Expert Senior High School English Teachers’ Professional Qualities:A Case Study Of Its Structure And Influencing Factors

The State Council’s "Opinions on Comprehensively Deepening the Reform of the Teacher Team in the New Era" issued in January 2018 has clearly stated that "the quality of primary and high school teachers should be comprehensively improved,and a highquality,professional teaching force is necessary to build." As an inseparable part of teacher development,the professional quality structure and development of foreign language teachers have become particularly topical.In those studies of foreign language teacher development,the topic about the construction and development of teachers’ professional qualities has been caught sight by many researchers.However,relevant studies has paid more attention to foreign language teachers in universities,but less to the front-line English teachers,especially those teachers in primary and secondary schools.Therefore,the focus of this research is "the structure of senior high school English teachers’ professional qualities".Two outstanding English teachers from two different senior high schools in A City were selected as the research participants,and the data were collected through semi-structured interviews,classroom observations,and documents.The purpose of this research is to explore the structure and influencing factors of the professional qualities of senior high school English teachers through a case study.It is found that the professional qualities of expert English teachers in senior high schools are also composed of four dimensions: view of the foreign language teaching profession and professional ethics,view of foreign language teaching and learning,foreign language pedagogical content competence,and view of language teacher learning and development.The professional qualities of expert English teachers in senior high schools are not immutable,but germinates in problems and grows in difficulties.Two main factors are affecting the professional qualities of expert English teachers in senior high schools: internal influencing factors and external influencing factors.As a result,the school’s good traditions help these teachers to improve their professional knowledge and carry out teaching exercises in the early stage of their careers;the redundant out-of-teaching affairs,the scarcity of the opportunity for advanced study,and the singleness of the school administration’s evaluation of teachers’ teaching make the teachers’ professional development hindered.Expert senior high school English teachers can turn the disadvantages into advantages,turn the external obstacles into their development motivations,thus becoming teachers with rich theory,solid specialty,excellent teaching,and high moral character.