An Investigation Into Novice English Teachers’ Autonomy In Professional Development

This study aims to find out the general level of novice English teachers’ autonomy in professional development and the factors which have influence on it. It also puts froward some feasible recommendations in order to improve novice teachers’ autonomy. Teacher autonomy in this research is viewed as teachers’ willingness, capacity and freedom in teaching and learning (Huang,2007). Compared with previous studies, this definition is highlighted due to its theoretical grounding and its convenience to be measured in practice, which to some degree enriches the current empirical studies in this area. Three major questions were involved in this study.(1) What’s the general level of novice English teachers’ autonomy in professional development? Are there any differences among the five dimensions of teacher autonomy?(2) How do teacher individual factors affect teacher autonomy in professional development?(3) How do external factors including school factors and society factors affect teacher autonomy in professional development?The main research instrument in this study was questionnaire. Fifty copies were sent and collected through the internet. Descriptive Statistics, Correlation Analysis and Independent Sample T-test were conducted. This study reveals the following findings.First, the general level of novice English teachers’ autonomy is a little above medium, but there is a big difference among the participants due to teacher individual factors and school factors. This study also finds that the level of the five dimensions (willingness, plan, action, adjustment, reflection) is not equal. The participants show low willingness in professional development, but high autonomy in reflection.Second, this study finds moderate positive correlation between teacher autonomy in professional development and teacher individual factors, especially teachers’self-efficacy and teachers’satisfaction with the progress they have made in professional development. This study does not find close relationship between teacher autonomy and teachers personal information such as gender, academic degree, graduating school, working place and so on.Third, this study finds that teacher autonomy is positively correlated with school factors, but it doesn’t have close relationship with society factors. A supportive school environment, effective teacher training activities and moderate workload are significantly important for the improvement of teacher autonomy in professional development.Based on the findings in this research, five recommendations are put forward in the hope of facilitating novice English teachers’ autonomy in professional development.First of all, novice teachers should fully realize the importance of professional development for their future teacher career and strengthen their willingness of professional development. They can develop their autonomy through action research, reflective practice and exploratory practice. Second, school principals should create more opportunities for teachers’professional development such as establishing professional development communities and developing school-based curriculum. Third, school principals should build an encouraging and tolerant school environment and empower teachers stronger voices in decision-making process. What’s more, the contents of teacher training activities should be based on careful analysis of novice teachers’needs of professional development and focus on the problems they encounter in daily teaching practice. And finally unnecessary administrator tasks should be abandoned to leave teachers more time in developing their professional qualities.