Analysis Of The Research Ability Of English Teachers In Primary And Middle Schools

It is a main trend to focusing on teachers’ research ability for the development of the universalteachers’ education. Ministry of Education successfully issued the (Compulsory Education) EnglishCurriculum Standards (2011),“National Training Plan” Curriculum Standard (Trial), Primary SchoolTeachers’ Professional Standard (Trial), and Middle School Teacher’ Professional Standard (Trial) in2012respectively, which have made new demands for in-service English teachers’ research ability. For primaryand middle schools English teachers, the development of research ability is both a requirement of teachers’professional development (TPD), and the need of a new round of basic education curriculum reform, so it isthe new requirements put forward by today’s social development for English teachers. In-service Englishteachers being engaged in scientific research is both “the approaches to teachers’ professional growth andthe need to train in-service English teachers for adapting to teachers’ professional growth and basiceducation reform in China”(Su Jun,2007). Theses for Education Master’s degree (Edm theses) is thecomprehensive application of elementary knowledge, professional skills, innovation ability, and thecentralized embodiment of research ability.The author randomly chooses a total of100Edm theses from2009to2011among16normaluniversities in China，and statistically analyzes the topic selection, the body, and citations, further studiesin-service English teachers’ research ability. Besides, questionnaire is also used to learn about the currentsituation of the factors of in-service English teachers’ research ability, the difficulties and problems theyhad in conducting research in English learning and teaching (ELT). Through the investigation, the aim is tolearn about the current situation of in-service English teachers’ research ability and the causes of thedifficulties and problems. Based on this research, the author puts forward some relevant suggestions andstrategies.The study tries to answer the following questions:(1) What is the status quo of in-service English teachers’ ability in discovering and analyzingproblems in ELT?(2) What is the status quo of in-service English teachers’ ability in designing and implementing plans for problem-solving in ELT?(3) What is the status quo of in-service English teachers’ ability in thesis-writing in ELT?The main findings of the present study can be summarized as follows:Firstly, in-service English teachers’ ability in discovering and analyzing problems is strong. Theirtheses are based on the basic education curriculum reform and can be closely linked to real problems inclassroom teaching. Secondly, in-service English teachers’ ability in designing and implementing plans forproblem-solving better meets the requirements of the curriculum reform. Research designs in their thesesare more scientific, and can be more smoothly implemented in practice, by doing this, the researchquestions in theses can be better answered. However, there exists such a phenomenon in some theses thatthe document and the theoretical framework are less associated with teaching practice to some extent,which reflects the disjoint between theory and practice from one side. Thirdly, in-service English teachers’ability in thesis-writing also needs to be improved. Thesis-writing ability in this study mainly refers toacademic standardization of language and academic standardization of text format. The language style isinaccurate in Edm theses, such as: informal style, colloquial style, and slang in some theses. Thespecification of the abstract writing and reference also needs to be improved.This article consists of five chapters: Chapter one is the research background, research significanceand purposes, and the overall structure of this paper. Chapter two presents the relevant literature review.Chapter three is the study design, including research questions, research objective, research methods andprocedures, and data collection. Chapter four focuses on results and discussion of questionnaires and Edmtheses. Chapter five firstly presents the solutions to the research questions, then proposes some relevantpedagogical suggestions and gives limitations and prospects of the present study.