外语教育的学科属性对教师专业发展的导向

ELT:Its Academic Discipline that Guides the Teacher Development

本文针对我国外语界对外语教育的学科认同性与外语教师科研现状,讨论外语教育的学科归属问题及其对外语教师专业发展的导向意义。文章鲜明地阐释了外语教育研究的科学性和学术性,提出将外语教育归属于"教育语言学"或"语言教育学"。笔者强调,尽管外语教师是外国语言文学专业培养的人才,但在语言教学岗位,就专业成长和职业发展而言,他们可能对文学有兴趣,但不一定对文学研究有造诣;外语教师必须有语言学的基本知识,但不一定有从事语言学研究的能力。不论如何,外语教师不应该对外语教育研究不重视不作为,因为这是直接关乎教学质量和效益的学问,是教师职业发展或专业成长的重要途径。文章还提出了一些符合学科属性的、适合一线教师从事的研究课题和教育研究方法论方面的应用建议。

This paper calls for the academic recognition of ELT in China as either educational linguistics or linguistic education depending on its focus. The issue is put forward on account of the unfortunate situation in ELT field in China where teacher’s research on teaching is not recognized as academic acts. The writer argues that ELT teachers may neither be interested in literature critics nor be able to do research on linguistics, but must be involved in teaching research. She believes that the academic recognition of ELT as a discipline of its own will guide the ordinary teacher’s professional development. In the paper, she proposes some teacher-oriented and classroom-based topics or concerns with certain rationales underneath for teacher’s research.