A Narrative Inquiry Of Personal Practical Knowledge Of A Young Teacher Of English Majors

Teachers'knowledge has been playing an important role in teachers'professional development. In the past, scholars focused on standardized theory knowledge in exploring teachers' professional growth. Teachers' personal practical knowledge, which was considered the key knowledge of teachers' professional development, has drawn people's attention since 1980s. From then on, the study of teachers' knowledge shifted from the knowledge teachers "should have" to the knowledge teachers "actually have". Researches on teachers'personal practical knowledge started to focus on the following questions:What knowledge do teachers actually have? What factors shaped teachers'personal practical knowledge? And what implications teachers can get from it?It has been a long period since narrative inquiry was applied in literature research field. However, it has been used in studying teachers' personal practical knowledge in education by Clandinin and Cannelly since 1980s. Narrative of stories in research field creates a vivid scene for readers as if they were there when stories happened. Teachers' personal practical knowledge originates from reality and can be shown in teachers' daily teaching. To choose those meaningful teaching stories and to present them concretely and objectively not only help to explore the meanings hidden in those stories—teachers' personal practical knowledge, but also unfold factors shaping teachers' personal practical knowledge from teachers' past experiences.Accordingly, a young English teacher of English majors Li Mao was chosen as the participant. Data were collected by nearly three-month class observation, irregular interviews and conversations in almost half a year. Those meaningful stories will be chosen and shown in the form of narrative. By analysis, Li Mao's personal practical knowledge will be concluded and categorized from these stories. Factors shaping Li Mao's personal practical knowledge are presented by analyzing Li Mao's past experiences and her present teaching life. This thesis not only attempts to construct an understanding of teachers' personal practical knowledge, but also produces invisible communication and resonance among Li Mao, readers, and the writer. Readers will reconsider their teaching or get some implications to rebuild their acknowledgement and attention of their personal practical knowledge, and finally promote their professional development. This present thesis includes six chapters:Chapter One shows the study backgrounds of teachers' personal practical knowledge and the structure of the present study, and states the significance of this present research.Chapter Two is literature review. Teachers' personal practical knowledge is introduced referring to its definition, its characteristics and its components. The researches on it at home and abroad are also exposed here as the literature base of this study.Chapter Three is research design. First Li Mao and the reason why she is chosen is introduced. And then the research method—narrative is stated. The last one is about data collection and analysis.Chapter Four is a key one in present study. Li Mao's stories are categorized into six topics: stories in classroom teaching, teacher and students, self-exploration in teaching activities, voice from students, self-evaluation and past learning and teaching experience. All stories will be narrated carefully.Chapter Five is another key one here, which consists of two parts. The first part is to understand Li Mao's personal practical knowledge. Based on the presentation of Li Mao's stories in Chapter Four, Chapter Five concludes her personal practical knowledge from six issues: subject matter knowledge, pedagogic content knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, knowledge of students, knowledge of self and curriculum knowledge. Subject matter knowledge refers to that Li Mao pays attention to all-round skills, especially listening and speaking for freshmen. In the teaching, suitable text appreciation, such as language rhetoric will be added. As for the text and new words, text reading and understanding first, new words learning, as a part of grammar learning, later on the basis of students' previewing new words in advance. In term of pedagogic content knowledge, English paraphrasing is a useful way to cultivate students' thinking in English. Li Mao also forms her teaching mode and writing mode. General pedagogical knowledge includes that students answer questions with self-motivation; textbook knowledge isn't the only thing for students and learning should taken place in a harmonious atmosphere. On the part of students, Li Mao emphasizes students'autonomous learning. She loves and respects students and usually gives them encouragement and meets their needs. Li Mao's self-knowledge consists of the understanding of her role in the teaching and the evaluation of her teaching. Li Mao's curriculum knowledge lies in the understanding of comprehensive English and evaluation of its texts. The second part is the analysis of factors shaping Li Mao's personal practical knowledge. Three factors are mentioned: the influence from Li Mao's teachers, Li Mao's self-reflection about her teaching and the learning community among teachers.Chapter Six is conclusion. The present study is limited to a teacher, but it presents Li Mao's stories which every English teacher may meet in their daily teaching. So it will initiate other teachers' thinking and offer them implications. Hence, two implications of Li Mao's stories are revealed. The first one is thinking and action together. The second one is be a teacher to create harmony for students' learning. This thesis also has a further discussion about the validity and limitations.