A Multidimensional Study On College English Teachers' Roles In The Classroom

This study aims to find out, from a multidimensional perspective, the discrepancies between College English teachers'actual and expected role behaviors, and the differences between effective and ineffective College English teachers'role behaviors. The author hopes to draw some inspiration from a qualitative and quantitative study for foreign language teachers'professional development and for foreign language teacher education in China.Based on the theories of teacher role behaviors from Wright (1987), Wubbels and Levy (1993), Ehrman and Dornyei (1998), and Watkins and Biggs (2001), the author adopts a multidimensional approach to teacher role behaviors in the classroom. In general agreement with the constructivist and humanistic views of teaching, three hypotheses are proposed:(1) there exist great discrepancies between students'perceived and expected College English teachers'role behaviors; (2) there exist great discrepancies between College English teachers' self-perceived and ideal role behaviors; (3) there exist great differences between effective and ineffective College English teachers on some dimensions of teaching behaviors in the classroom. In order to reveal these discrepancies, the author constructs a College English Teacher Role Scale (CETRS) with eight dimensions of teacher role behaviors through open-ended questionnaires and in-depth interviews. The CETRS proves to be valid and reliable for the present study.The author conducts a preliminary investigation on College English teacher role behaviors with the CETRS. The research methods consist of questionnaires and interviews. The questionnaires are distributed to 57 full-time College English teachers and 749 non-English majors from four representative colleges and universities in Zhejiang province. The interviews are conducted with 6 College English teachers and 24 students. This study yields three important results. Firstly, significant discrepancies are discovered between students'perceived and expected role behaviors of College English teachers, especially on the subscales of teacher-student relationship, creation of classroom climate, knowledge delivery, and learning guidance, which are mainly attributed to four factors:teachers'more favorable perceptions of their role behaviors, different understanding of English teaching and learning between teachers and students, lack of students'feedback, and teachers'prior learning experiences as students. Secondly, striking differences are found between College English teachers'self-perceived and ideal role behaviors, especially on the subscales of creation of classroom climate, leaning guidance, teacher-student relationship and classroom organization, which are due to a combination of factors:teachers'personality, lack of knowledge and skills in language teaching and learning, teachers'burnout, and constraints of teaching context. Thirdly, dramatic differences are found between effective and ineffective College English teachers. It is revealed that effective teachers perform four roles better in comparison with ineffective teachers:conduct guide, source of knowledge, creator of classroom climate, and parental friend. This study suggests that College English teachers should make some changes of their role behaviors and play the eight roles discussed in the research more effectively by becoming life-long learners and reflective practitioners.Although this research work bears some limitations, it offers some valuable implications to foreign language teachers'professional development and to foreign language teacher education in China. As the empirical research of foreign language teacher role behaviors is a relatively new field of research in China, it is hoped that the present study will pave the way for more such studies.