Teacher belief about integrating critical thinking in English teaching in China

Abstract

ABSTRACT Teacher belief plays an important role in cultivating critical thinking (CT) in foreign language education, but it is unclear whether novice and experienced teachers’ beliefs about cultivating CT in foreign language education is different. Considering the importance of teaching experience in shaping teacher belief, 86 novice and 100 experienced teachers’ beliefs about integrating CT in foreign language teaching was collected in this research. Teacher belief was measured by self-reported questionnaire. Three linear regression models were used to identify the power of teaching experience to predict teacher belief about CT (model 1), teacher belief about developing CT in foreign language teaching (model 2) and teacher belief about how to develop CT in foreign language teaching (model 3), controlling for their gender, age and educational level. Results showed that even though novice teachers are more aware of the importance of CT than colleagues with more experience, experienced teachers are more knowledgeable about how to integrate CT in foreign language teaching than novice teachers. Further interview showed that schooling experience, teaching experience and teacher education programme can help to build teacher belief, which confirms sociocultural perspective of teacher belief. Some practical implications for foreign language teacher education and professional development are discussed.