Investigating Pre-service English Teachers’ Beliefs of Sociolinguistic Instruction in EFL Classes in Taiwan

Abstract

The study investigates Taiwanese English teachers’ beliefs of teaching sociolinguistic skills. Ten EFL pre-service English teachers in teacher education programs were purposively selected via homogeneous sampling. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect the data. The results revealed that although most pre-service teachers consider sociolinguistic instruction important, they feel that they did not have adequate sociolinguistic competence, and that they lack confidence in teaching sociolinguistic skills. These pre-service teachers’ self-reported inadequate sociolinguistic competence and low confidence in teaching sociolinguistic skills could be attributed to such sociocultural factors as time constraints, exam-driven teaching culture, and insufficient exposure to the target language culture, as well as materials deprived of authentic pragmatic content. The study concludes with major findings, pedagogical implications and suggestions for future research.