Pedagogical Beliefs

The purpose of the study was the pivotal role of teachers\' beliefs about teaching across gender, students\' perceptions about class participation across gender, and the relationship between teachers\' beliefs and learners\' class participation. The population of this study was 48 language teachers and 408 language learners from 15 language institutes. Three instruments were utilized: self-assessment of class participation checklist (SACPC); open-ended teaching beliefs questionnaire (OTBQ); and observation. A mixed method was used. The findings indicated that male and female’s beliefs inclined to art and among 27 factors of students\' class participation, 7 factors of class participation in males and females showed differently.

This study investigated the impact of a teacher education course on pre-service teachers’ pedagogical beliefs. A sample of 84 Iranian EFL pre-service teachers who had just been accepted to Farhangian University were selected through convenience sampling. Using a sequential mixed-methods design, their pedagogical beliefs were measured through a researcher-made questionnaire before and after a training course on the philosophy of education for English language teachers. Moreover, the changes reported by the participants were traced through thematic analysis of their reflective journals. Finally, in a focus group interview, they commented on the contributing factors to the success of the course in changing their pedagogical beliefs. The results of quantitative data demonstrated the impact of the training course on changing the participants’ pedagogical beliefs. The analysis of qualitative data obtained from the reflective journals indicated that the changes that the participants professed were of two emerging themes of raising awareness of new assumptions and adopting new pedagogical beliefs. In addition, the analysis of the interview transcripts revealed that the participants attributed the course success to the implementation of appropriate teaching strategies, the course contents, and the teacher educator’s performance. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that EFL pre-service teachers’ pedagogical beliefs can be modified in training courses of teacher education programs if a safe and collaborative atmosphere is created for them to critically reflect on their prior pedagogical beliefs within innovative theoretical frameworks.