Research On English Teachers' Professional Development In Higher Vocational Colleges

With the rapid development of society,the International communication is becoming more and more frequent. Good English has become a core skill for excellent vocational graduates. How to improve their English is the biggest problem in English teaching reform.. As we know, "Education is the foundation of the nation,and the teacher is the soul of education." The good qualities of higher vocational English teachers are crucial to education, which is the guarantee of education. To a great extent,their professional knowledge and self-development ability determine the level and trend of educational activities. If English teachers expect to improve teaching quality and cultivate more excellent higher vocational graduates,they must develop their professional ability to meet the educational requirement.In this paper,we combine with the current background of higher vocational education,abide by the requirements of Vocational College English curriculum reform,and point out that teachers' professional development is an inevitable option for higher vocational English teachers. Firstly,we sort out domestic and foreign related research on higher vocational English teachers' professional development and then put forward the research ideas and technical route and possible innovation. Secondly,we discuss the background and the necessity of English teachers' professional development. Thirdly,we make a survey on English teachers' professional development by means of face-to-face interviews and questionnaires in five famous higher Vocational Colleges in Shaanxi Province. As a result, we find some common problems in these colleges. Fourthly,we analyze the causes for the problems in ways of internal and external factors. On the one hand,Vocational English teachers lack self-development awareness and overall development planning; their occupation burnout is also serious. On the other hand,not only the status of Vocational English curriculum but also the status of English teacher is extremely low; the evaluation system is unscientific; the policy of scientific research and teachers' training is imperfect. Finally, we put forward the countermeasures and suggestions for English teachers' professional development to provide theoretical guidance for others. From the internal factors,higher vocational English teachers should establish their own awareness of development; strengthen their own quality; widen their knowledge; improve their practical ability; enrich their teaching mode; improve their ability of scientific research. From the external factors,higher vocational colleges should ensure the status of English curriculum; establish a scientific evaluation system for English teachers; develop a comprehensive policy of scientific research; build a team of double qualified teachers; establish a development center and create a humanistic campus culture for teachers.English teachers' professional development can not only improve their own abilities but also develop higher vocational colleges.