Factors that influence teachers’ beliefs and practices

carry. Core beliefs are stronger in psychological strength, meaning that they are more significant to an individual than other beliefs. The

significance allows core beliefs to exert the most influence on individuals and predispose to trigger behaviors. In comparison, peripheral beliefs are the ones whose importance is not as high, and therefore are not that likely to turn into actions. Moreover, the relationship between the two kinds of beliefs, as Green (1971) argued, should be presented in the way of concentric circles. The circle in the center lies the core beliefs which are stronger in intensity; while the circles which are further from the center represent the less important peripheral beliefs. The further the beliefs locate in the concentric circle, the less psychological strength they have, and the less likely they can trigger behaviors. Green’s proposal has a few practical implications for studies about teachers’ beliefs: (1) It provides a clear conceptual framework to illustrate the difference between teachers’

beliefs and practices. (2) It explains the reason behind the “resistant to change” nature in teachers’ education literature (Wu, 2006). (3) Based on Green’s claim about the influence that core and peripheral beliefs can bring to one’s behaviors, it is necessary to include both in-depth interviews and classroom observations into studies of teachers’ beliefs.

2.1.2 Factors that influence teachers’ beliefs and practices

Due to the strong influence of beliefs, scholars have been interested in identifying the possible reasons which give rise to teachers’ beliefs. Within numerous studies, three issues are commonly mentioned as the factors behind teachers’ beliefs and practices: prior learning experiences, professional training programs and classroom practices (Borg, 2003, 2006; Cabaroglu & Roberts, 2000;

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Huang, 2010; Phipps & Borg, 2009; Wu, 2006). It is the complex interaction among all the sources that gradually shapes teachers’ belief systems.

First of all, teachers’ beliefs and practices are influenced by their experience as learners. These prior learning experiences, especially some critical incidents, gradually shaped teachers’ belief system about how language learning should be (Borg, 2003). Johnson (1994) described a project in which some preservice ESL teachers provided narrative statements regarding their teaching beliefs and their practicum teaching. It was found that the instructional decisions they made were mainly based on their language learning experience such as images of teachers, materials and activities. In Lai (2004), most of the high school teachers who

preferred grammar translation method received their education domestically. On the other hand, teachers who got their MAs in foreign countries tended to express their disagreement on repetitive practices. Huang (2010) found that the four preservice teachers in her study all taught grammar in traditional patterns although they came from different junior high schools. This interesting finding suggested that these preservice teachers’ teaching beliefs were significantly influenced by their previous learning experiences which were grammar translation oriented.

The second source of teachers’ beliefs is the professional education training they received. The professional education training, though not always, may

sometimes affect teachers’ existing beliefs about education (Borg, 2003). Cabaroglu and Roberts (2000) employed a series of in-depth interviews to investigate the belief development of twenty PGCE Modern language students. All except one case showed changes after the one-year program. Some perceived that their existing beliefs were in line with the new information they learned in the program, and therefore became more and more established about their own beliefs. Other

participants started to polish their existing beliefs to connect with the newly acquired

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information. Chung (2008) found that the beliefs of Taiwanese senior high school teachers in her study were related to their professional coursework in two ways. The academic background affected their perception on the time needed for grammar teaching; while workshop attending experience brought some changes to the approaches and contents of grammar instruction.

Third, there is ample evidence showing that teachers’ teaching experience is likely to influence their beliefs (Breen et al., 2001; Borg, 2003; Farrell & Bennis, 2013; Woods, 1996). As Borg (2003) stated, beliefs not only shape teachers’ practice, but are also “in turn shaped by the experiences teachers accumulated” (p.95). Some scholars investigated this issue through the comparison of novice and experienced teachers. Lai (2004) reported that seniority influences teachers in the way that they perceived the importance on grammar. The participants who had taught for 21-30 years hold stronger conviction about the statement “grammar is more important than meaning” than those who had taught for 1-10 years. Farrell & Bennis (2013)

conducted a case study in which beliefs of one novice teacher and one experienced teacher were observed and interviewed. The findings suggested that the less experienced teacher tended to care more about students’ perception for the teacher rather than the learning process itself. The experienced teacher who had already formed a set of automatised routines from previous teaching practices was less affected by students’ emotion, and can thus focus more on the learning content.

Apart from previous three factors, teachers’ classroom practices are also significantly shaped by an outside factor—context. According to Borg (2003), context refers to “the social, psychological and environmental realities about the school and the classroom” (p.94). To be more precise, it encompasses factors such as the society (Wu, 2006), standardized tests (Chen & Tsai, 2012; Wu, 2006), time constraints (Farrell & Bennis, 2013; Hsu, 2006), student expectations (Farrell &

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Bennis, 2013; Feryok, 2008; Phipps & Borg, 2009), school atmosphere, classroom and school layout (Borg, 2003). For example, one teacher in Farrell and Bennis (2013) was found to abandon his favored inductive approach of a particular task due to students’ lack of interest. Lin (2011) analyzed the stated beliefs of 159 vocational high school English teachers in Taipei City. In this study, the participants of different school qualities, duty and programs were found to verbalize different grammar instructional behaviors. Shih (2011) examined the reasons that shaped teachers’

beliefs in an English remedial course in northern Taiwan. The two participants’

instructional decisions were only slightly impacted by personal learning experiences and professional coursework. It was the contextual factors, including the interaction with the administrator, other teachers’ comments, students’ responses, and the attitudes of students and parents toward the remedial program that strongly influenced their practices.