http://e-flt.nus.edu.sg/
Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching
2017, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 187–200
© Centre for Language Studies
National University of Singapore
Pre-Service EFL Teachers’ Beliefs about Teaching
Writing: A Case Study in Two Chilean Universities
Tania Tagle
(ttagle@uct.cl)
Universidad Católica de Temuco, Chile
Claudio Díaz
(claudiodiaz@udec.cl)
Universidad de Concepción, Chile
Mark Briesmaster
(briesmaster@uct.cl)
Universidad Católica de Temuco, Chile
Mabel Ortiz
(mortiz@ucsc.cl)
Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, Chile
Lucía Ubilla
(lubilla@uct.cl)
Universidad Católica de Temuco, Chile
Paulo Etchegaray
(petchegaray@proyectos.uct.cl)
Universidad Católica de Temuco, Chile
Abstract
The objective of this article is to identify the beliefs of 37 prospective EFL teachers in their final year of a
teacher training undergraduate degree program in two Chilean universities about the teaching of writing. At
the same time, it attempts to recognize the source of these beliefs. Data were collected through a semi-structured
interview. The data were analyzed through the qualitative analysis software ATLAS.ti, following the coding
and categorizing of the data. The results of this study suggest that the participants possess beliefs concerning
the teaching of writing production based on the use of grammar and vocabulary, the replication of text types,
and the consideration of successive stages at the moment of production. At the same time, it was identified that
these beliefs were acquired within the contexts of school instruction and university training. It is suggested that
teacher training programs encourage new teachers to implement practices based on the communicative ap-
proach to the teaching of the skill, urging them to critically reflect on their tradition-based beliefs.