Teaching Competencies of Language Teachers in Research Universities in Beijing: Perspectives from SoTL and Institutional Theory

Abstract

Though professional development of language teachers has received increasing attention over the past decade, there is a lack of research on development of language teachers’ teaching competencies in research universities. Informed by the institutional perspective and the framework of Scholarship of Teaching, this study investigates the development of 16 language teachers’ teaching competencies in Beijing research universities. The findings show that language teachers’ teaching competencies include English proficiency, professional ethics, pedagogical content knowledge, reflective thinking, and research-informed teaching. Factors influencing language teachers’ teaching competencies range from the department level to the university level and the academia level. Pathways are proposed from the cultural-cognitive perspective, the normative perspective, and the regulative perspective to develop teaching competencies of language teachers.

University English Teachers’ Teaching Competencies in China: A Literature Review

“…They are competent in language proficiency due to the fact that they have long been educated in the disciplines of Applied Linguistics, Foreign Literature, and Foreign Linguistics (Jiang & Wang, 2016). When they teach, they present a great profile of high-degree language skills, systematic linguistic knowledge, as well as some knowledge of English and American literature and culture (Zhang et al, 2021). However, CE teachers' students come from different disciplines whose major is not English language.…”