Teacher Leadership Of Foreign Language Teachers In Higher Education:the Professional Perspective

Higher education, in the era of innovation, is committed with educational reform and quality upgrading. The success of such a reform hinges on the quality of teachers, who are the major force of remodeling school culture and improve school efficiency. In the recent years, the probe into teacher leadership has gained impetus in the scope of educational research at home and abroad. What has featured the probe is that it has been targeted toward teachers in primary and secondary schools, leaving those in the higher education rarely touched, especially the research on the leadership of teachers of particular subjects in the perspective of professional development.By reviewing past researches and through in-depth interview and questionnaire, this paper elaborates on the definition of teacher leadership, points out the path in which teachers of a foreign language develops their professional leadership, reveals the promoting and barricading forces, build the model of assessment professional leadership of teachers of foreign language, and attempts to find a practical approach to the development of teacher professional leadership.Firstly, the paper defines teacher professional leadership on the basis of analyzing past researches on teacher leadership and teacher professional leadership development:teacher professional leadership is the influence teachers have on their students, colleagues and the whole profession, through their personal charm, professional power, and professional know-how, in the process of teaching and research.Secondly, based on the in-depth interview with teachers of foreign language in tertiary schools and analysis of development history of excellent teachers of foreign language, this paper presents the foreign language education in tertiary schools in its multidimensional and real forms; with the understanding of qualities of teacher professional leaders, it models teacher professional leadership in five dimensions: appeal of personality, guidance in teaching, foresight in academia, cohesion in organizing, and growth by learning; a system of assessment of professional leadership of foreign language teachers in higher education is established with the help of AHP methodology.Thirdly, in order to understand the status-quo of professional leadership of foreign language teachers and provide dependable reference for reform of foreign language teaching in tertiary schools with insights, a second research is also included in this paper:questionnaires about the professional leadership of foreign language teachers that involves teachers in48tertiary schools in16areas in36cities.The findings show that appeal of personality and guidance in teaching are in strong impetus, while cohesion in organizing, and growth by learning comparatively weak, with foresight in academia particularly arousing concern. Individual qualities and school culture have distinct impact on teacher professional leadership. Traditional stereotypes, organizational culture of schools, and lack of self-motivation have become the barricading forces for the development of professional leadership of foreign language teachers in tertiary schools in China.Lastly, with the above findings, this paper puts forward advice on how to promote professional leadership of foreign language teachers:teacher leadership should be recognized by empowering the teachers and helping them realize they themselves are professional leaders; teacher professional leadership should be cultivated and enhanced-by way of building a school culture that respects teacher leadership in teaching and research and activating the potentials of individual teachers, with the aim of professional sharing, autonomy in professional development, and making teacher professional leaders spread their positive and guiding influence.