A Survey Study Of Junior High School English Teachers’ Professional Agency From The Perspective Of Activity Theory

Teachers’ agency,the motive of teachers’ activities,is an important element to urge students to learn,promote teachers’ professional development,cooperation and interaction among colleagues,and also the long-term development of the school.At present,with the deepening of the research,various kinds of researches on agency have been carried out by scholars in the field of educational research.Foreign scholars have made some achievements in the research of teachers’ agency by designing a mature theoretical framework and following strict research steps.However,there are relatively few studies on teachers’ professional agency in China.Qualitative research methods were used from a macro perspective at most of them to explore the relationship like teachers’ identity,teaching beliefs,teaching attitudes and their professional agency.When the factors that affect English teachers’ professional agency were discussed,it was slightly single because external environment was not taken into account.Therefore,it is necessary to combine quantitative research with qualitative research to explore how English teachers practice their professional agency in their daily teaching activities,how environment and themselves affect their practice of professional agency.It is conducive to the establishment of professional development model for English teachers and help them better achieve self-development.Based on the activity theory,this paper investigates 40 English teachers in H area by means of questionnaire,semi-structured interview and classroom observation,and following research problems were discussed:(1)What is the status quo of junior high school English teachers’ professional agency?(2)How do junior high school English teachers exert their professional agency in the teaching interactions with students and colleagues?(3)What factors may influence junior high school English teachers’ professional agency?The results show that: 1.At present,the overall level of professional agency of junior high school English teachers is high,and there are some differences between teachers with different educational backgrounds.2.Junior high school English teachers’ professional agency can be divided into two levels.The first level is in the activity system of collective lesson preparation.All English teachers learn the teaching requirements set by the English curriculum standards and school,using a variety of teaching aids,providing teaching advice,designing unified teaching objectives,which presents that older teachers with years of teaching experience answering questions for new teachers.The second level is the activity system of teaching.English teachers choose and design teaching objectives,developing a variety of teaching tools and implementing teaching behaviors according to the teaching guidance generating from collective lesson preparation.In whole process,lesson preparation activity system and teaching activity system are interdependent and inseparable.English teachers play professional agency appropriately through playing different roles in different activity systems.3.There are two kinds of factors that affect English teachers’ professional agency,which are internal factors and external factors.English teachers’ perception of teaching objectives,their positive interdependence on the surrounding environment,and their active help-seeking with colleagues are internal factors,while the external factors include the cooperation of contractors and the rules in activity system.From the perspective of specific teaching activities,this study explores the related issues of English teachers’ professional agency.It is hoped that the findings can provide some help for English teachers to develop their professional agency.In view of the research conclusions,this paper suggests that in order to maximize the professional agency of English teachers,English teachers should be good at developing their own agency and actively help-seeking.Schools and other organizations should also actively build a collective team of teachers and establish teaching companions to help eliminate the loneliness of all English teachers.