A Case Study Of Novice Teachers’ Practical Knowledge Development During Online One-to-One Chinese Teaching Internship

Teaching practice is not only a simple exercise of acquired knowledge,but also a process that helps novice teachers gain a deeper understanding of the nature of teaching.Practicing in a realistic environment that includes the influence of multiple factors enables novice teachers to move quickly from abstract to concrete understanding of teaching.Therefore,studying the changes and development of teachers’ practical knowledge during the internship period should contribute to the improvement of the international Chinese teacher preparation system.This study is based on the author’s real-life experiences and reflections during her three-month teaching internship.Using a case study approach,the author(Teacher L)and four other intern teachers at the same time were used as the research subjects,and the classroom records and reflective journals were used as the research materials to depict the growth trajectory of novice teachers during their short-term teaching internship and to analyze the factors affecting the development of their practical knowledge.The study adopts a narrative research orientation and takes the online one-on-one training program between Beijng and the University of Hawaii as the research environment.First,the study analyzes teacher L,summarizes the practical knowledge possessed by her before and after the internship,compares and analyzes the factors affecting the changes in her practical knowledge,and proposes a model of practical knowledge development based on teacher L.Subsequently,the study explored the applicability of the model of practical knowledge development by analyzing the structured interview texts of the four peer teachers before and after their internships,and based on this,proposed relevant cultivation suggestions for novice Chinese teachers and teacher training units.The study found that all five novice Chinese teachers showed changes in their practical knowledge in four areas:knowledge about self,knowledge about subject,knowledge about students,and knowledge about context,and the dominant role of beliefs about the nature of education in these changes could be seen.Among the factors influencing the development of novice teachers’ practical knowledge,the "online one-on-one" teaching model played a different role from the classroom teaching practice.