A Survey On Self-directed Professional Development Of Junior High School English Teachers In Ethnic Minority Areas Of Northern Guangdong Province

Teachers’ professional development is one of the important topics of education reform,and the promulgation and implementation of the “double reduction” policy and the proposal of building high-quality teachers have brought great opportunities for the development of junior high school English teachers.Meanwhile,it also put forward higher requirements for teachers’ self-directed professional development.Especially in ethnic minority areas where the development of compulsory education is uneven,it has become an urgent issue to improve the professional autonomy of junior high school English teachers.Taking “self-directed professional development” as the entry point,this study interviews the junior high schools English teachers,principals and English teaching directors,and conducts questionnaire survey between teachers in L and N counties,analyzes the current situation of self-directed professional development of junior high school English teachers in minority areas of northern Guangdong province,aiming to answer the following three research questions:(1)What are the characteristics of selfdirected professional development of junior high school English teachers in ethnic minority areas in northern Guangdong?(2)What problems do they have in their selfdirected professional development?(3)What are the strategies to improve their selfdirected professional development?The results are summarized as follows: The self-directed professional development of junior high school English teachers in minority areas of northern Guangdong needs to be further improved.Although the overall professional knowledge,skills and self-directed professional development consciousness of teachers are good,and they have favorable conditions for improving self-directed professional development,their management and practical ability of self-directed professional development are relatively poor.The demand for self-directed professional development is in conflict with the realistic conditions,and the effect of self-directed professional development is different from the realistic requirements.Further research shows that the above problems are mainly caused by heavy teaching burden,lack of guidance and opportunities for self-directed professional development,life pressure,poor English learning environment in minority areas and weak English foundation of students.Finally,based on the conclusions of this study,and combined with the characteristics of education in minority areas and teachers’ needs for self-directed professional development,this study puts forward relevant suggestions from the aspects of teachers,schools and society,hoping to provide some enlightenment for improving the self-directed professional development of junior high school English teachers in minority areas in northern Guangdong.