İngilizce yabancı dil öğretmenlerinin yansıtma seviyeleri ve epistemolojik inanışları

Abstract

The most important change in the recent years is the adopting of “learner-centred education” philosophy in teaching programmes. When the roots of this method are examined, it is seen that there are certain areas of study affecting the constructivism approach. One of the most effective ones among these interdisciplinary areas is the area of epistemology studies. The epistemological beliefs play an important role in the individual’s psychological, sociological, philosophical and behavioural development. The aim of the present paper is to measure pre-service EFL teachers’ epistemological beliefs in relation to their reflection levels. Epistemological beliefs are important aspects of teachers’ thinking processes as they indicate beliefs about sources of information. In order to measure pre-service EFL teachers’ epistemological beliefs, the epistemological beliefs survey, developed by Chan and Eliott (2004), was used. This survey conceptualizes epistemological beliefs under four dimensions; namely innate/fixed ability, learning effort/process, authority/expert knowledge and certainty knowledge. For measuring pre-service EFL teachers’ reflection levels, Reflection Levels Questionnaire, developed by Larrivee (2008), was used. This tool has four sub-dimensions, which are pre-reflection, surface reflection, pedagogic reflection, and critical reflection. The participants are 133 pre-service EFL teachers enrolled in an English Language and Literature department. The results of the study indicate that pre-service EFL teachers have moderate levels of epistemological beliefs and reflections levels. In addition, there are significant differences in epistemological beliefs and reflection levels in terms of grade level of the participants.