Exploring Teachers’ Beliefs in Teaching English to Young Learners: a Case Study in Primary Level Education

The objectives of the research are (1) to explore teachers’ beliefs about teaching English in primary school, (2) to investigate how those beliefs are reflected in classroom practices, and (3) to explore factors that affect the shaping of teachers’ beliefs in teaching and learning process in primary school. This study reports the results of a qualitative case study research design. The respondents of this study were three English teachers of three different primary schools in Metro. The data was taken by using semi-structured interview, documentation, classroom observation and questionnaire. Then the data were analyzed using line by line analysis.The result of this study shows that: (1) there are nine beliefs which include; beliefs about subject matter and curriculum, beliefs about teaching and learning, beliefs about learners, beliefs about assessment, beliefs about school context, beliefs about themselves and beliefs about teaching as profession, (2) factors that shape teachers’ beliefs in teaching such as experience in learning and teaching, teachers’ motivation, sharing with other teachers and school context (facility) and (3) the results also prove that there are mismatches between teachers’ beliefs and their practices in the classroom. This condition is caused by several factors such as facilities, time allocation, classroom condition, and number of students.In accordance with the findings of the study, the institution should support teachers in teaching processes in the form of providing appropriate facilities for learning and teaching process. Then, all teachers and headmaster in one school context could not be separated. A good teamwork among them will create better service for students.Key words:  teachers’ beliefs, classroom practices, English for young learners