Teachers play a key role in students' learning, especially when it comes to students who have more difficulties in the classroom. Initial teacher training contributes to achieving more competent teachers who are capable of successfully facing the start of their teaching profession, and students' beliefs about what it means to be a good teacher are…

Most teachers have been good students. Some students are fast learners and attain the required knowledge and skills easily; others are obedient, hard workers. In either case, teachers are likely to believe that if students really try, they will do well. Listening to students over many years, the author has learned that this is probably not true.…

A study investigated Japanese college students' perceptions and assessments of their college English classes, and to what factors they attribute difficulty in acquiring oral English. Subjects were 189 students from a junior college and a university, in first- through third-year English conversation classes. Most were English majors required to…