| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立交通大學 === 英語教學研究所 === 98 === Many researchers (Bullough, 1989; Hebert & Worthy, 2001; O’Connell Rust, 1994) suggest the first year of teaching is a crucial career phase for teachers since this career phase has long-term implications for teacher future development as well as subsequent teaching practice. Therefore, despite previous research (e.g., Bullough, 1989; Scherff, 2008; Worthy, 2005 ) which has shown a growing interest in novice ESL (English as a second language) teachers’ first-year employment, limited studies, if any, explored novice EFL teachers’ first-year employment. This study seeks to contribute to the emerging understanding of novice EFL teachers.
Specifically, this case study aims to depict the first year teaching experience of one novice English teacher in Taiwan and to explore the difficulties which she encountered during her first year of employment. How the participant coped with working stress was also under investigation in this study. Multiple data collection methods were adopted in order to reveal rich data, including semi-structured interviews, participant observation, teacher narratives, document inspection, field notes as well as researcher journals.
Results revealed that the participant encountered into three areas of difficulties: personal, professional, and social. The support she sought for was classified as three dimensions, including psychological, instructional-related, and medical support. The participant proposed three supports respectively based on her first-year experience, namely, the guidance from mentors, the seminars catering for novice teachers’ needs, and the adequate times of consultation service. A further analysis of the data revealed that interplay factors such as the personality of the participant, her previous learning experience in teacher preparation program, the social and political environment of her school, and lack of initial support from her school as well as government contributed to Amy’s unpleasant experience during her first-year teaching. Some future modifications for per-service teacher preparation institution, school authorities, and the governmental organization are suggested in order to improve future preparation of English teachers.
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