A second soul: exploring the teaching beliefs of migrant Chinese language teachers in Chinese community languages schools in Victoria

This study explores the teaching beliefs of Chinese language teachers who migrated from China to Australia and who have been teaching in Chinese Community Languages Schools in the state of Victoria, Australia. The thesis argues that the teaching beliefs of these migrant language teachers are strongly influenced by their previous learning and teaching experiences and that their choices of teaching content and practice in their current Australian classrooms reflect these beliefs. Because language is constructed within specific historical, cultural and social contexts among a specific social community in order to share, transmit, mediate and communicate thoughts, socio-cultural theory was chosen as the most appropriate framework for this research. The study was conducted with 18 teachers from 10 Chinese Community Languages Schools across Victoria, Australia. Twelve teachers agreed to participate in both interviews and in-class observations and six teachers agreed to participate only in the interviews. Data collection included 18 written questionnaires, followed by 18 initial interviews, 36 classroom observation recordings (three lessons for each of 12 teachers), 12 post-observation interviews and selected teaching materials. These data helped to consolidate the trustworthiness of this research. It was found that teaching beliefs about student engagement, students’ learning needs, their cultural competence and the language environment were given great importance by the Chinese migrant teachers. Participants' own learning experience, professional experience and the school context played a significant role in the formation of their teaching beliefs. Their Chinese educational backgrounds provided them with genuine teaching content, enriched their professional knowledge and also brought challenges in their current teaching practice in Australian classrooms. With the help of a socio-cultural framework, it was further analysed that the teaching beliefs were dynamic, contextual, and impacted by multiple factors in their social and cultural transformation process. At the same time, these migrant teachers’ identities as Chinese teachers in China, migrants in Australia and language teachers in Chinese Community Languages Schools have experienced a series of conflicts, adjustments, shifts and relocations. The results of this study are expected to contribute to Chinese community language teachers’ understanding of and reflections on their pedagogy and personal skills in Australian language classrooms, their professional development needs, closer communication and sharing with their colleagues and lastly, curriculum development in Chinese Community Language education programs. The research may also provide benefits for the wider teaching of Chinese in Australia. In addition, it is hoped that the results may point to future research in this and related fields.