T1

http://jct.sciedupress.com Journal of Curriculum and Teaching Vol. 11, No.
4; 2022
The Professional Development of English Teachers in Training

Institutions from the Perspective of “Double Reduction Policy”—A Case
Study on S Institution
Yang Tianfu1,* & Wang Hongyuan2

1
postgraduate in Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, China
2
master supervisor in Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, China
*Correspondence: master supervisor in Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, China
Received: March 1, 2022 Accepted: March 24, 2022 Online Published: April 15, 2022
doi:10.5430/jct.v11n4p62 URL: https://doi.org/10.5430/jct.v11n4p62
This paper is supported by The Innovation Fund of Postgraduate, Sichuan University of Science & Engineering.
(y2021130)
Abstract
Recently, “double reduction policy” has been issued throughout China, which encourages English teachers in
training institutions to accommodate their professional development. More researches are demanded to be done so as
to cope with the challenge. This research mainly focuses on the professional development of English teachers in
training institutions from the perspective of the “double reduction policy” taking S institution in Chengdu City as an
example and 30 teachers in S institution as research participants in order to bolster the professional development of
English teachers in training institutions. And this investigation can be fulfilled through qualitative and quantitative
research methods including the literature analysis, questionnaire investigation and some related interviews so as to
solve the following research questions: 1) What is the status quo on the professional development of English teachers
in training institutions in the context of double reduction policy? 2) What factors may affect the professional
development of English teachers in training institutions in the context of double reduction policy? 3) What valid and
feasible strategies can be induced to enhance the professional development of English teachers in training institutions
from the perspective of double reduction policy? Based on the results of research questions, this research project will
give an advisable direction for those English teachers in training institutions to adjust themselves to the double
reduction policy.
Keywords: teachers’ professional development, training institutions, double reduction policy
1. Introduction
A significant document, The Suggestions on Further Reducing Students' Homework Burden and After-school
Training Burden at the Stage of Compulsory Education (hereinafter referred to as The Suggestions), widely
concerned by the society, was published in full by Xinhua News Agency on July 24, 2021. Standing at the strategic
height of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the CPC Central Committee attaches great
importance to this document and then it has made important decisions and arrangements for the “double reduction”
work, which requires to be understood and considered from a political perspective. In addition, all sectors of society
are very concerned about the specific content of this document, for example, parents and children are concerned
about whether extracurricular classes in the summer vacation can be continued, and the market and training
institutions are concerned about how the development prospect of this trade will be affected. The reason why the
CPC Central Committee pays so much attention to the double reduction policy is that although “double reduction” is
called burden reduction, it is far from a problem of students’ burden. The central government is worried that
extensive training will directly affect the authenticity of educational examination evaluation results, hinder the
substantive fairness of education, squeeze the time, content and value orientation of schools of the normal education
Published by Sciedu Press 62 ISSN 1927-2677 E-ISSN 1927-2685

http://jct.sciedupress.com Journal of Curriculum and Teaching Vol. 11, No. 4; 2022
and teaching, and deviate from the educational policy of “adhering to morality and cultivating people”. Consequently,
this is a major event, which is related to the cultivation of socialist builders and successors with all-round
development of morality, intelligence, physique, beauty and labor. Everyone must understand and consider it from
the strategic height of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Therefore, the preface of The
Suggestions put forward that the central government should adhere to the guiding ideology of Xi Jinping with
Chinese characteristic socialism in the new era, implement the party’s educational policy in an all-round way,
implement the fundamental task of the moral education, focus on building education system with a high quality,
strengthen the main position of the school education, deepen the governance of the training institutions outside the
schools, build a good educational ecosystem, and promote the all-round development and healthy growth of the
students.
Then, the detailed contents of double reduction policy mainly aim: 1) To reduce the students’ homework burden at
the stage of compulsory education, i.e., to reduce the amount and duration of students’ homework. It is required to
reasonably regulate and design the structure of homework, so that children can complete their homework in school as
much as possible. Also, the school teachers are not allowed to assign homework to parents, nor let children correct
their homework by themselves. 2) To reduce the burden of training institutions outside the schools. That is to say, no
institutions are permitted occupying legal holidays and rest days for discipline training, and discipline education
institutions are required not to be listed. 3) To improve after-school service level: the ultimate purpose of the policy
issued by the education department is to reduce the burden on children and parents and to return the original
intention of education. The policy also requires all compulsory education schools to set up after-school delay
services, and requires that the time of leaving the school for students should not be earlier than the local common
off-duty time, so that parents can go to work and children can study at ease.
Among these contents in the double reduction policy, the reform on the training institutions is being universally
concerned by all sectors of society. However, why does the government attach great importance to the governance
and regulations on training institutions outside the schools? Education, including the training education, has always
been a noble public welfare undertaking. Naturally, the fundamental purpose should aim to establish morality,
cultivate people, teach and educate people. However, for some time, driven by utilitarianism and coerced by capital,
a large number of extracurricular training institutions in primary and secondary school level, especially a large
number of unqualified training institutions, have deviated from the purpose of running schools for public welfare, by
catering to some unreasonable social needs, ignoring the laws of education and the characteristics of students’
physical and mental development, taking examination as an orientation and raising score as the purpose. By means of
preemptive learning, super outline teaching and repeated practice, they have carried out excessive training activities
for school students, especially students in the compulsory education section. This not only aggravates the burden of
students’ schoolwork and educational anxiety of the whole society, but also impacts quality-oriented education and
interferes with the normal teaching order of primary and secondary schools to a certain extent. In this regard, there
are many criticisms from all walks of life, so that it goes without saying that the educational department has posed
higher requirements for the teachers and education in training institutions outside the schools.
Consequently, this array of reforms and requirements on training institutions has posed challenges on the
employment of English teachers in training institutions. For these English teachers, there are only two directions on
the employment: one is to persist in the training institution, and the other is to move to the compulsory schools.
However, the professional development of English teachers in training institutions outside the schools is certainly
required to be improved, be they in training institutions or compulsory schools in the context of double reduction
policy.
Hence this research project mainly focuses on the professional development of English teachers in training
institutions in the context of the double reduction policy taking S institution in Chengdu City in China as an example
and 30 English teachers of this institution as research participants, which will be not only meaningful to realize the
latest national policy and strategy for education, but to have a clear picture on the theory of professional development
of teachers as well as the current situation on the professional development of English teachers in training institutions.
Meanwhile, the major purpose of this research project is to seek for effective strategies to boost English teachers’
professional development in training institutions so as to adjust themselves to the current situation on the
employment in the context of the double reduction policy.

2. Literature Review
2.1 The Definition of Teachers’ Professional Development
On the basis of current researches, quite a few similar and corresponding concepts related to the teachers’
professional development have emerged, such as teachers’ professionalization or the development of teachers’
professionalization. However, among these researches, they all explain the definitions on teachers’ professional
development from various perspectives.
Originally, according to F. Fuller, an American researcher who is reputed as the pioneer of the theory of teachers’
professional development, has put forward the “Teachers’ Attention Stage Theory” and then utilized this theory to
divide the teachers’ professional development into five stages: preteachering concerns, early concerns about survival,
teaching situation concern and concerns about students, revealing the development of teachers at different stages
before and after joining the profession ( Fuller, 1969). After that, another foreign researcher, B. Steffy, who mainly
studied the characteristics of teachers’ professional development, has mentioned that the main characteristics of
preparatory career stage are idealism, vitality, creativity, acceptance of new ideas, initiative and efforts to move
forward (Steffy, 1989). Then, Fullan and Hargreaves who were also absorbed in this field, have put forward that
teachers’ professional development means the development of specific aspects of in-service teacher education or
teacher training, and also involves the overall progress of teachers in awareness, teaching skills and ability to
cooperate with colleagues (Fullan, 1993).
In the meanwhile, there are many domestic researchers who have further understanding about the definitions of
teachers’ professional development. For example, Zhang Qiquan has discovered that English teachers’ professional
development is a dynamic process of continuous reflection, learning, development, and growth through teacher
education (Zhang, 2001). Then, another well-known scholar in China, Zhang Qingzong has proposed that
professional development can be divided into two parts, namely teachers’ professional development process and the
process of promoting teachers’ professional development (Zhang, 2011).
Accordingly, the definition of teachers’ professional development can be summarized as the process of improving
teachers’ profession quality and facilitating their refinement on the internal structure, which includes teachers’
professional knowledge, emotion and attitude, professional abilities, self-professional development needs.
Teachers’ professional knowledge not only refers to the basic knowledge in certain profession, but also the
professional knowledge of pedagogy and psychology. To begin with, the first and foremost thing for students is to
learn knowledge, so teachers cannot be respected by their students unless they are equipped with sufficient
professional knowledge. Also, as teachers, they will find it an indispensable part to master methods and skills
necessary for teaching and education to deal with what may happen in the process of teaching.
Meanwhile, to establish a harmonious relationship with students, teachers are required to possess the professional
knowledge of psychology to solve some psychological problems for students. The emotion and attitude can be
defined as the way to greatly affect teachers’ professional development, which has something to do with whether
teachers can be enthusiastic in their teaching career or not. With respect to the professional abilities, they are mainly
considered as teaching abilities as well as teaching reflection abilities, which jointly contribute to the effective
teaching and learning. In terms of self-professional development, teachers are asked to learn to plan and regulate
their own growth of profession and continuously reflect on the direction of their career.
2.2 Related Researches on the Teachers’ Professional Development at Home
The theory of the teachers’ professional development attracted so much attention in the 1980s but the domestic
researchers did not fix their eyes on this theory and do some corresponding researches nearly until the beginning of
the 21st century.
On the one hand, some domestic researchers attached importance to the study of theories, such as research trends,
definitions or functions. According to Ye Lan and Bai Yimin, two domestic professors who ever studied the research
trends of teachers’ professional development, claimed that teachers’ profession should change from emphasizing
instrumental value to intrinsic value, teachers’ development should change from external motivation to internal
motivation, and teachers’ work should change from results to process (Ye, 2001). Also, another scholar, Wang
Changchun, who has mainly focused on the definition of teachers’ professional development, stating that teachers’
professional development is a continuous process in which students receive normal education, from a novice teacher
to an experienced teacher and then to a practical educator (Wang, 2001).
Besides, some domestic researchers focused on different aspects of teachers’ professional development, such as

teaching abilities, current situations or related strategies, etc. According to Xia Yina, an academic professor in the
vocational school who has studied English teachers’ professional development in vocational schools under the
background of “one belt, one road”, discovering that the administrative departments in schools lack sufficient
concern on the teachers’ professional development in the context of one belt, one road (Xia, 2019). Meanwhile, Liu
Liyan, Zhang Guanqun and Sun Huiqi, who have made joint efforts to study the effective teaching and the
development of professional knowledge for those teachers in primary schools, concluding that the teaching
observation activity is the most important source of English teachers' professional knowledge development in
primary schools, and their own teaching experience, reflection as well as daily communication with colleagues are
important sources of English teachers’ professional knowledge development in primary schools (Liu, 2018).
In addition, a few scholars have concentrated on the correlation between teachers’ professional development and the
background of times. For example, Ding Ting, a scholar who has laid emphasis on the teachers’ professional
development in rural areas, stating that due to the problems of long-term neglect, weak teachers, poor professional
quality and skills of teachers in rural English education, the level of rural English education cannot cultivate the
conditional needs of students who can master English knowledge and skillfully use English (Ding, 2020). Then,
based on the current research of Qiao Yingying, a professor who has studied the current situation on the teachers’
professional development after COVID-19, mentioning that teachers’ “Internet plus” teaching level needs to be
improved, the integration of technology and teaching knowledge needs to be strengthened and the path of teachers’
professional development needs to be expanded (Qiao, 2021).
2.3 Related Researches on the Teachers’ Professional Development Abroad
Foreign researches on the Teachers’ professional development were conducted earlier than those in China. To begin
with, some scholars are inclined to the qualitative research which includes the concepts, influential factors, or other
studies on this theory. For example, Hoyle, who was engaged in the study on the theory of teachers’ professional
development, deemed that the teachers’ professional development should be like this: at every stage of teaching
career, teachers can effectively master the knowledge and skills necessary for professional practice process (Hoyle,
1980). Also, for Christian Kimberly B, Kelly Angela M, and Bugallo Mónica F, they conducted a related study on the
importance of teachers’ professional development in STEM instruction and concluded that a university-based
professional development workshop series, developed by engineering and science education faculty, is an effective
first-step intervention to improve the engineering knowledge and skills of secondary STEM educators, ultimately
facilitating NGSS adoption in classroom instruction ( Christian, 2021). Then, according to Emily C. Hanno and
Kathryn E. Gonzalez, who studied the effects of teachers’ professional development on children, they have
discovered that the professional development reduced student absence rates by 1.0 percentage points (equivalent to
approximately an additional 1.9 days of preschool). The professional development also reduced chronic absenteeism
by 6.0 percentage points. Impacts were concentrated among lower-income children (Emily, 2020).
Besides, some other researchers abroad would like to do some empirical studies including the status quo,
corresponding strategies to improve the teachers’ professional development. For example,Christoforidou Margarita
and Kyriakides Leonidas who sought for some effective tactics to enhance the teachers’ professional development,
found that the Dynamic Approach (DA) to Teacher Professional Development (TPD) could help teachers develop
their assessment skills and through that contribute to the improvement of student learning outcomes (Christoforidou,
2021). Then, according to Moore Nick, Coldwell Mike and Perry Emily, who studied the role of curriculum materials
in teacher professional development, mentioned that curriculum materials (schemes of work, lesson plans, etc.) play
a complex and pivotal role in school and teacher practices and the adaptation and development of curriculum
materials often constitute part of teacher professional development (PD) activities (Moore, 2021). Also, based on the
current researches conducted by Michael Agyemang Adarkwah; Yohana Kifle Mekonen; Usama Kalim, who
explored the situations on teachers’ professional development (TPD) in China, summarized that China’s hierarchical
structure has positively affected TPD programs in this university due to the Chinese culture and tradition. Clear and
concrete policies emerged as an essential step towards TPD implementation. Motivational strategies such as
incentives and academic conferences have been identified as integral factors for TPD sustainability (Michael, 2021).
Meanwhile, Stefan Hrastinski, another prestigious scholar abroad who studied on whether digital tools can support
teachers’ professional development or not, concluded that six themes on the use of digital tools to support teacher
professional development in lesson studies are identified: analyzing videos from the teachers' classrooms, analyzing
external video resources, fictional animations as a complement to videos, structured digital lesson study work, hybrid
teacher collaboration and digital teacher collaboration (Stefan, 2021).

2.4 Summary of Previous Researches on Teachers’ Professional Development

To sum up, previous researches on the teachers’ professional development mainly embody the three aspects: concepts,
current situations and some strategies, which can actually provide a good background and theory for this current
research project. Meanwhile, some of these researches focus on the theory of teachers’ professional development
combined with the latest background of times, especially the frontiers of this research field, which can inspire
researchers to study teachers’ professional development from multiple angles.
However, there are also so many deficiencies among these researches which are worthy of mention. For example,
most of researches on the existing problems or circumstances on teachers’ professional development cannot be
comprehensive and only several problems have been discovered, which leads to insufficient arguments on their
researches. Also, most researchers only studied teachers’ professional development from the perspective of
compulsory schools such as primary schools, middle schools, colleges and some vocational schools, and few of them
paid attention to that of training institutions, which certainly gives an opportunity of innovation and development to
this current research project.
3. Research Design
According to the background information and literature analysis on teachers’ professional development, this research
intends to explore the current situation, influential factors on English teachers’ professional development in training
institutions so as to seek some effective measures to improve their professional development in the context of double
reduction policy, which will more or less lay a foundation for them to adapt to the current situation of employment
under the background of double reduction policy. Accordingly, this research project will endeavor to answer the
following questions:
3.1 Research Questions:
In this research project, three questions were raised:
1) What is the status quoon the professional development of English teachers in training institutions in the context of
double reduction policy?
2) What factors can have an impact on the professional development of English teachers in training institutions in the
context of double reduction policy?
3) What valid and feasible strategies can be induced to enhance the professional development of English teachers in
training institutions from the perspective of double reduction policy?
3.2 Research Participants
To figure out the above research questions, 30 teachers for questionnaire investigation and 6 of them for interviews
in S institution of Chengdu City are selected to be the research participants. Among these research participants, 30
teachers for questionnaire investigation are mainly functioned as a way to realize the current situation and several
influential factors on the English teachers’ professional development in training institutions while 6 teachers for
interviews mainly serve the purpose of studying on the potential influential factors and effective strategies to enhance
the professional development of English teachers in training institutions. Hence, the concrete information about
research participants is listed as follows.
Table 1. The Detailed Information on the Research Participants

Variables Teachers for Percentage Teachers for Percentage
questionnaire (%) interview (%)
Gender Male 5 16.7 2 33.3
Female 25 83.3 4 66.7
Total 30 100 6 100
According to table 1, it is evident that there are totally 30 teachers who are involved in this investigation, 5 for male,
accounting for 16.7%, 25 for female, accounting for 83.3%, while 4 teachers are interviewed, two for male,
accounting for 33.3%, four for female, accounting for 66.7%. In terms of questionnaire investigation, 30 copies of
questionnaire are sent out and then finished under the instruction and supervision of the holder by 30 teachers. After

that, they are all valid by carefully checking.

3.3 Research Instruments
This research project mainly involves qualitative and quantitative research methods, including literature analysis,
questionnaire investigation and interview.
1) Literature Research. At the early stage of this research, some definitions, functions and any other relevant theories
on teachers’ professional development and the fundamental background information on double reduction policy
deserve realizing and understanding by virtue of massive literature reading and analysis to discover the merits and
defaults of previous researches in order to make improvements and innovations in this field. Meanwhile, based on
the literature review, the monotonous research method and rough presentation of theories have been the evident
deficiency in this research field.
2) Questionnaire Investigation. Then, the questionnaire investigation is employed to collect data on the current
situation of English teachers’ professional development in training institutions under the background of double
reduction policy. Also, with respect to the contents of questionnaire, teachers’ professional development is classified
into teachers’ professional knowledge, professional ability, emotional attitudes and self-professional development
awareness respectively. And the form of questionnaire mainly includes closed questions as well as a small proportion
of open-ended questions.
3) Interviews. There is an array of questions designed for interview to provide a reference or have a deeper
understanding of the influential factors and some feasible measures to bolster the professional development of
English teachers in training institutions in the context of double reduction policy.
3.4 Data Collection and Analysis
To realize the current situation and influential factors on English teachers’ professional development in training
institutions, the questionnaire investigation should be implemented in S institution of Chengdu City in Sichuan
Province, China to collect data in August, 2021. The contents of this questionnaire can be divided into six sections
including the personal information, the realization of double reduction policy, professional knowledge, professional
ability, emotional attitudes and self-professional development consciousness. There are 23 items in this questionnaire
and item 1-6 belongs to the personal information, item 7 belongs to the realization of double reduction policy, item
8-13 belongs to professional knowledge, item 14-19 belongs to professional ability, item 20 belongs to emotional
attitudes and the rest of them belong to self-professional development awareness. In the process of completing this
questionnaire, teachers can fill it out without exposing their identity so that they can choose answers based on their
own authentic feeling. Once they finished the questionnaire, it would be retrieved immediately to check on its
effectiveness and reliability through SPSS 25.0. In the process of checking on the reliability of the questionnaire, it is
judged by the Cronbach’s alpha and the Cronbach’s alpha of this questionnaire is up to 0.785, which actually
indicates that this questionnaire has a good reliability.
After that, with respect to the interview, 6 English teachers in this training institution are chosen to have an interview
and it is mainly used to find information about what factors may have an impact on English teachers’ professional
development and seek effective strategies to promote English teachers’ professional development in training
institutions. And the detailed interview questions are included in the following table.
Table 2. Interview Questions

Item number Questions
1 What do you think of your present English language ability?
2 What factors do you think will have an impact on your English teachers’
professional development in training institutions in the context of double
reduction policy?
3 What strategies do you think can be effective for English teachers to improve
their professional development in training institutions in the context of double
reduction policy?
4 What do you think can be helpful for training institutions to improve the
professional development of English teachers in the context of double
reduction policy?

4. Research Results and Discussions

Based on the research design, this study mainly focuses on realizing the current situation, influential factors, and
effective strategies on English teachers’ professional development in training institutions in the context of double
reduction policy through questionnaire investigation as well as interviews so this section mainly analyzes and
discusses its corresponding results.
4.1 The Current Situation on English Teachers’ Professional Development in Training Institutions
The research on the current situation of the professional development of English teachers in S training institution can
be divided into 5 parts: basic information of English teachers, professional knowledge, professional ability,
emotional attitudes and self-professional development awareness.
4.1.1 Basic Information of English Teachers
Table 3. The Age of English Teachers

Item Number Percentage
Age 20-30 years old 16 53.3%
31-40 years old 9 30%
41-50 years old 4 13.3%
51-60 years old 1 3.3%
Table 4. The Teaching Qualification of English Teachers

Teaching Qualification CET-4 30 100%
CET-6 30 100%
TEM-4 18 60%
TEM-8 10 33.3%
Teacher Certification 25 83.3%
Table 5. The Class Hour of English Teachers

Class Hour 1-2 5 16.7%
(a day) 3 6 20%
4 10 33.3%
5 6 20%
6 and above 6 3 10%
Educational Background
17.7 16.8
Junior College
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
65.5
Figure 1. Educational Background of English Teachers
According to table 3, among 30 English teachers in this training institution, 53.3% of them are at the age of 20-30,

and 30% of these English teachers are 31-40 years old, which adds up to 83.3% of the total number; 13.3% of them
are at the age of 41-50 while those aged 51-60 only account for 3.3%. Through this, it can be obviously discovered
that the young and middle-aged teachers are occupying the main position in this training institution and for these
teachers, they may be equipped with certain teaching experience but there is an urgent demand to broaden knowledge
reserve to keep abreast with the pace of times. Hence more attention should be paid to the novice English teachers’
learning and training.
As for the teaching qualification, 100% of these English teachers in this training institution all passed the College
English Test, Band Four and Six, 60% of them passed the Test for English Majors, Band Four while only 33.3% of
those teachers passed the Test for English Majors, Band Eight, and 83.3% of them possess the teacher certification. It
can be easily concluded that English teachers in this institution can meet the general level of English, but there is
some room to be promoted for them. Meanwhile, in spite of a large proportion of teacher certification, every teacher
in the training institution is required to possess teacher certification to guarantee the high quality of teaching and
teachers under the background of double reduction policy.
Then, in terms of class hour, 16.7% of these English teachers have 1-2 class hours every day, 20% of them have three
class hours every day, 33.3% of them have four class hours, 20% of them have 5 hours every day and even 10% of
those teachers have 6 and above 6 class hours every day, which actually leads to the great load and burden for not
only teachers’ teaching but learners’ learning in the training institution. That is the reason why one of double
reduction policy is to reduce the burden of learners’ homework.
Finally, with respect to the educational background, from figure 1, it is easily summarized that 16.8% of English
teachers in this training institution have acquired the certificate of junior colleges, 65.5 of them have obtained the
bachelor degree, which is over a half of total number, and the rest of them have possessed the master degree. In view
of this, the education those English teachers have received is generally insufficient, which cannot be in accordance
with the requirements of double reduction policy that teachers in training institutions should be equipped with higher
education so as to guarantee the quality and efficiency of teaching and education in training institutions.
4.1.2 The Professional Development of English Teachers
1) Professional Knowledge
As to the professional knowledge of English teachers, it mainly includes the teachers’ English language knowledge
as well as teaching theoretical knowledge.
To begin with, three aspects are mainly discussed about teachers’ English language knowledge in this research
project: pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. And the degree of mastery on English language knowledge will be
divided into poor, ordinary, medium, fine and excellent and then the detailed conditions of mastery on English
language knowledge for those English teachers in S training institution are listed as the following table shows.
Table 6. The Basic Conditions on the Mastery of English Language Knowledge

Poor Ordinary Medium Fine Excellent
Pronunciation 3% 4% 8% 68.5% 16.5%
Grammar 1% 6% 13% 56.5% 23.5%
Vocabulary 0% 8.5% 15% 59.5% 17%
From table 6, it is clear that 68.5% of these English teachers have fine pronunciation and 16.5% of them are at the
excellent degree in pronunciation; 56.5% of these English teachers are at the fine degree in grammar and those
excellent in grammar account for 23.5%; and 59.5% of these English teachers are at the fine degree in vocabulary
and 17% of them are at the excellent degree. Through analysis, it is seen that most of the teachers have relative solid
English language knowledge, which can more or less facilitate the higher efficiency and quality in teaching and
education in this training institution. However, in the context of double reduction policy, the government and the
department of education make more requests for teachers’ profession so that more English teachers are being asked
to improve their professional knowledge to the excellent degree.

80%
71%
70% 65.50%
60% 56.50%
50%
Pedagogy
40% Psychology
30% Educational Methods
16.50%
20% 13.50% 15.50%
10% 11% 11%
7.50%
10% 4% 6% 3% 5% 4%
0%
1 2 3 4 5
(Note: Number 1-5 represents the degree of mastery on this field respectively: poor, ordinary, medium, fine and
excellent.)
Figure 2. The Basic Conditions on the Mastery of Educational Theoretical Knowledge
Then, in terms of educational theoretical knowledge, pedagogy, psychology and educational methods will be
discussed. According to figure 2, it is obviously seen that most of these English teachers are at the fine degree be
they in pedagogy, psychology or educational methods, accounting for 65.5%, 56.5% and 71% respectively. Generally
speaking, these English teachers are relatively weak in psychology but most of them embody the basic educational
theories that are occupying a dominant position in the teaching and education. Therefore, as to the educational
theoretical knowledge, English teachers in this training institution can fundamentally keep pace with the reforms of
education.
2) Professional Ability
For professional ability of English teachers, English language ability, teaching ability and research ability will be
analyzed in this research project.
Firstly, as for English language ability, the results of questionnaire suggest that most of these English teachers have
good English language ability including listening, speaking, reading and writing ability. Apart from this, one male
English teacher in this training institution was interviewed about English language ability and the question is like this:
what do you think of your present English language ability? And he summarized his own feelings about this question
as follows:
In terms of my present English language ability, I may be better at reading and writing in English but I am weaker in
listening and speaking because it is naturally difficult for a male teacher to enhance the ability of listening and
speaking. However, I will endeavor to improve them by virtue of various channels, such as the listening and
speaking APPs, listening to BBC or VOA, or having communications with foreigners frequently, etc (Participant 1).
According to this interview, there is a ubiquitous phenomenon that male teachers are inferior to female teachers in
the listening and speaking ability, which cannot be changed in a short period.
Then, with respect to the teaching ability, it mainly includes two aspects, which are the application of teaching
methods and the ability of teaching reflection. For the application of teaching methods, most of these English
teachers can proficiently apply these teaching methods to some appropriate situations based on the teaching contents
and personalities of students. Then, for the ability of the teaching reflection, it is playing a pivotal role in improving
the teaching ability and the degree of frequency of English teachers’ reflection can be classified into always, often,
sometimes, seldom and never. Thus, the following figure is about the concrete distribution on the frequency of
English teachers’ reflection.

Table 7. The Concrete Distribution on the Frequency of English Teachers’ Reflection

Degree Number Percentage
Always 12 40%
Often 7 23.3%
Sometimes 6 20%
Seldom 5 16.7%
Never - -
According to table 7, it is easily discovered that none of these English teachers doesn’t have a reflection on their
teaching and over a half of them often and always reflect on what they have taught, respectively accounting for 23.3%
and 40%. Therefore, as to the ability of reflection in this training institution, it is generally consistent with the
requirements of national policies for education.
Finally, in terms of the research ability, it mainly refers to the quality as well as the number of published papers,
books, funded projects, and some other academic activities in the process of teaching and research. And this mainly
studies these English teachers’ number of papers to measure their research ability, which is as follows.
Table 8. The Detailed Information on the Number of Papers

Paper Number Percentage
0 18 60%
1 6 20%
2 3 10%
3 and above 3 3 10%
From table 8, 60% of English teachers in this training institution have never published related academic papers, 20%
of them have published only one paper, 10% of them published three papers and 10% of them published more than
three. Hence the English teachers’ research ability in this training institution is far from satisfactory that it is by no
means optimistic to treat their professional development in this training institution.
3) Emotional Attitudes
As for English teachers’ emotional attitudes, it mainly refers to the sense of duties and attitudes toward their
profession, which gives an impetus to promote the teaching efficiency. Accordingly, the corresponding investigation
on teachers’ emotional attitude towards their career has been conducted and the outcomes are as follows.
Emotional Attitude towards Education

80%
68%
70%
60%
50%
40% Emotional Attitude towards
30% Education
21%
20% 15%
10%
6%
0%
1 2 3 4 5
(Note: number 1-5 respectively indicates the degree of love of English teachers for their teaching and education:
totally dislike, dislike, general, like, strongly like.)
Figure 3. Teachers’ Emotional Attitude towards Their Career

From figure 3, it is clearly found that none of these English teachers dislike their profession and even 89% (68% +
21%) of them show their love for education, which actually proves that most of English teachers in this training
institution are zealous about their career and this is what every educator needs in the teaching.
4) Self-professional Development Awareness
In terms of English teachers’ self-professional development awareness, it is universally considered as a kind of
internal wish to motivate oneself and it is a potential power to facilitate one’s professional development. In this
section, the desire to improve themselves is surveyed and the following figure is the results of every English
teacher’s self-professional development consciousness.
Table 9. The Related Information on English teachers’ Self-professional Development Awareness

Degree Number Percentage
Very strong 11 36.7%
Strong 8 26.7%
General 7 23.3%
Weak 4 13.3%
Very weak - -
According to table 9, it can be easily discovered that 86.7% (36.7%+ 26.7% +23.3%) of these English teachers have
desire to improve their own professional development and none of them doesn’t want to enhance themselves, which
indisputably states that most of them have strong awareness of self-professional development that will exert great
functions on the high quality of teachers and education under the background of double reduction policy.
4.2 The Influential Factors of English Teachers’ Professional Development

Table 10. The Influential Factors of English Teachers’ Professional Development
Age Teacher Educational Professional Professional Emotional Awareness
Qualification Background Knowledge Ability Attitude
3 15 16 22 25 19 18
10% 50% 53.3% 73.3% 83.3% 63.3% 60%
As for the influential factors of English teachers’ professional development, there are several main factors that should
be taken into account, including age, teachers’ qualification, educational background, professional knowledge,
professional ability, emotional attitude and teachers’ self-professional development awareness, which can be divided
into two categories: subjective factors and objective factors.
To begin with, for objective factors such as age, teachers’ qualification and educational background should be
contained for these conditions considered as the top priority when the relative departments check on whether one
training institution can satisfy the basic conditions of education under the background of double reduction policy.
And from table 10, it can be seen that the proportion of teachers’ qualification and educational background is over
50%, accounting for 50% and 53.3% respectively.
After that, to bolster the professional development of English teachers, the main factors are still the subjective factors
including professional knowledge, professional ability, emotional attitude and teachers’ self-professional
development awareness, and according to figure 8, it goes without saying that the proportion of each factor in
subjective factors is over a half of the total number, accounting for 73.3%, 83.3%, 63.3% and 60% respectively.
Besides, two English teachers are interviewed on what factors will have an impact on English teachers’ professional
development in training institutions in the context of double reduction policy. And they summoned up their feelings
as follows.
When it comes to the influential factors of English teachers’ professional development, I deem that the excessive
workload and insufficient training of teachers will hinder the professional development of teachers. For excessive
workload, every teacher will spend most of time preparing the teaching content and designing various teaching
activities, leaving no more time for the improvement of professional development. Then, as for the insufficient
in-service training, every teacher in training institutions does hardly receive any training before teaching and they

only explore the methods gradually in the process of teaching (Participant 2).
As for the influential factors of English teachers’ professional development, I hold that English teachers in training
institutions certainly lack a clear career plan, in other words, they don’t conceive what the prospect of teaching in
training institutions will be like and most of them prefer to stay at the comfortable zone so that the professional
development of English teachers in training institutions will be stagnant all the time (Participant 3).
According to the answers of this interview, some objective factors such as excessive workload and the insufficient
in-service training and subjective factors including a lack of a clear career plan are additionally included in training
institutions. Therefore, the influential factors of English teachers in training institutions should be considered on
basis of actual conditions under the background of double reduction policy.
4.3 Effective Strategies on Improving the Professional Development of English Teachers
According to the analysis on the current situation and influential factors of the professional development of English
teachers in S training institution, some problems that can be classified into teachers themselves and this training
institution, need urgently to be solved and then some corresponding valid and feasible strategies should be induced to
enhance the professional development of English teachers under the background of double reduction policy.
4.3.1 Strategies for Teachers
For teachers, to keep their career stable or keep competitive among all the employees under the background of
double reduction policy, the first and foremost thing is to endeavor to acquire more teachers’ qualifications and
receive better education. According to the analysis of teachers’ personal information in this institution, the proportion
of English teachers who are equipped with more professional certificates is still small, all the teachers possess the
fundamental qualification, though. Meanwhile, for English teachers’ educational background in this training
institution, most of them only attained bachelor degree and even some of them graduated from junior colleges, which
actually requires English teachers in this training institution to enhance their educational background. For employers
in training institutions, they must give priority to those candidates with more qualifications and better educational
background.
Also, in terms of the results of English teachers’ research ability in this training institution, they don’t pay sufficient
attention to the development of research ability so that they need to realize the significance of the research ability
that is an indispensable part in teachers’ professional and comprehensive development. And then what they can do is
to participate in more academic activities or conferences and engage themselves in the research and publish some
related papers to improve their research ability.
Besides, according to the situation of English teachers’ professional knowledge, although they have mastered
systematic and comprehensive English language knowledge, some of them cannot employ the psychological
knowledge in education. In the context of New English Curriculum Standard and double reduction policy, to respond
to the call of quality-oriented education, English teachers should utilize the educational and psychological theories to
care about students and impart them cultural knowledge, psychological principles as well as practical skills so as to
boost the comprehensive development of learners instead of partially emphasizing the improvement of cultural
knowledge.
After that, two participants were interviewed on what strategies can be effective for English teachers to improve their
professional development in training institutions in the context of double reduction policy and they summarized their
opinions as follows.
With respect to effective strategies for English teachers in training institutions, I insist that as English teachers in
training institutions, we should also cultivate our consciousness of self-professional development because as the
saying goes, one is never too old to learn. Although most of us take the job in training institutions as a kind of
temporary means for making a living, we should also improve ourselves to seek more stable jobs especially the
current situation of employment under the background of double reduction policy (Participant 4).
As for the effective measures for English teachers in training institutions, I deem that for English teachers in training
institutions, we should also lay emphasis on the application of various teaching methods, which plays a crucial role
in teachers’ professional ability. In fact, a few teachers in training institutions only hope to accomplish the task of
teaching regardless of learners’ present conditions. Therefore, we should have a deeper understanding about
learners’ personal characteristics and then adopt some corresponding teaching methods to enhance the teaching and
learning efficiency (Participant 5).
According to the results of this interview, the cultivation of English teachers’ self-professional development

awareness and the application of appropriate teaching methods should be also regarded as valid measures to improve
the professional development of English teachers in training institutions.
4.3.2 Strategies for Training Institutions
In terms of training institutions, the most significant thing they should take into account is to establish a more
advanced teachers’ evaluation mechanism, in other words, they can evaluate teachers’ achievement from multiple
aspects such as teaching, research, etc. And the leaders of training institutions must change their stereotyped
evaluation mode of education in training institutions that they assess the teachers only through the grades of students.
Also, under the background of double reduction policy, they should also reasonably arrange the class hour of English
teachers in this training institution to reduce the workload of teachers to leave more time for teachers to improve
their professional development and reduce the burden of learners’ learning to keep their balance between life and
learning.
Apart from this, one English teacher is interviewed on the question: what do you think can be helpful for training
institutions to improve the professional development of English teachers in the context of double reduction policy?
And their ideas are stated as follows.
When it comes to feasible strategies for training institutions, from my point of view, the leaders of training
institutions are supposed to raise the threshold of employment because nowadays there are still some teachers in
training institutions who even lack teacher’s certificate. Especially under the background of double reduction policy,
the teacher’s certificate is considered as one of the teachers’ basic qualifications and those without teacher’s
certificate will be strictly regulated. Therefore, once the threshold of employment is raised, these teachers will spare
no efforts to satisfy corresponding conditions to improve their own professional development (Participant 6)
According to this feeling on this interview, it is obviously concluded that the threshold of employment in training
institutions should be also added into the valid strategies to improve the professional development of English
teachers in training institutions in the context of double reduction policy.
5. Conclusion
5.1 Major Findings
Take the questionnaire investigation, literature analysis and interview as research methods, 30 English teachers in S
training institution of Chengdu as research participants, and this research mainly focuses on the status quo,
influential factors of English teachers’ professional development and some effective strategies to improve the
professional development of English teachers in training institutions from the perspective of double reduction policy,
through which three major findings can be easily concluded.
1) Under the background of double reduction policy, the professional development of English teachers in this
training institution are inferior to those of compulsory schools in terms of teachers’ qualification, educational
background, educational psychological theories and in-service training.
2) Under the background of double reduction policy, the influential factors of English teachers’ professional
development in this training institution mainly embody the subjective factors such as teachers’ professional
knowledge and ability, educational ability, research ability, self-professional development awareness and a lack of a
clear career plan and the objective factors including age, teaching qualification, educational background, excessive
workload and insufficient in-service training.
3) Under the background of double reduction policy, some valid and feasible tactics can be induced to improve the
professional development of English teachers in training institutions, which are classified into two sections: one for
teachers including enhancing their own teaching qualification, educational background, research ability,
self-professional development consciousness and flexible application of teaching methods, the other for training
institutions, for instance, to establish a more comprehensive teachers evaluation mechanism, reasonably arrange the
class hour of teachers and raise the threshold of employment.
5.2 Limitations
Although the qualitative and quantitative research methods involving questionnaire investigation, literature review
and interviews are employed in this research to collect relevant data and information, there is still an array of
problems hidden in this study.
To begin with, the data analysis is not comprehensive, which deserves further comparison and analysis among

different categories on account of the limitations of researchers’ knowledge and research ability.
Then, in terms of the current situation on English teachers’ professional development in S institution, the sample size
is so small that the results cannot represents all circumstances of English teachers’ professional development in
training institutions throughout China.
Finally, the category of participants in the interview on the influential factors and corresponding strategies of English
teachers’ professional development in S institution is too monotonous to consider more potential factors or more
targeted suggestions in the context of double reduction policy, causing insufficient arguments and lopsided
conclusions.
5.3 Suggestions or Implications
According to the limitations of this study, some related suggestions or implications will be made in the future study.
1) More knowledge about data collection and analysis will be provided and more academic as well as research
investigations will be conducted to cultivate personal research ability so as to have a thorough data analysis of this
study in the future.
2) The sample size will be enlarged or research participants ranging from certain training institution to several
training institutions will be surveyed to guarantee the popularity of the study.
3) Different categories of participants on interviews will be demanded, such as leaders, teachers of training
institutions and even some experts in teaching and education to realize the essence of existing problems and seek for
more targeted suggestions.
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http://jct.sciedupress.com Journal of Curriculum and Teaching Vol. 11, No.

The Professional Development of English Teachers in Training

Yang Tianfu1,* & Wang Hongyuan2

Published by Sciedu Press 62 ISSN 1927-2677 E-ISSN 1927-2685

Published by Sciedu Press 63 ISSN 1927-2677 E-ISSN 1927-2685

Published by Sciedu Press 64 ISSN 1927-2677 E-ISSN 1927-2685

Published by Sciedu Press 65 ISSN 1927-2677 E-ISSN 1927-2685

2.4 Summary of Previous Researches on Teachers’ Professional Development

Table 1. The Detailed Information on the Research Participants

Published by Sciedu Press 66 ISSN 1927-2677 E-ISSN 1927-2685

that, they are all valid by carefully checking.

Table 2. Interview Questions

Published by Sciedu Press 67 ISSN 1927-2677 E-ISSN 1927-2685

4. Research Results and Discussions

Table 3. The Age of English Teachers

Table 4. The Teaching Qualification of English Teachers

Table 5. The Class Hour of English Teachers

Figure 1. Educational Background of English Teachers

Published by Sciedu Press 68 ISSN 1927-2677 E-ISSN 1927-2685

Table 6. The Basic Conditions on the Mastery of English Language Knowledge

Published by Sciedu Press 69 ISSN 1927-2677 E-ISSN 1927-2685

Published by Sciedu Press 70 ISSN 1927-2677 E-ISSN 1927-2685

Table 7. The Concrete Distribution on the Frequency of English Teachers’ Reflection

Table 8. The Detailed Information on the Number of Papers

Emotional Attitude towards Education

Published by Sciedu Press 71 ISSN 1927-2677 E-ISSN 1927-2685

Table 9. The Related Information on English teachers’ Self-professional Development Awareness

4.2 The Influential Factors of English Teachers’ Professional Development

Published by Sciedu Press 72 ISSN 1927-2677 E-ISSN 1927-2685

Published by Sciedu Press 73 ISSN 1927-2677 E-ISSN 1927-2685

Published by Sciedu Press 74 ISSN 1927-2677 E-ISSN 1927-2685

Published by Sciedu Press 75 ISSN 1927-2677 E-ISSN 1927-2685

Published by Sciedu Press 76 ISSN 1927-2677 E-ISSN 1927-2685

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