The purpose of this study was to examine preservice elementary and secondary English and foreign language teachers’ metaphors and relate their metaphorical images to conceptions of literacy. Specifically, sixty-six participants completed a questionnaire that solicited their sense of teaching. Results indicated that the preservice teachers’ beliefs could be categorized into nine themes. The most...

this study seeks to examine how teachers’ educational background (those who have educated in tefl in comparison to those who have educated in literature) may influence their beliefs and attitudes on language learning, teaching and the teaching methods they apply in their classes. on a general basis, depending on teachers’ opinion, learning process might be seen as behavioristic, inductive, inte...

This study explores pre-service early childhood teachers’ efficacy for teaching mathematics. Thirty-eight participants completed the short form of the Teacher Efficacy Scale and the Teacher Beliefs Scale before and after they conducted a clinical interview with a child around a mathematical topic. Results indicated a significant increase in Personal Teaching Efficacy as well as significant chan...

Central to the spirit of reflective teaching is the ability to focus critically on one’s own beliefs, cognitions, and concerns. Numerous proposals have been developed for implementing reflective practices in pre-service teacher education contexts with the aim of producing highly competent reflective teachers. However, it is imperative to identify the candidates’ beliefs and knowledge base befor...

Managing student behaviour remains one of the most daunting aspects of teaching for educators and this is particularly so when children with disabilities are included in the regular classroom. Self-efficacy has been identified as having a significant impact on a teacher’s behaviour, and preservice training can play an important role in preparing teachers to be effective classroom managers. The ...

Pseudoscience beliefs (e.g., astrology, ghosts or UFOs) are rife in American society. Most research examines creation/evolution among liberal arts majors, general public adults, or, infrequently, middle or high school science teachers. Thus, research truncates the range of ersatz science thinking and the samples it studies. We examined diverse beliefs, e.g., extraterrestrials, magic, Biblical c...