Mendive. Journal on Education, july-september 2022; 20(3): 821-839

Translated from the original in Spanish

Original article

Beliefs of teachers in service and in training regarding the teaching-learning of English

Creencias de profesores en servicio y en formación respecto a la enseñanza-aprendizaje del Inglés

Crenças de professores em serviço e em formação sobre o ensino-aprendizagem de inglês

Luis Felipe Casimiro Perlaza¹ http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7640-9038

¹Austral University of Chile luis.casimiro@uach.cl

Received: March 01^st, 2022.
Accepted: May 11^th, 2022.

ABSTRACT

The study was developed through the use of mixed methods, in a non-experimental basis. This research identifies, analyzes and compares the beliefs held by both in-service and training English teachers regarding the process of teaching and learning English as a foreign language and self-efficacy in the context of teaching practice. Thirty-three people were recruited as participants. Nine were in-service EFL teachers and twenty-four were pre-service teachers. The information was collected through a focus group and the adaptation of Liao's (2007) "Questionnaire of teaching beliefs of elementary school English teachers". The findings show that the beliefs of both groups of teachers are close to constructivist and communicative pedagogical practices, but in reality, they develop their classes in a traditional way. Although both groups declared beliefs aligned with the communicative approach and constructivism, teaching practices associated with a traditional behavioral perspective of language education and learning were carried out. It was concluded that the differences between the beliefs of ILE teachers, in service and in training, regarding the teaching and learning process of English as a foreign language, and self-efficacy are not immediate, so they include the relationship of their personal beliefs, teaching practices and, of course, experiences they have lived.

Keywords: beliefs; teaching and training; teaching methods; language instruction; teaching practice; teacher; student teacher.

RESUMEN

El estudio se desarrolló mediante el uso de métodos mixtos, de forma no experimental. Esta investigación expone las creencias que tienen los profesores de inglés, tanto en servicio como en formación, respecto al proceso de enseñanza y aprendizaje del inglés como lengua extranjera y la autoeficacia en el contexto de la práctica pedagógica. Treinta y tres personas fueron reclutadas como participantes, de los cuales nueve eran profesores de Inglés como Lengua Extranjera en servicio, y veinticuatro eran profesores en formación. La información se recolectó a través de un grupo focal y la adaptación del "Cuestionario de las creencias de enseñanza de los profesores de inglés de escuela primaria", de Liao (2007). Los hallazgos muestran que las creencias de los docentes de ambos grupos se acercan a las prácticas pedagógicas constructivistas y comunicativas, pero en realidad desarrollan sus clases de manera tradicional. Si bien ambos grupos declararon creencias alineadas con el enfoque comunicativo y el constructivismo, se llevaban a cabo prácticas pedagógicas asociadas a una perspectiva conductual tradicional de la educación y aprendizaje de idiomas. Se concluyó que, las diferencias entre las creencias de los profesores de Inglés como Lengua Extranjera, en servicio y en formación, con respecto al proceso de enseñanza y aprendizaje del Inglés como Lengua Extranjera, y la autoeficacia no son inmediatas, por lo que incluyen la relación de sus creencias personales, prácticas de enseñanza y, por supuesto, experiencias que han vivido.

Palabras clave: creencias; enseñanza y entrenamiento; métodos de enseñanza; enseñanza de lenguas; práctica pedagógica; profesor; alumno docente.

RESUMO

O estudo foi desenvolvido através da utilização de métodos mistos, de forma não experimental. Esta pesquisa expõe as crenças que os professores de inglês têm, tanto em serviço quanto em formação, sobre o processo de ensino e aprendizagem de inglês como língua estrangeira e a autoeficácia no contexto da prática pedagógica. Trinta e três pessoas foram recrutadas como participantes, das quais nove eram professores em serviço de Inglês como Língua Estrangeira, e vinte e quatro eram professores estagiários. As informações foram coletadas por meio de um grupo focal e da adaptação do "Questionnaire of Teaching Beliefs of Primary School English Teachers", de Liao (2007). Os achados mostram que as crenças dos professores de ambos os grupos se aproximam das práticas pedagógicas construtivistas e comunicativas, mas na realidade eles desenvolvem suas aulas de forma tradicional. Embora ambos os grupos declarassem crenças alinhadas à abordagem comunicativa e ao construtivismo, foram realizadas práticas pedagógicas associadas a uma perspectiva comportamental tradicional de ensino e aprendizagem de línguas. Concluiu-se que as diferenças entre as crenças dos professores de Inglês como Língua Estrangeira, em serviço e em formação, quanto ao processo de ensino e aprendizagem de Inglês como Língua Estrangeira, e a autoeficácia não são imediatas, por isso incluem a relação de suas crenças pessoais, práticas de ensino e, claro, experiências que viveram.

Palavras-chave: crenças; ensino e formação; métodos de ensino; Ensino de línguas; prática pedagógica; professor; professor estudante.

INTRODUCTION

Educational systems around the world include foreign language courses in their curricula. In general, the language of choice for globalization needs is English. The teaching of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) seeks to make students citizens capable of being active individuals in different areas of knowledge, where the effective mastery of this language is essential. This shows "that one of the main tasks of the ILE teacher is to generate experiences that allow students to achieve communicative competence according to the level they are studying " (Gómez, 2019, p. 1)

Since this study focuses on the teaching of English in secondary education, in Chile, the Standards of the Teaching Profession for Pedagogy careers in English of Basic/Secondary Education proposed by the Ministry of Education (2021) suggest rethinking the teaching approach of the subject to develop knowledge, skills and attitudes not only communicative but also intercultural. Based on this suggestion, it is relevant to note that "the existence of a perfect method for teaching a language or its subcomponents has been ruled out" (Cautín-Epifani, Arellano, Pezoa, & Gladic, 2020 , p. 37). In this sense, Gómez ( 2019 ) considers that "although the pillars of English teaching are based on the communicative approach, these would be of little use if the teacher lacks the knowledge to apply them satisfactorily" (p. 60). For this, it is necessary that EFL teachers, in addition to being competent in English, also have clear knowledge about methodology, didactics, language acquisition and the psychological bases of language learning (Gómez, 2017) . Similarly, the teaching actions of teachers in the classroom are not random, on the contrary, they respond to decisions that may be conscious or unconscious depending on their beliefs regarding effective learning and teaching (Cautín-Epifani, Arellano, Pezoa and Gladic, 2020) .

In addition, teachers' beliefs are highly complex because they encompass philosophical and thought aspects that are later brought to the classroom and put into practice. Puspitasari, Pratolo and Mahfiana, (2020) highlight that "the teacher's beliefs about their thoughts greatly influence the aspects of application, forms and qualities to transfer their knowledge" (p. 102). In this line, Vargas and Acuña (2020) consider that, occasionally, teaching beliefs can be built alone, intuitively or spontaneously, from some theory, experience, relationship with specialists who marked their conceptions, teaching update, or postgraduate studies. . For this reason, "The beliefs that teachers have about teaching continue to be a factor that clearly determines the strategies they use in it, hence the importance of their research" (Arancibia, Cabero and Marín, 2020 , p. 90).

For the last three decades, attempts have been made to provide a definition of beliefs; however, a consensus on the definition of this topic has not been observed (Puspitasari, Pratolo and Mahfiana, 2020) . Teachers' beliefs are a set of preconceived ideas, interpretations, premises psychologically understood as true and that is conditioned by previous educational experiences, cultural background and developed social interaction, which shape their beliefs about the teaching of the English language. This difficulty in providing a final definition of beliefs is basically due to the fact that they do not constitute fixed systems, therefore, they are influenced by the cultural context, methodology, learning styles, the complexity of communication skills, teacher training , among other elements (Gómez, 2019 ). In addition to this, beliefs contain relevant characteristics that can facilitate or hinder the process of teaching and learning a foreign language (Gómez, 2017) .

Therefore, "in order to understand the relationship between beliefs and instructional practices in a specific context, it is vitally important to carry out a rigorous study with data raised from that context" (Saadati, Cerda, Giaconi, Reyes and Felmer, 2019 , p.1010). To better exemplify, beliefs cause teachers to favor different teaching approaches, in some cases with very contrasting points of view. On the one hand, a teacher may believe that language is a system of established forms and rules, to be explained by the teacher and learned correctly and completely by the student; on the other hand, a teacher may believe that language is essentially a communication system whose teaching goal is directed at making students learn and explore the forms and meanings of language through their actual use in purely communicative activities.

In the construction of beliefs regarding teaching, two paradigms converge: one focused on the production of learning and knowledge development of students (constructivism) and another, which excludes reflection and analysis and focuses on the transmission of knowledge to students. (traditional paradigm) (Arancibia, Cabero and Marín, 2020) .

Consequently, education has undergone changes in the process of teaching, management and school organization due to the implementation of the constructivist approach. For Hasan (2019) constructivism is defined as an epistemological view of learning rather than teaching. From this approach perspective, Vargas and Acuña (2020) emphasize that education is "a process that is conceived as a cultural forum, where teachers and students negotiate, discuss, share and contribute to rebuilding curricular codes and content in its broadest sense. : knowledge, skills, attitudes, norms, among others" (p. 569).

In this line, it should be noted that there are different perspectives of constructivism that allow us to understand why teacher training should be aimed at equipping teachers so that they can help their students to develop both cognitively, socially and radically.

First, Jean Piaget's cognitive constructivism includes the terms schema, organization, and structure to explain the nature of knowledge. For Piaget, the scheme is mental or physical, because it allows describing actions or processes that a person performs constantly or repeatedly to solve problems; the organization includes an attribute associated with intelligence because the individual develops different behaviors and actions in specific situations; the structure represents the way in which the individual organizes his knowledge and ideas. For Piaget, constructivist learning is explained through two closely related concepts: assimilation and accommodation. In this sense, the assimilation of knowledge is obtained when the individual integrates the information that he perceives as stimuli from the environment. Accommodation refers to the modification of knowledge that is no longer useful, especially when there is new information. For Piaget, the human mind is a dynamic structure that assigns meanings in a balanced way to each stimulus to which it is exposed. Different experiences and interactions influence the consolidation of the structure.

Second, for Lev Vygotsky, social constructivism focuses on society, its culture, and social norms. From this perspective, it can be understood how individuals form meanings as a member of a social community and according to their immediate context.

Third, in radical constructivism, Ernst von Glasersfeld, the experiences gained by individuals are distinct and unique. This allows us to understand that individuals build their knowledge and ideas through experiences to which they are exposed.

According to these perspectives of constructivism, the practical processes of teacher training could not be achieved without the participation of more capable and experienced people, otherwise it would be very difficult for teachers in training to appropriate the knowledge offered by the sociocultural environment (Vargas and Acuna, 2020) . For this reason, the participation of teachers in training in different educational processes that are based on pedagogical practice allows them to acculturate and socialize, while individualizing and developing their own teaching personality (Vargas and Acuña, 2020) . This practical training model is aimed at developing the ability to apply what is known in a new setting.

ILE teacher training should include constructivist methods , because in-service teachers are mostly opposed to adopting constructivist or communicative positions in class, as they are generally concerned about covering the curriculum within a limited time (Hasan , 2019) . In other words, the current teacher requires extensive professional preparation, where mastery of their teaching and humanistic sensitivity are part of their educational practice with the consideration that teachers' beliefs do not linearly reproduce cultural or scientific theories, but rather they organize in synthesis that they are partial visions of these (Vargas and Acuña, 2020) .

Reynolds et al.(2021)They emphasize that the teacher's beliefs constitute a set of psychological premises or propositions that an individual can take to be true. Such premises previously conceived by teachers in service and in training refer to the minimum conditions necessary for optimal learning of a foreign language. These beliefs are usually conceived during the professional development process, either consciously or unconsciously, while observing the performance of their teachers.

Teachers' prior learning experiences shape the beliefs they will hold, which in turn will influence their teaching practices and decision-making, and consequently the development of their students (Reynolds et al.2021). However, teaching beliefs have proven not to be merely fixed structures or systems, since these can also be affected during professional practice, causing their reorientation and an increase or decrease in the level of anxiety. Beliefs cannot be taken lightly because they influence the adoption of an approach, since they determine the perspective of how language is seen and how it should be taught and learned.

Two approaches have been opposed since their inception, for example a teacher who favors the structural approach sees language as a system of structurally related elements for encoding meaning. Based on the latter, the teacher will devote more effort to teaching lexical, phonological and grammatical rules. In contrast, a teacher who adopts the functional approach sees language as a vehicle for the functional expression of meaning, prioritizing the communicative and semantic dimensions of language. Consequently, a teacher under this approach will spend more time teaching communicative functions and notions of language. Therefore, ILE teachers in training need to see different options, rather than a single view of language teaching and learning. Teachers can adopt different ILE teaching ideas that respond to the context and learning needs of their students.

Setting and achieving goals, whether simple or complex, can be a challenge for any ILE teacher. However, such teaching actions can be overwhelming. An aspect that plays a vital role in the effectiveness of teachers is the belief in their abilities and skills to achieve a successful learning objective (Barni, Danioni and Benevene, 2019) . In other words, the teaching of ILE is imbued with emotions, so success will depend on the teacher's self-confidence and control of their thoughts, feelings and behavior.

The teaching actions of ILE teachers are related to their belief systems and motivations. Barni, Danioni, and Benevene (2019) highlight that teachers' self-efficacy refers to "beliefs in their ability to effectively handle tasks, obligations, and challenges related to their professional activity" (Barni, Danioni, and Benevene, 2019 , p.1). This highlights how relevant teachers' awareness is of their psychological well-being, job satisfaction, as well as their organizational commitment (Alibakhshi, Nikdel, & Labbafi, 2020) . Therefore, "understanding the main antecedents of self-efficacy can have important benefits in working for the well-being of teachers and school effectiveness and improvement" (Barni, Danioni and Benevene, 2019 , p. 1).

The increase in teaching self-efficacy is related to the need to update certain aspects of teaching. ILE teachers may change teaching approaches, methods or techniques if they perceive that they positively affect students' language learning. This change can also modify their beliefs and, consequently, increase their self-efficacy, allowing them to transform their teaching practice (Romero-Ariza, Quesada, Abril, & Cobo, 2021) .

In Chile, different researchers have highlighted that there are few studies on the beliefs of ILE teachers who are in training and, particularly, in the field of teaching practice (Donoso and Gómez, 2021) . Teaching practice is a relevant space in the training of future foreign language teachers; therefore, it represents a space for the construction of their beliefs regarding their profession (Donoso and Gómez, 2021) . Therefore, "by focusing on the different stages of EFL teacher training, we will be able to identify patterns of change in their beliefs" (Cautín-Epifani, Arellano, Pezoa and Gladic, 2020 , p. 36).

Given that among the weaknesses there is still the perception that English teacher training programs need more and better practical experiences, initial teacher training has included a greater number of practical experiences in schools as part of the compulsory curriculum of future teachers (Barahona, 2015, Díaz and Bastías, 2012). Therefore, it is relevant to understand how teacher training based on pedagogical practice can influence the beliefs of teachers in training about the teaching of ILE in particular contexts.

This research exposes the beliefs held, both by English teachers in service and in training, regarding the process of teaching and learning English as a foreign language, and self-efficacy in the context of teaching practice in municipal education institutions in the commune of Valdivia, Chile.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This is a study developed through the use of mixed methods and carried out on a non-experimental basis. The studies under this design interpret the realities of the events, describing, recording and analyzing the current nature through the collection of data directly from the reality where the events occur, without deliberately manipulating the variables that are the object of analysis (Palella and Martins , 2012 , pp. 87-92).

During the research development process, the beliefs held by both in-service and trainee English teachers regarding the process of teaching and learning English as a foreign language, and self-efficacy in the context of learning were identified, analyzed and compared in municipal education institutions in the commune of Valdivia, Chile were identified.

All this with the purpose of answering the following questions:

• What beliefs do English teachers in service and in training have regarding the teaching and learning process of English as a Foreign Language, and self-efficacy in the context of teaching practice in municipal education institutions in the commune of Valdivia, Chile?
• What are the similarities and differences in beliefs held between in-service and pre-service teachers of English?

Thirty-three people were recruited as participants. Nine were teachers in service at municipal education institutions in the Valdivia commune, and twenty-four were students enrolled in the ILE Pedagogy program at a Chilean university. As a criterion for the inclusion of teachers in service, it was necessary to define that, at least, they were ILE teachers in municipal education institutions in Valdivia and teacher guides for teachers in training, in their pedagogical practice, throughout the semester. This is due to the fact that there are private, subsidized and municipal educational establishments in the country.

As for the ILE Pedagogy program of the Chilean university, it stands out that it has duration of five years in its innovative curriculum and that the language of instruction is mainly English. ILE teachers in training were between 20 and 25 years old. As an inclusion criterion for the study, they had to be enrolled in the Practicum I course, third year in the innovated program, offered in 2020-1. Practicum I is a course out of a total of four practicum courses in which ILE teachers in training are trained to teach this foreign language to high school students by adapting and adopting available approaches, methods and techniques to plan English lessons and design or evaluate teaching materials and activities. The contents considered are: theories of teaching and learning of foreign languages; approaches, methods and techniques; classroom management; lesson planning. In this practice, teachers in training are expected to plan and execute three micro-teaching practices and analyze them, after having observed the school context. The teachers in service in the municipal education institutions of Valdivia were key in guiding the teachers in training in the process. Therefore, the relevance of these actors in the research process.

For data collection, the Liao (2007) "Questionnaire of Teaching Beliefs of Primary School English Teachers" was adapted, because it is useful for measuring beliefs about aspects related to the nature of development of English, teaching methods and techniques, and self-efficacy as an English teacher. Said adaptation dialogues with the Standards of the Teaching Profession for Pedagogy Careers in English of Basic/Secondary Education proposed by the Ministry of Education (2021).

The questionnaire was written in the native language of the participants, in Spanish. The main composition of the questionnaire focused on three variables, more than 40 propositions:

1. Nature of student development in the English language

2. Teaching approaches, methods and techniques

3. Self-efficacy as an EFL teacher.

The participants were informed about the study and agreed to answer the questionnaire, online, using the Likert scale, expressing: Strongly Agree (TA), Agree (A), Neutral (N), Disagree (D) and Strongly Agree Disagreement (TD). Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient was 0.72.

The administration of online questionnaires was considered because the development of the research was carried out during the quarantine stage due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Online questionnaires are a useful tool in the current context, since it facilitates the contribution of the participants (Dewaele, 2018).

Four of the nine teachers in service in municipal education institutions in Valdivia and nine of the twenty-four teachers in training agreed to answer an open question online. The purpose of this open-ended question was to reveal the qualities that an English teacher needs to be successful in a public school in Valdivia. The question proposed by Liao (2007) was adapted to what qualities does an English teacher need to be successful in an educational institution in Valdivia, to obtain additional beliefs.

Finally, a focus group was held online. Six teachers in training participated. This focus group aimed to verify the beliefs expressed by in-service teachers that, in turn, guided their practice. Teachers-in-training commented on their classroom observations. This allowed the verification of exposed beliefs, with respect to the teaching actions observed and recorded by the teachers in training. The focus group consisted of a conversation with teachers in training to exchange anecdotes, experiences and points of view regarding what they observed, during their practice, in the English classes developed by their guide teachers, considering approaches, methods and teaching techniques. .

The analysis of the information obtained through the questionnaire required the use of the XLSTAT software to perform descriptive statistics and the independent samples t-test.

To analyze the information collected through the focus groups and the open question, content analysis was used as a technique. The information collected was anonymized, transcribed and read to the participants before being analyzed.

RESULTS

The presentation is made in two sections, explaining: statistical analysis of administered questionnaires, and content analysis of an open question and focus group.

In this regard, a belief evaluation questionnaire with forty propositions was administered. The statistical analysis is shown below, considering the following dimensions: nature of student development in the English language, teaching approaches, methods and techniques, and self- efficacy as an ILE teacher.

Table 1. Correlations.

Table 1 shows that the development of teachers' notion of self-efficacy is not directly related to students' development in the English language or the adoption of teaching approaches, methods and techniques. However, a correlation is observed between the nature dimensions of the student's development in the English language and teaching approaches, methods and techniques.

Table 2- Comparison of beliefs by groups.

Table 2 shows that both groups differ in terms of their beliefs regarding the dimensions studied: nature of the students' development in the English language (t = -4.189); teaching approaches, methods and techniques (t = -4.822) and self- efficacy as an ILE teacher (t = -3.082) (p. <.05).

To learn the beliefs of in-service and pre-service teachers regarding the nature of students' English language development, participants had to evaluate 17 propositions.

Table 3- Nature of students' English language development

Table 3 shows that between 58.3% and almost 90% of in-service and trainee teachers "agree" and "strongly agree" that students develop their English language learning if they engage in hands-on activities that require the use of the language, not only in the classroom but also anytime and anywhere, with the guidance of their parents, as they will perform better in ILE.

79 % and 100% of both groups believe that students can learn English if teachers:

• use and consider different learning strategies and styles;
• strengthen student responses with repetition or correction;
• they plan motivating classes;
• provide students with opportunities to interact with and learn from others;
• Allow students to imitate the expressions they hear as it promotes meaningful vocabulary learning for students.

Between 55.6% and 87.5% of both groups "disagree" and "strongly disagree" that gender influences the development of English proficiency and that English can only be learned in countries of English speaking.

The opposition of beliefs is observed in both groups, given that 58.3% of trainee teachers "agree" that students must understand the grammatical rules of English to build the language, while 33.3% of in-service teachers "disagreed" and 44.4% remained "neutral". Some 79.2% of pre-service teachers "agree" that students can learn English better if they fully understand the vocabulary of the lesson, while 33.3% of in-service teachers "disagree" " and 33.3% "remained neutral". Finally, it is observed that around 55.5% of in-service teachers "agree" that students should not use their mother tongue in the classroom, since it affects the learning of the English language, while 37. 5 % of trainee teachers remained "neutral" and 29.2% "disagree".

In order to find out the beliefs of teachers in service and in training regarding the approaches, methods and techniques of teaching the English language, they had to evaluate 17 propositions.

Table 4- Approaches, methods and techniques.

Table 4 shows that between 62.5% and 100% of in-service and trainee teachers "agree" and "strongly agree" that:

• teaching English through real-life situations is more meaningful to students;
• it is necessary to develop students' intercultural competence by teaching topics from foreign cultures alongside the English language ;
• teaching through oral communication activities is difficult because students have fewer opportunities to practice their speaking skills outside of the classroom;
• teaching English through poems, songs, games, and role-plays maximizes student learning;
• the use of technology is useful in teaching ILE;
• The use of Spanish and English in the classroom allows students to learn better.

On the one hand, between 62.5% and 88.3% of both groups "agree" and "strongly agree" that four academic hours a week are not enough to learn English and that teaching in classrooms crowded negatively affects both language teaching and learning. On the other hand, between 37.5% and 54.2% of teachers in training and 88.8% of teachers in service "do not agree" that teachers:

• they are figures of authority and control;
• use the same methods, techniques, and materials to hold students' attention;
• emphasize grammar as the most important component in EFL;
• Emphasize rote learning over discovery learning.

Here there is opposition of beliefs in both groups, given that 44.4 % of in-service teachers "agree" or "totally agree" that linguistic interaction in the classroom should only be in English, while 45 .9% of trainee teachers "disagree" or "strongly disagree", leaving around 9% as "neutral". 88% of in-service teachers "disagree" that language components such as pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar should be taught separately, while a much smaller percentage of pre-service teachers feel the same. Some 55.5% of in-service teachers "disagree" or "strongly disagree" that translation is a good way to teach EFL, while 41.7% of trainee teachers agreed "neutrals". 66.7% of the teachers in service "agree" that the students of municipal educational establishments in the Valdivia commune are good at English, while 54.2% of the teachers in training remained "neutral".

To find out the beliefs of in-service and trainee teachers regarding their notion of effectiveness as English teachers, participants had to evaluate six propositions.

Table 5- Self-efficacy as an ILE teacher

Table 5 shows that around 77.8% of in-service teachers and 62.5% of trainee teachers "agree" and "strongly agree" that they are satisfied with their level of English proficiency and they are sure that they will be able to achieve their goals in a municipal educational establishment in the Valdivia district. However, about 65% of both groups believe that teaching English in a municipal educational establishment in the Valdivia district requires a lot of effort, since it is a high workload.

About 50% of both groups "do not agree" that teaching English in a municipal educational establishment in the Valdivia commune is not rewarding or an unrecognized job, while 40% were "neutral" and 10% " do you agree".

30% of both groups "agree" that they can resolve student discipline problems, 50% remain "neutral" and 20% "disagree".

Close to 50% of both groups were "neutral" in their assessment of their teaching skills over the skills of native ILE teachers. While 44.4% of in-service teachers "agree" or "strongly agree" that their English teaching skills are as good as native ILE teachers, 41.7% of trainee teachers "disagree" or "strongly disagree".

Four teachers in service and nine in training participated in an open online question aimed at discovering the qualities that an English teacher needs to be successful in a municipal educational establishment in the Valdivia district.

In-service ILE teachers in service indicated that:

"To be successful... we have to be empathic with the students, motivated, proactive and kind" (T.1).

"I believe that... an English teacher must be motivated, interested in learning from others, updated and collaborative" (T. 2).

"A successful teacher... must have constant preparation, be empathic with reality and the surrounding context, be motivated, enthusiastic, proactive and collaborative" (T. 3).

"For me ... he is a professor concerned about the students not only academically but also personally, committed to the institution, motivated to learn and update, humble and generous"(T. 4).

These indications show that teachers who have higher levels of self-efficacy are enthusiastic about teaching and are willing to try, practice, and share new ideas and teaching innovations to improve students' language learning (Alibakhshi, Nikdel, & Labbafi, 2020 ) .

This suggests that the experience and the context shaped the beliefs of efficacy of the teachers in service and in training, because when they began to teach, in a municipal educational establishment in the commune of Valdivia, they faced new experiences as teachers. His beliefs began to change, generating ideas about the qualities an English teacher must have in order to have a successful teaching career.

Teachers in training seem to have installed new beliefs about the role of the teacher to be successful in a municipal educational establishment in the commune of Valdivia, which is evidenced in the description of strategies for adaptation to the context and teaching responsibilities:

"... Organized, communicative, responsible, planned, involved in collaborative work... willing to receive comments..." (IT.1).

"...organized and has the ability to motivate students..." (IT. 2).

"... innovative in the way of planning and teaching... motivating..." (IT. 3).

"... flexible and adapted to the context..." (IT. 4).

"...passionate about teaching...until you meet the requirements of the school..." (IT. 8)

"... aware that not everyone learns in the same way... dynamic with teaching methods..." (IT. 9).

For Hasan (2018) the idea is defended that "The teacher may have to improvise the day's lesson or change the sequence of activities, depending on the needs of the students or due to any other unexpected development" (p. 12455). Along these lines, teachers in training also consider that the school context influences their teaching and decision-making and that being a teacher is lifelong learning because ILE teachers need to be:

"...concerned about the students and their context..." (IT. 5).

"... Updated with teaching methodologies and technology... aware of their responsibility and the school context of their students..." (IT. 6).

In general, this shows that "teachers must be more innovative with methods, techniques or means that are in accordance with the material taught to students" (Puspitasari, Pratolo and Mahfiana, 2020 , p. 105).

The focus group compiled the reports of six trainee teachers throughout their practice. Five of the six reported having observed that the in-service teachers favored the structural approach, because their teaching actions were oriented towards the explicit and practical explanation of grammatical rules and the correction of errors, respectively. In contrast, one reported observing that an in-service teacher favored the communicative approach, since his teaching actions consisted of organizing communicative and functional activities, paying attention to common forms and meanings in a contextualized manner.

Regarding the use of the structural approach by their lead teachers, pre-service teachers were positive, even though their teaching beliefs were different. This is mainly due to the fact that they observed that the beliefs and contextual factors of the supervisors strongly influence the teaching, design and adaptation of the activities and materials of the ILE in municipal educational establishments of the commune of Valdivia.

According to the findings obtained, it is observed that both groups can and have contradictory pedagogical beliefs, alternating, for example, teaching practices focused on both the student and the content and not fully advancing towards constructivism (Arancibia, Cabero and Marín, 2020 ; Vargas and Acuña, 2020) . It is also observed that teachers' beliefs are close to constructivist teaching practices, but, in reality, they conduct their classes in a traditional way (Saadati, Cerda, Giaconi, Reyes, & Felmer, 2019) . The results also reveal that there are direct connections between teaching practices and the perceptions of self-efficacy of both groups of teachers, since this type of practice promotes higher levels of development that affects their perception of efficacy. In addition, both groups give greater value to the mastery of teachers in terms of their personal and professional development and not to what they teach or how they teach (Donoso and Gómez, 2021) .

DISCUSSION

As indicated in the previous section, moderate statistical differences are observed between teachers in service and in training in relation to the three dimensions studied: nature of the student's development in the English language; teaching approaches, methods and techniques, and self-efficacy as an ILE teacher.

It was found that, during the development of Practicum I, trainee teachers perceived how important it is to get involved in the school context because it provides opportunities to critically reflect on how to teach young students in an appropriate and contextualized manner. In this sense, considering the different perspectives of constructivism proposed by Piaget, Vygotsky and Glasersfeld, in specific contexts, teaching experiences allow both teachers in service and in teacher training to know, assimilate, identify the components of school contexts, situate the axis of teaching in the reality of each environment and reflect on their previous experiences and incorporate new ones (Hasan, 2019) .

The experience and orientation of the in-service teachers promoted important changes in the beliefs of the pre-service teachers after they executed and completed their micro-teaching. Microteaching allowed preservice teachers to adjust their confidence and competence to teach. In this case, teacher training influences the beliefs of trainee teachers when it is developed and scaffold through practice processes in a particular school context (Vargas and Acuña, 2020) .

The results also highlight that practice courses can help preservice teachers to support their students in a contextualized way. In other words, this involves exposing preservice teachers to positive FEI teaching experiences so that they can understand how theoretical and methodological knowledge can be adapted to particular contexts, so that they can also redefine their FEI teaching beliefs. In this sense, teacher training needs to offer different options instead of a single vision of language teaching and learning so that teachers in training can adopt different ideas of EFL teaching that respond to the context and learning needs of the students and modify beliefs that do not favor said process (Gómez, 2017) . Therefore, teacher training must be challenged to develop curricula and teaching methods, in such a way that a true integration of theoretical and practical knowledge is achieved.

In general, the results show that both teachers in service and in training have the ability to self-evaluate, and that exposing teachers in training to public education contexts is vital to promote beliefs of success in teaching English (Romero- Ariza, Quesada, Abril and Cobo, 2021; Barni, Danioni and Benevene, 2019). The evidence in this study highlights that the "integrality" of teachers is an element of success. Consequently, ILE teacher self-efficacy cannot be reduced to knowledge of ILE pedagogy and advanced levels of language proficiency alone.

As the research participants were teachers in service and in training, it is advisable not to generalize these contextualized results and findings to a broader ILE teaching population in Chile. Later studies could compare the beliefs of teachers from municipal, private and subsidized educational establishments.

ILE teacher training must consider the beliefs formed in their students because they influence their teaching actions (Donoso and Gómez, 2021) . In this sense, beliefs are a relevant source of information when designing teacher training programs, because educational experiences influence the consolidation of the belief system of teachers. The implementation of the Practicum I courses has an impact on the way that ILE teachers in training understand or perceive the teaching of the English language.

Although both groups declared that the beliefs were aligned with the communicative approach and constructivism, it was detected that they carried out teacher-centered practices, associated with a traditional behavioral perspective of education and language learning. For this, it is necessary that ILE teachers in service and in training know each approach, method and technique of teaching foreign languages, and adopt a position with each one of them. This allows them to select and use one or the other, taking into accounts the needs and educational context of their students and not be limited to using the same approach, method or technique.

Finally, the differences between the beliefs of ILE teachers, in service and in training, regarding the process of teaching and learning English as a Foreign Language, and self-efficacy are not immediate, so they include the relationship between their personal beliefs , teaching practices and, of course, experiences they have lived. This is relevant because these differences could have an impact on the language development and motivation of their students.

Furthermore, the self-efficacy of ILE teachers is not only related to advanced linguistic performance; therefore, collaborative work and interaction with school members also help trainee teachers to build and consolidate their identity and increase their perception of self-efficacy.

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Author declares not to have any conflicts of interest.

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The author has participated in the writing of the work and analysis of the documents.

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