Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Research Background of the Study
There are three reasons for choosing this topic of the present study. They areelaborated from the following three perspectives: requirements for The EnglishCurriculum Standard of Senior High School (2017), implications from the previousresearch findings and the urgent need for improving teachers’ scientific researchquality.
The author chooses this topic due to the requirement of new curriculum reform.The English Curriculum Standard of Senior High School (2017) claims that Englishteachers are required to combine teaching with research and conduct action researchthrough cooperation. It also points out that the professional level of teachers is the keyto the effective implementation of English courses. Hence English teachers aresupposed to build a new type of teacher learning community to jointly explore andsolve problems encountered in teaching, forming a teaching-research group forteachers to support each other and make progress together. The concepts of “scientificresearch strengthening teachers” and “research revitalizing education” obviouslyrequire teachers to become researchers”, which is conducive to optimizing teachingmethods and improving teaching effects(Luan chuanda, 2002). Therefore, increasingimportance has been attached to combing scientific research with teaching practice insenior high schools.
The second reason for choosing this topic is concerned with the current demandfor improving the educational and scientific research literacy of high school Englishteachers. Chang Guixiang (2019) conducts a survey of English teachers in frontlineprimary and secondary schools and has found that some teachers believe that currentstudies are not in line with teaching practice and cannot directly guide the classroomteaching. Zhang Yujiao (2015) has found most English teachers believe that scientificresearch is the solely work of researchers, and as for them, doing scientific research isfor the purpose of the promotion of professional titles and raising wages. That is tosay, most English teachers do not have the correct awareness of conducting research.Their attitudes towards scientific research are different, which in turn affects theenthusiasm of teachers’ engaging in research. And these findings make the authorhave the motivation of knowing the situation of teachers’ scientific research quality,and then do something on this topic according to the actual data.
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1.2 Purpose of the Study
On the basis of previous studies in this field of teachers’ scientific researchquality, this study aims to explore the present situation of the scientific researchquality of English teachers by adopting literature review, questionnaire and interview.The collected data are analyzed by the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS,version17) in a hope to find out the overall situation of the scientific research qualityof English teachers in demonstrative senior high schools in Guangxi, to see thedifferences on scientific research quality between novice teachers and experiencedteachers and to find out the factors influencing English teachers’ scientific researchquality in demonstrative senior high schools.
Through investigating and answering these questions, this thesis will give us adescriptive picture of demonstrative senior high school English teachers’ scientificresearch quality in Guangxi, which paves the ways for English teachers to find out theproblems existing in scientific research. Then, with the improvement of scientificresearch awareness, teachers have more achievement of doing research on teaching,then they can promote their professional title as they have expected, that is to say,they will have stronger enthusiasm to teach, finally, English teaching quality will beimproved.
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Chapter 2 Literature Review
2.1 Description of Teachers' Scientific Research Quality
This part sheds light on the definitions and classifications of teachers’ scientificresearch quality given by different scholars.
2.1.1 Definition of Scientific Research Quality
According to an early definition by Strauss (1966), the scientific research qualityis defined as the ability to spot a worthwhile problem, the ability to design andconduct research plan, the ability to squeeze all the significance out of the findings,the ability to develop meaningful theory and to communicate the results to others.
Wang Shouheng (2002) defines scientific research quality as a practical activitythat uses scientific and systematic methods to understand, collect, sort, and analyzeeducational phenomena and educational practice facts, so as to discover and recognizeeducational phenomena.
Ma Yongjun (2002) thinks teachers’ scientific research quality as the knowledgeof pedagogy, psychology and other subjects that teachers need to deal with problemsin teaching, and the methods and means of scientific research, as well as the sum ofknowledge, skills and psychological qualities required in practical, which is a morecomprehensive concept in scientific research quality.
To sum up, the basic elements of teachers’ scientific research quality are stillinconclusive. Combining the views of experts and scholars, it can be concluded thatteachers’ scientific research quality is the ability that teachers need to have inconducting educational scientific research. Specifically, it refers to the process bywhich teachers organically combine the professional knowledge of psychology,pedagogy and related disciplines to explore and solve teaching problems in teachingpractice, as well as the sum of the knowledge, skills and psychological qualitiesrequired in practice.
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2.2 Factors Influencing Scientific Research Quality of English Teachers
On the basis of what has been discussed above, we have got a generalunderstanding of teachers’ scientific research quality. At the meanwhile, differentfactors have influenced on scientific research quality of English teachers respectively.Thus, exploring the factors affecting teachers scientific research quality is the basisfor enhancing professional development and scientific research quality of Englishteachers. Then the author makes a summary of these influencing factors.
Brog (2013) discusses the teacher research by considering two factors: teachers’conceptions of the research and the institutional research culture. Understanding theconceptions of research by teachers is important in attempts to engage them with andin research, which can also influence the teacher research quality to some extent.
Peng Li (2019) has found that the following factors can influence the teacherresearch: (1) research motivation; (2) research knowledge; (3) on-the-job researchtraining; (4) expert guidance; (5) available referenced resources; (6) school policy; (7)the education sector's investment in scientific research. They are summarized fromexternal and internal perspectives.
When Chang Guixiang (2019) talks about the reasons that affect teachers’participation in scientific research, he mainly explores the reason from the followingaspects: (1) scientific research motivation; (2) scientific research atmosphere; (3)scientific research awareness; (4) scientific research approaches (reading research); (5)scientific research guides. These factors are not so comprehensive, which also givessome references to this research.
Table 3-1 Distribution of Questionnaires
Chapter 3 Research Design............................................19
3.1 Research Questions................................................. 19
3.2 Research Subjects......................................................19
3.3 Research Instruments........................................ 21
Chapter 4 Results and Discussion........................................25
4.1 Overall Situation of English Teachers’ Scientific Research Quality...............25
4.1.1 Situation of Scientific Research Awareness......................... 27
4.1.2 Situation of scientific Research Attitude.....................................29
Chapter 5 Pedagogical Implications.........................................65
5.1 Major Findings of the Present Study...........................................65
5.2 Implications......................................66
Chapter 5 Pedagogical Implications
5.1 Major Findings of the Present Study
Three research questions have been put forward at the beginning of the study.Based on the data collected from the questionnaire and interview, detailed majorfindings of the three questions will be illustrated as follow.
For the first question, the results state that the scientific research quality ofdemonstrative high school English teachers in Guangxi are at a relatively high level.Among the six dimensions of the overall situation of English teachers’ scientificresearch quality, teachers perform slightly well in terms of scientific research attitudeand awareness. They both have awfully positive attitude towards scientific researchand possess a correct understanding of it. However, the senior high school Englishteachers do not have a good command of the knowledge of scientific research, andtheir research ability is expected to be further improved.
Secondly, on the whole, there are not any significant differences between noviceteachers and experienced teachers. But in terms of scientific research knowledge andscientific research achievements, experienced teachers do better than novice teachers.While novice English teachers perform better than experienced teachers in the aspectsof scientific research attitude and awareness.
For the last question, what factors have affected teachers’ scientific research canbe concluded from the two perspectives: external factors and internal factors. The fiveinfluencing factors at the external level are: guidance, training, the establishment ofresearch teams, funding, and the attention and support of leaders; the four influencingfactors at the internal level are: teachers’ time, professional title, the mastery ofscientific research methods and knowledge as well as scientific research ability.
Table3-2 Internal Reliability of Questionnaire of English Teachers’Scientific Research Quality in Senior High School
Chapter 6 Conclusion
6.1 Summary of the Present Study
This study is carried out to look into the demonstrative senior high schoolEnglish teachers’ scientific research quality in Guangxi, which aims at exploring theoverall situation of scientific research quality of senior high school English teachers inGuangxi, the differences between novice teachers and experienced teachers inscientific research quality as well as the factors affecting teachers’ scientific researchquality. In this study, the data is collected from the response of the questionnaire:English Teachers’ Scientific Research Quality in Senior High School. 74 senior highschool English students are involved in this investigation. Through this study, thethree research questions put forward at the beginning of this thesis can be answeredand the major findings are presented as follows.
The first question examines the general situation of demonstrative senior highschool English teachers’ scientific research quality. The results of this study clarifythat senior high school English teachers hold a comparatively active attitude towardsconducting scientific research and have a correct understanding of it. In addition, themean score of scientific research knowledge is the lowest of the five dimensions ofthe whole questionnaire, revealing a majority of English teachers are still lack of richscientific research knowledge.
The second question explores the differences between novice teachers andexperienced teachers of senior high schools in scientific research quality. The resultshows that there are no significant differences between novice teachers andexperienced teachers among the five dimensions. To be more specific, novice Englishteachers have a stronger awareness and a more positive attitude towards scientificresearch than experienced teachers. In terms of scientific research achievements,experienced teachers do better than novice teachers.
The third question investigates the factors influencing English teachers’scientific research quality, which is included external factors and internal factors.According to the data collected from the questionnaire and the interview, the fiveinfluencing factors at the external level are: guidance, training, the establishment ofresearch teams, funding, and the attention and support of leaders; the influencingfactors at the internal level are: teachers’ time, professional title, the mastery ofscientific research methods and knowledge as well as scientific research ability.
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