College English Teachers' Sense of Responsibility - a Research Based on Schlenker's Triangle Model of Responsibility

摘要

Teachers' sense of responsibility is one of the determinants of college English teaching. However, its importance has been overlooked by most of current researches, hence this topic is insufficiently studied. The Triangle Model of Responsibility proposed by Schlenker precisely forecasts and explores a participant's sense of responsibility. Based on the Model, this research maintains that, in college English teaching, teachers' sense of responsibility is determined by three factors: recognition of their identities as teachers, teaching regulations and teaching activities. And the Model also yields great implications for researches into college English teachers' sense of responsibility. People get used to exploring the connotation of "responsibility" from legal and moral perspectives. Similarly, college English teachers' "responsibility" can also be interpreted both legally and morally. The so-called legal responsibility refers to the obligations that teachers must perform as specified in laws and regulations. "Moral responsibility" indicates that college English teachers should not only play such roles as "gardeners" or "candles" defined by the society, but also must recognize teaching as "a profession" and observe restrictions on their behaviors in performing their professional duties. Setting "college English teachers' responsibility" at the moral respect, this research will mainly explore how to motivate and actualize college English teachers' sense of responsibility in their teaching practice.