Pre-service English Teachers’ Beliefs about English Language Learning

Abstract

Objectives The language teachers’ beliefs about language have an impact on their practices and are likely influence their students’ belief about language learning. This study investigated English language learning beliefs of pre-service teachers of English. The study also examined whether any significant differences exist in pre-service English teachers’ beliefs by gender, different academic years and self-rated English proficiency levels.
 Methods For this purpose, 91 undergraduate students enrolled in English education department at A university participated in this study. The participants were asked to answer the questionnaire of Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory(BALLI). Data were obtained by distributing the questionnaire through online during the weeks 5 and 6 in the spring of 2022. For data analysis, descriptive statistics, Chi-test, t-test and ANOVA were used.
 Results The participants showed strong beliefs about the effect on age and the importance of target culture in English language learning. The participants did not agree the importance role of grammar and translation. However, the pre-service English teachers in this study tended to view traditional activities as more useful than communicative activities. The participants believed that English language learning involves a lot of memorization and repetitions. Some of beliefs held by pre-service teachers constitute an impediment to successful English language learning and teaching, such as beliefs about pronunciation, error correction, and vocabulary learning. There was a significant difference for the role of grammar by gender, different academic years and English proficiency levels. Pre-service teachers’ beliefs about the importance of vocabulary, expectation of language, willingness to communicate and motivations were significant based on the participants’ English proficiency levels.
 Conclusions Pre-service teachers in this study hold a variety of beliefs about English learning. Some of beliefs were consist with the communicative language teaching approach whereas some didn’t reflect the 2015 Revised National English Curriculum and the current language teaching trends. The findings from this study showed that considerable efforts should be made to eliminate any unrealistic beliefs pre-service teachers may hold before they start teaching.