| English lessons have been provided for all of the pupils from the third grade in China since the Basic Education Curriculum Reform Project. In some schools, English lessons are even provided from grade one. The overall offering of English course in primary schools calls for high-quality primary school English teachers. New curriculum reform also puts forward more high-level request for primary school English teachers’professional attainment. However, it is really a serious problem that the level of professionalism of many primary school English teachers is still very low. So, it is urgent to construct a high level and high quality group of English teachers in primary schools. The normal schools should assume the mission to cultivate high-quality primary school English teachers who can meet the needs of new curriculum reform.Teaching reflection is considered to be the core element to teachers’ professional development and personal growth. It can also enhance teachers’ quality and professional level. Since1980s, reflection and reflective teaching have become a hot topic in the educational research abroad. It is illustrated that reflection plays a promoting role for the teachers’ professionalism in the process of the professional development of teachers. Reflective practice and reflective teachers are becoming more and more important subjects and are paid more and more attention to by many experts and scholars. The education of reflective teachers offers a new method for the cultivation of primary school pre-service English teachers. Cultivation of good habit of reflection and good reflective ability at early stage has enormous impetuses to the professional development and personal growth of primary school pre-service English teachers in the future. In that case, the pre-service teachers can transform smoothly from "empirical" to "reflective".The aim of this study is to explore the development of primary school pre-service English teachers’reflective levels in teaching practicum, factors influencing their reflection and problems in their reflection. Specifically, the current study tries to answer the following questions:1) How do the primary school pre-service English teachers’ reflective levels develop during the teaching practicum?2) What are the factors influencing the development of their reflection?3) What are the problems in their reflection? The research method adopted in this research is case study. Research participants are four primary school pre-service English teachers who are of college qualifications from Chenzhou Normal School. Through observing their action in the practicum, analyzing their reflection journals and interviews, the researcher tries to investigate their teaching reflection in the practicum.The results of this research show that pre-service teachers’ reflections are mainly at technical level and partly can reach practical level. A few of them can occasionally reach critical level. The development of reflection varies among the participants. Some pre-service teachers’reflection levels have enhanced, and some not. But in general, their development is not so great. The key influencing factors include external and internal factors, such as the impacting of mentor, environmental factor and personal factors including reflective awareness, personal experience and so on. Besides, the researcher finds that there are still many problems in pre-service teachers’ reflection which can be listed as follows:their reflective consciousness is weak; their reflective level is low and they are lack of professional theoretical knowledge; they are lack of reflective skills, so the form of reflection is single; the content of their reflection is scattered and not overall enough. Based on these findings, this thesis offers some reference suggestions for the cultivation of primary school pre-service English teachers. It also provides certain reference to the cultivation of elementary teachers who can meet the demands of new curriculum reform and the education of pre-service teachers. |
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