A Study Of English Teachers' Practical Knowledge Construction In Junior Middle Schools

From 1960 s,teachers' professional development has become a key problem on the field of teacher education.Teacher,as a profession,is different from the education experts and the technology workers,which means that teachers have their own unique knowledge system.However,top-down education curriculum reform can not achieve expectant effect and it is difficult for teachers to apply trained knowledge to actual teaching behavior.The study of what knowledge teachers have,how they construct it,and how they use the knowledge to solve problems in teaching,namely the teachers' practical knowledge,is very important.This thesis aims to explore the dynamic process of English teachers' practical knowledge construction and the influential factors in junior middle schools.Depending on this,the research combines quantitative research with qualitative research,according to Chen Xiangming's(2011)content and mechanism of practical knowledge construction,Pan Lifang's(2013)questionnaire,Jiang Meiling's(2006)observation scheme,and semi-structure interview.The participants of this research are chosen from junior middle schools in Jinghong city,who receive some national teacher training program.The result shows that the process of teachers' practical knowledge construction contains four stages: teachers change their teaching behavior and problems appear;they solve problems with existed practical knowledge,and then teachers adjust their behavior;finally,their new practical knowledge is constructed.The influential factors contain two aspects: the supporting factors,including teaching view,self-efficiency,student view and teacher training,and the hindering ones containing evaluation forms and school context.Finally,the paper puts forward the approaches to English teacher practical knowledge construction in junior middle schools.