A Tale of Three Excellent Chinese EFL Teachers: Unpacking Teacher Professional Qualities for Their Sustainable Career Trajectories from an Ecological Perspective

Abstract

Teachers’ quality has long been researched in the field of general education. However, little attention has been paid to the professional qualities of excellent English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in the context of English curriculum reform, especially from an ecological perspective. To address this gap, this study adopted a qualitative approach to characterise the qualities of excellent senior high school EFL teachers in China and the development of their professional qualities using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model. Four interconnected dimensions of excellent EFL teachers’ professional qualities were confirmed: English language pedagogical content competence, beliefs about the foreign language teaching profession and professional ethics, beliefs about foreign language teaching and learning, and beliefs about language teacher learning and development. Meanwhile, the EFL teachers constructed and developed their professional qualities in their dynamic interaction with the complex ecological systems where they lived. The paper considers these various teacher-related factors in the ecological systems and provides some suggestions for sustaining EFL teachers’ professional development.

Beginning EFL Teachers' Emotional Labor Strategies in the Chinese Context

“…The results of this study have several practical implications in terms of enhancing beginning EFL teachers' ability to manage their emotions. For the above purpose, we also put forward some suggestions in the hope of helping them better undertake emotional labor and achieve their own sustainable development (Derakhshan and Shirmohammadli, 2015;Chu et al, 2021). First, the Beginning EFL Teachers' Emotional Labor Strategy Scale developed here is a concise multiple-item scale with good reliability and validity, which is based on the realities that Chinese beginning secondary school EFL teachers face.…”

Examining the Professional Quality of Experienced EFL Teachers for Their Sustainable Career Trajectories in Rural Areas in China

“…Language teacher education (LTE), which spans a wide variety of topics and perspectives, has been extensively researched since the 1990s [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. As an important agenda, language teacher professional quality has gained in popularity in LTE research [8][9][10], particularly along with some updated teaching methods including communicative language teaching (CLT), and more recently task-based language teaching (TBLT) and content and language integrated learning (CLIL). Some scholars have paid special attention to the quality of expert or effective EFL teachers [10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

“…As an important agenda, language teacher professional quality has gained in popularity in LTE research [8][9][10], particularly along with some updated teaching methods including communicative language teaching (CLT), and more recently task-based language teaching (TBLT) and content and language integrated learning (CLIL). Some scholars have paid special attention to the quality of expert or effective EFL teachers [10][11][12][13][14][15]. Research into teacher excellence has been conducted to interpret and improve their professional experiences and beliefs [16], thus providing an effective reference for more inexperienced teachers [17], especially those working in underprivileged rural areas.…”

“…The exploration of EFL teachers' professional quality also offers a productive insight into the implementation and improvement of policies related to teacher education and development. Overall, teachers' professional quality, as an under-researched but meaningful area [10,17], is worth exploring in LTE research.…”

“…Language teachers' professional quality is defined as teacher-related features that contribute to successful English language teaching, favourable educational outcomes [23] and sustainable professional development [8,10]. Some scholars have attempted to conceptualise teachers' professional quality as a multi-dimensional construct [8,10,24,25] and have probed into the distinctive features of excellent EFL teachers [13,16]. Understanding EFL teachers' professional quality not only helps inspire teachers to sustain their professional development but also thrive in the school context.…”