Larner-Centered Methods: Exploring Teacher’s Beliefs and Practices

Abstract

Previous researches have revealed how teachers’ beliefs affect their classroom practices. However, some studies have found that there can be mismatches between a teacher’s beliefs and classroom practices. This study intends to find out if there are such mismatches for its participants and why there are mismatches. To narrow the study down, the study is based on the teachers’ beliefs around learner-centered methods. The participants chosen were two student teachers of Salatiga’s UKSW’s FLA. Pre-observation interviews and post-observation interviews were used to give insight as to the participants’ beliefs. Observations were done to give a better understanding about the implementation of the participants’ beliefs. This study is significant because there have not been many studies on the topic of mismatches around this area and it is also to raise awareness that mismatches can happen to student teachers. The result of this study was that the participants could define what learner-centered approach was but had trouble implementing it in their practices.