School-Based EFL Teacher Professional Development for Task-Based Language Teaching: An Ethnographically-Informed Case Study of Rural China

This book investigates the efficacy of a teacher educator collaborating with rural Chinese teachers of English to activate agentic adoption of task-based language teaching (TBLT). Set in rural northwestern China, the book traces the researcher’s role as a participant-observer, during which she conducted a 12-week immersive study in a rural secondary school. The initial approach focused on understanding and trust-building, followed by the development of a collaborative partnership with teachers, and results demonstrate that given appropriate guidance and assistance, rural Chinese teachers successfully incorporated tasks into their classrooms to encourage increased motivation for learning and communicating in English. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of applied linguistics, language education, and TESOL, and the author demonstrates that true teacher educators are more effective as learning partners to teachers than simply a coach or lecturer.

Jing Yixuan recently completed her PhD in Applied Linguistics at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. She has many years of teaching experience at the tertiary level in China. She has taught English, including teacher training for future Chinese ESL teachers. She was born and raised in rural China.