A Q methodological study into pre-service Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) teachers’ mindsets about teaching competencies
-
Chengwen Yuan
,
Yong Zhu
und
Yvette Slaughter
Abstract
A teacher’s mindset significantly affects their engagement, development, teaching quality, and well-being. This is crucial for pre-service teachers acquiring competencies for effective teaching. While research often focuses on English language teaching in Western contexts, little explores non-Western language teaching mindsets. Given the intersections of associated social, cultural, and linguistic variables with mindset, this study investigates Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) pre-service teachers’ mindsets on teaching competencies. The study utilized Q methodology, which is a philosophical and conceptual framework for examining subjectivity, and post-sort questionnaires with 39 pre-service teachers in China. The research findings provide important insights into the diverse and contradictory mindsets of pre-service CFL teachers, and the ideologies influencing beliefs as to what constitutes effective language teaching in the Chinese socio-cultural and socio-political context, providing insights into how teacher training programs need to be tailored to challenge and extend the complex mindsets held by pre-service language teachers.
Appendix 1: Z-score for each statement.
| Statement | F1 | F2a | F2b | F3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Being enthusiastic about teaching | −0.85 | 1.67 | −1.71 | −1.4 |
| 2. Finding the right balance between being strict and friendly | −0.72 | −0.63 | 0.16 | −0.15 |
| 3. Smiling in the classroom | −1.35 | 1.05 | −0.47 | 1.58 |
| 4. Creating useful handouts for one’s learners | 1.21 | −1.1 | 0.94 | 1 |
| 5. Explaining language in more than one way | 1.03 | −1.15 | 0.94 | 0.5 |
| 6. Providing authentic learning tasks on interpersonal communication | 0.64 | 0.16 | 1.71 | 0.18 |
| 7. Treating all learners equally | −1.14 | −0.25 | −0.45 | 0.62 |
| 8. Designing entertaining classroom activities | 0.89 | 0.03 | 1.56 | −0.68 |
| 9. Helping one’s learners to love the subject | −0.86 | −1.92 | −0.47 | −1.54 |
| 10. Promoting critical skills in one’s learners | −0.78 | −2.4 | 1.87 | −0.57 |
| 11. Creating good student-teacher relationships | −0.32 | 0.48 | 0.94 | 0.53 |
| 12. Engaging actively with the professional literature | 1.44 | 0.48 | −0.15 | 0.79 |
| 13. Persevering with weaker learners | −0.24 | −0.31 | −2.03 | −0.17 |
| 14. Improving students’ ability to communicate with people from other cultural backgrounds | 0.74 | 0.45 | 0.32 | 0.95 |
| 15. Loving one’s job | −0.83 | 1.59 | −1.71 | −1.02 |
| 16. Being patient with learners | −1.28 | 0.45 | −1.72 | 0.25 |
| 17. Staying in control of one’s emotions in the classroom | −0.66 | 0.07 | −1.09 | 0.26 |
| 18. Assigning effective homework | 1.22 | 0.38 | 0.31 | 1.46 |
| 19. Remembering the names of learners | −0.18 | 1.41 | −0.63 | 1.63 |
| 20. Praising learners appropriately | 0.21 | 1.16 | −0.16 | 1.44 |
| 21. Providing an insight into the target language culture | 1.13 | 1.25 | −0.94 | 1.16 |
| 22. Encouraging learners to speak without worrying about mistakes | 0.75 | 1.32 | −0.94 | 1.8 |
| 23. Caring about one’s learners | −0.95 | 0.95 | −0.94 | 0.6 |
| 24. Having an understanding of details of language and grammar | 2.36 | 1.82 | −0.32 | 0.87 |
| 25. Integrating technology into Chinese language teaching | 1.9 | 0.74 | 0.79 | 1.02 |
| 26. Embracing an open attitude toward interculturalism | 0 | 0.44 | 0.16 | 0.97 |
| 27. Being confident in a classroom | −0.84 | 0.08 | −1.09 | −0.18 |
| 28. Having a good sense of humour in class | −2.05 | −1.33 | −0.79 | −2.37 |
| 29. Developing materials to supplement the textbook | 0.63 | −1.29 | 0.93 | −0.06 |
| 30. Giving constructive feedback | 0.13 | −0.99 | 0.78 | −0.3 |
| 31. Expressing clearly what one expects from one’s learners | 0.7 | −0.21 | −0.01 | 0.7 |
| 32. Serving as an inspiration for one’s learners | −0.78 | −1.48 | 1.25 | −1.18 |
| 33. Having good pronunciation | 1.27 | 1.39 | −1.56 | −1.07 |
| 34. Being warm-hearted with learners | −1.3 | 1.25 | −0.94 | −1.28 |
| 35. Encouraging one’s learners to use their skills beyond the classroom | 0.33 | −0.6 | −0.47 | 0.26 |
| 36. Acting as a mentor to learners | 0.49 | −0.87 | 0.15 | −0.32 |
| 37. Being aware of different learning styles | −0.07 | −0.47 | −0.31 | −0.78 |
| 38. Being well organised in one’s professional work | −0.87 | −0.14 | 1.09 | 0.75 |
| 39. Monitoring learners’ progress effectively | 0.64 | 0.07 | 0 | −0.05 |
| 40. Being able to focus on meaning rather than grammatical form | −0.43 | −0.33 | 1.09 | −0.65 |
| 41. Using the target language throughout the lesson | 0.44 | 0.62 | −0.93 | 0.19 |
| 42. Motivating one’s learners | −0.11 | 0 | −0.15 | −0.37 |
| 43. Having clear objectives for each lesson | 0.94 | 0.11 | 0.62 | 1.09 |
| 44. Taking learners’ concerns seriously | 0.31 | 0.39 | 0.31 | 0.37 |
| 45. Being flexible in one’s teaching | −0.59 | −0.73 | 1.87 | −1.52 |
| 46. Having good classroom management skills | 1.08 | −0.43 | 1.56 | 0.3 |
| 47. Providing challenges for one’s learners | −0.43 | −1.58 | 0.78 | −1.3 |
| 48. Understanding individual learners’ needs | −0.09 | −1.13 | −0.31 | −1.67 |
| 49. Being approachable for learners | −1.59 | 0.53 | −0.78 | −0.68 |
| 50. Being imaginative in one’s teaching | −1.95 | −1.35 | −0.46 | −1.14 |
| 51. Creating an entertaining atmosphere to carry out activities | −0.51 | −0.37 | 0.78 | −1.27 |
| 52. Reflecting on one’s own teaching | 1.28 | 0.73 | 0.62 | 0.44 |
References
Asención, Delaney, Yuly. 2012. Research on mentoring language teachers: Its role in language education. Foreign Language Annals 45(1). 184–202. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2011.01185.x.Suche in Google Scholar
Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations (AFMLTA). 2016. Professional standards: Aligning standards. Available at: https://afmlta.asn.au/resources/professional-standards/.Suche in Google Scholar
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL). 2017. Australian professional standards for teachers. Available at: https://www.aitsl.edu.au/standards.Suche in Google Scholar
Bai, Barry & Jing Wang. 2023. The role of growth mindset, self-efficacy and intrinsic value in self-regulated learning and English language learning achievements. Language Teaching Research 27(1). 207–228. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168820933190.Suche in Google Scholar
Banasick, Shawn. 2019. KADE: A desktop application for Q methodology. Journal of Open Source Softeware 4(36). 1360. https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.01360.Suche in Google Scholar
Brown, Steven. 2019. Subjectivity in the human sciences. The Psychological Record 69(4). 565–579. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-019-00354-5.Suche in Google Scholar
Camenzuli, Rebecca, Adrian Lundberg & Phyllisienne Gauci. 2022. Collective teachers’ beliefs about multilingualism in Maltese primary education. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 26(4). 379–394. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2022.2114787.Suche in Google Scholar
Clark, Sarah & Melissa Newberry. 2019. Are we building preservice teacher self-efficacy? A large-scale study examining teacher education experiences. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education 47(1). 32–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359866X.2018.1497772.Suche in Google Scholar
Cross, Russell. 2010. Language teaching as sociocultural activity: Rethinking language teacher practice. The Modern Language Journal 94(3). 434–452. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2010.01058.x.Suche in Google Scholar
Derakhshan, Ali, Jalil Fathi, Miroslaw Pawlak & Mariusz Kruk. 2022. Classroom social climate, growth language mindset, and student engagement: The mediating role of boredom in learning English as a foreign language. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2022.2099407.Suche in Google Scholar
Dewaele, Jean-Marc, Andrea Franco Magdalena & Kazuya Saito. 2019. The effect of perception of teacher characteristics on Spanish EFL learners’ anxiety and enjoyment. The Modern Language Journal 103(2). 412–442. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12555.Suche in Google Scholar
Duff, Patricia A. & Steven Talmy. 2011. Language socialisation approaches to second language acquisition: Social, cultural, and linguistic development in additional languages. In Atkinson Dwight (ed.), Alternative approaches to second language acquisition, 95–116. New York: Routledge.Suche in Google Scholar
Dweck, Carol. 2006. Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York: Random House.Suche in Google Scholar
Dweck, Carol. 2013. Self-theories: Their role in motivation, personality, and development. New York and London: Psychology Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Dweck, Carol & Daniel C. Molden. 2017. Mindsets: Their impact on competence motivation and acquisition. In Andrew J. Elliot, Carol Dweck & David Scott Yeager (eds.), Handbook of competence and motivation: Theory and application, 2nd edn., 135–154. New York: The Guilford Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Fraschini, Nicola, Paterson Callum, Celebrado Bianca, Tan Andrew, Ai Jiemin, Elizabeth Poovathanickal, Zhong Wei & Leigh Blagden. 2022. Q Sort Collection App (v1.0.1). Zenodo. https://zendo.org/records/6950897.Suche in Google Scholar
Fraschini, Nicola & Hyunjin Park. 2021. Anxiety in language teachers: Exploring the variety of perceptions with Q methodology. Foreign Language Annals 54(2). 341–364. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12527.Suche in Google Scholar
Freeman, Donald. 2020. Arguing for a knowledge-base in language teacher education, then (1998) and now (2018). Language Teaching Research 24(1). 5–16. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168818777534.Suche in Google Scholar
Frondozo, Cherry E., Ronnel B. King, Ma Jenina N. Nalipay & Imelu G. Mordeno. 2020. Mindsets matter for teachers, too: Growth mindset about teaching ability predicts teachers’ enjoyment and engagement. Current Psychology 41. 5030–5033. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-01008-4.Suche in Google Scholar
Gao, Xuesong. 2008. Teachers’ professional vulnerability and cultural tradition: A Chinese paradox. Teaching and Teacher Education 24(1). 154–165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2006.11.011.Suche in Google Scholar
Gong, Yong (Frank), Xuesong (Andy) Gao & Boning Lyu. 2020. Teaching Chinese as a second or foreign language to non-Chinese learners in mainland China (2014–2018). Language Teaching 53(1). 44–62. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261444819000387.Suche in Google Scholar
Haukås, Åsta & Sarah Mercer. 2022. Exploring pre-service language teachers’ mindsets using a sorting activity. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching 16(3). 221–233. https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2021.1923721.Suche in Google Scholar
Hong, Ji, Barbara Greene & Jennifer Lowery. 2017. Multiple dimensions of teacher identity development from pre-service to early years of teaching: A longitudinal study. Journal of Education for Teaching 43(1). 84–98. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2017.1251111.Suche in Google Scholar
Hu, Guangwei. 2002. Potential cultural resistance to pedagogical imports: The case of communicative language teaching in China. Language Culture and Curriculum 15(2). 93–105. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908310208666636.Suche in Google Scholar
Hubbert, Jennifer. 2019. China in the world: An anthropology of confucius institutes, soft power, and globalization. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.10.1515/9780824878535Suche in Google Scholar
Irie, Kay, Stephen Ryan & Sarah Mercer. 2018. Using Q methodology to investigate pre-service EFL teachers’ mindsets about teaching competences. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching 8(3). 575–598. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2018.8.3.3.Suche in Google Scholar
Kim, Su Eun, Fraschini Nicola & Hyunjin Park. 2023. Defining competencies for training non-native Korean speaking teachers: a Q methodology approach. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching. https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2023-0200.Suche in Google Scholar
Lou, Nigel Mantou, Kathryn Everhart Chaffee & Kimberly A. Noels. 2022. Growth, fixed, and mixed mindsets: Mindset system profiles in foreign language learners and their role in engagement and achievement. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 44(3). 607–632. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263121000401.Suche in Google Scholar
Lou, Nigel Mantou & Kimberly A. Noels. 2019. Promoting growth in foreign and second language education: A research agenda for mindsets in language learning and teaching. System 86. 102126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2019.102126.Suche in Google Scholar
Lou, Nigel Mantou & Nourollah Zarrinabadi. 2022. Mindsets. In Li Shaofeng, Hiver Phil & Papi Mostafa (eds.), The Routledge handbook of second language acquisition and individual differences, 128–144. New York: Routledge.10.4324/9781003270546-11Suche in Google Scholar
Lu, Xiuchuan & Zhi Geng. 2022. Faith or path? Profiling the motivations of multilingual Chinese as a foreign language teachers using Q methodology. Language Teaching Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688221099079.Suche in Google Scholar
Ministry of Education, People’s Republic of China. 2022. Chinese language has been incorporated into the national education system in 76 countries. Available at: http://www.moe.gov.cn/fbh/live/2022/54618/mtbd/202206/t20220629_641889.html.Suche in Google Scholar
Nalipay, Ma Jenina N., Ronnel B. King, Imelu G. Mordeno & Hui Wang. 2022. Are good teachers born or made? Teachers who hold a growth mindset about their teaching ability have better well-being. Educational Psychology 42(1). 23–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2021.2001791.Suche in Google Scholar
Pachauri, Digvijay & Aruna Yadav. 2014. Importance of soft skills in teacher education programme. International Journal of Educational Research and Technology 5(1). 22–25.Suche in Google Scholar
Rattan, Aneeta, Krishna Savani, N. V. R Naidu & Carol Dweck. 2012. Can everyone become highly intelligent? Cultural differences in and societal consequences of beliefs about the universal potential for intelligence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 103(5). 787–803. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029263.Suche in Google Scholar
Richards, Jack C. 2010. Competence and performance in language teaching. RELC Journal 41(2). 101–122. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688210372953.Suche in Google Scholar
Scrimgeour, Andrew. 2014. Dealing with ‘Chinese Fever’: The challenge of Chinese teaching in the Australian classroom. In Murray Neil & Angela Scarino (eds.), Dynamic ecologies, 151–167. New York and London: Springer.10.1007/978-94-007-7972-3_10Suche in Google Scholar
The International Society for Chinese Language Teaching. 2022. Professional competence standards for international Chinese language teachers. Beijing: Peking University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Wang, Hui. 2021. International Chinese teaching under the influence of the COVID-19: Problems and strategies. Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies 4. 11–22.Suche in Google Scholar
Watts, Simon & Paul Stenner. 2012. Doing Q methodological research: Theory, method and interpretation. Oask: Sage.10.4135/9781446251911Suche in Google Scholar
Weinmann, Michiko, Sophia Slavich & Rod Neilsen. 2021. Civic multiculturalism and the “broken” discourses of Chinese language education. In Christine Halse & Kerry J. Kennedy (eds.), Multiculturalism in turbulent times, 57–75. New York: Routledge.10.4324/9781003090090-4Suche in Google Scholar
Yeager, David Scott, Jamin M. Carroll, Jenny Buontempo, Andrei Cimpian, Spencer Woody, Robert Crosnoe, Chandra Muller, Jared Murray, Pratik Mhatre, Nicole Kersting, Christopher Hulleman, Molly Kudym, Mary Murphy, Angela Lee Duckworth, Gregory M. Walton & Carol Dweck. 2022. Teacher mindsets help explain where a growth-mindset intervention does and doesn’t work. Psychological Science 33(1). 18–32. https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976211028984.Suche in Google Scholar
Yeager, David Scott & Carol Dweck. 2012. Mindsets that promote resilience: When students believe that personal characteristics can be developed. Educational Psychologist 47(4). 302–314. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2012.722805.Suche in Google Scholar
Yin, Hongbiao & John Chi-Kin Lee. 2012. Be passionate but be rational as well: Emotional rules for Chinese teachers’ work. Teaching and Teacher Education 28(1). 56–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2011.08.005.Suche in Google Scholar
Yuan, Chengwen & Joseph Lo Bianco. 2022. L2 Chinese teachers’ beliefs about engagement strategies for students in Australia: Findings from Q methodology research. System 106. 102792. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2022.102792.Suche in Google Scholar
Zhou, Wenying & Guofang Li. 2015. Chinese language teachers’ expectations and perceptions of American students’ behaviour: Exploring the nexus of cultural differences and classroom management. System 49. 17–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2014.10.011.Suche in Google Scholar
© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
