1. EFL Teacher Development: Phases and Fostering factors
Yi’an WU
Beijing Foreign Studies University

2. Outline Purpose of the study The design Findings and discussion
Implications

3. I Purpose of the study Two basic questions of teacher development
-The goal: Towards a professional profile of effective EFL teachers
-The path: Nature, phases, factors, processes
The empirical study
-Participants: 213 effective EFL teachers
-Instruments: (1) A questionnaire (2) In-depth interview

4. Basic findings for Q1: The goal
The professional profile: 4 dimensions
-Professional outlook and ethics
-View of teaching and learning
-Pedagogic content competence
-View of teacher learning and development
Wu, Yi’an Towards a professional profile for effective university EFL teachers（优秀外语教师专业素质探究）. Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 37 (3)

5. Relations between the 4 dimensions
Pedagogical content competence
Professional outlook and ethics
View of teaching and learning
View of teacher learning and development
Classroom behaviour

6. Research question 2
What factors have led you to develop into an effective teacher? Please give an example to illustrate how each of the factors has worked on you.

7. II The design Participants: -213 effective teachers
-36 university across China
-By stratified and purpose sampling
-19 volunteers for interviews

8. Instruments and analyses
13 items of the Likert scale section of the questionnaire：Reliability indexes (Alpha: )，descriptive statistics (mean: 4.43/5)
One multi-choice item on phases of development (84%-yes, 9.9%-hard to say, 5.6%-no, 1 missing)
An open question: Theme analyses, ranking
19 telephone interviews: Semi-structured, in-depth
Triangulation of findings

9. III Findings-1 Features of teacher development
EFL teacher development is a long, gradual process, accomplished essentially in the course of reflective and exploratory teaching (Interviews)

10. What the participants say:
“I think it is a process of gradual improvement. I groped my way to start with, often missing a sense of satisfaction. Then bit by bit, I found myself consciously exploring better ways of teaching. Now I have developed a sense of pride in being a teaching, a feeling of self-fulfillment and satisfaction. ” (IP-19)

11. III Findings-2 Phases of development (84％)
－Survival（1st-2nd years): Discovery and learning (self as the major concern)
－Consolidation（3rd -4th years): More confident, with teaching strategies (task as the major concern)
－Further development（5th year and onwards): More mature: Exploratory, reflective teaching (impact as the major concern)
It takes about 5 years to lay the foundation for development

12. Why do we need to know the phases?
-For teachers
-For teacher educators

13. III Findings-3 Factors leading to development -Internal factors
-External factors

14. Internal factors Strong love for English language education
Persistent pursuit of knowledge
Personality and personal factors

15. Strong love of teaching: Interpretation
1. Loving the language education profession (mean-4.7/5; 67 times of mention): Work and life inseparable; English education as life and career; value of life in educating the young
2. A strong sense of responsibility (45 times of mention); dedicated professionalism (敬业精神，50); persistent pursuit of expertise (专业素养，46)

16. 3. True love for learners (106): Caring for their all-round development; alert to their needs and interests; nurturing healthy teacher-learner relations; willing to put in time and energy for their growth

17. Persistent pursuit of knowledge (167): Interpretation
Continuously upgrading English language abilities
Continuously expanding scope of knowledge
Continuously improving teaching through reflective practice combined with action research (74), and through studying linguistics, applied linguistics and other relevant theories (84)

18. Personality and personal factors (78): Interpretation
Responsible, conscientious
Seeking perfection
Open-minded
A sense of hunour, justice, equality, etc.
Easy to approach
Sociable
Sincere, honest, modest, warm, etc.
Extrovert
etc.

19. External factors A healthy, supportive work environment
Mentors/parents’ influence
Opportunities for further studies
The socio-economic environment of China as a whole

20. Work environment (64): Interpretation
Features of such environment: a. encouraging and supportive, comfortable and harmonious; b. meticulous work style, and seeking professionalism; c. constructive interactions in the teaching community, such as discussing and observing one another’s teaching, collectively preparing for teaching, collaborative research, mentor-novice teacher development mechanism, etc.
Creators: The leading body, the teaching community, all teachers and staff as individuals

21. Mentors/parents’ influence (58)
Mentors and parents as models: through what they say and what they do
Major influences
-Love of the profession
-Expertise in English education
-Meticulous and rigorous work style
-Love and respect for learners

22. Opportunities to further studies (33)
The form
-Studying abroad, MA/PhD programs, visiting scholar programs, short-term teacher education programs
-Academic conferences and exchanges
The impact
-Upgrading the understanding of teaching and learning, a possible change in the view of education
-Creation of learning moments (顿悟)

23. Cont’d
-Thoughts and reflections are sorted out and find their settling places in terms of principles and/or theories
-The “battery-charging” effect on professional development and on world outlook, as a result of interactions with the new environment

24. Socio-economic environment of China
Importance attached to education
Importance attached to teachers: “China’s revitalization relies on education whose revitalization relies teachers” (Hu Jintao, 2004 Teachers’ Day Speech)
Improvement in socio-economic status

25. Relation between internal and external factors
Internal factors as providing the driving motive
External factors as formative, fostering
Internal factors make teachers alert to positive factors in the environment.
As part of the environment, teachers contribute positively to it.

26. IV Implications Importance of reflective, exploratory practice
Importance of managers：Managers should be educated before or alongside with teachers
Importance of mentors
Importance of teacher education

27. Thank You