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4.1 Orientations of English Teachers’ Beliefs
Description statistics is used to describe the main features of data collected,including maximum, minimum, mean and Std. Deviation. The following tables givesa general description of the orientations of the teachers’ beliefs from the two collegesin the first five dimensions in the questionnaire: curriculum, teaching and learning,resources, evaluation, and the roles of teachers and students. Table 4.1 presents the college English teachers’ beliefs in the first fivedimensions: curriculum, teaching and learning, resources, evaluation, and the roles ofteachers and students. And the mean scores higher than 3 suggest that the teachers’beliefs are more in line with the constructivist orientation. The higher the scores are,the closer the beliefs are to the concept of College English curriculum reform. On thecontrary, mean scores lower than 3 indicate that the teachers’ beliefs are closer to thetraditional orientation. And the mean score 3 indicates the teachers’ neutral beliefs.As is revealed in the table, the mean scores of the two groups in each dimensionare much higher than 3, indicating that the English teachers’ beliefs in the two groupsare more in line with constructivist orientation. And the mean score of Group B ishigher than that of Group A in each of the five dimensions, indicating that universityEnglish teachers have stronger support for these statements listed in questionnairethan vocational college English teachers.

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Conclusion

The six types of teachers’ beliefs are investigated and analyzed by means ofquestionnaires and semi-structured interview. According to the results, although thereare some differences between Group A and Group B, beliefs held by these two groupteachers are quite similar.The English teachers’ beliefs in the two different types of colleges are more inline with constructivist orientation, but both traditional and constructivist perspectivesexist simultaneously. And both of these two groups’ teachers have some deeply rootedtraditional teaching beliefs, of which reasons are summarized as follows. One of thereasons lies in the traditional teaching mode, which exists in the English teachingprocess. The data analysis proves that some teachers from these two groups agreewith statements of teacher-centered teaching mode. Another reason is the academicpressure. In China, students who get higher scores on tests have much bigger chancesto enter key schools and good universities. But the advanced teaching beliefs laystress on students’ communicative ability rather than test marks. Therefore, teachersoften focus on language points such as grammar and words in limited time so as tohelp student achieve high scores in examinations.
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