Three perspectives on the role of teacher beliefs in the language classroom

This study explores the role of teacher beliefs in two teachers’ implementation of a collaboratively planned teaching activity into classroom practice. It is a retrospective case study aiming to explain how the difference between two teachers’ realisations of a specific bilingual teaching activity may be seen as related to their beliefs about language learning and teaching. The role of teacher beliefs for language teaching practice has been the subject of much research, although the nature of the relationship remains contested. This study explores a new approach to the puzzle by combining new and existing perspectives on teacher beliefs in the form of enacted, professed and implicit beliefs. The study re-examines data from a larger action research study through 4 cycles of analysis and interpretation, moving from observed teaching practices to the three perspectives on teacher beliefs to provide a description of the complex interplay between beliefs and practice. The analysis shows that the combination of the different perspectives on teacher beliefs allows for a meaningful interpretation of the relationship between teacher beliefs and teaching practice, that the two teachers’ beliefs about language learning and teaching play an important role in their transformation of teaching plans to teaching practice and that their different practices lead to different language learning affordances in the two classrooms. The article concludes by suggesting that the interplay between teaching activities, students’ engagement and teacher beliefs may be a fruitful place of inquiry for future research.

The Association between Beliefs about Language Learning and Language Proficiency among Jordanian EFL Learners at Ajloun University College

This study aimed to examine the association between beliefs about language learning and language proficiency among Jordanian EFL learners at Ajloun University College. The data were gathered by two modified versions of data collection tools; a questionnaire examining the beliefs about language learning (developed by Horwitz (2001)) and (2) a language proficiency test (developed by Shoeib (2004)). The data collection tools were applied to randomly recruit 100 (Fifty male and Fifty female) participants from the English language department at Ajloun University College. The Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to process the gathered data and responses. The Pearson Correlation Coefficient was used to examine the association between the participants’ beliefs about language learning and their language proficiency. The results of the study indicated that there is a strong association between the students’ (males and females) specific beliefs (in both males and females) on learning English Language and the level of their language proficiency. Therefore, the results also revealed that female participants were more proficient in using the language compared to their male counterparts. The study ended up with a conclusion stating that other factors, in addition to the students; beliefs about language learning, such as students’ achievement, are affecting the level of language proficiency.

PERCEPÇÃO DA UTILIZAÇÃO DA ÁGUA DO RIO RIBEIRÃO TRANQUEIRA POR MORADORES RIBEIRINHOS

A seguinte pesquisa objetivou averiguar, por meio de questionários, o uso da água do rio Ribeirão Tranqueira por moradores ribeirinhos, no qual, visivelmente apresenta aspecto de antropização e poluição. Assim, o trabalho se propôs, também, a conhecer a visão dos mesmo sobre educação ambiental e saúde. Essa pesquisa se justificou pela necessidade de conhecer e de se trabalhar educação ambiental com os residentes da região a fim de evitar o contato dos mesmo com água poluída. A percepção do uso da água do rio Ribeirão Tranqueira por parte dos moradores ribeirinhos, foi realizada através da aplicação de um questionário contendo 15 perguntas fechadas e abertas. O questionário foi montado de acordo com as normativas de questionários Likert-scale, modelo adaptado do Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory. Foram aplicados 100 questionários com moradores ribeirinhos ao rio Ribeirão Tranqueira dentro do perímetro urbano, ou em fazendas/chácaras próximas ao perímetro urbano da cidade de Guaraí. Os resultados obtidos com a aplicação do questionário evidenciaram a necessidade de se trabalhar a educação ambiental com os moradores próximo ao curso do rio Ribeirão Tranqueira em virtude da utilização da água visualmente poluída.

The undergraduate students’ beliefs about English language learning; a survey study in Madurese context

The discussion in line with students’ beliefs about language learning is still popular nowadays since it is believed that the student’s beliefs may influence the language learning process, such as motivation, learning style, and strategies, etc. which later ultimately affected the success of language learning. This study was conducted to investigate how students of the English program at IAIN Madura (State Islamic Institute of Madura), Indonesia, express their beliefs about English language learning. This study was implemented in terms of survey study in which the data was primarily gathered by administering the questionnaire entitled Beliefs About Language learning Inventory (BALLI) of Horwitz’s (1987). The questionnaires were administered to students of English teaching and learning program through Google form. About 144 undergraduate students in the first year have participated in this study. The finding revealed the students’ beliefs in terms of percentage of agreements in all area of BALLI, namely language aptitude, the strategy of learning and communication, the nature of learning language, motivation and expectation in learning, and the difficulty faced by students

Pre-service Teachers’ Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI) on Bilingualism: Getting Insights to Developing Knowledge

The goal of pre-service teacher (PST) programs is to provide students with pragmatic working experience and pedagogy that they need for becoming eligible teachers. In a bilingual classroom, however, some perspectives about second language learning (SLL) held by PSTs are too arbitrary. To assist PSTs in developing concepts of second language acquisition as related to educational settings and to cultivate PSTs’ burgeoning educational beliefs, this study was conducted using the Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory (BALLI). Seventeen PSTs who were enrolled in a university located along the southern U.S. border provided data for the present study. Three of the 27 belief statements included in the BALLI survey were critically analyzed. This critical analysis explored why certain PSTs’ beliefs about second language learning diverged from social reality at schools. Based on the analysis and results from our findings, suggestions about how to improve the bilingual education for PSTs are provided.