An Investigation of English Teacher Qualities in Colleges and Universities

Teachers play a key role in teaching reforms in that their qualities determine whether the reforms will be successful or not. This paper is an analysis of the teacher quality data of English teachers in colleges and universities collected in a large-scale survey. Our analysis shows that (1) English teachers in colleges and universities bear a heavier burden of work than they can afford; (2) there are too many young faculty members; (3) male teachers and female teachers are out of proportion with female ones outnumbering male ones; (4) there are still a large number of teachers without postgraduate education background; and (5) teachers' ability to do research leaves much for improvement. It is suggested that more effective measures be taken to strengthen teacher education programs so that College English teaching reform can be carried out efficiently.