Systematizing Teacher Development:A Review of Foreign Language Teacher Learning

Foreign language teaching practice is developing rapidly,but research on foreign language teacher learning is currently relatively fragmented and unstructured.The book Foreign Language Teacher Learning,written by Professor Kang Yan from Capital Normal University,published in September 2022,makes a systematic introduction to foreign language teacher learning,which to some extent makes up for this shortcoming.Her book presents the lineage of foreign language teacher learning research at home and abroad,analyzes both theoretical and practical aspects,reviews the cuttingedge research results,and foresees the future development trend,painting a complete research picture for researchers in the field of foreign language teaching and teacher education as well as front-line teachers interested in foreign language teacher learning.This is an important inspiration for conducting foreign language teacher learning research in the future.And this paper makes a review of the book from aspects such as its content,major characteristics,contributions and limitations.

Research on the Status Quo and Improvement Needs of Foreign Language Teachers’ Teaching Competence in Curriculum-Based Ideological Education in Xinjiang Colleges and Universities

This study investigated the status quo and further improvement needs of foreign language teachers’teaching competence in curriculum-based ideological education(CIE)in Xinjiang colleges and universities.The results show that the teachers’teaching competence in CIE is generally good,with the“cultivating quality”being the highest and the“scientific research quality”the lowest;there still exist several problems,such as teachers’lack of theoretical knowledge in CIE,lack of teaching resources,and insufficient abilities in teaching design and research.It is hoped that with the support and efforts from university administrations,teachers can improve their teaching competence in CIE through various approaches adopted and multiple measures taken,thus optimizing their teaching effectiveness,promoting the construction of CIE in Xinjiang colleges and universities in the new era,and contributing to Xinjiang’s high-quality development.

The Perceptions of Chinese ELT Stakeholders on the Employment of Foreign English Language Teachers

This article reports on part of the findings of an investigation into the perceptions of Chinese English as a foreign language(EFL)education stakeholders on native-speakerism.Data were collected via semi-structured interviews with 26 students,14 teachers and eight EFL program administrators from six Chinese universities.The analysis of data reveals that the three groups of participants as an entirety expected their universities to hire native English speaker teachers(NESTs),particularly those from Britain and/or America and a certain proportion of them expressed preference for white native English speaker(NES)teachers.The vast majority of the students and teachers were also found to be unaware of workplace inequalities between NNESTs and local Chinese EFL teachers,contending that NESTs deserve better treatment.Although many administrators displayed critical awareness on this issue,they argued that the inequalities need tolerating for the well-being of their EFL programs.All these findings are indicative of the persistence of native-speakerism among Chinese ELT stakeholders and by extension the tenacity of this chauvinistic ideology across the terrain of EFL education in China.

A Foreign Teacher's Comments on Studying English

“How can I study English in order to make rapid progress?”is a question that I am often asked by my students. They look at me in disbelief when I reply that they should talk to their friends in English, listen to English language broadcasts on the radio,and read English novels for fun in their spare time. I sens that they think such an appxoach to language learning is too straight forward,and as their foreign teacher, I should have a more mysterious, quicker method perhaps something like drinking a magie potion.

Research on the Teaching of Landscape Engineering by Foreign Teachers in Sino-Foreign Cooperative Education in SUCC

Sino-foreign cooperative education plays an important role in undergraduate education.It has also proved itself popular in higher vocational education in recent years,in which foreign teachers are undertaking the task of teaching some specialized courses.The teaching by foreign teachers has certain irreplaceable advantages,but nonnegligible disadvantages as well.Questionnaires have been distributed to the students majoring in Landscape Engineering from Shanghai Urban Construction College to investigate the teaching of specialized courses by foreign teachers.Based on the statistics,the advantages and disadvantages of their teaching have been analyzed,and several suggestions on how to adopt the good points and avoid the shortcomings are offered,so as to improve the quality of Sino-foreign cooperative education in higher vocational college.

A Research on Different Classroom Questioning Strategies Between Chinese and Foreign EFL Teachers

The application of questioning as a teaching tool has always been considered as a main part of the teaching process.Based on the viewpoint of several researchers,a survey was conducted on the application of different questioning strategies by Chinese and foreign EFL teachers in a middle school,in order to determine their effects on students’language learning output and propose measures to optimize Chinese teachers’questioning strategies for improving students’learning efficiency.This research provides preliminary results based on the data collected from the video recordings of class sessions,a questionnaire,and an interview.According to the analysis,the questioning strategies differ between Chinese and foreign EFL teachers in many aspects,such as in information seeking,offering,modification,adjustment,feedback,and so forth.

NESTs Versus NNESTs Politics:From the Perspective of English-major Students in China

This article reports on the findings of a study that explores the mentality of Chinese English-major students on the politics of native English speaker teachers(NESTs)versus nonnative English speaker teachers(NNESTs)through a questionnaire survey of 95 undergraduate English majoring in English at a Chinese university.Data analysis reveals that the vast majority of the participants viewed Inner Circle NESTs as being linguistically more competent in English than Outer Circle English teachers and local Chinese English teachers(LCETs),deemed it natural to prioritize Inner Circle NESTs in the hiring of foreign English teachers and considered it reasonable to offer higher payment to NESTs.Although Inner Circle NESTs are also deemed pedagogically more capable than the other two categories of English teachers,this positioning is less salient than that concerning the linguistic competence that NESTs and NNESTs are assumed to possess.All these findings suggests the continuity of native speakerism in China.Nevertheless,that many students maintained a neutral stance on the superiority of NESTs over LCETs in adopting diverse teaching methods and learner-centered principle as well on the intelligibility of Inner Circle NESTs versus Outer Circle English teachers deserves further exploration.

Cultural Challenges for Foreign Teachers

As an educator and linguist, I often feel that foreign teachers of English as a Second Language(ESL) misunderstand their Chinese students. Clearly, throughout history, around the globe, there has always existed the teacher-student relationship. It is an archetypal

Foreign Teacher Sends Girl to School

WHEN we talk about "Teacher Du" at the Hebei Institute of Finance and Economics in Shijiazhuang, we cannot help but think of the large, smiling man who often carries an oversized camera bag. In fact, his name is Norbert duBois, an English teacher from the east coast of the United States. DuBois is fond of photography and has a wide circle of acquaintances. He

Teaching (and teachers)in a Foreign Land

One of my greatest pleasurcs while I lived in China last year was myinteraction with other teachers. My colleagues at Shanghai Jiao Tong Universityand my graduate students, many of whom were teachers in other colleges anduniversities, were a constant source of good ideas, meaningful experience, andhumorous companionship.

Nanjing Foreign Affairs Office Conducts Sino-Japanese History Teachers’ Exchanges for Third Consecutive Year

Since 2014,the Nanjing Foreign Affairs Office has cooperated with the Japan Association of History Educators to organize three annual exchanges of Chinese and Japanese history teachers as one part of a series of activities under the theme'Joining hands with foreign friends to build peace cities'.The Japanese association is a nongovernmental organization with