College English Teachers' Decision-making In Their Professional Life:A Case Study

Decision-making is an issue faced by everyone in daily life and it is especially important for people who work in the field of education.This paper investigates,through case study method,the decision-making power and the process of the university teachers in their professional life.Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three university teachers of English to find out whether they had any decision-making power or how they made decisions over issues concerning their teaching,researching and administrative work.The framework of activity theory was employed to analyze the data from teachers' narratives concerning their own awareness,concepts,practice of decision-making.The paper finds that teachers are able to make some decisions in the aspects of material selection,student assessment and academic choices,but compared with the major issues in university management,professional communities and education reform,these decision-making points seem to be insignificant.Therefore,it is suggested that empowering university teachers with more decision-making alternatives and creating a more supportive and appropriate environment would be a critical condition for the professional development of the university teachers.