A Study On College EFL Teacher Professionalism Development In Inner Mongolia

In recent decades, especially in the 1980s, teacher professionalism development has become the trend of teacher education worldwide. In the 45th UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization) International Education Conference in 1996, it was pointed out,“Among the policies of improving the status of teachers,‘professionalism development’is the most promising medium or long-term strategy.”The recent literature abroad shows that the research mainly focuses on how to improve FL (foreign language) teachers’self improvement, what kind of development model is more universal and applicable, how governments and schools can provide political and financial support and so forth. Research on EFL (English as a foreign language) teacher professionalism development at home started relatively late, and the research on college EFL teacher professionalism development in Inner Mongolia is still fresh. Under this circumstance, this study of college EFL teachers in areas of Inner Mongolia has important and profound significance.The present study aims to investigate the current situation of the college EFL teacher professionalism development in Inner Mongolia, the main existing problems, and at the same time, to propose appropriate solutions. 279 college EFL teachers from 9 universities and colleges in Inner Mongolia participated in the research. The data and information were collected through an investigation form to administrators to find out teachers’basic information, a questionnaire and four thorough interviews. The main findings can be summarized as follows:College EFL teachers in Inner Mongolia generally do not have advanced degrees. Opportunities to attend academic conferences and study abroad are very limited. The gap between what teachers actually do and what they themselves feel they should do is wide, which indicates that teachers’action lags behind the development of teachers’beliefs; the EFL teachers’awareness of doing research is not strong, and their motivation is week, and the research capability is very limited; the awareness of EFL teacher professionalism development is low, and the process and means are inadequate, and the action of performing is insufficient.This study also proposes solutions to the problems existing in college EFL teacher professionalism development in Inner Mongolia. The government, the education departments and the universities and colleges of Inner Mongolia should all pay close attention to the development of the EFL teachers’professionalism in the region. EFL teachers themselves should take“reflective teaching”as one of the vital ways to achieve personal professionalism development.It is hoped that the present study can shed some light on college EFL teacher professionalism development in Inner Mongolia, and lead to more extensive awareness of and study in this field.