A Study On The Status Quo Of High School English Teachers' Doing School-based Action Research

In current years, much attention has been paid to teachers' professional development. "Teacher as researcher" has become a label of a professional teacher that he explores, systemizes, regularizes his teaching and students'learning. Accordingly, an increasing number of scholars and teachers in China are aware of the importance of "action research". In school, the most efficient way to push forward teachers' professional development is building up "teachers research community' to do "school-based action research". However, research papers are few concerning about the status quo of school-based action research done by teachers research community in middle schools and primary schools, which even can be called an investigation vacancy.Based on the theory of action research, school-based action research and teachers research community, this study attempts to investigate the status quo of school-based action research by high school English teachers research community. The study has lasted for 20 weeks, involving nine key high schools of three provinces in China (four schools in Hunan Province, three in Henan Province, two in Hebei Province), aiming at exploring the following four research issues:1) the status quo of English teachers research community's school-based action research; 2) English teachers'understandings on teachers research community's school-based action research; 3) major obstacles in doing school-based action research; 4) English teachers'expectations on teachers research community's school-based action research.The subjects of the study are members in these high schools'English teachers research communities and the schools'leaderships. I have designed questionnaire concerning with the four research contents to investigate the English teachers and used both quantitative and qualitative method to analyze the data. Meanwhile, I have interviewed the English teachers as well as the schools'administrators and used qualitative analysis to confirm the data from quantitative analysis.Both the qualitative and quantitative analysis has shown that:most of the schools can carry out the English teachers research community's school-based action research normally; after the conduction of it, the teachers involved have been improved on professional development especially on material knowledge, self-reflection and the assessing ability on teaching; after the conduction of it, all aspects of these school have to some extent been improved; most of the schools investigated more or less have some problems with the operating mechanism; the students' affection has been paid much attention to within a more relaxing, democratic and harmonious teaching atmosphere and the teaching design has been more proper for the students psychology and the law for learning a language, but few investigated teachers feel that the students' scores have enhanced on a whole.The research analysis has also shown that it is helpful to facilitate teachers'professional development, students'comprehensive abilities, and schools'autonomous development.From these research results we know that the major obstacles and other essential factors lie in that teachers suffer from great workload and pressure and sometimes have conflicts with their organizers and supervisors.From the research we know that teachers generally expect their school-based action research to be added more reflective elements, democratic factors, unselfish atmosphere through efforts of the teachers research community.At last, I conclude its good experience and constraints of school-based action research carried out by these high schools involved and put forward suggestions and countermeasures for English teachers research community's school-based action research, aiming at enhancing the level of teaching, promoting the professional development of every member in high school English teachers research community, facilitating the performances in different divisions of the school to get along well, to develop individual characteristics of the school, and to push forward the school to advance autonomously.