Keywords
Teacher beliefs
Language education
Chinese context
How to Cite
Abstract
Data-driven learning (DDL) has become an important approach in language education, offering innovative ways to enhance teaching and learning. However, little research has examined DDL from the perspective of teachers, particularly their beliefs about its implementation. This study addresses this gap by using Q methodology to investigate the beliefs of 30 Chinese university English teachers about DDL. The analysis uncovered four distinct beliefs: optimistic embrace, which values DDL’s ability to foster student autonomy and engagement; goal-oriented caution, which emphasizes the importance of clear boundaries and well-aligned objectives; tech-dependence skepticism, which highlights the indispensable role of teacher guidance while cautioning against over-reliance on technology; and prudent balance, which advocates for a measured and evidence-based adoption of DDL. These findings illuminate the diversity of teacher attitudes and underscore the complexities of integrating DDL into language education.
References
Almusharraf, N. (2020). Teachers’ perspectives on promoting learner autonomy for vocabulary development: A case study. Cogent Education, 7(1), 1823154.
Argyris, C., & Schon, D.A. (1974). Theory in practice: Increasing professional effectiveness. Jossey Bass.
Bao, C., Zhang, L. J., & Dixon, H. R. (2021). Teacher engagement in language teaching: Investigating self-Efficacy for teaching based on the project “Sino-Greece online Chinese language classrooms”. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 710736. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.710736
Barcelos, A.M.F., & Kalaja, P. (2011). Introduction to beliefs about SLA revisited. System, 39(3), 281-289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2011.07.001
Borg, M. (2001). Teachers’ beliefs. ELT Journal, 55, 186-188.
Boulton, A. (2011). Data-driven learning: The perpetual enigma. In S. Goźdź-Roszkowski (Ed.), Explorations across languages and corpora (pp. 563-580). Peter Lang.
Boulton, A. (2017). Research timeline: Corpora in language teaching and learning. Language Teaching, 50(4), 483-506.
Boulton, A., & Vyatkina, N. (2021). Thirty years of data-driven learning: Taking stock and charting new directions. Language Learning & Technology, 25(3), 66-89. http://hdl.handle.net/10125/73450
Bowman, M. A., Vongkulluksn, V. W., Jiang, Z., & Xie, K. (2022). Teachers’ exposure to professional development and the quality of their instructional technology use: The mediating role of teachers’ value and ability beliefs. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 54(2), 188-204.
Breen, M.P., Hird, B., Milton, M., Oliver, R., & Thwaite, A. (2001). Making sense of language teaching: Teachers’ principles and classroom practices. Applied Linguistics, 22 (4), 470-501. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/22.4.470
Chen, M., Flowerdew, J., & Anthony, L. (2019). Introducing in-service English language teachers to data-driven learning for academic writing. System, 87, 102148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2019.102148
Cheng, X., Zhang, L. J., & Yan, Q. (2021). Exploring teacher written feedback in EFL writing classrooms: Beliefs and practices in interaction. Language Teaching Research, 13621688211057665. https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688211057665
Clark, C. M., & Peterson, P.L. (1986). Teachers’ thought process. In M. C. Wittrock (Ed.), Handbook of research in teaching (pp. 255-296). Macmillan.
Contreras, N. D. S. (2016). A proposal for language teaching in translator training programmes using data-driven learning in a task-based approach. International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies, 4(2), 155-167. http://www.eltsjournal.org/archive/value4%20issue2/15-4-2-16.pdf
Crosthwaite, P. (Ed.). (2019). Data-driven learning for the next generation: Corpora and DDL for pre-tertiary learners. Routledge.
Delos Reyes, R. D. G., & Torio, V. A. G. (2021). The relationship of expert teacher–learner rapport and learner autonomy in the CVIF-dynamic learning program. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 30(5), 471-481. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-020-00532-y
Fajari, L. E. W. (2021). Open-Ended Questions to Assess Critical-Thinking Skills in Indonesian Elementary School. International Journal of Instruction, 14(1), 615-630. https://doi.org/10.29333/iji.2021.14137a
Farrell, T. S. (2020). Professional development through reflective practice for English-medium instruction (EMI) teachers. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 23(3), 277-286. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2019.1612840
Farrokhnia, M., Banihashem, S. K., Noroozi, O., & Wals, A. (2024). A SWOT analysis of ChatGPT: Implications for educational practice and research. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 61(3), 460-474. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2023.2195846
Flowerdew, L. (2015). Data-driven learning and language learning theories: Whither the twain shall meet. In A. Leńko-Szymańska & A. Boulton (Eds.), Multiple affordances of language corpora for data-driven learning (pp. 15–36). John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.69.02flo
Gao, Y., Wang, Q., & Wang, X. (2024). Exploring EFL university teachers’ beliefs in integrating ChatGPT and other large language models in language education: A study in China. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 44(1), 29-44. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2024.2305173
Gentile, M., Città, G., Perna, S., & Allegra, M. (2023). Do we still need teachers? Navigating the paradigm shift of the teacher’s role in the AI era. Frontiers in Education, 8, 1161777. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1161777
Gilquin, G., & Granger, S. (2010). How can data-driven learning be used in language teaching? In A. O’Keeffe & M. McCarthy (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of corpus linguistics (pp. 359-370). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203856949-26
Heggernes, S. L. (2021). A critical review of the role of texts in fostering Intercultural Communicative competence in the English Language classroom. Educational Research Review, 33, 100390. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2021.100390
Johnson, K. (1992). The relationship between teachers’ beliefs and practices during literacy instruction for non-native speakers of English. Journal of Reading Behavior, 24(1), 83-108. https://doi.org/10.1080/10862969209547763
Kalaja, P., & Barcelos, A.M.F. (2003). Beliefs about SLA: New research approaches. Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Kellerer, W., Kalmbach, P., Blenk, A., Basta, A., Reisslein, M., & Schmid, S. (2019). Adaptable and data-driven softwarized networks: Review, opportunities, and challenges. Proceedings of the IEEE, 107(4), 711-731. https://doi.org/10.1109/JPROC.2019.2895553
Lai, C., Wang, Q., & Huang, X. (2022). The differential interplay of TPACK, teacher beliefs, school culture and professional development with the nature of in-service EFL teachers' technology adoption. British Journal of Educational Technology, 53(5), 1389-1411. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13200
Lee, H., Warschauer, M., & Lee, J. H. (2020). Toward the establishment of a data-driven learning model: Role of learner factors in corpus-based second language vocabulary learning. The Modern Language Journal, 104(2), 345-362. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12634
Lee, P., & Lin, H. (2019). The effect of the inductive and deductive data-driven learning (DDL) on vocabulary acquisition and retention. System, 81, 14-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2018.12.011
Lenko-Szymanska, A. (2017). Training Teachers in Data-Driven Learning: Tackling the Challenge. Language Learning & Technology, 21(3), 217-241. http://llt.msu.edu/issues/october2017/lenko-szymanska.pdf
Lin, C. Y., Huang, C. K., & Chen, C. H. (2014). Barriers to the adoption of ICT in teaching Chinese as a foreign language in US universities. ReCALL, 26(1), 100-116. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0958344013000268
Lin, M. H. (2021). Effects of data-driven learning on college students of different grammar proficiencies: A preliminary empirical assessment in EFL classes. Sage Open, 11(3), 21582440211029936. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211029936
Lortie, D.C. (1975). Schoolteacher: A sociological study. University of Chicago Press.
Lusta, A., Demirel, Ö., & Mohammadzadeh, B. (2023). Language corpus and data driven learning (DDL) in language classrooms: A systematic review. Heliyon, 9(12), e22731. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e22731
Makhmudov, K. (2020). Ways of forming intercultural communication in foreign language teaching. Science and Education, 1(4), 84-89. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.12750647.v1
McKeown, B., & Thomas, D. B. (2013). Q methodology (Vol. 66). Sage.
Nespor, J. (1987). The role of beliefs in the practice of teaching. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 19, 317-328. https://doi.org/10.1080/0022027870190403
O'Keeffe, A. (2021). Data-driven learning–a call for a broader research gaze. Language Teaching, 54(2), 259-272. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444820000245
O'Keeffe, A. (2023). A theoretical rationale for the importance of patterning in language acquisition and the implications for data-driven learning. Nordic Journal of English Studies, 22(1), 16-41. https://doi.org/10.35360/njes.793
Pajares, M. F. (1992). Teachers’ beliefs and educational research: Cleaning up a messy construct. Review of Educational Research, 62(3), 307-332. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543062003307
Pérez-Paredes, P. (2022). A systematic review of the uses and spread of corpora and data-driven learning in CALL research during 2011-2015. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 35(1-2), 36-61. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2019.1667832
Rawas, S. (2024). ChatGPT: Empowering lifelong learning in the digital age of higher education. Education and Information Technologies, 29(6), 6895-6908. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-12114-8
Rimm-Kaufman, S. E., Storm, M. D., Sawyer, B. E., Pianta, R. C., & LaParo, K. M. (2006). The Teacher Belief Q-Sort: A measure of teachers' priorities in relation to disciplinary practices, teaching practices, and beliefs about children. Journal of School Psychology, 44(2), 141-165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2006.01.003
Tsunemoto, A., Trofimovich, P., & Kennedy, S. (2023). Pre-service teachers’ beliefs about second language pronunciation teaching, their experience, and speech assessments. Language Teaching Research, 27(1), 115-136. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168820937273
Van der Kleij, F. M., Vermeulen, J. A., Schildkamp, K., & Eggen, T. J. (2015). Integrating data-based decision making, assessment for learning and diagnostic testing in formative assessment. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 22(3), 324-343. https://doi.org/10.1080/0969594X.2014.999024
Vogt, K., Tsagari, D., & Spanoudis, G. (2020). What do teachers think they want? A comparative study of in-service language teachers’ beliefs on LAL training needs. Language Assessment Quarterly, 17(4), 386-409. https://doi.org/10.1080/15434303.2020.1781128
Wang, X., Gao, Y., & Reynolds, B. L. (2026). L2 self-guides, achievement emotions, and engagement in AI-mediated informal digital learning of English: Insights from structural equation modeling and psychological network analysis. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-025-01073-y
Wang, X., Gao, Y., Reynolds, B. L., & Wang, Q. (2025). Exploring Chinese EFL learners’ beliefs about AI-mediated informal digital learning of English (IDLE): Insights from Q methodology. Porta Linguarum, 131-146. https://doi.org/10.30827/portalin
Wang, X., Gao, Y., Sun, F., & Wang, Q. (2024). Unveiling the tapestry of teacher belief research: Tracing the present and forging the future through bibliometric analysis. Current Psychology, 43(17), 15659-15672. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05546-5
Watts, S., & Stenner, P. (2005). Doing Q methodology: Theory, method and interpretation. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 2(1), 67–91. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088705qp022oa
Zare, J., & Aqajani Delavar, K. (2023). The Role of Data-Driven Learning in Developing Trait Emotional Intelligence. Applied Research on English Language, 12(2), 155-174.
Zare, J., & Aqajani Delavar, K. (2024). Enhancing English learning materials with data-driven learning: a mixed-methods study of task motivation. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 45(9), 4011-4027. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2022.2134881
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.