A Study Of Professional Self-Development Of English Teachers In Higher Vocational Colleges

Research-based teacher education began in the middle of the1980s in general education field, so it began in foreign language education in the1990s. In English literature, the evolution from "teacher training","teacher education" to "teacher development" reflects a deeper and better understanding of the issue. More and more attention is paid to the importance of professional development of teachers. Foreign language teachers’ professional development is becoming the focus of attention and the relevant research has become a new field in applied linguistics and foreign language education and research.Literature review shows that teacher education follows convention and is usually based on experience, short of a theoretical and empirical basis. In China, most of the relevant researches are conducted about EFL teachers at university and primary and middle school levels, but data-based studies on higher vocational college EFL teachers are hard to be found currently. Higher vocational college EFL teachers is an important part of Higher Vocational Education (HVE) and their professional development will have a great influence on the effectiveness of higher vocational education reform. The main purpose of the present study is to explore the psychological status of vocational college EFL teachers towards their professional development and suggest some strategies to facilitate their professional growth.The main internal factors promoting EFL teachers’ professional development include:1) devotion to teaching as a profession;2) self-awareness of development;3) teachers’ self-factors. Internal factors are more decisive than external factors in pursuing EFL teacher professional development. Teachers themselves are the most important factor in teacher development. So the study is to explore vocational EFL teachers’ view of foreign language teaching profession, view of foreign language teaching, and view of EFL teacher development; the relationship between their attitudes and such factors as gender, age. years of teaching, academic credential, professional title, and in-service training. A questionnaire was used to collect data and then Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS13.0) was employed to analyze the data statistically. The findings of the study show that higher vocational English teachers’professional development awareness has improved greatly. Female teachers have a stronger sense of professional development than male teachers. Compared with other factors, academic credential is one of the most important factors that affect teachers’professional development. Age, years of teaching and professional title have no direct correlation with teachers’attitudes towards professional development. And teachers’attitudes and whether they are engaged in in-service training are negatively correlated at a low level.This thesis embodies significance in theoretical and practical dimensions. On the one hand, other researchers and vocational English teachers may be enlightened by the literature review about teacher professional development from different angles. On the other hand, we regard teachers themselves as source of pursuing professional development. The self-development model we suggested may provide a new perspective for vocational English teachers in their professional development. The ongoing self-development is essential in any professional field and it would benefit all teachers’professional development in many other disciplines at different levels.