Teacher Research For Sustainable Professional Development

Initiated by the puzzles about teacher research for sustainable professional development, I attempt to explore the understanding of how teacher research contributes to the change of teachers' conceptions in the New Curriculum Innovation and how language teachers articulate their perceptions of teacher research in the researching context.Inspired by 'understanding practitioner research as a form of life' (Wu ,2006), I come up with a proposal of researching and experiencing teachers' understanding of teacher research. I conducted in this thesis a case study and narrative inquiry. My personal and companion teachers' involvement in teaching at senior high schools is to be described to show the importance of focusing on teacher research. Literature review reveals the meaning of teacher development, teacher identity and teacher research. Teacher development can be achieved through knowledge and skills, self-understanding, ecological change and organizational change. By collaborating, self-reflecting, and further inquiry, one can promote teacher research. Based on Exploratory Practice (Dick Allwright), the research offers basic but important understanding of teacher research, which will hopefully make what is exactly needed in teacher development visible.A major conclusion from these studies is that an understanding of teacher research may be useful to improve teacher research and to make teacher professional development more successful. The data revealed four conceptions of viewing teacher research: Research as authentic dialogue; research as action; research as collaboration; and research as quality of life. Exploratory Practice theories, which call for life and work in harmony, offer details to analyze to the data. Correspondingly, teacher development cannot be achieved through institutional instruction, but through understanding of individual teachers' life in exploratory practice. Practitioner research must concern itself with the nature of the lives people are living together in the practice.Research-minded teachers, who value research, are searching for ways of supporting themselves in teacher research. Teachers' conceptions in teacher research are playing a practical and special role in their continuing professional development.