Collaborative Action Research: A New Approach For English Teacher Development In Senior High Schools

In recent years, with the influence of Basic English curriculum reform, Englishteacher development has been valued highly, and how to achieve the sustainabledevelopment for English teachers has become a hot topic in today’s educationalresearch. Action research, as an effective approach for teacher development, hasreceived positive comments from many educational researchers both at home andabroad. In1979, Stenhouse put forward a standpoint of “teachers as researchers”, andhe also considered that action research was an effective approach in solving teachingproblems and achieving teacher development. Collaborative action research (CAR), asa type of action research, emphasizes the switch of processes from individual teachersto collaborative teacher groups. Through CAR, some teaching problems can be solvedeffectively and promptly; at the same time, teachers who participate in action researchcan achieve development to a great extent. Therefore, CAR has gradually become themain tendency in educational field in recent years.In this study, four English teachers, in a western senior high school of Hunanprovince, were chosen to join a learning community and conduct a collaborative actionresearch. This study tries to answer two questions:1). How do English teachers change when participating in collaborative actionresearch?2). How does collaborative action research promote English teacher developmentin senior high schools?The study employs qualitative method (interview, peer observation and journals)and quantitative method (questionnaires). It aims to explore participants’ changes inteaching methods, attitudes and reflection. The results show that:1). Through CAR, teaching problems could be solved more effectively; in addition,teachers as participants could change a lot in terms of new teaching pedagogy adopted,improved teaching and research skills, positive attitudes and views on teaching andresearch, deeper reflection on teaching, initiative consciousness of development,increased confidence in future career and trustful relationship with students.2). Learning community based on collaboration and encouragement could provideparticipants a harmonious environment where teachers feel free, tolerant andsupportive with one other; further more, it could stimulate participants’ consciousnessof teacher development. The results proved that CAR can achieve senior high English teacher development more effectively and comprehensively in three aspectsprofessional development, personal development, and social development in differentdegrees.The findings show that CAR can not only meet the requirements of Basic Englishreform, but also provide an effective method for English teachers in senior highschools to achieve sustainable development, consequently, to make teachers be moreconfident for their future teaching and research career.