Factors hindering professional competency development of senior high school EFL teachers in the covid-19 era

Abstract

The development of teacher professional competency (TPC) is the key component of teacher development and student outcomes. This study aimed to unveil the factors hindering TPC development of senior high school English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in the pandemic. To this end, this study conducted a questionnaire survey consisting of three aspects: the level of government, the level of school and the individual level. The data were collected by administering a questionnaire to senior high school EFL teachers in Huaibei city, China. The responses of 67 participants were analyzed quantitatively regarding gender, years of teaching experience, job titles and educational background. The results indicated the main hindering factors including no enough policy support and imbalance in the government level, heavy workload, low salary and lack of scientific and reasonable in-service training system in the school level and unsound knowledge structure, unwillingness to engage in educational research, much pressure from life and lack of expert guidance in the individual level. Among them the lack of enough policy support from education authorities, poor working facilities and regulations, and low salary are the key barriers from three aspects respectively. Differences in terms of demographic variables were also discussed. The findings shed light on the multiple barriers and provided insights for why secondary school EFL teachers have not acquired a high level of professional competencies in some fields. Furthermore, the need for focusing on policy or strategies for the TPC development for EFL teachers is underlined.