What is effective in forming our beliefs: Experience or education?

Abstract

As beliefs play a role in shaping teacher behavior, identification of teacher trainees' beliefs is essential to foreseeing their future practices. Beliefs serve as a stimulus for teachers to construct their teaching methodology. Therefore, the current study aims to investigate 1st and 4th year teacher trainess' beliefs about language learning and teaching. The data is collected from 170 1st and 4th year teacher trainees in the ELT department of a Turkish university via a questionnaire. The results revealed that there are statistically significant differences between first and fourth grade trainees in their beliefs about language learning and teaching, indicating that prior learning experiences and education are influential in forming beliefs. However, no significant differences were found in terms of gender and school of graduation.