Pre-service teachers’ beliefs about literature integration in English language teaching classrooms

Abstract

In late 1990s, teacher cognition has emerged as an important field of inquiry as more and more research studies have demonstrated that teachers’ cognitions influence their instructional decisions and activities (Borg, 2003).  In the case of pre-service teachers, their beliefs are mainly influenced by their prior experience as learners while these beliefs also act as a filtering mechanism to process new information presented in teacher education programs (Borg, 2009). This study investigated changes in the beliefs about the use of literary texts in English language teaching (ELT) of 65 pre-service teachers enrolled at the teacher education department of a state university in Istanbul, Turkey. The inclusion of literature in ELT classrooms has been viewed as a beneficial process as it contributes to students’ linguistic development, appreciation of different cultures, personal involvement, and individual growth (Carter & Long, 1991). To that extent, ELT teacher education programs in Turkey have been offering courses to equip pre-service teachers with the knowledge and skills on how to integrate literature into language teaching. The present study explored prior experiences and beliefs of pre-service English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers about literature integration and compared them with those formed after the completion of a two-semester course on teaching English through literature. Data were collected through open-ended questionnaires administered before and after the course and subjected to content analysis as suggested by Weber (1990). Results showed that pre-service teachers had positive beliefs about literature integration while the course had some limited impact on their prior beliefs.