An Investigative Research On Professional Development Of Senior High School English Teachers In Jinzhou City

Teachers’ professional development consists of teachers’ professional identity,professional knowledge and skills and professional development demands.In the 1960 s,western countries represented by the United States firstly have done investigations into teachers’ professional development and teachers’ professional development has developed a new trend.At the end of 20 century,Chinese scholars began to study teachers’ professional development.But teachers’ professional development in China emphasized teachers’ professional knowledge and skills,which neglected the inner demands of teachers.Although there are many researches on teachers’ professional development abroad and at home,studies on senior high school English teachers’ professional development and the influence of teachers’ demographic factors to their professional development are not adequate.This study aims to investigate senior high school English teachers’ professional development in Jinzhou city.The research questions are the following:1.What is the current situation of senior high school English teachers’ professional development in Jinzhou city?2.What is the influence of demographic factors on senior high school English teachers’ professional development(for example: gender,age,academic rank,educational background)?150 participants from different senior high schools in Jinzhou are investigated.Questionnaires and interviews are analyzed with SPSS19.0.The results are summarized in the following points: First,current situation of senior high school English teachers’ professional development in Jinzhou city is found from three aspects.From the point of teachers’ professional identity,senior high school English teachers are full of confidence and passion to the teaching career.But the minorities of them are not satisfied with the working environment.From the point of teachers’ professional knowledge and skills,senior high school English teachers think they have a good command of the English grammar and reading ability.While most of them think their intonation,pronunciation and even oral communication competence need to be improved.As to the ability of doing scientific research,a few teachers are eager to do scientific research,so their passion and ability of scientific research need improving.From the point of the teachers’ professional development demands,most senior high school Englishteachers have no stronger sense of professional self-development.But they have an interest in the improvement of theoretical quality and the ability of doing scientific research.Second,Teachers’ demographic factors have a significant effect on their professional development,such as gender,age,academic rank and educational background.Teachers’ professional identity of female is higher than that of male,which is increased by age.Teachers over 50 years old and with master degree are more satisfied with the job than others.Gender has no significant influence on teachers’ professional knowledge and skills.English teachers’ professional knowledge and skills roughly increase with higher academic rank and better educational background.The professional development demands of teachers with master degree are the highest,while for over 50 year-old teachers the demands are the lower.