The Role of English Pre-Service Teachers’ Beliefs About Teaching in Teacher Education Programs

This paper presents a review of studies on pre-service teachers’ beliefs about teaching. The purpose of the article is to show teacher educators the relevance of exploring such issue in the classroom. Preservice teachers come into the teaching profession with beliefs about teaching; sometimes they are aware of them, other times they are not. The studies reviewed in this paper demonstrate that when teacher educators ascertain this principle, they clearly integrate it in their syllabi thus aiding preservice teachers to acquire awareness of their entering beliefs about teaching and to experience changes in them so that explicit beliefs guide and inform the act of teaching. Teacher educators assist this process through reflection, course content, and learning activities, as well as by engaging in research

activities.

En este artículo se presenta una revisión de varios estudios sobre las creencias de los docentes en formación acerca de la enseñanza. El propósito es mostrar a los educadores de docentes en formación la relevancia de explorar este tema en el salón de clase. Los profesores en formación entran a la

profesión docente con creencias acerca de la enseñanza; algunas veces son conscientes de estas, otras veces no. Los estudios aquí citados demuestran que cuando los educadores de docentes en formación asumen este principio, lo integran claramente en el currículo, y de este modo ayudan a los docentes en formación a ser conscientes de sus propias creencias iniciales y a transformarlas, de tal forma que les guíen e informen acerca de su labor pedagógica. Los educadores apoyan este proceso por medio de la reflexión, los contenidos, las actividades de aprendizaje y las actividades investigativas. 

El papel de las creencias de los profesores de inglés en formación sobre la enseñanza en los programas de formación docente

Judith Castellanos Jaimes
Universidad Externado de Colombia
jucaja_98@yahoo.com

This article was received on January 21, 2012, and accepted on October 29, 2012.

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This paper presents a review of studies on pre-service teachers’ beliefs about teaching. The purpose of the article is to show teacher educators the relevance of exploring such issue in the classroom. Preservice teachers come into the teaching profession with beliefs about teaching; sometimes they are aware of them, other times they are not. The studies reviewed in this paper demonstrate that when teacher educators ascertain this principle, they clearly integrate it in their syllabi thus aiding preservice teachers to acquire awareness of their entering beliefs about teaching and to experience changes in them so that explicit beliefs guide and inform the act of teaching. Teacher educators assist this process through reflection, course content, and learning activities, as well as by engaging in research activities.

Key words: Beliefs about teaching, pre-service English teachers, teacher education programs.

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En este artículo se presenta una revisión de varios estudios sobre las creencias de los docentes en formación acerca de la enseñanza. El propósito es mostrar a los educadores de docentes en formación la relevancia de explorar este tema en el salón de clase. Los profesores en formación entran a la profesión docente con creencias acerca de la enseñanza; algunas veces son conscientes de estas, otras veces no. Los estudios aquí citados demuestran que cuando los educadores de docentes en formación asumen este principio, lo integran claramente en el currículo, y de este modo ayudan a los docentes en formación a ser conscientes de sus propias creencias iniciales y a transformarlas, de tal forma que les guíen e informen acerca de su labor pedagógica. Los educadores apoyan este proceso por medio de la reflexión, los contenidos, las actividades de aprendizaje y las actividades investigativas.

Palabras clave: creencias sobre la enseñanza, programas de formación docente, profesores de inglés en formación.

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Introduction

Pre-service teachers come into the teaching profession with beliefs about teaching; sometimes they are aware of them, other times they are not. These are informed by their own judgment of how high-quality teaching looks and works. In other words, they have entering beliefs that enlighten their own system of beliefs about teaching. Moreover, entering beliefs about teaching come from their own experiences as pupils, significant interpersonal relations with their professors, mentors and classmates, and their reflection upon critical incidents in their first encounters with teaching.

In fact, entering beliefs appear to be a construction, which implies that they are not static or do not remain the same over time; they are subject to experience changes or turning points when they come into contact with different components of teacher development: course content, reflection, and research, to mention some. For this reason, teacher educators should embrace a teacher education pedagogy that considers the central role of pre-service beliefs about teaching by both explicitly including this topic in the curriculum (for example through reflection, course content and learning activities) and doing research on it.

The present article, on the one hand, provides teacher educators interested in conducting studies about pre-service teaching with a brief literature review of pre-service teachers’ beliefs about teaching. On the other hand, this article may raise awareness in all teacher educators of formal pre-service English teaching programs in Colombia about the importance of taking into account prospective teachers’ entering beliefs and explicitly including this topic in the curriculum.

I expect that the body of knowledge reviewed in this article allows going further in the understanding of the philosophical principles that support pre-service English teaching programs in Colombia. Likewise, it can provide researchers and teacher educators, who are engaged in developing situated know-ledge through research, with important findings to further understand pre-service English teachers’ entering beliefs about teaching. Moreover, this article may raise awareness about the importance of undertaking intensive, collaborative studies through which the TEFL education community “can strive to address the needs of students, teachers, teacher educators, and other stakeholders working to establish a common vision” (Simmons et al. 1999, Abstract section) of excellence in pre-service teacher education in a reform context in Colombia.

This article begins with a literature review targeted to the needs of many South American TESOL contexts as regards pre-service teachers’ beliefs about teaching and includes research studies on the topic. Finally, there is a conclusion that highlights the importance of undertaking more research on pre-service education.

Literature Review

Some attention has been paid to teacher beliefs in recent years. They have been defined with various terms that include “teaching conceptions” and “teaching values”; likewise, they are also known as “teaching styles”, “teaching practices”, “teaching images” or “teaching approaches.” They all can be understood as “a teacher’s cognitive and other behaviors [that] are guided by and make sense in relation to a personally held system of beliefs, values, and principles that guide the act of teaching” (Clark & Peterson, as cited in Maxson & Sindelar, 1998, p. 5).

This article uses the term beliefs about teaching, which refers to all the beliefs (ideas and preconceptions) that pre-service teachers bring with them when they enter an education program, about how their teaching looks and works, what kind of teacher they are and how they conceive teaching. There is a large body of literature about teachers’ beliefs and the categories that different scholars have developed are various: from the more general ones, such as teacher-centered and student-centered practices, to more detailed ones. That is the case of Pratt (1998), who proposes five teaching approaches: Apprenticeship, transmission, developmental, nurturing and social reformist.

First, apprenticeship teachers consider themselves as skilled practitioners with knowledge and wisdom to be taught. Second, those who hold transmission beliefs would place significant stress on the transmission of information, well-organized treatment of content, more dynamic time management, and/or the design of teaching material. Third, teachers with developmental beliefs see themselves as facilitators of learning. Fourth, nurturing teachers stress the principles of individual worth and self-respect and reciprocal trust, fair dignity, and respect. Fifth, social reformists hold the beliefs that their own ideology is appropriate for all people. They place emphasis on locating improved technologies of instruction, approaches to knowledge, and ways of assisting cognitive or personal development of moral and political issues (Pratt, 1998).

Kagan (1992) completed an extensive review of studies about pre-service and first year teaching. This period appears to constitute a single developmental stage during which novices acquire knowledge of pupils then use that knowledge to modify and reconstruct their beliefs about teaching. Kagan reviewed three studies (Calderhead & Robson, 1991; McDaniel, 1991; and Weistein, 1990, as cited in Kagan, 1992) and concluded that although the contexts of these studies differ, findings were cohesive in the sense that there is a central role of preexisting beliefs and prior experience that filter the content of course work and, despite course content, these beliefs/ images appear to be stable and inflexible. Moreover, she reviewed studies conducted by Laboskey, 1991; Bullough, 1991; Hollingsworth, 1989, and Strahan, 1990, which confirm that candidates enter teaching practicum and student teaching with beliefs about teaching that have been derived in part from their own experiences as learners; however, when these images of self as teacher are not strong, the novices may be predestined to have difficulty.

The findings reported in the previous studies point out that the initial focus of novice teachers is inward, that is to say, when novices are in the reality of the classroom, they first seek to confirm and validate their beliefs about teaching; gradually, when they find proper conditions, they begin to use their growing knowledge of pupils and classrooms to modify, adapt, and reconstruct their beliefs. Also, they explore the role of preexisting beliefs that result from the interaction of their prior experiences as pupils in classrooms, theoretical knowledge from course work (knowledge base) and experiences during their practicum.

It is relevant to consider that in a 2004 study, Ambrose states that:

Many mathematics educators have found that prospective elementary school teachers’ beliefs interfere with their learning of mathematics. Often teacher educators consider these beliefs to be wrong or naïve and seek to challenge them so prospective teachers will reject them for more generative beliefs. Because of the resilience of prospective teachers’ beliefs in response to these challenges, teacher educators could consider alternative ways of thinking about and addressing beliefs, particularly the potential of building on rather than tearing down pre-existing beliefs. (p. 91)

I therefore take the position that if pre-service teachers’ beliefs are thought to be incorrect or immature, then no teacher educator, course content or teaching experience could ever foster change or turning points in pre-service teachers’ construction of a self-image as teachers; as a consequence, professional development would never occur. On the other hand, if these beliefs are thought of as entering beliefs, product of the teacher-to-be experiences as a learner, then teacher educators will find a much more constructivist panorama; that is to say, “building on rather than tearing down pre-existing beliefs” as Ambrose herself claims.

Fung and Chow’s (2002) study on preexisting beliefs set out to obtain a profile of pedagogical images of a group of student teachers, as well as to assess whether there is a congruence between their pedagogical images and classroom practices. Findings concerning teaching students’ pedagogical images served as focus for the present study. The researchers start from the assumption that student teachers enter formal training with preconceptions of how teaching should take place.

Results indicated that the student teachers’ most common dominant teaching beliefs were the nurturing beliefs, followed by the mixed and the developmental ones (Pratt, 1998), which have already been explained.

However, in actual practices, student teachers’ approach was a mixture of the apprenticeship and the transmission approaches. In sum, the findings of this study to be considered in the present article include that whereas in practice students conceive themselves as having a more child-centered approach to teaching, in reality, their practices constituted more a teacher-centered approach. Similar findings were revealed in Simmons et al.’s (1999) study. They conducted a 3-year exploratory study about secondary science teacher education. The authors investigated what were

[...] the perceptions, beliefs, and classroom performances of beginning secondary teachers as related to their philosophies of teaching and their content pedagogical skills. [...] An analysis of video portfolios of beginning teachers provided classroombased evidence of their performance in both subject matter and pedagogical dimensions of teaching. Among the findings [...] were that teachers graduated from their teacher preparation programs with a range of knowledge and beliefs about how teachers should interact with subject content and processes, about [...] what teachers should be doing in the classroom, [...] philosophies of teaching, and how they perceived themselves as classroom teachers. Beginning teachers described their practices as very student-centered. Observations of these teaching practices contrasted starkly with teacher beliefs: While teachers professed student-centered beliefs, they behaved in teacher-centered ways. (Simmons et al., 1999, Abstract section).

The purpose of Maxson and Sindelar’s (1998) study was to identify the beliefs, ideas, and knowledge that entry-level students bring with them as they begin their work in an elementary teacher education program. Likewise, the study sought to determine how and if those beliefs changed as a result of coursework designed to challenge and clarify those beliefs. Data utilized for the study involved two written exercises that posed open-ended questions designed to encourage self-awareness of students’ perspectives and their implicit beliefs about teaching.

The data gathered in Maxon and Sindelar’s (1998) study seems to suggest that there may be minimally two basic types of students entering teacher preparation programs. The first one is composed of a group of pre-service teachers with clearly surfaced beliefs about teaching, and a second group is comprised of those who come into teaching without focused beliefs that can be clearly communicated. With respect to the changes initiated by the coursework designed to challenge or clarify their entering beliefs, the research suggests that students learn early to mouth program concepts, but do not always make the connections to their own beliefs and understandings. If learning is not assimilated into a learner’s existing cognitive structure, then students may be saying what we want to hear in our courses, but forgetting or misusing the information by the time they begin teaching in their own classrooms. These findings seem to resemble those of Hollingsworth’s (1989) who claims that in the absence of cognitive dissonance, learning among novices remained shallow and imitative.

An important implication of this study is the role of learning activities in initiating changes or turning points in the beliefs about teaching. The learning activities that a teacher educator explicitly designs to explore pre-service teachers’ beliefs are central to assist pre-service teachers in making the connections to their own beliefs and understandings instead of only repeating program concepts.

These and other studies have had impact on teacher education programs: When teacher education programs are designed to promote reflection, pre-service teachers manifest more self-reflection and acknowledge limitations of their prior beliefs and knowledge. Moreover, when learning teachers do not possess clear beliefs about teaching with which to integrate program knowledge, it remains superficial and easily replaced. That is to say, pre-service students should be aware of what they are doing in their classes and why they are doing it because they have reflected upon their classroom practices and actions and not just because they are blindly following principles and methodologies that form part of the program knowledge. Therefore, the role of reflection is essential for pre-service teachers’ growth to occur and programs must include a direct challenge to personal beliefs; otherwise, learning among teachers remains shallow and imitative. This challenge is achieved by including reflection and learning activities that a teacher educator explicitly designs to explore pre-service teachers’ beliefs.

The previous research studies support my argument that exploring pre-service teachers’ beliefs about teaching is crucial in teacher education. They also confirm that pre-service teachers enter a teaching program with beliefs about teaching which can be altered through various factors, events and people.

Other studies (Johnson, 1992, 1994, 2007; Wray, 1993; Bailey et al., 1996; Beach, 1994; Borg, 2003; Cabaroglu & Roberts, 2000; McGillivray & Freppon, 2000; Peacock, 2001) ratify the need to continue researching how pre-service teachers learn to teach and the key factors involved in such process; and beliefs about teaching are part of those key factors.

Nowadays, pre-service teachers are not always first career graduates. The longitudinal study by Manuel and Brindley (2003) with pre-service students of English in Australia and the UK proves that the current tendency is an increase in the proportion of second and later career candidates in teacher education programs. This urgently requires a sensitive understanding on the part of teachers educators that a considerable number of pre-service teachers bring with them significant experience and expertise about teaching; that is, they are far from being tabulae rasae or blank slates with little knowledge about education. Indeed, the pre-service teachers of this century enter teacher education programs “with deeply-held personal beliefs about the potential for the teacher to create, affirm, build connections and act to good effect (Boomer & Torr, 1987), constructing teaching as a potent force for change in society” (Manuel & Brindley, 2003, The Significance of Previous Experience section, para. 1).

A new profile of the pre-service teachers affirms the need to continue researching beliefs about teaching.

Manuel and Brindley (2003) assert that:

There has been considerable research undertaken over the past decade-and-a-half into the beliefs that pre-service teachers bring with them into teacher education courses: the nature of these beliefs, their representation in metaphor and story; the ways in which these beliefs influence not only what is learnt in pre-service education, but how it is learnt and the implications of these things for teacher identity, professional development, and efficacy as classroom practitioners (cf. Stuart & Thurlow 2000; Maxon & Mahlios, 1994). (The Significance of Previous Experience section, para. 3)

These scholars’ words show the relevance and interest in researching how pre-service teachers learn to teach and the role of their entering beliefs. Their research with pre-service teachers in Australia and The UK avow:

[...] the continued significance of personal beliefs and their role in developing teacher identity. It also demonstrates the ways in which the participants imagine the self as teacher-constructing and representing this self in a range of ways that embodies their principles and ‘dreams’ as an educator. (Manuel & Brindley, 2003, The Significance of Previous Experience section, para. 4)

In the Colombian context, there has been a growing interest in researching pre-service English teaching in Colombia (González & Quinchía, 2003; Cárdenas & Faustino, 2003; Viáfara, 2005; Cárdenas, Nieto & Martin, 2005; Quintero & Guerrero, 2005; Castellanos, 2005; Faustino & Cárdenas, 2006; Quintero & Piñeros, 2006; Ayala, 2006; Latorre, 2007; Sierra, 2007; Pineda & Frodden, 2008; Samacá, 2008; Zambrano & Inuasty, 2008; Viáfara, 2010). Some of these experiences have been documented and published in indexed Colombian journals like CALJ, PROFILE, IKALA, FOLIOS and LENGUAJE. Likewise, there are important experiences documented in theses from the Master’s program in Applied Linguistics to TEFL at Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas; other experiences have been socialized in national academic events. This has led to the development of important situated knowledge about pre-service English teaching in Colombia.

The aforementioned scholars and their significant research provide an important background of studies that relates to pre-service English teachers’ development in Colombia, focusing on various aspects such as pre-service teachers’ development of reflective teaching, research skills, teaching practicum, development of knowledge, skills and attitudes and autonomy, among other topics. However, the majority of these studies do not include English pre-service teachers’ beliefs about teaching; except for Castellanos (2005) and Samacá (2008). This leads me to argue that there has been, to some extent, an abandonment of this essential component of pre-service teaching in the teacher education programs and even in the postgraduate programs that promote research on teacher development and education.

The search of studies on pre-service English teachers’ beliefs about teaching in Colombia yielded one case study conducted by Castellanos (2005) and an action research carried out by Samacá (2008). Castellanos’ study is probably the first one that addresses pre-service teachers’ beliefs about teaching. Her study focuses on pre-service English teachers’ construction of self-image as teachers and its purpose was to bring to light the elements that help preservice English teachers construct their self image as teachers. Likewise, it provides findings related to how the participants perceive themselves as someone who is becoming a teacher and how their perceptions informed about turning points in the construction of their self-image as teachers. The findings show that there are several aspects and factors that play crucial roles in the construction of a self-image as a teacher.

The findings suggest that pre-service teachers create their self-images through a combination of factors that interact among them. From that interplay, their pedagogical images are in a constant process of construction and change. There are three main factors that were highlighted as crucial for the construction of their self image as teachers.

Factor 1. The first one suggests a process of identification with teachers they have had at various stages in their lives who demonstrated knowledge, skills and positive attitudes towards the teaching and learning processes and their students in and outside their classrooms. The teachers-to-be seem to experience “the looking glass self ” (Cooley, 1902), which implies that the more we see other people as being like ourselves, or the more significant a part that people play in our lives, the more likely we are to compare ourselves with them (Suls & Greenwald 1986; Higgins, Klein, & Strauman, 1985). The process of imitating role models also supports Calderhead and Robson’s (1991) findings. They state that novices enter with clear images of good teaching that were related to their own classroom experiences as pupils. Such images appeared to be derived from a few role models and were inflexible across classroom contexts.

Factor 2. The second important factor that contributes to the construction of self-images as teachers is linked to the interaction and collaboration with cooperating teachers, supervisors, peers and other teachers. These agents have some characteristics that identify them as mentors. For instance, they foster self-reflection, guide classroom processes and management and hold very up-to-date views of teaching-learning and language. Mutual help and support with their mentors contributed to enrich their pedagogical images. The collaboration with their mentors resulted in a process that empowered the participants to become active practitioners rather than mimickers of the methods of an experienced teacher. As active practitioners they explored their own teaching style. Another benefit of a collaborative interaction is the decrease of a sense of isolation, bringing about emotional support.

Factor 3. A third factor that plays a crucial role in the construction of the teachers-to-be self-images is their system of beliefs about teaching and learning. Simmons et al. (1999) state that beginning teachers have translated their experiential worlds of the classroom into a unique view of what constitutes good teaching and learning, and they define their philosophy of teaching based on these beliefs and experiences. Examining the participants’ philosophy gave the study important insights into the pre-service teachers’ beliefs. General themes about the teaching styles emerged from the participants’ system of beliefs. The themes that best captured the beginning teachers’ beliefs comprise a first moment in their construction of a self-image as teachers when the transmission perspective dominated.

A second stance in their process of construction suggests a mixture of the developmental image and the nurturing image (Pratt, 1998). The consolidation of a system of beliefs about teaching and learning helped pre-service teachers get clear images of how their teaching looks and works and guided their decision-making in terms of classroom methodology, their role as teachers and the role of their students. The ideal image of a teacher along with the philosophy of teaching is a crucial aspect that sustains a student-teacher’s system of beliefs. In their process of self-image construction, beginning teachers hold strong views and beliefs of what teachers should be. In other words, they hold views of a subject of the imaginary and symbolic orders.

The institutional practices and discourses that were identified as symbolic identifications for the pre-service teachers comprise the critical pedagogical outlook of a teacher, teachers as teacher-researchers and innovators, and teachers involved in reflective teaching. The findings suggest that teachers-to-be perceive themselves as people who have experienced an ongoing process of becoming. Two moments that mark before and after in the construction were identified. During their first stage, preconceptions about teaching guided the pre-service teachers’ first encounter with it during their first practicum. A second stage is comprised of course content on critical pedagogy during the senior year. Getting acquainted with critical pedagogy constitutes an axis for the participants’ change in their system of beliefs. They also attribute their new understanding of the teaching and learning process to the fact that they were able to put into practice critical pedagogical tenets and principles by articulating and applying a pedagogical project that lasted a full school year.

The changes and shifts are evidenced in their teacher actions and the student actions which grow from a transmission perspective to a mixture of the developmental and the nurturing perspective. This turning point in the construction of their selfimage as teachers supports the notion of a process of transformative learning. Likewise, this process is revealed in a new conceptualization of a teacher-researcher, one who becomes part of the ELT community through learning about innovations and their own engagement in research processes.

As a conclusion, change in pre-service teachers’ perception of themselves as language teachers was fostered by making connections between their knowledge base (pedagogy, methodology, classroom activities and the sort) and practice (their practicum, the implementation of a pedagogical project and the discipline of a teacher research process), and by being faced with difficult situations that posed challenges to their belief system (i.e. when engaged in a dialectic or, in other words, by a process of transformative learning).

Samacá (2008) carried out an action research study (with thirteen student teachers from a state university in the city of Tunja) on the perceptions pre-service teachers hold concerning their image as future teachers, and how these perceptions might influence their teaching. The questions that this study investigated were: What do pre-service teachers’ responses to the literature about the socio-critical component of a pedagogy and communication course reveal about their image as future teachers? What aspects do pre-service teachers focus on when discussing issues related to pedagogy and communication? and How do they connect these aspects to their views as teachers?

This study helps teacher educators add to their understanding of pre-service teachers’ construction of their own images as teachers through discussions and reflections about the socio-critical component of a pedagogy and communication course. Data were collected during one academic semester by means of field notes complemented with audio-recordings, students’ reflective journals and conferences.

The findings of this study showed that pre-service teachers began developing empathy towards a social and critical way of teaching. Their responses showed engagement and commitment in relation to their social and educational realities, reflecting and assuming critical positions that enhance personal, social and future professional transformation. Moreover, being a teacher entails various roles in students’ integral education, such as guides, facilitators, and listeners. To carry out those roles successfully, pre-service students should transform themselves first in order to be able to transform their society. In sum, pre-service teachers’ reflective process showed that to become the kind of teachers they wanted, they had to think about their learners, their needs and interests, and their communities.

Other findings revealed four relevant aspects for the construction of their image as future teachers: First, a dialogical relationship (Shor & Freire, 1987) between students and teachers that help them both learn from each other and construct knowledge and social relationships and second, the instructional roles they are to develop in their classroom settings should involve seeing learning as a teaching practice, being motivators, and making students’ learning significant for their lives. The third one is models to be or not to be followed (critical people) which involve identifying teachers who can influence students’ lives to the point of adopting his/her profession (Danielewics, 2001). Lastly, the fourth one is called integral formation; that is, pre-service teachers stressed the role of teachers as educators, forming students for life.

Finally, the data showed pre-service teachers’ appreciation of what a teacher should become and his/her commitment towards the creation of more communicative classrooms where learners’ voices are also heard. This view of a communicative teacher might be grouped into two moments: The teacher as a communicator and mediator, considering the interaction between teaching and learning, and the teacher as a person who has an attitude towards change.

As a conclusion, pre-service teachers were able to reflect upon their image as future teachers and those reflections depicted important issues that can be considered and analyzed in future research in the field of pre-service teacher education. These pre-service teachers’ perceptions present various factors that may affect the construction of student teachers’ views of themselves as future teachers.

Conclusion

The review of studies presented here demonstrates the importance of undertaking intensive, collaborative studies through which the TEFL community can strive to address the needs of pre-service English teachers. I maintain that it is paramount to continue working towards the establishment of a large body of local knowledge in the area of pre-service teaching in Colombia.

Likewise, I invite teacher educators and researchers who are working to establish a common vision for excellent pre-service education and pertinent reform in Colombia, and to view this article as a point of departure in their studies on English pre-service teaching. As the primary focus of this article is pre-service beliefs about teaching, I also suggest that the following questions for further research can be addressed:

How do pre-service teachers’ belief systems match or mismatch their actions in their classrooms?

What factors influence the belief systems of pre-service teachers as they gain experience in the classroom?

How do pre-service teachers’ belief systems change when they are confronted with the constraints of school, district or national curriculum mandates (i.e. the Common European Framework of TEFL)?

The studies conducted by Castellanos (2005) and Samacá (2008) highlight the importance of mentoring so I propose the following queries in the area of pre-service teacher mentoring:

What roles can each of the stakeholders involved in teacher education play to prepare novice teachers that adapt to the constant challenges of EFL teaching and learning?

What is the role of innovation in the research and pedagogical components of the teacher education program in the pedagogical transformations of professors and pre-service teachers?

In conclusion, teacher educators should keep in mind the premise that student teachers enter a teacher education program with beliefs about teaching, and explicitly integrate it in their syllabi through reflection, course content, and learning activities. I would like to argue that in such a way, they can assist student teachers in becoming aware of their entering beliefs about teaching and experiencing changes or turning points in them so that explicit and more generative beliefs guide and inform the act of teaching.

How teachers can explicitly include student teachers’ beliefs in the curriculum represents the topic of the author’s upcoming article which proposes some learning and teaching activities for teacher educators of pre-service English teachers. The paper asserts that pre-service English education programs should consider student teachers’ self-images as teachers, beliefs about teaching, philosophy of teaching, relationship with students and ability to recognize important aspects and events that motivate decision making (Freeman, 1989) as significant pillars; attention to pre-service English teachers’ self-images as teachers can be considered as an alternative to foster teacher development, and that programs that encourage student-teachers’ realization of their self-images as teachers through specific learning activities build strong and clear beliefs about teaching thus contributing to lessening students’ struggles when they face their practicum and their initial experiences as novice teachers.

Finally, we teachers and teacher educators, as a community of researchers, are to address the moving and constant changes and challenges of education and reform in Colombia and to do so, we ought to be able to structure and conduct research which will inform our decision-making for improved English language teaching and learning.

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About the Author

Judith Castellanos Jaimes is a full-time professor at Universidad Externado de Colombia. She also works other two Colombian universities: Pedagógica Nacional and Distrital Francisco José de Caldas. She holds an M.A. in Applied Linguistics to TEFL from Universidad Distrital and a B.A. in Languages from Universidad Industrial de Santander (Colombia).