College English Language Teaching Reform and EFL Lecturers’ Reflection on Teaching: A Case Study in China

Abstract

With the rapid development of newly improved colleges and universities across China, there was a commensurate need for English as a Foreign Language teaching and learning (EFL). As a result, China’s Ministry of Education initiated the College English Language Teaching Reform (CELTR) to improve English language teaching and learning at tertiary institutions in the country. The purpose of this article was to look into EFL lecturers’ perceptions of the CELTR and see how much the CELTR had improved their teaching reflection, which in turn influenced the CELTR’s effect and implementation. A total of 92 EFL lecturers from a newly renovated university in Nanyang City, Central China, participated in the study. Purposive sampling was used to obtain data for the study, which included a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with eight EFL lecturers. The findings revealed that EFL lecturers had a reasonable degree of awareness and knowledge of the CELTR, that lecturers’ reflection on teaching had improved slightly since the CELTR was implemented, and that EFL lecturers’ intents and use of reflection on teaching had increased under the CELTR. They used many ways to undertake reflection on teaching. The findings revealed that EFL lecturers constantly reflected on their teaching contents, methods, and events during the CELTR implementation process in order to improve their teaching practice and better meet the students’ specific needs, and they believed that reflection on teaching could not be separated from teaching practice.