An Analysis On The Main Factors Of Affecting Novice English Teacher Professional Development In Rural Middle Schools

As the initial stage of novice English teacher professional development(NETPD),novice English teachers play a key role on the teachers' professional development.Novice English teachers have their own unique advantages.They are young,vibrant and full of enthusiasm for life and work,they also have strong desire for knowledge,innovative sense and pioneering spirit.However,novice English teachers also are a group which is full of contradictions.Due to the lack of sufficient teaching experience,using the relevant teaching methods improperly,when they face difficulties and frustrations in the work and life,they are easy to be knocked down.If the novice teachers can not be given correct guidance or timely adjustment by themselves,they are prone to produce negative psychology,which also has a negative impact on their professional development of the entire teaching career.As an important part of education in China,education in the rural middle schools is related to China's future education development and personnel training.Due to different factors such as geography,environment,customs and so on,however,education in rural areas is still weak in our country,especially NETPD in the rural middle schools,which need to be improved urgently and can not be neglected.In order to study the main factors of influencing NETPD in rural middle schools,this study selected 89 novice English teachers who have worked for 1-5 years in the18 rural middle schools in a certain county of Hubei Province.Beginning from the survey of the present situation in rural middle schools,the study mainly focuses on the analysis on the main factors of influencing NETPD in rural middle schools,and puts forward some suggestions on how to improve NETPD in rural middle schools.With the research methodologies of questionnaire and semi-structured interview,the conclusions are drawn as below.Firstly,the current situation of NETPD in rural middle school shows: 1)the educational background of novice English teachers is relatively high,84% of them have graduated from undergraduate institutions;2)the ratio of the gender is unbalanced seriously,there is a serious lack of male teachers;3)their workload isheavy;4)the location of the schools is remote,the teachers have to live in schools;5)the income is relatively low.Secondly,the main influencing factors of NETPD in the rural middle schools are mainly divided into external factors and internal factors.External factors include social factors,school factors,and family factors;internal factors include awareness of teacher professional development,teacher belief,teacher knowledge,teacher skills,attitudes and motivations.Thirdly,novice English teachers hope to improve their TPD by the ways of mentoring,cooperating with colleagues,participating continuing education,attending open classes and learning by themselves.Based on the major findings above,this study puts forward some suggestions from the perspectives of society,school,family and novice English teaches,it is expected that more scholars can pay more attention to NETPD in the rural middle schools,and further related research can be done.