A Narrative Inquiry Into Teacher's Pedagogical Caring And Its Impact On Learners In RICH Education

This study aims to investigate teacher's pedagogical caring and its impact on learners in RICH education through a case study by adopting narrative inquiry and ethnography as methodology. Teacher's pedagogical caring is one of the keynotes in the curriculum innovation called RICH1, in the Foreign Languages College, Zhejiang Normal University (ZJNU for short). Specifically, this study attempts to explore the following three questions:1) How does the teacher show pedagogical caring to the students? 2) Why does the teacher exhibit these pedagogical caring behaviors? 3) What impact of such pedagogical caring have on the students?This study, which lasts for a whole academic year from October 2008 to June 2009, is conducted in the course of Basic English for the freshmen Class 085, who entered ZJNU in September,2008. The course is taught by Mrs. Ying, a teacher with 30 years of teaching experience for the English majors, and a core member of RICH education in the college. Altogether there are 27 students in Class 085, but only three of them will be mentioned in the illuminating stories. The data used in this study are qualitative in nature, derived from classroom observation, interviews, journals, emails, photos, tape recording and transcription.Based upon Habermas'theory of communicative action and Freire's dialogical educational theory, teacher's pedagogical caring, which focuses on "providing the behaviors that enhance student learning" (Hawk & Lyons,2008, p.321) in the teaching-learning context, has been explored. In this thesis, pedagogical caring is shown in the form of being flexible, being authentic, being relevant and mentoring (FARMing2). Stories are relived and retold in the interpretation process. Teacher knowledge and teacher beliefs are explored. What teachers know and what they experience affect their educational beliefs and their identity as being teachers. The main findings show that teacher's pedagogical caring can be shown in the form of FARMing model. It is the teacher's personal practical knowledge and teacher beliefs that frame the teacher's teaching style and behaviors. Under teacher's pedagogical caring, learners are highly motivated by the authenticity and relevance of the classroom learning atmosphere. They have been more autonomous.Teacher's educational belief of "let learn" enables learners to choose learning materials by themselves and arrange their own time suitably. They become active participants in the learning process. There are some implications of this study for teachers of English. It firstly suggests that teachers should be autonomous, as learner autonomy relies heavily on teacher autonomy. Teachers should always bear in mind how to promote learner autonomy by negotiating with learners about the teaching aims, learning material, learning activities, etc. Secondly, teachers should be masters of the curriculum. If teachers are given a free hand in deciding what to learn and how to learn, they can free themselves from being controlled by others and the policies as well. Only thus can we expect to have "lived" curriculum. Thirdly, teachers should sustain professional development, not only for the development of themselves, but also for better education in the future. Their development enables them to acquire more knowledge and teaching skills, dealing with the negative affairs appeared in the teaching contexts more confidently.