An Overview of the Research Background of English Teachers’ Professional Development in the Context of English Language Teaching Reform and Teacher Education Reform in China

Abstract

Since the 1980s, the world’s education development has entered a new era, with the education reform ushering the peak period.” To improve education, we have to change schools; to improve schools, we have to change people in schools; and to improve people, we have to change our way of trying to trigger the change” (Osterman and Kottkamp 1993) “It can never be overemphasised that teachers are the key factor affecting the quality of school education, and directly determine the success or failure of education” (OECD 2002). Nowadays, the society has had a high expectation for teachers, more aware of their profound influence on students’ growth, and had better understanding about the value of this profession. And modern education has put forward higher and higher requirements for educational practitioners; the increasingly frequent education reforms keep re-interpreting the standard of “good teacher”, forcing teachers to seek for self-improvement and professional growth. As a result, scholars and government of every country, as well as the whole international community are advocating promoting teachers’ professional development and improve teachers’ professional status. How to build a large team of professional and highly-qualified teachers has become the focus of education in all countries. Correspondingly, the domestic education research have shifted focus from teaching to education reform, and then to teachers’ development. Teacher, teacher culture and teacher education have become hot topics in education research; teachers’ professional development has been one of the central issues in education reform.