On School-based English Teacher Learning In Rural High Schools

School-based teacher education (SBTE), which originated from competency-based teacher education in the 1960's in America, holds that teacher education should be field-based in order to break the isolation of theory from practice in university-based teacher education. In the succeeding 20 years it became the mainstream in teacher preparation as well as in worldwide in-service teacher education. Introduced into China in middle 1980's, SBTE gradually became prevalent in the new round of teachers' continuing education required by the New English Curriculum Standard (NECS), and a significant research problem in the implementation of our nation's further education project for middle & primary schools. This thesis is to probe into flexible implementation of the SBTE program among English teachers in China's rural schools under the background of NECS, which encourages students to learn how to learn autonomously and cooperatively and calls for reform in the teacher assessment system. Believing that teachers are life-long learners, the author attempts to discuss what learning activities to be conducted by English teachers in rural schools and how they are to be evaluated, thus tentatively establishing a further education model for those teachers.The body of this thesis contains five chapters.To begin with, the first chapter traces back to the time when SBTE began and then briefly reviews the researches on SBTE both abroad, particularly in the U.S.A. and U.K, and at home. The author points out that in China: theoretically, the concept of SBTE has been slightly distorted; practically, a number of obstacles are to be overcome before genuine SBTE programs take effect among teachers in rural schools; relatively, the research on SBTE in rural English teacher education is approximately a blank area.In the second chapter, through questionnaires and other methods, the author makes some surveys on the school-based teacher training programs designed for the new junior English textbook in two counties.On the basis of her study and other relevant studies, the author attributes the low efficiency of SBTE in China to the poor quality of trainers and trainees, insufficient training resources and monotonous training models. Moreover, the author is convinced that, shackled by our tradition and the current situation of rural English teachers' continuing education, we have distorted SBTE into simple school-based teacher training carried out from top to bottom, undermining its quality, to a certain extent, seriously. The author, enlightened by Xu Qiaoying (2001, 2003), thus proposes a School-based Teacher Learning (SBTL) program, to boost the holistic quality of English teachers in rural high schools, leading, hopefully, to the smooth completion of our basic education reform.The third chapter delineates the necessity of SBTL. On the basis of the investigations on the use of the new junior English textbook, the author puts forward that as a result of teachers' rising awareness of career and the existing and probable learning activities offered by the new textbook, schools will play an increasingly significant role in teacher education, making SBTL come into being naturally, for it can not only protect the teachers' awareness of career in the bud but also facilitate their professional growth. Moreover, the author believes that being a teacher means being exemplary and his/her knowledge need be constantly refreshed, making SBTL extremely important.In chapter four, the author attempts to define the term of SBTL and present its objectives, models and their theoretical basis. In terms of learning methods and means, the author proposes three SBTL models, namely, Self-instruction, Cooperative Learning and Internet-based Learning. In addition, a theoretical framework based on adult learning theories, Constructivism and Humanism is provided creatively for SBTL, which can, with anticipation, make up for the excessively practice-centered studies on SBTE conducted over the past years.The last chapter explores preliminarily the actual operation of the three learning models and evaluation methods mentioned above. The author proposes that we establish on campus a prevalent learning...