A Survey Of The Current Situation Of Teachers’ Practical Knowledge

Teachers’ practical knowledge, which is considered the key knowledge of teachers’ professional development, has drawn people’s attention since the 1980s. As for the researches of teachers’ practical knowledge at home and abroad, there is much less empirical study than theoretical study. What’s more, for the research subjects, most studies choose teachers in general as research subjects, fewer researches have been done on teachers of specific courses, such as English teachers.Accordingly, the present research adopts Professor Chen Xiangming’s definition and six components of teachers’practical knowledge as theoretical framework, and high school English teachers in Nanning are chosen as the participants. Data are collected by questionnaires and interviews. A total of 100 questionnaires are handed out. The response rate is 98% and 98 questionnaires are available. And 7 teachers in different ages are chosen to do the interviews. The present research mainly focuses on the opinions about teachers’ practical knowledge and its importance of high school English teachers in Nanning; whether the generation of teachers’ practical knowledge lags behind; tries to find ways to promote the development of senior high school English teachers’ practical knowledge of Nanning. Study finds that high school English teachers cannot understand teachers’ practical knowledge and its importance deeply; they cannot effectively use the generating ways of teachers’ practical knowledge; generation of teachers’ practical knowledge lags behind. Reasons come from teachers, schools and the education departments.The thesis is composed of six chapters. Chapter one makes a brief introduction to the origin, purpose, significance and organization of the thesis. Chapter two is the literature review, definition, components, characteristic, influencing factors, generating approach and relevant researches at home and abroad of teachers’practical knowledge are included. Chapter three elaborates the methodology of the study referring to the questions, participants and methods. Chapter four is the analysis and finding part, a detailed analysis of the questionnaire investigation and interview is included in this part. According to the results and findings in chapter four, reasons leading to the lag of generating teachers’ practical knowledge and some suggestions about how to construct and develop senior high school English teachers’ practical knowledge are discussed in Chapter five. At last, a statement of the limitations and recommendations for future research is depicted.