Chinese teacher agency in implementing English as foreign language (EFL) curriculum reform: an activity theory perspective

摘要

This study is about teacher agency in implementing EFL curriculum reform in the Chinese university context. Typically, Chinese EFL reading instruction at tertiary level involves a text-explanation model that requires 'bottom-up' reading strategies. However, recent national College English curriculum reform requires students to develop skills in grasping the main ideas and relevant details, and master a variety of reading strategies, and requires that teachers transform their classroom teaching practices. However, teachers are active agents in implementing curriculum reform in the classrooms. My thesis therefore investigates the nature and extent of teacher agency in relation to the demands of the new curriculum reform and identifies factors that account for individual differences in teacher agency reflecting their teaching experiences and professional training. The study uses Engeström's (1987) activity theory and Vygotsky's (1978) concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) to understand the nature and extent of teacher agency in adapting their teaching with respect to teacher beliefs, knowledge, and instructional practices. My research investigates teacher agency through a case study approach, based on surveys of forty-four EFL teachers, interviews and classroom observations with three case teachers, and focus group interviews with 18 students from three case teachers. The study found that the reform-related agency of two young case study teachers was constrained due to their inadequate understanding about the curriculum reform. By contrast, the third case teacher with extensive experiences and knowledge of the reform, took agentive action to improve her teaching and even set goals beyond the reform requirements.The small-scale study suggests that young EFL teachers need both theoretical and practical knowledge, as well as support from students and professional peers to enhance their pedagogical agency. The study concludes that curriculum reform in China needs to shift from reliance on 'top-down' policies to 'bottom-up' implementation that mobilizes local understandings and practices. Implications of the study are that transformative teacher education programs developing teacher pedagogical agency require that teachers have ongoing opportunities to design, develop and evaluate curriculum-based mediational means.