A Case Study Of Factors Impacting Teaching Behavior Of High School Efl Teachers In The Process Of Implementing New Curriculum

The New English Curriculum Standards (NECS) stresses task-based language teaching which emphasizes student-centered language education and the process of learning.Specifically, it requires teachers to shift from their traditional teacher-centered teaching practice to learner-centered teaching practice. However, some previous studies revealed that teachers' teaching behaviors do not conform to the requirements made by NECS. Therefore,it is of great necessity to explore which factors influence teachers' teaching behaviors.Researchers in China and beyond have been conducting studies of teaching behavior of teachers teaching English as a foreign language (EFL teachers) in general and their behaviors in the context of curriculum reforms in particular. Among those studies, most of the researchers have investigated the status quo of teaching practices, finding that high school EFL teachers' teaching behaviors do not match with the requirements of curriculum reforms. However, few researchers explore factors prohibiting high school EFL teachers from implementing the reforms, especially, there is extremely lack of studies in the exploration of impacting factors on high school EFL teachers' teaching behaviors with the use of qualitative method. To fill in the gap, the author used qualitative case study chose 3 typical cases from Gui Zhou providence to investigate the impacting factors on high school EFL teachers' teaching behaviors.The case study suggested that the three high school EFL teachers' teaching behaviors were not consistent with the requirements of NECS. Specifically,their teaching objectives,teaching materials and classroom activities merely focused on language form. Also, in the study, three categories of different factors were found to have impacted teachers' teaching behaviors: the first category of teachers' negative attitudes towards NECS; the second category of subjective norm, including the pressure from evaluation system and the influence of school management,parents and colleagues as well; the third category of teachers' perceived behavioral control, listed as teachers' personal ability, personal teaching experiences, educational evaluation system, school management, students' learning habits and their English proficiency, Non-English speaking environment and the size of class.The research finding, therefore, not only has enriched the study of EFL teachers'teaching behavior in the Chinese context but also has shed light on the professional development of high school EFL teachers. Thus, the NECS could be effectively implemented and thereby high school English teaching can be improved.