Action Research And EFL Teacher's Professional Self-Development

Action Research, a research model initiated by J. Colier and K. Lewin in America to research social science, was first applied to the educational field in the 1950s. As a new research approach and a bridge over theory and practice, action research aimed at involving teachers in analyzing and settling the existing problems encountered in their classrooms by applying certain teaching theories and research methods to their daily observation and reflection. In doing so, better results in teaching must be pursued to meet the purpose of synchronized development of both the teachers and the instruction. With these distinctive features, action research echoes with the new trend of improving professional skills from the inside and changing the traditional training system into an efficient one.Educationists in the West have accumulated rich experiences in applying action research to teacher professional development, but this concept is comparatively new in China. However, since the introduction of the notion by Professor Wang Qiang from Beijing Normal University, educational action research has gained increasing importance in public school teaching research.From September to December in 2007, the author spent three months in Linyi city investigating the English training centers, focusing on the impacts of action research on the teachers'professional development. In this study, priority was given to qualitative study as the main approach to gather data through the means of interview and observation. To maximize objectivity, quantitative study is also used on the basis of the questionnaire. The teacher's questionnaire was designed to gain evidence of their changing beliefs.Several findings came to light after the data collection and analysis:1) Action research has equipped participants with the means to further their quest for professional recognition.2) Action research may help teachers of part-time training English schools to overcome unfavorable factors. Thus, it will be a direct and effective approach to promote the teachers'professional development. It is concluded that, in relation to the New Curriculum, AR can serve as a means to an end. However, the relationship goes beyond this in the sense that, on the one hand, AR can help teachers avoid departing from the original intention when implementing the New Curriculum; on the other hand, the New Curriculum can broaden the vision of teachers and prevent their concerns from being too narrow. Consequently, a combination of them is helpful to the current foreign language teaching reform.Based on the investigation and the author's own experiences in action research, the hypothesis that action research can be an alternative for teachers'professional development is testified. The shift from an outside demand to an inside request is a powerful force that will push the cause of teachers'professional development forward. Furthermore, considering the unfavorable teaching situation, AR is more meaningful for teacher development in part-time training English schools. In the end, suggestions are put forward for the expansion of AR, which places new demands on the part of administrators at different levels of language teaching organizations.