Master's program in English Didactics

Curriculum Design and Development

Milagro Agudelo

Novozhenina

June 18th, 2021

HARMONIZING TEACHERS' BELIEFS AND STUDENTS' NEEDS

Teaching is a practice that implies making a lot of decisions. As teachers, we

always have to face decision-making situations. From the very beginning of planning a

course, we cope with deciding what to teach and how to teach. Most of the time, we tend

to feel overwhelmed due to the wide range of options. There are many approaches,

methodologies, techniques, materials, and topics we need to decide on, so commonly, we

find ourselves wondering which is the best choice. Of course, there is always a right

choice, or, as Graves (2000) mentions, there is always an answer for us to find. But those

right choices are subjective. What could depict the correct teaching methodology for me,

could be the worst for another teacher. Graves (2000) suggests that selecting the right

choice depends mainly on the teachers' beliefs and the context, which includes students’

needs. Thus, A curriculum should be the result of harmonizing teachers' beliefs and

students' needs.

On the one hand, we have teacher's beliefs. Pehkonen and Pietila (2003) define

beliefs as subjective knowledge based on experience. Likewise, Khader (2012) states that

beliefs are personal ideas based on observation and experiences. These definitions

highlight the fact that our beliefs come from our experiences. In the framework of teaching

and learning languages, Graves (2000) points out that our experiences "provide the basis
for understanding how languages are taught and learned and the beliefs that guide our

choices" (p. 25). Most of the choices we make are based on our beliefs. What we do in our

classes reflects what we consider is essential in teaching and learning languages. In other

words, as Richards and Rodgers (2001) suggest, Beliefs help teachers to get a particular

approach to teaching, and virtually, our beliefs identify everything we as teachers do in the

classroom. Therefore, it is clear that when we make choices about what to teach and how

to teach, we consciously or unconsciously pay special attention to our beliefs because it is

what we consider that works. However, we can not assert that teachers’ beliefs is the only

thing to consider when planning a course and making our choices.

On the other hand, we have students’ needs. Which is, to my belief, as essential or

even more essential than teachers’ beliefs. We can not deny that many times we find

ourselves teaching in a way that is contrary to our beliefs. Possible reasons of this

discrepancy can be the strict guidelines of the institution we work in, that do not allow us to

articulate our beliefs, and also the mismatch between our beliefs and students’ needs

forcing us to restructure and adapt classes to meet those needs. Li (2012) claims that if

teachers determine and recognize learners’ needs, they will be able to choose and modify

their educational choices accurately. Hence, it is possible to consider a course with little

influence from teachers’ beliefs, but a curriuculum that does not meet student’s needs

would be totally ineffective.

Ultimately, it is necessary to assert once again that teachers beliefs are of great

importance when designing a course, since they predict teachers’ decisions and

classroom practices, and as Graves (2000) states, beliefs help us understand why we

make the decisions we make. Nevertheless, it is crucial to remark that the aim of a good

curriculum should be to meet students’ needs. Namely, objective and subjective needs.

Consequently, to make the right choices, a process of harmonizing teachers’ beliefs and
students needs is quite vital. Harmonizing implies neglecting which is more important to

make way for creating a balance. Riley (2009) claims that if teachers’ beliefs and

students’ needs match with each other, learning will be magnified. Accordingly. All the

efforts that we make not only in articulating our beliefs, but determining students’ needs

and harmonizing them will result in a better learning process.

 References

Graves, K. (2000). Designing Language Courses: A Guide for Teacher. Boston: Heinle &

Heinle Publishers .

Khader, F. (2012). Teachers’ Pedagogical Beliefs and Actual Classroom Practices in

Social Studies Instruction. American International Journal of Contemporary

Research, 73-92.

Li, X. (2012). The Role of Teachers’ Beliefs in the Language Teaching-Learning Process.

Theory and Practice in, 1397-1402.

Richards, J. C. (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

Riley, P. (2009). Shifts in Beliefs about Second Language Learning. RELC Journal, 102-

124.