Sustainable Professional Development of German Language Teachers in China: Research Assessment and External Research Funding
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- What expectations and realities do GLTs need to respond to when applying for external research funding in Chinese universities?
- Which factors influence GLTs’ applications for external research funding?
2. LOTE Teacher Development in Chinese Higher Education
3. Theoretical Framework
4. The Study
4.1. Participants
4.2. Data Collection and Analysis
5. Results
5.1. The External Research Funding Requirements for GLTs’ Promotion
5.1.1. High Expectations Placed on GLTs by Universities
5.1.2. The Distribution of External Research Funding Granted to GLTs
5.2. Factors Contributing to GLTs’ External Research Funding Applications
5.2.1. Individual Context: Conflict of Multiple Roles and Academic Competence Shortage
This is difficult for everyone. I think we have quite a lot of classes, especially for me. In my case, the minimum teaching time is 8 h per week. Sometimes I even have to teach for more than 20 h a week, depending on my situation.(Interview with P7)
The difficulty was that I personally didn’t accumulate enough publications—that is, my prior publications were so poor. I didn’t know the domestic assessment situation. I always thought about writing my final thesis during my PhD, and I didn’t even think about publishing more articles. I think that the German [education system] in general doesn’t see article publication as [important], and there are no rules about the level of publications—for example, what kind of article counts and what kind of article doesn’t.(Interview with P4)
5.2.2. Institutional Context: Growing Research Pressure and Inefficient Organizational Support
We are in an overloaded [work] state now, with a very small number of teachers and a lot of work. It is too difficult for us to recruit people. Last time our department was asked to recruit associate professors from other universities directly [rather than new PhD graduates]. Moreover, they [i.e., PhD graduates majoring in science and engineering] had all published [many] articles. PhD graduates [in our department] obviously cannot meet that requirement. That’s maybe why it is so difficult to recruit new teachers.(Interview with P4)
Universities require teachers to submit NSSFC proposals, but this does not mean the proposals will be submitted to the NOPSS committee. There is a series of selection procedures. However, it seems to be an obligation for teachers to submit a proposal, no matter whether it will be submitted to the NOPSS committee or not. If you do not submit, you are likely to be approached by the faculty head and be asked why you didn’t submit anything.(Interview with P5)
5.2.3. Social Context: Higher Education in Transformation and LOTE in Marginalization
[This system] does not make sense. How can I put it? Maybe it’s because our discipline is quite special, to some extent. Now that we have adopted the “up or out” personnel system, could the teaching workload be reduced a little bit? There is still a big teaching burden on teachers who need to produce so many academic outputs in a short period of time. The university should be aware that there is a gestation process for academic outputs. It is really difficult for many teachers to get so many papers published in such a short time.(Interview with P5)
I think it is more difficult for LOTE teachers to publish articles than for English language teachers (ELTs). This is because in China, the field of language and literature is mainly dominated by English majors. I think that the research and writing methods used by LOTE teachers are very different from their requirements, habits, or preferences. Compared to ELTs, LOTE teachers are too weak to be competitive [in publishing].(Interview with P7)
5.2.4. Chronological Context: Ever-Changing Research Trends and Inadequate Track Records of Prior Research
I will keep going and carry on. One of my colleagues submitted proposals on the same topic for two or three years and finally won the NSSFC this year. I applied for funding several years ago, then I did not apply in the next year, and then I applied again with the same research topic. I am sticking to my own research interest, because I think that the suggested topics given by the NOPSS will always change, and I can’t keep up with the pace of change. Without research accumulation, there are no preliminary accomplishments, I mean, publications. So it’s not like I can just change my research topic whenever I want to.(Interview with P6)
6. Discussion
7. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Contexts | Explanations | Examples |
---|---|---|
Individual context | Mainly composed of teachers’ personal thoughts, emotions, abilities, and interpersonal relationships, which are directly related to teachers | Career planning and academic ability of each individual GLT |
Institutional context | Closely related to the individual context and directly related to the work environment in which teachers work | Universities’ promotion, evaluation, or training systems for GLTs |
Social context | The broader social, political, and academic contexts related to teachers’ teaching and research, which indirectly facilitate or constrain teachers’ development | The reform of the national education system; the overall professional atmosphere of academia |
Chronological context | Teachers are in a constant state of adaptation and change in their teaching and research as time progresses | Years of teaching experience; changes in hot topics for academic research |
Participant | Age Range | Highest Degree | Region Where Highest Degree was Obtained | Title | Tenure Track or Not |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
P1 | 40–44 | PhD | Germany | Associate professor | No |
P2 | 35–39 | PhD | China | Associate professor | No |
P3 | 30–34 | PhD | Germany | Lecturer | Yes |
P4 | 30–34 | PhD | Germany | Lecturer | Yes |
P5 | 30–34 | PhD | Germany | Lecturer | Yes |
P6 | 45–49 | PhD | China | Associate professor | No |
P7 | 35–39 | MA | China | Lecturer | No |
P8 | 30–34 | PhD | Germany | Lecturer | Yes |
Univ. | Associate Professor | Full Professor | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Funding | Publications | Funding | Publications | |
A | 1 provincial, ministerial or above | 4 CSSCIs + 1 CSSCI-E | 1 national | 4 CSSCIs + 1 top-ranked CSSCI/SSCI/A&HCI |
B | 1 provincial, ministerial or above | 4 CSSCIs/SSCIs/A&HCIs | 1 national | 4 top-ranked CSSCIs/SSCIs/A&HCIs |
C | 1 ministerial or above | 2 CSSCIs + 1 top-ranked CSSCI/SSCI/A&HCI + 1 academic monograph | 2 ministerial or above | 4 CSSCIs + 2 important CSSCIs + 1 top-ranked CSSCI/SSCI/A&HCI + 1 academic monograph |
D | 1 provincial, ministerial or above | 3 CSSCIs + 1 important CSSCI, or 2 SSCIs/A&HCIs | 1 national or ministerial, or 2 provincial | 5 CSSCIs + 2 top-ranked CSSCIs, or 3 SSCIs/A&HCIs (at least one Q2) |
E | 1 national, or 2 provincial/ ministerial | 3 CSSCIs, or 2 CSSCIs + 1 academic monograph | 1 approved and finished national, or 1 national + 2 approved and finished provincial/ministerial | 4 CSSCIs + 1 top-ranked CSSCI/SSCI/A&HCI + 1 academic monograph |
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Liu, S.; Chen, Y.; Shen, Q.; Gao, X. Sustainable Professional Development of German Language Teachers in China: Research Assessment and External Research Funding. Sustainability 2022, 14, 9910. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14169910
Liu S, Chen Y, Shen Q, Gao X. Sustainable Professional Development of German Language Teachers in China: Research Assessment and External Research Funding. Sustainability. 2022; 14(16):9910. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14169910
Chicago/Turabian StyleLiu, Siqi, Yu Chen, Qi Shen, and Xuesong (Andy) Gao. 2022. "Sustainable Professional Development of German Language Teachers in China: Research Assessment and External Research Funding" Sustainability 14, no. 16: 9910. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14169910