A Case Study Based On The College English Teachers' Professional Agency From The Perspective Of Activity Theory

The concept of agency is that human beings have the ability to influence their lives and environment while they are also shaped by social and individual factors,which is of significance for the professional development of teachers.In recent years,researchers at home and abroad have focused on the great significance of agency,and consequently,it has gradually been a hot research topic.So far,the exertion of teachers‘ professional agency has not been discussed in depth in many researches.Moreover,some researches of teacher professional agency only concern inner aspect of agency,without relating teachers‘ intentions to external factors.It means that few works have explored the social factors affecting teachers‘ professional agency,so far,and meanwhile have overlooked the impact of agency on teachers‘ professional development.Thus,there is a lack of overall analysis on professional agency of college English teaches.Then,this paper attempts to discuss how teacher professional agency can be conceptualized in the interaction with students and their colleagues from a social-cultural activity theory perspective.In a result,three research questions are accordingly raised:(1)how do college English teachers exert their professional agency in the teaching interactions with students;(2)how do college English teachers exert their professional agency in the teaching interactions with their colleagues;(3)what factors may influence college English teachers‘ professional agency?This paper adopts both of qualitative and quantitative research method.By using the method of questionnaire,interviews,classroom observations,and group meetings,a one-term research concerning teachers‘ professional agency is conducted in the target university.The questionnaire aims to describe the general perception of teachers‘ professional agency in the target college,and examine the demographic variables affecting teachers‘ professional agency.The findings indicate that the teachers‘ sense of professional agency is relatively high in the target college.Among the five dimensions,the mean score of the dimension of Reflection in Classroom(REF)is the highest.Next,in the rest of them,the sense of teachers‘ professional agency from high to low is: Competence,Social Support,Modeling,and Collaborative Learning Environment.In terms of the demographic variables,there is only a significant correlation between age and teachers‘ professional agency.To examine the exertion of college English teachers‘ professional agency,further case studies are conducted on the three subjects.And the findings show that in addition to demographic variables,both inner factors including self-efficacy,reflection,and consciousness of professional development,and external factors of college atmosphere and modeling have great impact on teachers‘ professional agency.Besides,the findings of the case study also reveal that there are some common objects between the activity systems of the three participants‘ classroom teaching and that of college,which shows that they exert their professional agency by not only responding to college curriculum reform but by achieving transformation than the reform required.Furthermore,positive attitude,active participants of students,as well as past learning experience work together to explain the transformations of the three subjects and help them take agentive actions in their teaching practices.The significance of the study is two-sided: First,it has theoretical implications by connecting the socio-cultural perspective of activity theory with the research on college English teachers‘ professional agency;second,it has practical implications for promoting teachers‘ professional development.