EFL student teachers’ beliefs about contemporary language teaching approaches

Beliefs held by aspiring EFL teachers are foundational to their pedagogical practices, affecting their conceptualization, evaluation, and implementation of contemporary language teaching approaches. In the context of the reform movement “New Ukrainian School,” disclosing the nature of these beliefs is critical to implementing the stipulated innovations into classroom practices. Therefore, this study explored prospective language teachers’ beliefs regarding contemporary and traditional language teaching. A survey was conducted among 64 final-year undergraduate students enrolled in an English Language and Literature education program. The questionnaire assessed their beliefs across domains of language instruction, such as goals, classroom procedures, language use, and teacher/learner roles. Quantitative data analysis revealed a strong preference for principles underlying contemporary language teaching, particularly those emphasizing fluency, target language use, and cooperative learning. However, the respondents also expressed moderate support for aspects of traditional language teaching, such as explicit grammar instruction, accuracy, repetition, and teacher-centeredness. Such duality suggests students’ inclination for eclecticism and post-method pedagogy, where pre-service teachers selectively apply principles from both instructional paradigms to suit specific contexts. The findings point to the complexity of beliefs development during initial teacher education, underscoring the need for targeted methodological intervention to raise students’ awareness of their tacit beliefs.