A Comparative Study Of Teachers’ Practical Knowledge Between Novice And Experienced English Teacher In Senior High School

As an essential part of the teacher knowledge,teachers’ practical knowledge is the crystallization of teachers’ unique teaching wisdom,and the knowledge basis for teacher’s professional development(Chen Xiangming,2009).The study of teachers’ practical knowledge can help teachers recognize themselves and teacher profession better,deepen the understanding of specific discipline and teaching methods,regulate the teaching behavior,guide the teaching practices,and promote teacher’s professional development.Previous studies of teachers’ practical knowledge mainly focused on the single teacher group with qualitative or quantitative research method.However,there were not many comparative studies on practical knowledge between different teacher groups.Therefore,this study adopted mixed method which combined qualitative with quantitative research method to explore the practical knowledge between novice and experienced English teachers in senior high school.Based on Chen Xiangming’s classification of teachers’ practical knowledge(2011),this study selected social constructivism and reflective practice theory as theoretical framework,used the questionnaire to survey 55 novice and 55 experienced English teachers from key senior high schools in Urumqi,and selected 2 novice and 2experienced teachers to conduct semi-structured interview and classroom observations,which aimed to answer two research questions: 1)Are there any differences in practical knowledge between novice and experienced English teachers in senior high school? And what are the differences? 2)What are the factors influencing the practical knowledge of novice and experienced English teachers in senior high school?Through the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data,this study found that:1)There are many differences of practical knowledge between novice and experienced English teachers in senior high school,which mainly manifests in four dimensions: knowledge of self,knowledge of subject,knowledge of student and knowledge of educational context.Among them,there are the biggest differences in knowledge of subject including the familiarity of teaching materials,classroom coping ability and management,and the usage of teaching aids;but in terms of knowledge of educational context,the differences are tiny which manifest on teachers’ different understandings of community of practice;for knowledge of self and knowledge of student,the differences are embodied in self-concept,self-identify,analysis of students’ academic performances,and the understanding of students’ learning motivation and attitudes.2)The factors influencing practical knowledge of novice and experienced English teachers are mainly subject factors and sociocultural factors.The subject factors mainly include learning and life experiences,educational belief,teaching reflection and accumulation of teaching experience;the sociocultural factors include new curriculum reform and community of practice.