Beliefs
about English Language Teaching
Beliefs about language teaching will help an
English language teacher very much. What the teacher has to do is to apply
his/her beliefs in teaching. Think about the students what they need in the
learning process. Exactly, to accommodate it, good skill is needed. The view of
an ET about the material (language), what is it for, why should it be taught,
and so on, is also the part of the beliefs. It will help an ET to select the
materials and to implement strategies or methods. The belief about teaching
will help an ET in his/her appearance or performance in teaching. How an ET
think about a good teacher, the ways, personality, and many others. However,
belief is not only belief. But, how to implement the belief is very important.
It is generally
agreed that teaching is greatly affected by the belief systems of its
practitioners. Much of the literature on teacher education has suggested that
teachers’ beliefs affect their teaching practices and instructional decisions in
the classroom (Donaghue, 2003; Johnson, 1992a; Muijs& Reynolds, 2001;
Richards, 1998; Richards & Lockhart, 1996).
Virtually all
English teachers have certain preconceived ideas or beliefs about how best to
approach English teaching. They often come into an English classroom
conditioned by their previous educational experiences, cultural backgrounds,
and social interaction, which may further shape their beliefs about English
teaching (Johnson, 1992a; Richards & Lockhart, 1996; Smith, 1996). Kindsvatter,
Willen, and Ishler, (1988) concluded that teachers’ belief systems are derived
from a number of different sources. They are: (a) Their own experience as
language learners, (b) their experience of what works best, (c) Established
practice, (d) personality factors, (e) educational based or research based
principles, and (f) principles derived from an approach or method. Since
English teachers bring their unique sets of beliefs to bear in situations and
decisions related to language teaching, these beliefs are usually recognized as
significant predictors for their actual teaching practices.
Beliefs of teachers have already been classified into
various sets of categories by some researchers. William and Burden (1997)
divided their discussion of teachers’ beliefs into three areas: (1) about
language learning, (2) about learners, and (3) about themselves as language
teachers. Likewise, Johnson (1992b) identified and grouped ESL teachers’
beliefs into three methodological approaches; (1) a skill-based approach, which
views language as consisting of discrete skills such as reading, writing,
listening, and speaking; (2) a rule-based approach, which sees language as a
process of rule-governed activity; and (3) a function-based approach, which
focuses on the use of authentic language in social context. Posen Liao in his
research categorized the beliefs into five items, they are: (1) English
proficiency: referring to teachers’ good command of English as a foreign
language, particularly their pronunciation, oral communicative competence, and
other general English skills.
(2) Teachers’
personality: regarding teachers’ personal traits and attitudes toward their
jobs dealing with children, such as gentleness, kindness, patience, and
enthusiasm about teaching; in addition, they also need to be optimistic,
cheerful, flexible, motivated, and open-minded to do the job well.
(3) Teaching
skills: including their understanding and application of various teaching
methods and techniques, their classroom management abilities, as well as their
awareness to keep up to date and acquire the latest knowledge and information
in the field of elementary English teaching.
(4)
Student-centered concerns: mainly about developing good teacher-student
relationships by creating a fun, secure learning environment; also, teachers
need to care about children, to respect, support, and encourage them to learn,
and to build up their confidence and autonomy.
(5) Physical
readiness: concerning their health state or the stamina needed to cope with the
stressful and tiring teaching job for along period of time on an almost-daily
basis.
REFERENCE
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