A Survey Of Educational Research Of College English Teachers In Guangxi

In 2004, College English Curriculum Requirements was issued, which states explicitly that the objectives of College English teaching are to develop the students'all-round English ability. The change of goal inevitably would cause the change of teaching methods, teaching materials and testing, all of which set higher requirements and give new challenges to the College English teachers (CETs).With the demands of society, educational reform has become a topic of public concern. How to improve the professional quality to survive the challenge and satisfy the requirements is the serious problem CETs are confronted. The thesis suggests that improving CETs'educational research capacity is still one of the most effective ways. In fact, the concept'teacher as researcher'initiated by Lawrance Stenhouse during the 1970s has been highly clued and carried out throughout the world and proved to be an effective and useful way for teachers to speed up their educational research capacity and professional development . The current new change and situation make it the focus of attention in the field of College English teaching again.The notion'teacher as researcher'advocates that teachers explore the problems coming up in their teaching practice, reflect their teaching and find out effective solutions to the problems under the guidance of teaching and learning theories. By doing this, the practicability of theories is tested and adjusted, the gap between theory and practice is bridged, and the professional ability of CETs is improved. But what is the actual situation of educational research practice of CETs in Guangxi?The present study aims to look into the actual educational research situation of CETs in Guangxi. With an analysis based on the data, it attempts to propose suggestions and provide insights into the current educational reform in College English teaching. Three questions are to be raised: What are the actual situations of CETs'educational research? What obstacles confront them in their course of doing educational research? And what are the CETs'actual practice and reflection on College English teaching?This thesis is composed of five chapters:Chapter 1 is the introduction part, in which the rationale of the study is briefly discussed and the organization of the thesis is illustrated. Chapter 2 is Literature Review which probes into issues such as the history of educational research, relevant concepts and studies concerning educational research, and the interrelationship between teaching practice and research.Chapter 3 is a major part of the thesis. A survey is carried out in terms of questionnaire. The subjects of the survey are 116 CETs from 5 colleges and universities in Guangxi. The survey centers around four leading issues. 1) CETs'personal data: their age , academic background, etc.; 2) their actual practice of college English teaching and their reflection on it; 3) their actual situation of research; and 4) the obstacles confronting the CETs in their course of doing research.Chapter 4 is Implications and Applications. There are many problems found in the survey: the overload teaching tasks of the CETs, the lack of systematic research methods and funds, the shortage of expert guidance about theory and practice, insufficient incentive policies for research, etc. In order to solve the difficulties that the CETs are confronted, educational institutes and CETs should work together and take actions. At the end of this chapter, classroom-based research and reflective teaching are proposed to improve the CETs'educational research capacity, which, in turn will better CETs'teaching in class.Chapter 5 is a conclusion part. This survey looks into the actual educational research situation of CETs in Guangxi, yet due to the area limitation and the single instrument employed in the study, some issues remain unexplored. Recommendations for future researches are stated.