Chapter One Introduction
1.1 Research Background
Firstly, 2010-2020 Long-term Plans for Educational Reform and Developmentstates that in order to improve the quality of rural compulsory education, we should paymore attention to rural teachers. Secondly, Middle school teachers’ professionalstandards (for Trial) which was promulgated by the Ministry of Education on February10, 2012 has put on many requirements on teachers’ professional development. Itformally made a series of requests to middle school teachers from the aspect ofprofessional philosophy and ethics, professional knowledge and professional ability.Thus it is a milestone in the process of middle school teachers’ professionaldevelopment in our country. As a matter of fact, Professional Standards is not only thebasic requirement for the qualified teachers in middle schools, but also the basic rulefor them in the process of teaching practices and professional development. Moreover,it is also an important basis for their admission, training, assessment and other teachingworks in middle schools. The promulgation of the standards shows that the state payshigh attention to middle school education and their teachers. It has made clear demandson middle school teachers’ basic quality as a form of regulations, which means anopportunity and also a challenge for them. On one hand, they have a clear career goalwhich they can strive for; on the other hand, the one who wants to be excellent, needsto learn more, pay more, invest more and more. The last but not the least, in the processof the eighth curriculum reform of basic education, the middle school English teachersprofessional development are all in predicament. The curriculum reform makes newrequirements from the aspect of teaching objectives, curriculum function, curriculumarrangement, curriculum content, curriculum implementation and evaluation.
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1.2 Significance of the Study
（1）It is beneficial to deepen the curriculum reform, to improve the teachingquality and narrow the urban-rural education gap. The teachers are not only the corefactor affecting the quality of school education, but also in deciding the result of newcurriculum reform. Therefore, only we have a good outstanding of teachers’professional development needs and find an effective way to promote theirdevelopment; we can accelerate the pace of professional development of Englishteachers in middle schools.
（2）To provide scientific basis for policy makers and reference data for thecultivation of normal school students. This investigation can provide basis foradministrative departments of Yantai to further understand the status of middle schoolEnglish teachers’ professional development, make plans for teachers’ professional development and improve the training mechanism. At the same time, based on theresults, it also can provide reference for the curriculum reform, the cultivation ofnormal school students. Moreover, it also does good to the construction of integrationfor pre-career and post-career teachers.
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Chapter Two Literature Review and Theoretical Basis
2.1 Studies on Teacher Professional Development
Research on teacher professional development began in 1960s in American andflourished in the 1970s to 1980s in Europe and the United States (Xiao Liping 2002).The research on the professional development of teachers can be divided into threeparts, the connotation of teacher’s professional development, the stage theory and theinfluence factors. Foreign scholars paid much attention to the connotation ofteachers’ professional development. The following part includes some representativeresults. Hoyle. E(1980) said: The teachers’ professional development is a process inwhich teachers should master necessary knowledge and skills at every stage of teaching.By summing up many scholars’ researches, Day (1999) made a general definition: theprofessional development of teachers includes all activities which are organizedconsciously and natural learning experience. The indi
