Previous research indicates that former schooling is an important factor to shape teachers' beliefs about teaching; teachers change the way they teach when their beliefs about foreign language teaching change. However, little research has discovered direct evidence concerning the processes that effect change in teacher beliefs. This study investigated the relationship between teachers' pedagogical paradigms and practices in Chinese language classrooms. Specifically, a qualitative analysis of educated teachers born in China examined how early pedagogical frames were formed, and then transformed in the context of American classrooms. Results of this study indicate that early schooling, language learning, and initial teaching experiences have a powerful effect on Chinese teachers' epistemological beliefs and pedagogical practices. Indeed, embedded and unexamined beliefs can inhibit effective teaching of Chinese language and lead to traditional behaviorist-centered learning approaches. However, these data indicate that critical reflection on preconceptions, beliefs, values, principles, and practices can become a precursor for constructivist and transformational Chinese language teaching and learning. The Lin Transformational Teaching and Professional Development Model demonstrates how traditional Chinese language approaches can be transformed into more effective epistemological and pedagogical strategies through assessment and reframing, consideration of cultural contexts, incorporation of diversity, and inclusion of continual professional reflection. Implications of the Lin Model to increase teacher competence and learner proficiency are recommended in four areas (individual professional development, collaborative professional development, teacher training programs, and students of Chinese) and are applicable to three different types of departments: foreign languages and literatures, applied linguistics, and education.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:pdx.edu/oai:pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu:open_access_etds-1282 |
| Date | 01 January 2011 |
| Creators | Lin, Shaojuan |
| Publisher | PDXScholar |
| Source Sets | Portland State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Dissertations and Theses |
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