A Study On Novice English Teachers’ Professional Development Based On Collective Lesson Preparation In Middle School

Middle school English teachers are faced with many challenges and new requirements during the new curriculum reform. It is necessary for novice English teachers who lack teaching experience to seek for more professional support. Collective lesson preparation, which is an important way to promote school-based research, plays a vital role in novice English teachers’ professional development. On the basis of the possible analysis above, this study investigates the current situation of middle school novice English teachers’ taking part in collective lesson preparation and how to improve their professional development through this activity, which poses great importance on improving novice English teachers’ professional development and collective lesson preparation in middle school.The study investigated 120 middle school English teachers in Yulin city in random questionnaire. Meanwhile semi-structured interview and participant observation were used to gather data from six English teachers of a lesson preparation group in grade one in S middle school. The research mainly focuses on current situation of middle school novice English teachers’ professional development and their collective lesson preparation, cognition and their behavior while taking part in collective lesson preparation, the effect of collective lesson preparation in promoting novice English teachers’ professional development. The study findings indicate that collective lesson preparation plays a vital role in teachers’ professional knowledge and ability, but there exists many striking problems: Firstly, novice English teachers’ teaching methods are inadequate to update during collective lesson preparation; Secondly, their collective lesson preparation mainly focuses on teaching and lacks of professional guidance. Thirdly, teachers neglect students’ cognitive ability. Last but not least, collective lesson preparation has little influence on novice English teachers’ research innovation and teaching reflective ability. Based on the analysis above, The study put forward the corresponding strategies: Firstly, novice English teaches should diversify teaching methods during collective lesson preparation; Secondly, they had better enrich the forms of collective lesson preparation, attach great importance to the curriculum development and enhance professional guidance; Thirdly, they ought to prepare the lesson based on their students’ cognitive ability; Fourthly, research and reflective collective lesson preparation should be promoted. The author aimed at seeking new ideas for teachers’ professional development and improving middle school novice English teachers’ professional development.