China's Rural English Teacher Education

This thesis aims to find a way to improve rural English teaching in the Chinese context, which is more or less marginalized in the profession of English language teaching (ELT), through research on teacher education of rural English teachers. From the many attempts to better teaching in ELT history, it is not difficult to see that teacher quality is the ultimate solution to the many pains ELT suffers.However, this thesis, through investigation of the current situation of rural ELT, indicates that the poor quality of teachers is just the main obstacle of ELT in rural areas.In a country where nearly three-fourths secondary students and teachers are learning and teaching English in rural areas, those who are struggling for better rural English teaching must be supported. More importantly, we must research for approaches to overcoming impediments in upgrading rural English teachers at the same time.Therefore, the concept of "teacher education" in China's rural areas is wider in this thesis than that in other writings. It is not confined to the superordinate of teacher development or teacher training, although the shift from training to education is noted in the field where the teacher quality elevation is concerned. "Teacher education", in the context of China's rural areas, should be considered as a broad term that contains teacher training with the ultimate goal of teacher development or teacher growth, involving teacher change in different domains, in the broad framework of education. The most important thing in the attempt to elicit better self in each rural English teacher is to provide him with necessary training and tools to succeed in rural ELT, to engage him in various teacher learning, and to challenge and stimulate him to take a lifelong hobby as well as aprofessional obligation to further develop himself.As to how to educate rural English teachers, this thesis suggests that: The tremendous demand entailed in the process of English teacher education for China's rural areas accentuates the necessity to enhance initial teacher education of rural English teacher candidates before they enter the profession. And to include school -based teacher education into the current university-based teacher education is also essential in ensuring the high quality of prospective secondary teachers; furthermore, it can, to a certain degree, counteract many negative factors in rural English teacher education such as the financial deficiency and the personnel shortage, etc. Another efficient step is to encourage competent city English teachers to volunteer for rural ELT on a short-term basis.In summary, this thesis reaches the conclusion that teacher education is the key to better rural ELT in China. To educate rural English teachers is a demanding but rewarding job.