英语论文网

s of meeting the challenge depends largely on teacher autonomy development,which is a premise of enhancing learner autonomy (Huang Jing, 2007). The idea ofteacher autonomy also arises from a shift in the field of teacher education from afocus on the teacher as a conduit for methods devised by experts to a focus on theteacher as a self-directed leaner and practitioner(Benson, 2001).That is to say，animportant new trend in language teacher development in recent years has been a moveaway from the teacher as passive recipient and implementer of other people’ ssyllabuses and methods, towards the idea of the teacher as an active creator of his orher own materials，classroom activities and so on. Even in systems which haveclearly articulated syllabuses and curriculum guidelines, there is scope for teachers toadapt and modify the syllabus and materials with which they work (Nunan, 1989).Therefore, teachers should be more autonomous and they are encouraged to adopt anaction research orientation to their work and use the reflective approaches to languageteaching.In addition, teacher autonomy is one of the possible solutions to professionalproblems and teachers’ professional development. Hall et.al (1989) has shown that thedegree of autonomy perceived by new teachers is indicative of current job satisfactionand a positive reaction to teaching. Teacher autonomy is linked to teachercommitment and teacher professionalism (Ingersoll, 1997). Therefore, the presentresearch intends to explore the extent to which vocational college English teachers seethemselves as autonomous practitioners and to shed some light on teacher educationand professional development in China.1.4 The structure of the thesisThis thesis is divided into five chapters. Chapter one as shown above is ageneral introduction to the study, providing an overall picture of the current situationof studies on autonomy in applied linguistics both at home and abroad.Chapter Two addresses the literature review, which discusses terms such as‘autonomy’ and ‘teacher autonomy’.Chapter Three concerns research methodology. It mainly discusses the researchquestion, hypotheses, variables, subjects, instruments, and data collection procedures.The questionnaire covers 20 Likert five-scale questions about teacher autonomy ontheir beliefs and professional development. The questionnaires are delivered toteachers from the surveyed schools.Chapter Four reports the results from questionnaires by employing quantitativemethodology and narrative inquiry, the implications are also discussed.Chapter Five draws some conclusions from the current study and lists thelimitations of the study. Suggestions for further research are also proposed.

Chapter Four Results and Discussion….………………………..23
4.1 Results of the Questionnaires ….…………………………….23
4.1.1 Classroom Teaching….………………………….23
4.1.2 Student and Teacher Assessment ….………………….26
4.1.3 Professional Development ….……………………30
4.1.4 Teachers’ Beliefs and Approaches………………………33
4.2 Results of the interviews….………………………………37
4.2.1 Teachers’ understanding of autonomy….…………………38
4.2.2 Autonomy in selecting teaching materials ….………………40
4.2.3 Autonomy in assessing teachers and students….……………42
4.2.4 Autonomy in teachers’ professional development….…………45
4.3 Implication of the study….…………………………………46
4.3.1 Autonomy through reflective teaching….…………………46
4.3.2 Autonomy through decision-making….………………47<