A Study On Professional Learning Community For Junior Middle School English Teachers

Teacher professional learning community is one of the effective ways to promote teacher professional development.It not only provides a platform of practical cooperation and reflection for teachers,but also supplies them with ample resources and emotional support.However,a variety of problems make it difficult to construct teachers’ professional learning community.Therefore,this research carries out an investigation about the current situation of the professional learning community for junior middle school English teachers and tries to reveal the existing problems and causes behind them.On the basis of theoretical analysis,the researcher puts forward some feasible strategies for the construction of professional learning community for junior middle school English teachers.Based on the theory of group dynamics,learning organization and cooperative learning,the researcher investigated 151 junior middle school English teachers in Ji’an city by using questionnaire and interview as research instruments.The questionnaire for junior middle school English teachers’ professional learning community was designed according to the teachers’ professional learning community scale by Lauer&Dean(2004),which includes four dimensions: shared decision making,shared sense of purpose and focus on student learning,collaborative activity and deprivatized practice,staff support and cooperation.The present study attempts to answer the following two research questions:(1)What is the overall status of English teachers’ professional learning community in Ji’an?(2)What are the problems in the English teachers’ professional learning community in Ji’an and what are the causes of the problems?The results of investigation show that the overall status of middle school English teachers is far from satisfactory.The main problems are presented as follows:(1)Teachers lack the right to make decisions on many school affairs,such as curriculum,discipline,school budget,novice teachers recruitment and so on.(2)Although there are clear developmental goals in the teachers’ professional learning community,the goals focus on students’ academic performance,with little consideration to students’ comprehensive development.(3)The activities in the learning community tend to be single and become a mere formality.(4)School authorities fail to provide supportive conditions for the construction of teachers’ professional learning community.There are many reasons for these problems.From schools’ perspective,school leadership dominates the schools’ decisions which is not democratic.School authorities put undue emphasis on competitive evaluation system and single incentive mechanism.From the perspective of teachers,teachers lack the awareness of cooperation.The cooperation culture remains to be cultivated.On the basis of the existing problems,the research puts forward the suggestions for school authorities,community members so as to construct an efficient English teachers’ professional learning community.(1)For the school authorities,the school leaders should transform the traditional directive leadership styles.Besides,a range of support should be provided for professional learning community,such as the time,space and financial support.Thirdly,the school authorities should establish a mature organization mechanism,involving a multifaceted formative evaluation mechanism and a perfect incentive mechanism which combines the material and spiritual incentives.(2)For the community members,firstly,a widely acknowledged shared vision should be clarified in the community.Secondly,the cooperative culture is expected to be formed in the community.Finally,the community members ought to nurture the belief of life-long learning.