Teachers’ Beliefs in Communicative Teaching Method

李昭錦+周揚娟

Teacher education around the world emphasizes a move towards more communicative teaching methods with interactive student-centered learning encouraged. When EFL teachers adapt the Western-based Communicative Language Teaching （CLT） model to Chinese contexts， tensions between beliefs about different traditions of language teaching begin to surface and influence their perceptions and practice of new teaching methodologies. However， according to Mak （2011）， these culturally-influenced beliefs should not be considered as obstacles to the implementation of CLT model， instead， these beliefs should be regarded as cultural influences， which can be immersed in Asian model.

Besides， it is acknowledged that some teachers beliefs， which are largely derived from their previous experiences， which may adversely affect their learning approach to teaching. To be specific， for many teachers who have grown up in cultures which often have teacher-centered classrooms， examination and curriculum constraints， and large classes， there is often a mismatch between theoretical methods and reality. As Miller and Aldred （2000） illustrate， a student teachers belief system derives from many competing factors， such as pre-service education， their own language teacher experience and the established practice within education context. Besides， Mak （2011） mentioned that some pre-existing beliefs have influence on the teachers beliefs of teaching and learning， and their teaching decisions. For example， many teachers hold that if more student-teacher interaction was introduced， they might not be able to present all the content and transmit knowledge to students， which they regarded as a primary role of language teachers. These beliefs seemed to have a lasting influence， and can hardly be changeable. Therefore， it is of vital importance to raise teachers metacognitive awareness of their beliefs， the impact of prior learning experiences and their pre-existing beliefs of teacher identities.

Only bearing the foregoing metacognitive awareness is far from solving the issue in question. Evans （1996） suggests that one of the factors leads to the lack of CLT method in schools is that textbooks are influenced by public examination and teachers lack of specialist training. Nowadays， although some text books are designed to meet the CLT method， CLT method still has little impact on the way English is taught. One reason may be largely due to the present assessment and evaluation system. Under the present system， teachers teaching method has no choice but to be exam-oriented. Another reason is that even teachers who know the gist of CLT method， they still have the problem of how to implement it aptly. To target this problematic area， understanding and pinpointing the problems which teachers have in transferring theory to reality within specific context is essential. In other words， it is of importance to arm teachers with tailored pedagogy to the specific context.endprint

To sum up， although CLT model has been introduced to China for a long time， its implementation meets many obstacles. Teachers beliefs could filter the way they perceive their teaching and influence their practice， and the belief development is not a simple matter， which is influenced by many competing factors， such as pre-service education， their own language teacher experience and the established practice within education context. To solve this problem， teachers metacognitive awareness of their beliefs should be raised， the present assessment system should be reformed， and tailored pedagogy to the unique context should be provided.

References：

[1]Evans，S.（1996）.The context of English language education：The case of Hong Kong.RELC Journal，27（2）：30-55.

[2]Mak，S.H.（2011）.Tensions between conflicting beliefs of an EFL teacher in teaching practice.RELC Journal，42（1）：53–67.

[3]Miller，L.& Aldred，D.（2000）.Student teachers perceptions about communicating language methods.RELC Journal，31（1）： 1-22.

作者簡介：

李昭錦（1988-），女，山東日照人，山東外國語職業(yè)學院教師，外國語言學及應用語言學碩士，從事商務英語教學。

周揚娟（1987-），女，山東日照人，山東外國語職業(yè)學院教師，外國語言學及應用語言學碩士，從事商務英語教學。endprint