A Study On The Development Of English Teachers' Teaching Research Ability In The Context Of School-university Partnership Relations

There are many school-university partnerships(SUPs)in China,such as middle schools affiliated to normal universities.As one of the most important ways of teacher education and development,SUP can provide a favorable condition and environment for teachers' professional development.However,so far,researches related to the development of teachers at home and abroad have mostly focused on improving teachers' professional competencies and abilities by means of teachers' self-resources.Not many researches are found in the influence of SUP on teachers' teaching research ability(TRA)and professional development.The purpose of this study is to find whether English teachers can successfully conduct teaching research and whether their TRA can be improved in the context of SUP relations so that their professional development can be achieved.Experimental Middle School Attached to Heifei Normal University was chosen as the sample for this study.All together ten English teachers from each grade from the middle school answered the questionnaire,among whom six teachers were interviewed.Two university educators from Hefei Normal University were interviewed as well.After classifying and analyzing the data collected mainly from questionnaire and interview,the author discussed the results from the following aspects: difficulties and challenges of English teachers in doing teaching research with university educators,teaching research activities in SUP,teachers' attitudes to collaborative teaching research,power relations in SUP,teachers' comments on their development of TRA,teachers' suggestions and expectations for future teaching research and school leaders' attitudes to teaching research in SUP.Through the analysis and discussion as above,it can be concluded that English teachers' TRA has been improved by attending teaching research activities with university educators in SUP relations.Particularly,teachers' awareness of doing teaching research has been raised,their teaching methods and effects have been improved as well.Nevertheless,there are still some drawbacks in present SUP due to different sub-culture environments of university and school,and different rolesthat people play in the program,their power relations in the partnership,and time limit for their working together.Therefore,there is a lack of clearly defined responsibility in the school-university partnership.English teachers still passively participate in the teaching research activities and a strong trust between the two parties needs to be built.