have means to reveal their newly changed beliefs. Another possible explanation for their inability to notice their change can be contributed to lack of evidence. Participants did not notice their change because they did not have opportunities to see their newly changed beliefs in actual teaching settings.