An Empirical Study On Pre-service English Teachers’ Views On English

Research on language teacher cognition has gradually emerged and rapidly developed since 1980 s and 1990s(Freeman,2002).According to Borg(2003,2006,2009,2012),the literature in language teacher cognition research is increasing in number every year.However,studies on language teachers’ beliefs about language are extremely rare both at home and abroad,most of which are relevant but not special research,and are concerned with teacher views of the nature of language,or teacher knowledge of some aspects of language,or teacher attitudes or awareness of varieties of English,lacking a comprehensive exploration of language teachers’ perception of language and its use as a system.Language is the focus in language teaching and learning.Since 2000,the Ministry of Education of China(MOE)has issued several national English Curriculum Standards for basic education.And the newly-revised editions of such documents are English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education(2011 Edition)and English Curriculum Standards for General High Schools(2017 Edition Revised in 2020)respectively.The above two Standards cover nearly all aspects of English and its use,and attach great importance to and make specific requirements of professional subject matter knowledge/literacy for English teachers.In this context,it is significant to conduct an empirical study on English teachers’ cognition of language and its use,which is expected to promote the research in this area and the development of English teachers’ professional subject matter literacy.The present empirical research is a case study,and the participants are a group of pre-service English teachers,who are full-time year one to three MEd.(ELT)postgraduates at University X,Chongqing,China.By using the questionnaire and informal interview survey methods to collect the data,and Java,Excel and SPSS,etc.to analyze the collected data,this study aims to explore pre-service English teachers’ views on English(language and its use),and the research questions are as follows:1.What is the status quo of pre-service English teachers’ views on English? And what problems exist in their views?2.What factors influence pre-service English teachers’ views on English?The research findings are summarized as follows:1.Pre-service English Teachers’ Views on English: the Status Quo & ProblemsGenerally,the teachers’ views on English are not ideal.Among the six sub-systems of views on language,their beliefs are relatively good in language attribution and properties but are problematic in the nature of language,language use,language components,and views on language in language teaching approaches and methods.Specially:1)Views on Language Attribution.Most teachers have a clear understanding of English attribution(typology,subject,status),but a few or some teachers’ understandings in subdimensions are mistaken,or limited,or traditional.2)Views on the Nature of Language.The teachers’ views on the nature of language are not comprehensive,that is,most teachers are clear about a few but unclear about many aspects of language nature.3)Views on Language Properties.The teachers have a certain understanding of the systemicity of the traditional three elements of language(especially grammar),but they lack sufficient understanding of systematicity/structure of meaning conveyed by language and the text/discourse as the basic unit of language use.In other words,they lack a comprehensive understanding of structure of language system.4)Views on Language Components.The teachers’ views on language components are not good:(1)Form/Content.The teachers lack a systematic,comprehensive and clear understanding of the language form and its terms;more than half of the teachers have a clear understanding of the various meanings of language content,but their understanding of different meanings of language content still has certain differences.On the whole,the teachers’ cognition of form and content of English is obviously insufficient and needs to be strengthened.(2)Entity.Most teachers understand language entity,that is,vocabulary.(3)Sounds.The teachers’ understanding is not comprehensive and has certain defects in terms,essence,importance and components of English phonetic features.(4)Words.Most teachers have a good understanding of single words(simple and compound words)but obviously many of the participants have insufficient knowledge about aspects of English vocabulary,such as terms,nature,importance and components.(5)Grammar.The teachers’ understanding of English grammar is not good in terms,nature,importance and components,except that they have a good perception of a few subdimensions,such as the nature of grammar as language rules,and the core elements of sentences such as the subject,the predicate and the object.(6)Sounds,Words & Grammar: the Relationship.Many teachers have a correct understanding of the relationship of the three elements of language.5)Views on language Use.The teachers’ views on language use is generally not ideal:(1)Text/Discourse.The teachers only know about or hear of but do not actually understand the terms and they obviously lack necessary knowledge or understanding of text/discourse.(2)Function.Similar to their understanding of text/discourse,the teachers seem to have an idea of the terms but actually they do not perform well in identifying the function in given tasks in the survey.(3)Topic/Theme.The teachers do not really understand topic/theme in terms of concepts,essence,role and classification.(4)Context.The teachers’ understanding of context concerning language use is not ideal because they obviously lack some awareness of context in terms of classification,such as linguistic context.(5)Meaning(Semantics).The teachers’ understanding of language meaning is not ideal and they lack necessary repertoire of semantics.(6)Language Use(Pragmatics).Some teachers’ understanding of language use(pragmatics)is generally not ideal because the rate of their choosing the correct or acceptable options is between about 50% and around 70%.(7)The Ability of Language Use.Generally,the teachers do not perform well in the survey and they obviously lack essential,necessary and fundamental knowledge of the ability as a whole and of its components and subdimensions.(8)Language Varieties & Standards.The teachers lack a comprehensive idea of English and its diversity in the global and local context.(9)Language & Culture.Most teachers can correctly understand the relationship between language and culture,but some teachers still believe that English reflects the culture of countries such as the British and the American.6)Views on Language in Language Teaching Approaches & Methods.Some teachers are not clear about the views on language in language teaching approaches &methods.2.Views on English by Pre-service English Teachers: Influential FactorsIt is found in the survey that English teaching experience(with practicum included),linguistics learning and perception(including: experience of learning linguistics and its branches,perception of difficulty of linguistics and its learning,perception of application and implication of linguistics for language teaching),perception of description of English and its use in English Curriculum Standards for basic education affect the held by pre-service English teachers’ views on English.Specifically:1)There are correlations between the English teaching experience(with practicum included)and views on language components,language use,and language in language teaching approaches and methods.2)There are strong correlations between the factor of experience of learning linguistics and its branches and views on language attribution and language properties.And there is a correlation between the factor and views on language use.3)There are correlations between perception of difficulty of linguistics and its learning and views on language attribution,language properties,language components,language use,and views on language in language teaching approaches & methods.4)There is a weak correlation between perception of application and implication of linguistics for language teaching and views on language properties,and a strong relevance to views on language attribution,language components,language use,and views on language in language teaching approaches & methods.5)There is a weak correlation between perception of description of English and its use in English Curriculum Standards for basic education and views on the nature of language and views on language components,and a strong correlation between the factor and views on language use.Based on the above research findings,some implications are made for pre-service English teachers and for English teacher education in terms of the learning and courses of English linguistics and national English Curriculum Standards for basic education in China,which are expected to be beneficial in promoting promote the development of pre-service English teachers’ views on English.