A Study On Professional Identity Of English Teachers In Kunming Private Basic Education

With the development of teachers' profession in the past twenty years,the research of teacher professional identity has become an independent field of study.Many scholars both at home and abroad have made a great deal of research and achieved fruitful results in the scope of teacher professional identity.However,there is still room for further exploration in the field of foreign language teachers in particular the exploration of professional identity of English teachers in China's private basic education.Based on this background,the study aimed to explore the present specific cognitive level of professional identity in six dimensions and its influencing factors for English teachers in private basic education of Kunming city.Eighty-one valid questionnaires were collected after handing out almost one hundred copies.Full time English teachers were taken as research subjects,who came from five different private schools in Kunming city,Yunnan province.By adopting questionnaire survey and carrying out in-depth structured interviews with four teachers from the participants,quantitative analysis were conducted based on the statistical results from SPSS19.0.The major findings were shown as follows: firstly,the overall level of the average score of teacher professional identity of English teachers was not high,and these sample teachers held a relatively moderate level of professional identity.In the analysis,teachers with more than ten years of working experience got the highest level in the dimension of professional role;monthly income played little role in influencing teacher professional identity,which was different from what had been expected;on the aspect of different school types,English teachers in the school of migrant children got the lowest score in the three dimensions of professional role,professional environment and professional expertise.Secondly,through a questionnaire survey and structured interviews,it was found that English teachers' professional identity has been influenced by many factors,such as English language proficiency,school organizational culture,curriculum reform and social evaluation.Finally,in view of some existing problems based on the data analysis,this paper put forward some suggestions on promoting professional identity construction from the three aspects of teachers individuals,school management and social evaluation.This study was only a preliminary survey of the present status of professional identity of English teachers in Kunming private basic education,and the conclusion will need further verification and supplementation accordingly.At the end of this paper,influential factors were discussed and further research suggestions were also put forward so as to provide a possible reference for future study on teacher professional identity in private education.