The Role Of Beliefs On Teachers Formation

The Role of Beliefs on Teachers Formation

In this essay I will talk about the importance on the study of beliefs on English teaching/learning process.

The study concerning the beliefs is an area inside of the Applied Linguistics which is recent in Brazil and since then it has been a central theme in Applied Linguistics area (Barcelos, 2004), they are capable to influence what teachers do, feel and know about the process of learning a second language.

Jhonson (1994) mentioned, that the relevance functions on the study of beliefs are three: a) The beliefs influence the judgment perception of teachers and students, Affecting what they do or practice in class; b) The beliefs role influences the way of learning and teaching , in other words it influences the way the teachers understand their pieces of information concerning the English teaching and how these pieces of information are released in the class interaction; c) the beliefs comprehension is necessary for the improvement of the teaching.

According to Pintrich (1990) apud Pajares (1992, p.307-308), “the beliefs are the most valuable psychological instruments that we can have in teachers formation”. Freeman and Jhonson (1998), the teachers (as well as the ones in formation) they have previous experiences, individuals values, and single beliefs that forms the knowledge about teaching and learning and shape their didacticism in their classes. In this sense, according to Breen, (1985. P.136) apud Barcelos (2004, p.125) it’s necessary to understand the human beings in your totality, unless we consider your expectations, values and beliefs”.

Barcelos (1995) points some examples of beliefs that most of the students have: (1) That language is learned only where it is spoken; (2) that it is possible to learn a second language in little time; (3) Portuguese language is easier than English language. The beliefs have a particular character, because they are personal, contextual, episodics, they originate from the people’s experiences, in culture and in social.

According to Riley (1997), students that only believe in learning a second language with a teacher, will have problems with any autonomous teaching. The beliefs have a normative approach, meta-cognitive and contextual. The term “normative”, according to Holliday (1994), may refer to cultural studies, because learning a second language relates straight to the concept of culture, because the culture of the students is seen as an explanation to their actions in class.

One of the most important characteristics of beliefs refers to your influence on behavior. According to Pajares (1992), the beliefs influence on how people organize and define their tasks. Many researchers suggest that the beliefs about learning may influence on finding strategies to learn languages.

The meta-cognitive approach basic goal in these studies is what the learners think about their process of learning languages and they are capable to articulate some of their beliefs. The teachers should be aware to the dynamicity of the student’s beliefs and make the bad ones turn to good in favor of improving the process of learning a second language.

Bibliographic References

BARCELOS, A. M. F. Metodologia de pesquisa das crenças sobre aprendizagem de

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