Research On The Status Quo And Influencing Factors Of The Special Post English Teachers’ Self-identity In Junior High Schools

In order to alleviate the shortage of teachers in remote rural areas and narrow the gap between urban and rural education,the Ministry of Education and other relevant departments issued the Implementation Plan for the Special Post Plan for Rural School Teachers during the Period of Compulsory Education in 2006.It employs excellent university graduates and college students majoring in normal education to teach in compulsory education schools in rural areas every year.Over the past 15 years,more than 900,000 "special post teachers" have made great contributions to the development of education in rural areas,but it is undeniable that there are still various problems in the implementation process of "special post teachers" policy.One of the most urgent problems is that schools in remote areas often face the situation that special post teachers are easy to introduce but difficult to retain.Many scholars have explored this phenomenon,and they have found low level of self-identity is one of the reasons for the resignation of special post teachers.Improving the level of self-identity of special post teachers is conducive to maintaining the stability of teachers in “special post teacher plan”and promoting the development of education in rural areas.In order to further explore the effective suggestions on how to "recruit and retain" special post teachers,this thesis adopts a mixed research method combining quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the following two research questions from the perspective of identity:1.What is the status quo of special post English teachers’ self-identity in Hunan Province?2.What are the factors that affect the self-identity of special post English teachers?In this thesis,a modified questionnaire,which has good reliability and validity,was used to investigate the status quo of self-identity of 94 special post English teachers in junior high schools in Hunan Province.This questionnaire was divided into four dimensions: self-status identity,professional identity,occupation identity and personal identity.Then,this thesis interviewed seven post English teachers and encoded the data.Combined with the questionnaire data,this thesis explored the factors affecting self-identity of post English teachers.And finally,the pictures collected by online observation were used as the evidence for triangle verification.Through the analysis of the data,this thesis finds that the overall level of self-identity of junior middle school English teachers in Hunan Province is not high,which is at the average level.The level of self-status identity of special post teachers was the lowest,followed by professional identity,and the levels of occupation identity and personal identity are relatively high.Furthermore,this thesis discusses the four dimensions of self-identity and finds that the factors affecting the self-identity of special post teachers mainly include teachers’ negative reasons for entry,public opinion,professional development,the inconsistency of "learning-teaching" major,welfare benefits,work pressure and teachers’ emotional experience.In view of the research findings,the thesis suggests that the relevant national departments need to continuously improve the guarantee mechanism and training mechanism of special post teachers and strengthen the publicity of special posts policy.For the whole society,it should create a good atmosphere of "respecting teachers and valuing education",and assist the government to provide necessary material support for "the project of special post for teacher”.And from the perspective of school leaders or organizers,they need to provide various supports for the emotional experience of special post teachers and clarify the scope of teachers’ work.Finally,as for special post teachers themselves,they should recognize their own professional value,take the initiative to learn and to integrate into the local culture.This thesis has certain theoretical significance and practical application significance.Firstly,this thesis is conducive to promoting the optimization and development of " the Project of Special Post”.Then,it may provide some references for relevant researches on language teachers in terms of the selection of research objects.Finally,discussing special post teachers from the perspective of identity,this thesis is not only a verification of the theory,but also a useful supplement to the theory.In summary,by analyzing the status quo and the affecting factors of special post teachers,this thesis puts forward effective suggestions.It is conducive to stabilizing the team of teachers in special posts and rural teachers and promoting the development of education in rural areas.