teacher beliefs

Beliefs are an important aspect of any learning program as they affect the way teachers and students define their roles, and the way they approach their duties and responsibilities. Besides, they highly affect teachers’ practices, methods, and lesson plans. The importance of beliefs inspired the present researchers to evaluate and compare EFL teachers’ beliefs before and after a teacher training course (TTC) at language institutes in Isfahan to see if teacher training program influence the enrolled teachers’ beliefs about different aspects of a learning situation. To this purpose, a modified version of Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI) was administered to a total of 110 Iranian EFL teachers in Isfahan. The teachers came from different majors (TEFL, translation, English literature, and other non-English majors), and were further divided into two groups: those who had participated in at least a TTC, and those who had no experience of attending a TTC. The BALLI scores of the teachers were then classified and analyzed by a t test and an ANOVA. The results revealed that beliefs about language learning did not significantly change in the wake of attending a TTC, and that no significant difference was observed as far as the participants’ field of study was concerned.

The present study was conducted to identify novice and experienced Iranian EFL teachers’ beliefs towards the most effective written corrective feedback types and the most serious errors they might address while correcting students’ paragraphs and see whether there exist any tensions between what they believed and what they practiced through the methodology of pre-observation interview, observation, and post-observation interview. The results revealed that for novice teachers, there were fewer tensions between their stated beliefs and observed practices, yet this tension was more obvious while interviewing experienced teachers. Some implications for language teacher education will also be discussed.

The present study explored the Ecuadorian secondary school teachers' beliefs about teaching EFL in the context of national curriculum reform. The data comprised in-depth interviews with 16 teachers from 14 public secondary schools in Ecuador. The interviews were semi-structured, and they were guided by a set of questions probing into the teachers’ beliefs about instructional design, assessment, teaching materials, and learning activities. Qualitative analysis of the interview transcripts revealed some interesting insights into the Ecuadorian teachers' beliefs and reported practice. The findings showed that the teachers were positive about the principles and innovation in the new curriculum designed by the Ministry of Education. However, various contextual and practical constraints hindered the teachers from implementing the intended curriculum. These factors included large class size, a lack of teacher training and professional development, and the heavy load caused by compulsory extra-curriculum activities. Implications for EFL pedagogy and teacher professional development are discussed.