ABSTRACT
The spread of English as a language for communication is a key feature of our globalized world. Countries such as China, which experienced unprecedented socioeconomic development in the last three decades partly due to globalization, are increasingly concerned about its people’s ability to speak English well enough to compete internationally in all arenas where the use of English is still a dominant part of transnational communication. With increased mobility among its people in areas of work and studies within and beyond the country, English is now widely perceived to be “a bridge to the future” for both the country and the people (Jin & Cortazzi, 2002). This has led to many centralized initiatives aimed at improving the teaching of English, particularly the teaching of spoken English. Although these changes have been recognized to be significant in invigorating English language education in China, there is still relatively little understanding from research on one of the most important agents of this change, namely the English language teachers who are entrusted with enacting these initiatives through their daily work in schools and colleges. In this chapter, we report a study that examined the beliefs that university EFL teachers have about teaching spoken English and consider how their beliefs may or may not be related to some main teacher characteristics. It is hoped that results of the study will offer insights for local initiatives that can support English language teachers in the important task of teaching spoken English in the new globalized landscape.
