Qualitative Study On The English Teachers’ Professional Development In Local University’s Educational Ecology

Educational ecology combines education with natural environment,social environment and normative environment,and it studies the relationship between education and the ecological factors in the above three ecological environments.With the advancement of educational reform,the ecological problems of English teachers’ professional development deserve more and more attention.Based on the viewpoint of educational ecology put forward by Mr.Fan Guorui,this study regards the working environment of university English teachers as a teaching ecosystem and take the factor of school,individual,colleagues and students as ecological factors to study theteachers’ professional development.The author raises two questions:(1)What are the ecological factors that affect the professional development of English teachers,considering the factors of school,individual,colleague and student?(2)What are teachers’ emotional attitudes towards different ecological factors?The author collects data through interviews with nine English teachers in Nanning Normal University,the purpose of this study is to find out English teachers’ understanding of these ecological factors for teachers’ professional development.And then uses Nvivo software and grounded theory to code and analyze data,the research finds that:(1)From the survey,it can be known that the factors affecting teachers’ professional development ranked as follows: school,individual,students,colleagues.The positive aspect is the school’s support for teacher development which affirmed by teachers.Individual factor is considered to be the greatest driving force for teacher development.The interaction of students’ classroom performance will enhance teachers’ confidence,and the communication among colleagues will also promote teacher development.The negative aspect is the lack of teacher evaluation mechanism and curriculum in school.Individual self-reflection is less.Students lack communication with teachers because of campus problems,and the difficulty of gathering colleagues in the same direction leads to the lack of communication.(2)In current school ecological environment,there are 23 positive and 12 negative attitudes towards school factors in teachers’ conversation;16 positive and 8 negative attitudes towards personal factors;10 positive and 12 negative attitudes towards student factors;14 positive and 3 negative attitudes towards colleague factors.In the process of interview,teachers hold a very positive attitude towards the measures of providing training and encouraging students to go out to study,and have a low evaluation on the evaluation system of teachers.At the same time,teachers have a positive attitude towards personal factors in promoting the development of teachers,but they are limited by work and family,and students’ negative attitude is more than positive attitude.At present,the communication and interaction between teachers and students need to be strengthened;for colleagues,except for the lack of communication caused by some campus reasons,teachers are positive about colleagues.Based on the above findings,from the perspective of educational ecology,this paper puts forward some suggestions on the professional development of English teachers.As far as English teachers are concerned,they should strengthen their own professional development concept,balance their work and leisure time,and actively invest in improving their personal abilities.As far as schools are concerned,they should construct an ecological management mechanism,reform the evaluation mechanism of English teachers and improve the training system of English teachers.To solve the problems about the campus,as far as colleagues are concerned,a good way of communication should be constructed so that teachers in the same department can regularly exchange teaching and academic information,promote the cohesion of colleagues and develop together;as far as students are concerned,teachers should establish a sense of responsibility and develop multiple ways of communication,whether online or offline,actively promote each other in teaching.Finally,this paper summarizes the full text,points out the shortcomings of the study,and puts forward further suggestions for future research.