A Study Of The Professional Development Of The Rural Primary School English Teachers

Primary schools in China have offered English classes from Grade 3 since the Basic Education Curriculum Reform Project in 2002.In fact,the development of students is based on the qualities of teachers,and the key to improve teachers’ qualities is to promote teachers’ professional development(TPD).Though attempts have been made at studying English teachers’ TPD from the perspective of English teachers in junior and senior high schools,researches of primary English teachers’ TPD are relatively few and far from adequate.In addition,many rural primary English teachers fail to strengthen their professional development due to the lack of professional guidance and heavy workload.Many primary schools even have not offered English course so far for the insufficient number of English teachers.Under such circumstances,there is a great necessity to conduct a study on rural primary English teachers’ TPD as to improve their professional qualities.To improve the professional qualities of the rural primary English teachers,Department of Education in Shandong Province implemented the “Pilot Training Program of Teaching Skills for Rural Primary Teachers” in 2016.A one-year special training(including listening lessons,acting lessons,classroom management strategies and reading lessons)for rural primary English teachers was carried out in thirteen counties including Dongming county,which is in Heze city of Shandong province.And 119 primary English teachers in Dongming county took part in this program as trainees.The author,as one of the volunteer trainers,participated in the program and conducted the study on rural primary English teachers’ TPD in order to achieve good effect in the training.As for researches on rural primary English teachers’ TPD at home,few studies have been conducted,most of which analyze the data only from the perspective of percentage calculation and case studies due to the difficulties in guaranteeing sufficient participants.By combining qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data collected from the questionnaire and the semi-structured interview,the writer carried out the investigation of 119 rural primary English teachers in Dongming county tofigure out the current situation of the rural primary English teachers’ TPD and explore the problems lying behind as well as the effects of genders,majors and other factors on their professional development.SPSS 22.0 was applied to analyze the data collected from the questionnaire and the semi-structured interview.Results and major findings based on data analysis can be summarized as follows:Primary English teachers’ TPD in Dongming county,in general,is at a low to medium level,and the current situation is rather dissatisfactory.In specific terms,the participants show inadequate professional knowledge,such as the lack of basic English subject knowledge,poor phonetic knowledge and a narrow scope of knowledge.Their professional capacity in practical teaching and scientific researches is weak.They have low consciousness to promote themselves and lack the sense of self-development in their professional affections.Majors and titles exert effects on rural primary English teachers’ TPD,and there is no significant difference among the participants in terms of the effects of gender,ages,education background and teaching experience on their professional development.On the basis of the research results,some suggestions are put forward to promote the rural primary English teachers’ TPD.Finally,some limitations of the present study and suggestions for the future study are put forward.