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An Investigation Into Career Development Contexts of University Russian Language Teachers in China (1949-2019) From the Perspective of Ecological Theory

  • Yuan Tao

    Dr. Yuan TAO is a professor at the School of Foreign Languages, Southeast University. Her research focuses on corpus-based translation study, sinological studies in Russia, and teacher education and development.

    and Zhanhao Jiang

    Dr. Zhanhao JIANG (the corresponding author) is a professor at both the School of English Studies and Research Centre for Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Xi’an International Studies University. His research interests include second language pragmatics, multimodal corpus research, and teacher education and development.

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Published/Copyright: July 16, 2021
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Abstract

Although much research has been conducted on the interactions between the career development of foreign language teachers and their contexts around the world, a literature review reveals that there exists scanty research on the relationship between university Russian language teachers’ career development and their contexts in China since 1949. Based on relevant studies on the career development of foreign language teachers and the ecological theory, this paper involves research on the impact that different ecological systems (micro-, meso-, macro- and exo-ones) have played in the career development of Russian language teachers in China. Participants are 10 Chinese Russian teachers of different ages from different universities in different parts of China. Via literature review, narration methods and semi-structured (in-depth) interviews with the help of NVivo, this research finds that Russian language teachers ’ career development results from multi-faceted interactions of the following contexts: ideology, Russian language educational policies and personal factors as well as college contexts. This paper concludes with some suggestions for improving Russian language teachers’ career development in China.

About the authors

Dr. Yuan Tao

Dr. Yuan TAO is a professor at the School of Foreign Languages, Southeast University. Her research focuses on corpus-based translation study, sinological studies in Russia, and teacher education and development.

Dr. Zhanhao Jiang

Dr. Zhanhao JIANG (the corresponding author) is a professor at both the School of English Studies and Research Centre for Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Xi’an International Studies University. His research interests include second language pragmatics, multimodal corpus research, and teacher education and development.

Acknowledgments

This research is supported by Teacher Education and Development Centre, Shaanxi Normal University (JSJY2020010), XISU Special Funding Program for Teachers’ Development (19JF04), XISU Comprehensive Education and Research Program for Postgraduates (20XWYJGB01), and Ecological Imbalance and Reconstruction Strategies in E-language Teaching Project in Chaohu University (CH17KGXM01).

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Published Online: 2021-07-16
Published in Print: 2021-06-25

© 2021 FLTRP, Walter de Gruyter, Cultural and Education Section British Embassy

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