An Investigation Into Learning Differences Of Senior High School English Teachers

Teacher learning research has been increasingly emphasized under the influence of educational trends such as teacher professionalization,teaching reform,and lifelong education.The focus of research has gradually shifted from “teacher education” to the more active “teacher learning”(Xu & Li,2019).The development of English teaching in senior high schools cannot be achieved without teachers,and to develop high quality professional teachers can’t be separated from the continuous learning of teachers.However,previous researches have focused on exploring commonalities in teacher learning.Scant studies have investigated the differences in teacher learning,although it plays an important role in meeting the learning need of different teachers.Besides,mixed study which can provide more comprehensive evidence for teacher learning is of paucity.Moreover,few researches have been done on teacher learning for senior high school English teachers.Adopting a mixed method,the present study aimed to explore the differences in learning of senior high school English teachers with different genders,professional titles,teaching years,educational backgrounds.The specific research questions are as follows:Q1.What are the team structure distributions of senior high school English teachers?Q2.What are the differences in learning situations among teachers with different genders,professional titles,teaching years and educational backgrounds?Q3.What are the differences in learning expectations among teachers with different genders,professional titles,teaching years and educational backgrounds?The measurement instruments included a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview.A total of 242 senior high school English teachers participated in the questionnaire,and 8 of them were interviewed as volunteers in the semi-structured interview.The major findings are as follows:(1)There was a serious imbalance between male and female teachers,with far more females than males;teachers with a middle title accounted for the largest proportion;the teaching year structure was dominated by novice and adaptive teachers;the educational background structure was also unbalanced,for the majority of teachers with a bachelor’s degree.(2)No significant difference in learning attitude of different teachers was found.Middle titles were more inclined to learn for pursuing the vital interests than the other teachers without a middle title.As for difficulties teachers face in learning,teachers with a master’s degree or above thought more than those with a bachelor’s degree that they lack opportunities;compared with novice teachers,adaptable teachers,skilled teachers and expert teachers thought more that their unit support is inadequate.With regard to the degree of learning satisfaction,male teachers’ satisfaction was significantly higher than that of female teachers;the satisfaction of teachers with a middle title was significantly lower than that of those without a middle title.(3)Males’ expectation of learning on weekends or festivals was significant higher than that of females.Concerning learning approaches expectations,teachers with a bachelor’s degree had a significantly higher expectation of teaching and research activities than teachers with a master’s degree or above;novice teachers and adaptive teachers had a significantly higher expectation of further education than expert teachers.Teachers with a master’s degree or above had a significantly higher learning expectation of frontier knowledge and dynamic research of English than those with a bachelor’s degree.Theoretically,this study will enrich the research materials on teacher learning.In practice,the present study is expected to provide suggestions for improving teachers’ professional level and making teachers learning plans.Meanwhile,it will be conducive for meeting the learning expectations of different senior high school English teachers more specifically.