A Case Study On The Construction Of Pre-service English Teachers' Practical Knowledge

In recent years, with the unceasing development of the elementary education reform, more and more people have noticed the importance of the construction of pre-service English teachers' practical knowledge. Teachers'practical knowledge is the knowledge which is accumulated and applied in the teaching practice. It is acquired by way of experiencing, communicating and reflecting in the daily practical teaching situation.Based on constructivism learning theory, cognitive learning theory and activity learning theory, this study is to investigate the strategies for constructing practical knowledge, and then analyze the influential factors in the construction of practical knowledge. In this study,20 English majors from 3 normal universities who are pursuing Master of Education Degree are chosen as the participants. The data are obtained mainly from classroom observation, questionnaire and interview. Through one years'investigation, the author found out:(1) At present, pre-service English teachers mainly use four strategies for constructing practical knowledge including imitation and innovation, learning in practice, communication and reflection. (2) Factors influencing the construction of practical knowledge are divided from the perspective of positive and negative. The positive factors include experienced teachers; teaching context; suggestions from students and peers; reflective thinking. Negative factors include the arrangement of curriculum; universities'neglect of practice; exclusion from middle schools; personal attitude to theoretical learning, teaching practice and the combination of theory and practice. (3) Implications proposed for improving the construction of practical knowledge. It includes improvement of the curriculum; improvement of teaching methods; improvement of teachers'cognitive development; improvement of the evaluation of practical knowledge.The thesis is mainly made up of six parts. Chapter one provides a general introduction of the research background from the perspective of realities, and then explains why the present topic is chosen. Chapter two presents the theoretical bases of the research and reviews the related literatures about the definitions, classification and characteristics of teachers'practical knowledge at home and abroad. Chapter three proposes research questions, participants and research methods, and then states the procedure of investigation in detail. Chapter four explores the strategies and influential factors in the construction of practical knowledge according to the data analysis and discussion. Chapter five advances the construction of practical knowledge based on the above investigations. Chapter six concludes the whole paper and presents its limitation.