teachers‘ perspectives. This initiated a change in research emphasis, and studies on teacher cognitions as ―a new area for enquiry‖ began. A range of thought
processes of ESL teachers have been examined, including: teachers‘ decision- making, teachers‘ self-reflection, teachers‘ pedagogical reasoning skills, teachers‘
knowledge, teachers‘ principles, teachers‘ language teaching expertise, teachers‘ personal practical knowledge, and teachers‘ beliefs.
In brief, recent years have seen a growing interest in teachers‘ beliefs in both general education and second language teaching research. Clark 1988
declared the new area of research on teach ers‘ belief is based on two cognitive
assumptions. The earlier assumption is teacher beliefs influence perception and judgments which, in turn, affect what teachers say and do in classrooms. The next
assumption is teacher beliefs act as ―intuitive screens‖ which have a filtering effect on how teachers learn to teach. These intuitive screens are used to make
sense of pedagogical information, i.e. to interpret new information about teaching and learning and to decide how that information is translated into classroom
practices. The practical consequence of these assumptions is that to understand teaching and to improve teaching practices, the beliefs that teachers hold must be
properly addressed.
b. The Definitions of Teachers’ Beliefs
As mental construct, ―beliefs‖ are not easily defined. There are a wide
range of terms as loose synonyms of the concept. In general education research, for example, Pajares 1992 observed that the following words had been used to
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refer to beliefs: attitudes, values, judgments, axioms, opinions, ideology, perceptions, conceptions, preconceptions, implicit theories, personal theories,
internal mental processes, rules of practice, practical principles, and perspectives. In spite of the terminological confusion, however, there are some
consensus in the literature about the nature of beliefs and their effects on action. Harvey 1986:660 characterized beliefs as a set of conceptual representations
which signify to its holder a reality or given state of affairs of sufficient validity, truth or trustworthiness to warrant reliance upon it as a guide to personal thought
and action. Meanwhile, Richardson 1994:91 maintained that beliefs are an individual‘s understandings of the world and the way it works or should work,
may be consciously or u nconsciously held, and guide one‘s actions. From the field
of second language teaching, Richards 1998:66 explained that teachers‘ beliefs are the information, attitudes, values, expectations, theories, and assumptions
about teaching and learning that teachers build up over time and bring with them to the classroom.
In reviewing an ―overwhelming array‖ of terms used to describe teachers‘ cognitions, Borg 2006:35 came to the conclusion that beliefs are an
often tacit, personally-held, practical system of mental constructs held by teachers and which are dynamic
– i.e. defined and refined on the basis of educational and professional experiences throughout teachers‘ lives. These constructs have been
characterized using a range of psychological labels … which may often be distinguished at the level of theoretical or philosophical debate but which seem to
defy compartmentalization when teachers‘ practices and cognitions are examined perpustakaan.uns.ac.id
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empirically. In short, beliefs are personal, diverse, idiosyncratic, and experiential. They encompass values, theories, assumptions, and so on. Moreover, they
influence thinking and doing. In one of the most detailed studies on ESL teachers‘ beliefs, Woods
1996:195 used three terms to refer to what teachers know and believe: ―knowledge‖, ―assumptions‖ and ―beliefs‖. In his words:
The term ―knowledge‖ to refer to things we ―know‖ – conventionally accepted facts. In our society today, for something to be conventionally
accepted, it generally means that it has been demonstrated or is demonstrable.
The term ―assumption‖ normally refers to the temporary acceptance of a ―fact‖…which has not been demonstrated, but which we are taking as true for
the time being. Beliefs refer to an acceptance of a proposition for which there is no
conventional knowledge, one that is not demonstrable, and for which there is accepted disagreement.
Although this distinction seems to be conceptually clear, the data collected by Woods 1996:194 showed that there is actually a lot of overlap in
the concepts. He stated that the ‗use‘ of knowledge in teachers‘ decision making
process did not seem to be qualitatively different from the ‗use‘ of beliefs. He used the following example to illustrate this point. A teacher knowsbelieves that
her students don‘t like to work in groups. One day, she asks the class to do a homework assignment in groups, and the students respond by groaning. Using
what she knowsbelieves, the teacher interprets the students‘ groans as being caused by the students‘ attitudes about group work. This event is then
remembered by the teacher not simply as groans, but in terms of her assumptions about what caused the groans, and is stored as a further item of knowledgebelief.
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This example shows that the teacher‘s interpretation of the event may be based on what the teacher knows, what the teacher believes, or what the teacher believes
she knows. In this study, knowledge is inseparably intertwined with beliefs. Thus, no
attempt has been made to distinguish between the two concepts.
c. The Origins of Teachers’ Beliefs
