The Concept Of Teacher Development And Its Implication To English Language Teaching

English language teachers are not just empty vessels waiting to be filled with the knowledge. Without the professional development in academics, practice and psychology, they might have difficulties in acquiring effective teaching. With the development of the economics, people抯 thinking and beliefs, the society has great demand for the necessity and possibility of language teachers?self-growth in teaching performance. Teacher Development, as a current educational approach, aims at exploring and researching on how language teachers develop themselves professionally and psychologically. The formation of language teachers?thinking and beliefs are accompanied with their whole career life by means of consistent teaching practices and ? continuous studies. Great progress has been made in ELT for Teacher Development, but there are still many problems existed to be solved. The researches of ELT should be more deeper and specific for solving the practical teaching problems. The construction of curriculum is lack of rationality. The textbooks used by the students weaken the power of objectivity, profession and practicality for ELT. Rather, the language teachers find less chance in their self-development or involving themselves in the studies of theories and practices of English language teaching. Self-reflection, self-concept and self-assessment have not been extensively concerned about for their teaching performance. Under the present Abstract 67 situations, it is urgently necessary to change and reform both in the systems of ELT (language educational policy, school circumstances and requirements for professional teachers) and the capabilities of educating teachers?themselves(teaching process, teaching strategies, teaching assessment) for their professional development. Teacher Development, as a central topic discussed in this paper, first, can be judged by the growth in knowledge, skill, and judgement that language teachers bring to their work in the classroom. Secondly, it might be judged by the contributions they make to a professional community. Finally, it can be performed in the evolution of a teacher抯 career. To provide a context for this topic, I will describe the significance of Teacher Development about ELT and focus on how to conduct and acquire Teacher Development. It is observed and studied in those aspects such as language teachers as experiential learners, as cooperative work mates and as reflective researchers. It consists of seven parts altogether. Introduction presents a general account of the whole dissertation and puts forward some points of view of carrying out the present research. Chapter One theoretical studies on ELT have developed in three stages. At the beginning stage of the studies, teachers with adequate knowledge could be regarded as qualified teachers. But with the development of the theoretical studies on ELT, the introduction of behaviorism and cognitive styles have broadened the researches on it. Especially the cognitive styles stress the psychological activities, personal experiences and self-consciousness by means of which teacher thinking is formed. The theory of teacher thinking has profound meanings on ELT. In this chapter, problems are put forward. It has been recognized that innovations must be conducted to improve English language teaching. Chapter Two mo...