A Narrative Inquiry Into An EFL Teacher's Missionary Schooling Experiences And His Personal Practical Knowledge

Recent decades have witnessed the tremendous achievements in the field of English as a foreign language teaching in China. However, people in the EFL education field tend to overemphasize the language teaching models from Western countries. There is an urgent need to explore the value of China's EFL teaching traditions to establish theories that can be more readily applied in Chinese EFL teaching environment. A close study of the literature reveals that missionary schools played an important role in the formation and evolution of China's EFL teaching traditions. But researches about individuals'experiences in those special educational institutions and the resulting influence on their professional knowledge development into successful EFL teachers is rare to be found in the literature.This qualitative study was conducted to explore a retired EFL teacher's missionary schooling experiences and his personal practical knowledge through case study from the perspective of narrative inquiry. The purpose of this study was to examine this EFL teacher's personal practical knowledge construction process and to find out the interconnectedness between his missionary schooling experiences and his personal practical knowledge. The main data in this study were derived from the following resources: two interviews with this EFL teacher, his autobiographies and other case documents. The major findings of the study are summarized as follows:Firstly, this EFL teacher's missionary schooling experiences had great impact on his later personal practical knowledge. It not only shaped his beliefs and values about himself as a teacher but also his knowledge of subject matter which laid a solid foundation for his later becoming an excellent EFL teacher. It also provided moral and pedagogical support for his knowledge of instruction and served as the basis for the innovation of his knowledge of context;Secondly, this EFL teacher's professional development was a continuous reflective process. Reflection on experiences as a student in missionary schools (for example, role model's teaching practice, teaching beliefs, personal qualities, as well as some critical incidents, etc.) and reflection in teaching as an EFL teacher (for example, his students'needs, the political and social conditions, etc.) were interwoven together to contribute to the construction and evolution of his personal practical knowledge;Thirdly, this EFL teacher's personal practical knowledge was moral, affective and most importantly, highly contextual. During the whole process of his professional development, he was constantly engaged in a difficult and intelligent negotiation with his teaching environment, including the volatile social and political conditions, the differences and conflicts with his colleagues, etc.In light of the above findings, the researcher makes the following suggestions: to promote teachers'professional development, teachers should be guided to explore the value of critical incidents and critical persons in their life experiences to draw support and enlightment; Chinese EFL teachers should engage more in self-directed reflective teaching practice; teacher professional development programs should be situated in teachers'specific working contexts; and, to better understand China's English education traditions, related studies about missionary schools should not be neglected.