How can novice teachers learn from expert teachers in the Chinese tertiary context： a literature based one

彭晨晨

【Abstract】The previous researchers have done in great details of expertise teaching and the novice teacher. But few article have discussed how novice teacher can learn from the experienced one. The purpose of this article is to figure out two questions： does it help novice teachers learn from their more experienced colleagues？If there is， how can novice teachers be improved.

【Key words】Learning and teaching； Novice teachers； Experts； Senior teacher； English teaching； Chinese tertiary context

【中圖分類號】G633.41 【文獻標識碼】A 【文章編號】2095-3089（2016）03-0074-01

From novice to expert

In terms of different level of teachers， Dreyfus （1986） suggested（Goodwyn， 2011）a five-stage model： novice， advanced beginner， competent， proficient and expert. In China， some researchers also have model with 6 stages. Zhang Mingxuan suggests in Chinese （C. Wang， 2006） period that teachers being trained before they enrolling in universities； a period that teachers learning like interns （the first one to two years）； a period of raising passion （lasting three to seven years after being a teacher）； a period of frustration in his or her specialized fields （five to ten years after being a teacher）； a period of improving steadily （ten to twelve years after teaching）； the regression of retirement （time before retirement）.

Does it help novice teachers learn from their more experienced colleagues？If there is， how can novice teachers be improved？

If new teachers want their lessons to be excellent， they might need to find the way to gain those characteristics. In （Kang & Cheng， 2014）study， it shows teachers teaching performance can be improved by ‘important others， and other teachers views will have an impact on the reflection of that teachers practices which in turn benefit teachers teaching performances.

The idea of communicating with others， when put it into practice， is carried away in a form of ‘JiaoYanZu in some part of China. The purpose of this is to help new teachers improve their teaching performances by a way of ‘questions and answers. So communicating with other teachers and having a reflection on practices could be a better way for novice teachers to learn from the senior teachers. As a novice English teacher at that time， the advices from senior teacher has really help me going through a hard time. The most important thing I learned from them is not how to teach， but how to dear with the difficult situations， especially that students all kinds of challenging questions， which help me deal with the anxiety. However， when some senior teachers talk in an authority way and point out the mistakes directly or inappropriate teaching methods， novice teachers are reluctant to ‘be suggested.

Novice teachers can use the observation instruments （such as checklists） to help. Devos （2014） suggests that the observation framework be divided into 6 steps： （1） purpose， （2） predicate， （3） perceived parties， （4） participants， （5） profiteers and （6） products of their classroom observations. Moreover， during the observation， it is important for novice teachers to ask themselves ‘why or ‘what questions：‘ why I observe the classes.

Conclusion

Novice teacher can not learn when they know nothing about what they want to learn. And can not learn very well when talking （assessment or feedback or evaluation） happen in an inappropriate way between experienced teachers and novice ones.Novice teacher can observe the experienced teachers classes by a checklist and useful tools， and then can interview with the experienced teachers with appropriate questions. Moreover they can join the ‘JiaoYanZu to help them do reflection and talk with the senior teachers to seek for advice for some harsh situations.

References：

[1]Devos， N. J. （2014）. A Framework for Classroom Observations in English as a Foreign Language （EFL） Teacher Education Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies， 17-28.

[2]Goodwyn， A. （2011）. The Expert Teacher of English. Paper presented at the Routledge.

[3]Kang， Y.， & Cheng， X. （2014）. Teacher Learning in the Workplace： A Study of the Relationship Between a Novice EFL Teachers Classroom Practices and Cognition Development. Language Teaching Research， 18， 168-186.