Perceiving The Inquiry-based Teacher Change Within The Context Of The RICH Curriculum Innovation

As the teacher professionalization becomes the hot issue in the educational field since 1980's, the issue of teacher development has received high attention both home and abroad. In China, many researchers have explored teacher development from different perspectives. The government has initiated different educational reforms, pre-service and in-service training at various educational levels in order to provide more opportunities for teacher development. However, it is ineffective to promote the teacher development to some extent.A case study was conducted to investigate a college English teacher's change since she attended the department-based curriculum innovation in a certain southern university in China. The purpose of the research study was to identify: 1) the changes this English teacher has experienced within the context of the RICH curriculum innovation; 2) the factors contributing to this English teacher's changes within the context of the RICH curriculum innovation.This study lasted for one and a half years. The research methods adopted were case study, observation and interview. In order to make this study authentic and credible, data had been obtained through a variety of data sources, including observation notes, transcribed interviews, written and oral meeting record, and many researchers' related works (吴宗杰,黄爱凤等,2005; Wu, 2005). In the first phase of this study, a comparative analysis was adopted to show the participant's change from three perspectives: practical engagement in the classroom practice, transformative research and learning, and paradox in teaching, which was based on the participant's reflection and the colleagues' feedback on her change. In the second phase of study, with the analysis of participant's change, a further analysis was made to point out that the personal characteristic, collaborative support and research stance were catalysts to teacher change.This study intends to provide an alternative way for the research participant to reflect on changes that she has experienced on her thought and practice over time, which is also beneficial to her continual development/growth in future. Furthermore,...