Growing Up As A "Green Pepper":A Case Study Of A Young English Teacher's Professional Development In An Elementaary School

This case study explored the professional development of a young English teacher having nine years' working experience in an elementary school.Based on the data collected from interviews,classroom observation and case documents,this study investigated her experiences of professional growth and factors that promoted or hindered her development.The major two findings are as follows:Firstly,the teacher's professional development has been a continuous,dynamic and interactive process.Her childhood dream drove her to choose the major of teacher education.Her hard-work study in college laid a solid foundation for her becoming an English teacher and her great efforts made in the early years of teaching helped her gain more opportunities for development.Throughout her professional development,her teaching beliefs,including her views of self as a teacher,of students and of teaching,have changed,which improved her teaching abilities regarding instructional design and classroom management.Her improved classroom management ability was the more obvious,which seems to be a direct response to her change in teaching beliefs.Data also shows that her students' increased interest in English learning has to do with her improved communication with students and enriched classroom activities.Secondly,her professional growth was facilitated or hindered by personal,interpersonal,at-school and social factors.The facilitating factors include her good personal qualities,family support and effective teaching and training activities.Obstacles mainly have to do with the socio-cultural environment,including too many chores at school,the high expectation of and noncooperation from the students' parents,and the pressure from the current exam-oriented education.Although her professional development has been influenced by both internal and external factors,her good personal qualities seemed to have the greatest impact on her professional growth.Based on the above findings,the researcher tries to make some suggestions for both teachers and environmental support.From the teacher's perspective,young teachers' autonomy in professional development should be cultivated to form an internal driving force.From the perspective of environmental support,platforms for young teachers'growth should be built,to reduce their workload with extra work and to care about their physical and mental health.