Teachers' Beliefs in English Language Teaching

This chapter provides a quantitative overview of 266 studies of teachers&s; beliefs in English language teaching (ELT) published between 2018 and 2024 and a closer conceptual and methodological analysis of 30 of these. The study of teachers&s; beliefs in ELT remains popular globally, with a particularly high volume of outputs from the Middle East and East Asia. A range of topics have been addressed, with assessment and corrective feedback attracting much contemporary attention. Much of the research has been conducted with practicing teachers. Conceptually and methodologically, the research examined does not provide much evidence (compared to earlier reviews) of significant advancement in the study of teachers&s; beliefs in ELT. Research questions remain focused largely on what teachers believe rather than also exploring in more sophisticated ways how beliefs function as a system, how teachers&s; beliefs develop and what factors influence such development. Convincing justifications and a clear sense of educational purpose in researching teachers&s; beliefs are also often lacking. Observations, questionnaires and interviews are the research methods most widely used, though the potential that observations offer for understanding teachers&s; beliefs is often unfulfilled. While interest in the relationship between teachers&s; beliefs and practices remains high, how this relationship is conceptualized and researched does not acknowledge sufficiently the complex nature of teachers&s; beliefs and how these influence what teachers in specific contexts do. The chapter concludes with several recommendations for making the study of teachers&s; beliefs in ELT more purposeful, rigorous and productive.