A Narrative Inquiry Of The Practical Knowledge Of A Young Prominent College English Teacher

Since the 1990s, discussions from the international academia on teacher's professional development and teachers' practical knowledge have been growing. Considering such a condition, the author has conducted this narrative research which involves in a young prominent college teacher, with the hope that it can improve people's attention on young college teachers.A young college English teacher is selected as the cooperative research subject as the cooperator. After spending more than half a year on data collection, including class observation for about 3 months, talks and interviews with the subject's students and colleagues, the author discloses those selected stories, attempting to explore the subject's practical knowledge which lies behind her experience and daily routine:the belief, the formation and the application of her practical knowledge.This paper is divided into six parts:The first chapter is introduction, briefing the background of the origin of the teachers' practical knowledge, the significance of this research as well as organization of this paper. The second chapter is the literature review, focusing on definition, constitution and influencing factors of teachers' practical knowledge in detail. What's more, the author makes a brief introduction to related researches at home and abroad at present. The third chapter involves a full and accurate introduction to the research design, the participant, research questions, and research instruments as well as the research procedure of this thesis. The fourth part is the core of this research subject, depicting the author's classroom observation, an interview with the subject's students and colleagues. The fifth part refers to findings and implications of this thesis, including detailed analysis of Ms Dong's personal practical knowledge as well as its influencing factors. Through summarizing Ms Dong's knowledge of self, subject content knowledge, education belief, knowledge of context, knowledge of students, and critical and reflective knowledge, this thesis finally figures out the generality and individuality of teachers'practical knowledge. The last part is the conclusion which explains the existing limitations of this research and suggestions for the future researches.