A Study Of The Relationship Between College English Teachers’ Beliefs And Teaching Behaviors In The Context Of Smart Education

The concept of Smart Education is proposed in the Action Plan of Education Informatization 2.0 issued by the Ministry of Education in April 2018,signifying the arrival of a new area in education.College English teaching reform is also in full swing in the context of Smart Education.Meanwhile,there are new requirements for College English teachers’ abilities and qualities as well as higher challenges for teachers’ professional development,of which teachers’ beliefs are the first place.Teachers’ beliefs dictate the effectiveness of teachers’ behaviors and their own professional development.Obviously,in order to realize the transformation from traditional teachers to smart teachers rapidly,teachers’ beliefs need to be explored in the new context,and the relationship between teachers’ beliefs and teaching behaviors needs to be probed further.185 College English teachers from seven colleges and universities in Shandong Province are involved in this study.Questionnaires and a semi-structured interview are employed to investigate the teachers’ beliefs and their teaching behaviors in the context of Smart Education.SPSS 24.0 is used to analyze the results and explore the relationship between them.Three research questions are to be addressed in the study:(1)What is the current situation of College English teachers’ beliefs in the context of Smart Education?(2)What is the current situation of College English teachers’ teaching behaviors in the context of Smart Education?(3)What is the relationship between College English teachers’ beliefs and their teaching behaviors in the context of Smart Education?Major findings are presented as follows:(1)College English teachers have positive and forward-looking teachers’ beliefs.In the five dimensions of teachers’ beliefs on English Language,English Learning,Teachers’ Roles,Curriculum Design and Teaching Evaluation,College English teachers most agree with the beliefs in the dimension of Teachers’ Roles,which emphasizes that teachers should have the ability to design courses and select teaching materials with the aid of online learning platformsand cultivate students’ ability of self-learning simultaneously.However,their beliefs in the dimension of English Language differ greatly because they have different opinions on whether some people have special talents to learn foreign languages well.(2)The overall situation about the teaching behaviors of College English teachers is consistent with the teachers’ beliefs held by them.For the part of Curriculum Design,teachers’ teaching behaviors are most consistent with their beliefs,because they can meet students’ interests and needs,and strive to foster their creative and critical thinking in English learning.While in terms of Teachers’ Roles,teachers’ teaching behaviors are quite inconsistent with their beliefs.Most of them cannot take on the new role of curriculum development due to their own and external restrictions.(3)There is a close correlation between College English teachers’ beliefs and their teaching behaviors,and there exists a positive linear relationship.Additionally,there is no significant correlation between teachers’ demographic information(such as gender,years of teaching,professional title and the highest degree they obtained)and teachers’ beliefs as well as teaching behaviors.In the actual teaching,the teaching behaviors which belongs to the dimension of Teachers’ Roles are the most difficult to implement compared with the corresponding teachers’ beliefs.Gaining a better understanding of the relationship between them in the context of Smart Education will shed light on the realization of College English smart teaching and the promotion of College English teachers’ professional development.Based on above findings,some suggestions for the professional development of College English teachers in the context of Smart Education and limitations of this study for future improvement are presented.