An Investigation Into The Impact Of The M.Ed.Curriculum On Pre-service English Teachers’ Beliefs

Teacher beliefs are regarded as powerful factors in affecting teaching behaviors and consequently,teaching quality or even the learning outcomes of students.Besides,the development of teacher beliefs is viewed as one of the prerequisites of implementing and deepening the educational reforms conducted in middle schools.Given the important role that teacher beliefs play in affecting teaching behaviors,student performance and educational reforms,teacher education programs,which are mainly designed to cultivate competent teachers,are deemed as having the responsibility to develop pre-service teachers’ beliefs.A considerable body of research has probed into the impact of a course or teaching practicum on teacher beliefs respectively.Nevertheless,the research that considers the impact of teacher education program which consists of both course learning and teaching practice on teacher beliefs was relatively scarce and suffered from such limitations as seldom covering other types of subjects apart from undergraduates and using questionnaire as the mono-methodology most of the time.In view of this,the present study,on the basis of previous research on teacher beliefs,set out to explore the impact of M.Ed.curriculum which consisted of course learning and teaching practice on English postgraduates’ teacher beliefs,with the aim of enriching our conceptional understanding of teacher beliefs and providing some implications for pre-service teacher education.Specifically,it sought to clarify the following three questions:1.What beliefs do pre-service English teachers hold after they have gone through the course learning and teaching practice offered by the M.Ed.curriculum of CCNU?2.Have pre-service teachers’ beliefs been affected by M.Ed.curriculum?If yes,what changes have occurred to their beliefs?3.What factors have contributed to the belief change?Participants of this study were 36 year-two English postgraduates engaged in the M.Ed.program of Central China Normal University.Two research instruments including the questionnaire and the interview were employed.It was found that on the whole,pre-service English teachers’ beliefs about English teaching,English learning,students,the role of English teachers and English teaching as a profession are positive and developmental.Results also revealed that pre-service English teachers’ beliefs change to a varying degree compared with the beliefs they held in the undergraduate stage,which confirmed the impact of M.Ed.curriculum on student teachers’ beliefs.Specifically,five types of changes were identified ranging from generation of new beliefs,belief reformation,belief enhancement,addition of new constructs to null change.Different kinds of change were found in different dimensions of teacher beliefs.In addition,the study also found that the changes of pre-service English teachers’ beliefs were influenced by assorted factors.Teaching practice in the practicum schools,communication with the instructor of the practicum schools and pre-service course teachers were considered as the top three influential factors in belief change.But what was worth mentioning was that what the pre-service teachers have experienced in the practicum schools can also bring about negative changes,depending on the classroom realities they were faced with and the school environment they were involved in.Based on the findings,some implications were offered for pre-service teachers,teacher educators and pre-service teacher education.At first,pre-service teachers themselves need to realize the importance of teacher beliefs and try to confront and change their negative beliefs.In addition,teacher educators should guide pre-service teachers to make their beliefs explicit,give them more opportunities to reflect on their beliefs and put more effort in initiating changes on their conservative beliefs.Besides,teacher educators have to pay more attention to the belief movement which occurs out of practicum,because such movement can be negative sometimes,especially when pre-service teachers’ beliefs are plagued by realistic constraints and harsh classroom realities.Moreover,theory-based courses should take in more pragmatic elements and integrate theory with practice.Other more pertinent courses concerning teacher manner,modern educational information technology,the teaching systems of middle schools,the work of head teachers,the design of teaching plans and classroom management should be introduced.