The development of Hong Kong pre-service EFL teachers' beliefs about communicative language teaching in a postgraduate diploma programme in education

The present study investigated the development of pre-service teachers' beliefs about communicative language teaching (CLT) within the context of a postgraduate diploma programme in education (PGDE) in Hong Kong. In the literature on reflective teacher education, it is acknowledged that teachers' beliefs could filter the way they perceive their teaching and influence their practice; nonetheless, few studies have investigated the process by which preservice EFL teachers develop their beliefs in teacher education programmes. In adapting CLT to an EFL setting, Hong Kong pre-service teachers have to face the challenges of an unfavorable language learning environment. Moreover, they must assume different roles from that in the traditional teacher-fronted approach they experienced as learners. Few studies have investigated the dynamic process in which EFL teachers' beliefs about CLT develop in teacher education programmes.;This research consisted of a longitudinal multi-case study focusing on the development of five pre-service teachers' beliefs about CLT in a one-year PGDE programme in Hong Kong. The participants had recently graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Major in English) from a Hong Kong university; they had no prior formal teaching experience. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from the participants by way of semi-structured interviews, informal conversations, belief-inventory questionnaires, the researcher's field notes, classroom observations, post-teaching stimulated recall interviews as well as interviews with course instructors at different times in the programme covering the English methodology course and teaching practicums over a nine-month period.;The findings of the study illustrated the complex interplay between the participants' beliefs about CLT and their experiences in the programme. Several characteristics of belief development were observed. First, their pre-existing beliefs, which stemmed, in part, from their past learning experiences and cultural background, were shown to influence their perceptions of various pedagogical options and their teaching routines. Second, these beliefs could either facilitate or hinder their acceptance and adaptation of some CLT strategies and affect their attitudes towards certain teaching issues. Third, it was found that their decisions made during their teaching practice were often the result of one belief overriding others in response to specific teaching situations. Regarding the content of beliefs about CLT, the participants were more likely to believe in aspects that were in-line with their deeply-rooted beliefs about language teaching and learning in general. They tended not to support those areas of CLT which ran counter to their culturally-loaded beliefs; these aspects seemed to be more resistant to change. Some programme components were found to have a significant role in the development of their beliefs such as micro-teaching activities, role plays, and post-teaching conferences with the course instructor. The characteristics of these activities and their degree of effectiveness in stimulating reflection and change within each participant were discussed in the study.;The findings underscored the key role of teacher educators in promoting reflective teacher education programmes, particularly, in contexts where student teachers do not come from a tradition of deep reflection and critical thinking. Guidelines were provided for the adaptation of existing reflective tools to help student teachers identify their beliefs and resolve the tension between conflicting beliefs.