‘I Believe, Therefore I Practice’: Teachers’ Beliefs on Literacy Acquisition and Their Classroom Practices

Abstract

The expanding literature on teachers’ beliefs and perceptions relating to their classroom practices suggests that teachers’ pedagogical beliefs are a major determinant of the choices they make in the classroom concerning curriculum, pedagogy, classroom management and relating to students (Orton RE, Curric Inq 26(2):203–217. doi:10.2307/1180040, 1996; Pajares MF, Rev Educ Res 62(3):307–332. doi:10.3102/00346543062003307, 1992; Vartuli S, Early Child Res Q 14:489–514. doi:10.1016/S0885-2006(99)00026-5, 1999). It thus follows that a deeper understanding of teachers’ beliefs will be helpful in developing and implementing new programmes and effective in-service education (Richardson V, Anders P, Tidwell D, Lloyd C, Am Educ Res J 28(3):559–584. doi:10.3102/00028312028003559, 1991). Towards that end, the focus of this chapter is on the relationship between teacher beliefs and classroom practices in two Singapore kindergarten schools, with a particular focus on early literacy education.