Pre-service and in-service teachers' beliefs concerning language and language learning

The main purpose of the present study was to find out the beliefs of pre-service and in-service teachers regarding language and language learning. Besides describing these beliefs, the influence of some variables such as gender, graduation, teaching experience, and socioeconomic status was questioned.The study was carried out with two sample groups; the first group included 68 in-service teachers who work in the city centre of Çanakkale and the second one included 293 pre-service teachers at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, English Language Teaching Programme. A quantitative research methodology was followed and a descriptive survey study was conducted. The research tool was a self-report questionnaire which was adapted and developed by the researcher using existing scales, primarily BALLI (Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory).The data gathered from the participants were analysed statistically with the help of SPSS 17.00 (Statistical Package for Social Studies) and evaluated in the light of the research questions. For the analysis, Descriptive statistics, Independent Samples T-Tests, Analyses of Variance Tests (ANOVA), and Post-Hoc Tukey?s Tests were done.The results revealed that both pre-service and in-service teachers hold strong beliefs about language and language learning. Additionally, some significant changes in pre-service teachers? beliefs were identified in relations to independent variables, namely gender, grade, and high school graduation which may indicate that individual differences, pedagogical and subject area teaching knowledge, and personal learning experiences have an influence on beliefs. No significant differences were found in the beliefs of the in-service teacher sample, except gender. The findings here point out that the in-service teachers? beliefs stay stable and become resistant to change throughout their professional life since they do not differ according to the variables such as teaching experience, faculty graduation and school type they currently work in. When the pre- and in-service language teachers? beliefs were compared, the only significant difference was found in the factor related to self-efficacy. This may indicate that teachers? beliefs evolve mainly during pre-service teaching education and teachers start their career with certain set of beliefs which are resistant to change.