The Quality Structure of English Teachers in Higher Vocational Colleges under th

Abstract. Implementing the Mode of Combining Learning with Working is one of the important approaches of embodying the characteristics of education in higher vocational colleges. The teacher’s quality is the key to the success of the education for all-around development. The researcher investigated fifty English teachers （including the deans of the Foreign Department） and 200 students from Nanchang Institute of Technology from October to December in 2011. The investigation aims at knowing about the quality structure of English teachers in higher vocational colleges under the Mode of Combining Learning with Working. Based on the results of the investigation， the research puts forward some strategies to improve their qualities.

Key words： The Mode of Combining Learning with Working； English teachers in higher vocational colleges； Quality structure； Strategies

Higher vocational education shifted its focus from scale expansion to improving teaching quality and promoting connotative construction. One of the important approaches to enhance the student’s all-around quality and its competitiveness in future employment is to implement the Mode of Combining Learning with Working. The teacher’s quality is the key to improving his student’ s quality and the rate of the future employment； therefore， it’s quite necessary and essential to investigate the quality structure of English teachers in higher vocational colleges under the Mode of Combining Learning with Working.

1. The Meaning of Teachers’ Quality

The Teacher’s quality， usually embodied in their teaching activities， is a decisive factor to educational effect， and the sum of psychological character which has the immediate and marked influence to the student’s somatopsychic development.（Lin Chongde，1996：16-22）. Teachers should possess the following qualities： self-identity of faith in professional value， gracious moral cultivation， perception of modern education， optimized knowledge structure， the development and improvement of teaching ability， the establishment and consolidation of the image of researcher， favorable somatopsychic qualities， team orientation， co-operative， specifically with other divisions（Wang Bo，2001：37）.Teachers’ qualities include teachers’ belief， knowledge structure and ability structure（Du Hebing，Qin Xuhong，2002：23）.

2. Empirical Research on Teachers’ Quality Structure

The subjects of the research are 200 three-year-term students from Nanchang Institute of Technology who are randomly drawn and 50 English teachers （including the deans of the faculty） from five different higher vocational colleges. The questionnaire to the students is divided into two stages. The first one consists of an open-ended question： “What qualities should your ideal college English teachers possess”. The purpose of the study is to investigate the key qualities of college English teachers expected by the students. After the students finished their questionnaire， the researcher sorted out， classified and analyzed their answers and then presented the results of the ideal higher vocational college English teachers’ qualities as following：

（1）Appearance and image： good image， fashion， presentable appearance， good temper， elegant， dressed properly；

（2）Character： compatible， optimistic， patient， amiable， responsible， having a sense of humor， strict， vigorous；

（3）Professional intension： a lover of teaching， devoted to teaching career， enthusiastic；

（4）Communication skills： concerning for every student， being friends with students， keeping eye contact；

（5）Proficiency in English： standard pronunciation， fluent oral English， good expressive ability in English；

（6）Professional knowledge： wealthy in knowledge， profound subject-matter knowledge；

（7）Teaching skills： creating interesting and happy class， stimulating initiative， denying copying teaching materials and program， providing students with knowledge out of class， discouraging learning by rote， motivate students’ interest；

As for the second-stage questionnaire to the students， the researcher listed 7 categories by summarizing the results of the first-stage questionnaire. The open-ended question in this questionnaire is “please choose the first three important qualities that higher vocational college English teachers should possess from the above 7 categories”. The results show that the order of the most important qualities is as the following： proficiency in English （89%）， communication skills （72%）， the characters （63%），teaching skills （50%）， professional knowledge （37%）， professional intension（25%）， appearance and image （16%）. Thus it can be seen that the patient teachers， who are good at interpersonal communication， and have clear and fluent oral English are most welcomed by the students.

The question in the interviews to the 50 higher vocation college English teachers （including the deans of the faculty） is “what are the most important three qualities that the ideal higher vocational college English teachers should possess”. After sorting the results of interviews， the results follow： 86% teachers hold that the most important quality is standard pronunciation and oral expression； 78% teachers take profound professional knowledge （consisting of linguistics， second language acquisition and business English， etc.） and various teaching methods as the second important quality； 65% teachers regard research ability as the quality that English teachers should possess； 53% teachers consider advancing with times and being bold in innovation are important qualities， with which teachers are capable of attracting students’ attention and motivating students； and 46% teachers hold the view that loving educational career and students， and the willingness to communicate with them are the essential qualities. Thereby it can be concluded that proficient English， profound professional knowledge and research ability are the three most essential qualities that the excellent English teachers should have in the eyes of higher vocational college English teachers as well as the deans of the faculty.

3.The Conclusion of the Empirical Investigation

After the investigation， the researcher has a comprehensive understanding of the quality structure that higher vocational college English teachers should possess. The following are the quality structure that 50 higher vocational college English teachers（including the deans of the faculty） and 200 students expect： （1）proficient in English，such as， having standard pronunciation as well as clear and fluent oral expression；（2）loving students， and willing to communicate with them；（3）profound professional knowledge and interesting ways of teaching； （4）research ability；（5）patient and optimistic；（6）advancing with times and devoting themselves to development and innovation. But it also shows that some problems do exist， for example， the poor ability of oral expression as well as research ability， and lack of creative teaching methods and professional knowledge bother college English teachers a lot.

4. The Strategies to Promote the Qualities

4.1 Establishing a New Teaching Notion

The traditional teaching lays stress on explanation of knowledge and imparting of technical skills. The classroom is the only teaching environment， in which students passively and negatively accept the infusion of the knowledge. However， the teaching environment under the Mode of Combining Learning with Working is an open classroom， where enterprises and companies can also be regarded as teaching classroom， as a result， the studying enthusiasm of students is aroused and favorable teaching effect is obtained. College English teachers should make the transition from the old conception to the new teaching methods， in which they attach importance both to the instruction of knowledge and to the improvement of the students’ practical use of the knowledge.

4.2 Developing the Double-professional Teachers

Double-professional teachers require English teachers own favorable professional ethic and faith， reflect the characteristics of “skills” and “profession”， both thoroughly understand the relevant theory concerning the subject and master professional skills. The strategies to develop the double-professional teachers are as the following， first， the leaders in higher vocational colleges organize series of lectures， inviting translators and interpreters from different enterprises and institutions， and salesmen from foreign trade companies to the lectures， in this way， English teachers can have face-to-face communication with the experts and obtain the opportunities to improve their technical skills； second， the colleges can co-operate with foreign trade companies and foreign affair organizations， providing English teachers with the chances to put their knowledge into practice. Double-professional teachers usually try more interesting ways of teaching， for example， they turn the traditional classroom into a more authentic teaching environment， such as， imitating activities that the translators or foreign trade salesmen conduct everyday， in such way， students can improve their abilities of practical skills .

4.3 Combining Teaching with Research

One of the efficient approaches to promote teachers’ qualities is combining teaching with research. The research should be based on college English teaching practices， from which the researcher discover， study and then solve problems， as a result， the teaching quality improves. Higher vocational colleges should increase money for research and conduct academic exchanges， for instance， inviting famous teachers and experts to introduce the advancing front. At the same time， other activities， such as teaching observance， exchange among teachers can create various opportunities for them to involve in researching. Teachers question their own teaching objective and activities， reflect their teaching， and write down teaching diaries， all of which can help the teachers pursue their professional development.

5. Conclusion

In short， through the research on the higher vocational college English teachers’ qualities， a conclusion can be drawn as the following： the qualities， such as， high level of proficiency in English， clear and fluent oral English， good at communicating with students， patience and interpersonal ability that excellent higher vocational college English teachers own， are most favored by the students， while profound professional knowledge， various teaching skills and research ability are the three qualities that English teachers including the deans of the faculty count much. English Teachers’ optimizing their own quality structure is of great value to develop more high-quality and competent students.

6.Acknowledgments

This article is part of the research project titled A Research on English Teachers’ Professional Development Based on Autonomy in Higher Vocational Colleges （code number： 11WX307）， funded by the Project of Social Science of Jiangxi Province in 2011.

References

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