A Narrative Inquiry Of Teachers’ Practical Knowledge

Clandinin holds that the studies of teachers’ practical knowledge can be regarded as a revolution related to how educators think about teaching practice in class. In the 80 s, Elbaz was engaged in the study of teachers’ practical knowledge(TPK). And the researches of TPK have become the heated research content and gained much attention from many researchers since then. Until now, the study of TPK has achieved many valuable research results.Having acknowledged all the research results, the author came to the conclusion that main focus of the studies of TPK is definitions and characteristics. And there is lack of experiential research. Besides,researchers paid much attention to the experienced teachers coming from major cities. They may be the teachers working at middle school or university. However, the study based on a novice English teacher from a small town is relatively limited. The inquiry into a new teacher’s practical knowledge is of high value and affects teachers’ professional development(TPD).Therefore, this thesis focuses on teachers’ practical knowledge. A novice English teacher, Miss Zhao, from a primary school in a town was selected as the collaborating object, and the author tried to record her teaching life,narrate her schooling, family education and teaching and research activities and describe her rich teaching stories based on the narrative inquiry andcase study. Specifically, the author paid much attention to describe the important matters and persons that affected Miss Zhao’s practical knowledge. Based on humanism, constructivism and reflective teaching,this thesis is aimed to solve the following three questions:(1)What are the components of Miss Zhao’s practical knowledge?(2)What changes happened to teachers’ practical knowledge?(3)What are the elements which affect the formation and development of teachers’ practical knowledge?The author has done the follow-up survey for three months and observed the collaborating teacher in and out of classroom three times a week.Besides, the author conducted in-depth interviews with Miss Zhao and her colleagues, leader and classmates and collected her teaching materials and reflection as well. From what has been collected, this thesis analyzed the components of teachers’ practical knowledge(TPK), such as knowledge of self, knowledge of subject, knowledge of student and knowledge of milieu.In addition, this thesis analyzed the factors which affect the formation and development of TPK including personal character, family education and schooling, school and social culture. In a word, this study is aimed to provide true evidence for the study of TPK and to give some clues for new teachers’ professional development.