A Study Of English Teachers' Professional Development In Middle School From The Perspective Of Educational Ecology

Educational ecology is an interdisciplinary subject which initiated in the middle of the 1970 s.It studies education by referring to the basic ideas and principles of ecology.Educational ecology sets education into the natural environment,social environment and normative environment and studies the relationship between education and ecological factors existing in these three environments.With the advancement of education reform,the ecological problems of English teachers have become a worthy focus of concern.Therefore,it is of great theoretical and practical significance to study English teachers' professional development from the perspective of educational ecology.This paper regarded English teachers' professional development as a complete system based on the educational ecology.Firstly,it illustrated related concepts and principles of educational ecology in order to provide theoretical support for analyzing the problems and causes of the current situation and exploring some strategies for English teachers' professional development.Secondly,taking the English teachers of L school in Shanxi Province as the subjects,this research conducted a three month investigation with the method of questionnaires,interviews and observation,aiming to reveal the current situation of English teachers' professional development.The content of investigation included English teachers' basic information,English teachers' attitudes and opinions,the school management,and the teachers' culture.It found that English teachers' professional development was influenced by many factors including English teachers' attitudes,the formatted school management,and the mosaicculture in the current school ecological environment.Thirdly,this research proposed some suggestions for improving English teachers' professional development from the ecological individual of English teacher and the external ecological environment in the perspective of educational ecology.In terms of the English teachers,they should set ecology-orientated concepts of professional development to break niche confusion.At the same time,the school should establish ecology-oriented school management systems by reforming English teacher evaluation system and improving English teacher training system.Finally,it made a conclusion and pointed out the deficiency.Meanwhile,it proposed some thought and expectation for the future further study.