Investigating English Teacher Beliefs And Practices About Project-based Learning In Chinese Universities

Project-based learning(PBL)is an integral component of the learning by doing and learning from experience educational theory and practice in the western countries.As a student-centered teaching approach,it has been widely applied in second language teaching in the past few years and achieved satisfactory results.With the deepening of college English teaching reform in China,PBL has been introduced and applied to college English teaching in many universities.Meanwhile,the Guidelines for College English Teaching clearly encourage English teachers to adopt advanced teaching approaches and methods from home and abroad,promoting the implementation of PBL and inquiry based teaching mode among others.Given that PBL is a western teaching approach,whether it can achieve the expected results in college English teaching in China mostly depends on college English teachers’ perception and localization practice of it.While some Chinese researchers have discussed the features,significance,and effectiveness of PBL so far,there has been scare research examining issues related to PBL from teachers’ perspectives.Issues such as the beliefs college English teachers hold about PBL,teachers’ implementation of PBL in their teaching context,and factors that affect teachers’ implementation of PBL all concern the localization of PBL in China and thus are worthy of further investigation.The present study draws upon research in teacher beliefs and PBL to explore college English teacher beliefs and practice about PBL,the relationship between teacher beliefs and practice,as well as factors affecting the implementation of PBL.It is hoped that such an exploration may provide insights into the better implementation of PBL and offer implications for advancing college English teaching and college English reform in China.The study analyzes five college English teacher beliefs and practice about PBL through a case study design.Qualitative data were obtained through teacher interviews,classroom observations,and collection of teaching plans and teaching materials.The study found that college English teachers highly and positively evaluated PBL,and actively implemented PBL in their teaching.The teachers adapted various strategies to implement PBL in their teaching contexts and achieved some success,such as students’ higher spirits of learning,more active involvement,more English output opportunities,and strengthened cooperation,but several factors constrained the teachers’ effective implementation of PBL,such as heavy teaching load,insufficient teaching hours,large class size,limited reference materials,and lack of training and guidance.In a word,this analysis of college English teacher beliefs and practice about PBL can contribute new perspectives to PBL research and teacher cognition research in China.It can also offer implications for improving college English teaching and promoting college English reform.Therefore,it has both theoretical and practical significance.