Effects of Study Abroad on EFL Teachers’ Self-perceptions
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Dong Wang
Abstract
Studying abroad (SA) is an important means for EFL teachers to develop their professional competence. This paper reports on an enquiry in Shandong Province, China, into a SA program for a group of 103 secondary school English teachers. Drawing on questionnaire data and teachers’ interview narratives, the paper examines how the SA experience influenced their self-perceptions of EFL teaching in three aspects, namely, language proficiency, teaching ideology and the comparison of native speaking and non-native speaking English teachers. The enquiry revealed that the length of SA was a powerful factor in determining teachers’ attitudes toward their jobs and their own capacities to perform them successfully. These findings are discussed with suggestions for making SA experience an effective, sustainable path for secondary school English teachers’ professional development.
©2014 Walter de Gruyter, Berlin Munich Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Second Language Research on Recasts: A Critical Review in Response to an Ongoing Debate
- Chinese EFL Leamers’ Comprehension of English Idiom Variants: Effects of Variation Type and Proficiency Level
- An Empirical Study of Chinese EFL Classroom Teaching: A Cognitive Linguistic Approach
- Reporting and Stance in Second Language Academic Writing
- A Contrastive Perspective on the Appraisal Strategies of English Writing of Chinese and Western Reviewers
- Effects of Study Abroad on EFL Teachers’ Self-perceptions
- Teachers’ Self-Development in Applying Information Communication Technology
- Chinese Abstracts
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Second Language Research on Recasts: A Critical Review in Response to an Ongoing Debate
- Chinese EFL Leamers’ Comprehension of English Idiom Variants: Effects of Variation Type and Proficiency Level
- An Empirical Study of Chinese EFL Classroom Teaching: A Cognitive Linguistic Approach
- Reporting and Stance in Second Language Academic Writing
- A Contrastive Perspective on the Appraisal Strategies of English Writing of Chinese and Western Reviewers
- Effects of Study Abroad on EFL Teachers’ Self-perceptions
- Teachers’ Self-Development in Applying Information Communication Technology
- Chinese Abstracts
