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Sustainable Professional Development of German Language Teachers in China: Research Assessment and External Research Funding

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Abstract: The academic evaluation of teachers of languages other than English (LOTEs) has been extensively researched, especially from the perspective of academic publications. However, little attention has been paid to another key performance indicator in teacher assessment, namely, external research funding. Focusing on German language teachers (GLTs), this paper adopts a mixed methods approach to investigate the assessment requirements for LOTE teachers in terms of external research funding and the factors that may impact their accomplishments. Based on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory and conservation of resources theory, we analyzed policy documents from the universities under investigation, examined “German or Germany-related” funding approvals, and conducted semi-structured interviews with eight GLTs to explore the environmental factors (individual context, institutional context, social context, chronological context) that may influence the survival of GLTs in terms of the requirements for external research funding. The findings indicate that factors from each ecological context interact with one another and have a combined influence on GLTs’ external research funding application activity. Moreover, there is an imbalance between the academic demands faced by GLTs and the resource support that is available to them. This imbalance may affect the survival and development of GLTs and is likely to have a continuing influence throughout their career. The study concludes by offering some suggestions at different levels to facilitate the sustainable professional development of GLTs.
Citation: 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
Academic Editor: Pedro Guilherme
Rocha dos Reis
Received: 7 June 2022
Accepted: 9 August 2022
Published: 11 August 2022
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sustainability
Article
Sustainable Professional Development of German Language
Teachers in China: Research Assessment and External
Research Funding
Siqi Liu 1, Yu Chen 1,* , Qi Shen 1, * and Xuesong (Andy) Gao 2
1School of Foreign Languages, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China
2School of Education, University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
*Correspondence: yu_chen@tongji.edu.cn (Y.C.); qishen@tongji.edu.cn (Q.S.)
Abstract:
The academic evaluation of teachers of languages other than English (LOTEs) has been
extensively researched, especially from the perspective of academic publications. However, little
attention has been paid to another key performance indicator in teacher assessment, namely, external
research funding. Focusing on German language teachers (GLTs), this paper adopts a mixed methods
approach to investigate the assessment requirements for LOTE teachers in terms of external research
funding and the factors that may impact their accomplishments. Based on Bronfenbrenner’s eco-
logical systems theory and conservation of resources theory, we analyzed policy documents from
the universities under investigation, examined “German or Germany-related” funding approvals,
and conducted semi-structured interviews with eight GLTs to explore the environmental factors
(individual context, institutional context, social context, chronological context) that may influence the
survival of GLTs in terms of the requirements for external research funding. The findings indicate that
factors from each ecological context interact with one another and have a combined influence on GLTs’
external research funding application activity. Moreover, there is an imbalance between the academic
demands faced by GLTs and the resource support that is available to them. This imbalance may
affect the survival and development of GLTs and is likely to have a continuing influence throughout
their career. The study concludes by offering some suggestions at different levels to facilitate the
sustainable professional development of GLTs.
Keywords:
external research funding; research assessment; German language teachers; professional
development; mixed methods
1. Introduction
In the quest to develop world-class universities in China [
1
,
2
], “governments promote
aggressive management practices to ensure that their universities do well in research and
academic quality assessment” [
3
] (p. 554). Consequently, research performance evaluation
in relation to employment decisions has a significant impact on the recruitment of talents
to universities and their subsequent career development [
4
]. Academic outputs are increas-
ingly emphasized in performance evaluation and the university employment system in
higher education, and in this context, scholars in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS)
may be more vulnerable within university assessment mechanisms compared to researchers
in the hard sciences [
3
,
5
]. The reason is that HSS research is generally underrepresented in
the rankings of universities, and “the bibliometric indicators and field-normalised citation
counts” cannot totally capture the contributions of HSS researchers [6] (p. 18).
To date, the impact of research performance evaluation on the career development of
university academics has been examined in a number of studies [
7
,
8
]. However, much of
the existing research has focused on academic publications, with little attention paid to
requirements for securing external research funding. Due to the role of research income in
Sustainability 2022,14, 9910. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14169910 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability
Sustainability 2022,14, 9910 2 of 15
ranking exercises for universities, research funding is an increasingly important criterion in
university academics’ promotion and career development in many contexts [9].
Unfortunately, university academics around the world are threatened with funding
cuts, and this is particularly true for social science researchers since governments often
favor hard science research in their funding allocation decisions [
10
]. As a result, obtaining
external research funding is a particular stumbling block in the career development of
university academics in HSS disciplines. Among these, teachers of languages other than
English (LOTEs) are likely to be even more marginalized and experience more significant
challenges because their research productivity is relatively low in comparison with re-
searchers in other HSS disciplines [
7
]. To date, only a small body of research has focused
on the significance of external research funding in the assessment of academic performance
in this area, except for a couple of bibliometric analysis studies [11,12].
As one of the most important research programs in philosophy and social science
in China, the National Social Science Fund of China (NSSFC) is seen as a benchmark for
external research funding, and attempts to obtain NSSFC funding may determine the career
development trajectories of LOTE teachers. In practice, the number of NSSFC projects
obtained by a university is often adopted as a metric to indicate its strength in social science
research, even in the national university rankings. As a result, the NSSFC is highly regarded
by universities and academics [13].
In this study, we attempt to examine the impact of research performance evaluation
on LOTE teachers by focusing on German language teachers’ (GLTs) challenges in Chinese
universities. To this end, this study focuses on two research questions:
1.
What expectations and realities do GLTs need to respond to when applying for external
research funding in Chinese universities?
2. Which factors influence GLTs’ applications for external research funding?
2. LOTE Teacher Development in Chinese Higher Education
Due to the rise of English as the most important language for learning and teaching
in many contexts [
14
,
15
], LOTE education in universities in many countries is witnessing
a downward trend [
16
]. In most contexts worldwide, LOTE education is facing funding
cuts [
17
]. Bucking this trend, however, the introduction of the national “Belt and Road”
initiative in 2013 prompted Chinese universities to invest more resources in LOTE education,
with many beginning to offer majors or courses in the languages of the countries along
the “Belt and Road” [
18
]. In addition, in 2015, the Ministry of Education (MOE) issued
the “Implementation Opinions on Strengthening the Education of Less-Commonly-Taught
Foreign Language Talents”, and by 2016, the total number of European language majors
in Chinese universities nationwide reached 114 [
19
]. However, English is still the most
important foreign language in Chinese language education [
20
], and the scale of LOTE
majors is relatively small in terms of faculty sizes [21].
Meanwhile, Chinese universities have been reforming their personnel systems to
improve their academic output efficiency in order to become world-class universities [
7
].
Many Chinese universities have adopted the tenure-track system for the appointment
and retention of lecturers, assistant professors, and associate professors. This system
requires new appointees to achieve promotion within a maximum of two terms (each
usually lasting three years), with the consequence that they will not be retained if they
are not promoted within the specified time [
22
]. These universities have also introduced
quantitative performance evaluation measures, generating significant challenges for early
career university academics in terms of their research productivity [
4
]. In many universities,
early career academics need to publish a specified number of indexed journal publications
and secure particular amounts of research funding if they wish to get promoted and secure
their long-term university employment [7].
In such a context that emphasizes quantifiable research outputs and research perfor-
mance indicators, foreign language teachers are facing enormous challenges in their career
development as they do not do enough research and have sufficient research outputs [
23
].
Sustainability 2022,14, 9910 3 of 15
Studies on foreign language teachers’ research practices have identified two categories
of factors in relation to their research productivity: external factors and internal factors.
The former includes peer influence and the school and social environment, while the latter
includes motivation, professional identity, and reflection [24,25].
LOTE teachers in Chinese universities usually have a heavy teaching load and are
also expected to conduct research [
26
]. However, in dealing with the conflict of identities
between “teacher” and “researcher” [
26
], they experience greater challenges in academic
publishing compared to English language teachers [
27
]. On the one hand, Chinese journals
in the field of foreign language teaching have an implicit ‘researching about English’ policy
that “consigns the smaller groups [LOTE teachers] who do not research ‘about’ English to
a peripheral position in the non-Anglophone context” [
28
] (p. 126). On the other hand, it
is also difficult for LOTE teachers to publish in indexed international journals that often
use English as the medium of publication [
29
]. However, research output plays a large
part in successfully obtaining external research funding, and as a result, LOTE teachers
find themselves at a serious disadvantage in external research funding applications due
to their low research productivity. To this end, LOTE teachers have been trying new
approaches of international publication and solving their career development challenges
by participating in multilingual academic communities [
30
] and actively seeking cross-
linguistic collaboration [31].
Researchers have already explored LOTE teachers’ professional development focusing
on academic assessment and publications [
5
,
17
]. However, little attention has been paid
to the other key indicator, external research funding [
11
,
12
], and therefore a focus on the
external research funding applications of LOTE teachers may provide new insights related
to the challenges that these teachers from a non-English background have to face and the
factors that may help them to get over this stumbling block.
3. Theoretical Framework
In this study, we draw on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory [
32
] and the
conservation of resources (COR) theory [
33
] to explore how GLTs respond to the challenges
in securing external funding for academic promotion in Chinese universities. Bronfen-
brenner [
32
] views a person’s development as a complex system of relationships affected
by multiple levels of the surrounding environment; according to this definition, the en-
vironment for the professional development of teachers is the world in which teachers
live—that is, the environment in which they perceive and experience their professional life
and growth.
In Bronfenbrenner’s theory, there are five sub-systems based on the surrounding envi-
ronment, i.e., the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, the macrosystem, and the
chronosystem [
32
,
34
]. The microsystem is “a pattern of activities, roles, and interpersonal
relations experienced by the developing person in a given setting with particular physical
and material characteristics” [
32
] (p. 22). The mesosystems are primarily concerned with
the interactions between individual microsystems. Next, the exosystem comprises “one
or more settings that do not involve the developing person as an active participant, but in
which events occur that affect, or are affected by, what happens in the setting containing
the developing person” [
32
] (p. 25). The macrosystem is the “consistencies, in the form and
content of lower-order systems (micro-, meso-, and exo-) that exist, or could exist, at the
level of the subculture or the culture as a whole, along with any belief systems or ideology
underlying such consistencies” [
32
] (p. 26). Finally, the chronosystem is “the influence on
the person’s development of changes (and continuities) over time in the environments in
which the person is living” [
34
] (p. 724). These five ecological systems interact with one
another and work together to impact GLTs.
“Every occupation may have its own specific working characteristics” [
35
] (p. 323).
The characteristics of all working environments can be classified into two general categories,
namely, job demands and job resources [
36
]. According to the COR theory, resources do
not exist individually; instead, they are intimately tied to one another ecologically [
37
].
Sustainability 2022,14, 9910 4 of 15
Because of dynamic changes over time, resources can have different effects depending
on the environment and conditions. People “with greater resources are less vulnerable to
resource loss and more capable of resource gain” and vice versa, contributing to effects
such as “loss spirals” and “gain spirals” [
37
] (p. 106). Job demands and resources in a
particular occupational context do not correspond to only one of Bronfenbrenner’s five
environmental systems; rather, they interact with several of them.
The occupation of GLTs has its own specific working features. The process of GLTs’
career development is constrained by multiple environments, each comprising require-
ments and resources from different levels [
38
]. According to COR theory, the pursuit of
goals is dynamic and there is a strong relationship between resources [
39
]. Therefore,
the requirements and resources faced by GLTs are not independent; rather, they interact
with each other and change over time. We condensed Bronfenbrenner’s multiple layers of
interwoven contextual structures into three core levels, i.e., individual context, institutional
context, and social context, complemented by the chronological context, to form the theo-
retical framework for this study (see Table 1). Within this theoretical framework, the GLTs’
developing context is viewed as an organic ecosystem consisting of nested environmental
elements that interact with each other and influence the GLTs’ professional development.
Table 1. The contexts for GLTs’ career development.
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
4. The Study
To address the research questions, we collected multiple data from different sources
using a mixed methods approach. First we recruited eight Chinese GLTs from five universi-
ties and collected policy documents from each university. Then, we extracted information
on “German or Germany-related” external research funding from the NSSFC database
and from the National Office for Philosophy and Social Science (NOPSS). Third, we con-
ducted semi-structured interviews with the eight participants, focusing on external research
funding requirements for promotion, the challenges they experienced in making external
research funding applications, and possible ways to address these challenges.
4.1. Participants
Focusing on research pressure among GLTs, we recruited our research participants
through purposive sampling and snowball sampling from five universities. All of these five
universities are comprehensive, key universities in China (four are Project 985 universities,
and one Project 211), two located in northern, two in central-western, and one in eastern
China. Among these five universities, four have German departments, and one has a
German unit under the European department (it includes four units, i.e., German, French,
Russian, and Spanish). All of these departments are under the unified administration of the
School of Foreign Languages or the School of Translation, implementing unified standards
for teacher recruitment, performance assessment, and promotion. All participants were
Sustainability 2022,14, 9910 5 of 15
lecturers or associate professors who were either on a tenure track or who were facing the
challenge of a higher professional title evaluation.
As shown in Table 2, five of the participants were lecturers and three were associate
professors. Five had obtained their PhD degrees in Germany and two in China, while the
only MA lecturer was pursuing his PhD degree in China. All of the newly enrolled teachers
(i.e., those aged between 30 and 34) were on a tenure track, indicating the establishment
and prevalence of this evaluation system in Chinese universities in recent years.
Table 2. Demographic information about the participants.
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
4.2. Data Collection and Analysis
To represent the requirements and situation related to external research funding
applications among GLTs, we first collected policy documents from each sampled uni-
versity (either retrieved from open-access resources or provided by the participants).
Then, we extracted information about “German or Germany-related” funding from the
NSSFC database (1991–2020) (http://fz.people.com.cn/skygb/sk/index.php/Index/index,
27 October 2021
) and from the NOPSS (http://www.nopss.gov.cn/GB/index.html, 27 Oc-
tober 2021). The NSSFC, established in 1991, is the main funding source supporting basic
scientific research in China. Based on the NSSFC database, we first extracted information
about “German or Germany-related” funding, then conducted a manual check to ensure
that the external research funding applications were by GLTs. A final sample of 69 national-
level funding applications during the period from 1991 to 2020 formed our database.
Based on our analysis of the policy documents and the results related to national-level
funding applications, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the participants.
The questions focused on three core aspects, i.e., the participants’ external research funding
requirements for promotion, the challenges they experienced during the funding applica-
tion, and possible ways in which they addressed these challenges. The interviews were
conducted in Mandarin Putonghua, audio-recorded with the permission of the participants,
and lasted for about 60 min on average. The interview recordings were then transcribed
and proofread by the authors.
5. Results
This section presents the research requirements placed on GLTs by Chinese universities
if they want to achieve promotion and the realities of national-level funding approvals for
GLTs. After that, factors that influence GLTs’ funding applications are discussed.
5.1. The External Research Funding Requirements for GLTs’ Promotion
5.1.1. High Expectations Placed on GLTs by Universities
To obtain a promotion, GLTs have to meet minimum promotion requirements during
the academic performance evaluation process as implemented by their respective university.
The basic requirements for all the participants are shown in Table 3.
Sustainability 2022,14, 9910 6 of 15
Table 3. Minimum promotion requirements for academic evaluation.
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)
E1 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
Notes: National-level funding, ministerial-level funding, and provincial-level funding correspond to funding
granted by the NOPSS, the MOE, and the Provincial Office for Philosophy and Social Science; CSSCI refers to
the Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index, which is a counterpart of the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI)
developed by Nanjing University in 2000; CSSCI-E refers to the CSSCI Expanded, which was developed by
Nanjing University in 2008 to include some good quality journals not listed in the CSSCI; A&HCI represents the
Arts and Humanities Citation Index.
Table 3shows that both publications and external research funding are essential in
academic evaluation for university academics to get promoted. Moreover, some universities
have specific requirements in terms of citation indexes, such as the SSCI or A&HCI. These
publication requirements create significant pressures and challenges for teachers, who
already have heavy teaching loads and other service obligations at the same time [7].
As for the other key performance indicator, namely, external research funding, in all
five sampled universities GLTs are expected to obtain funding for at least one provincial or
ministerial-level project in order to be promoted to the level of associate professor. To be
promoted to a full professorship, one successful national-level funding application is the
minimum requirement. In addition, some of the sampled universities seem to have higher
requirements for promotion. For instance, University E requires one national-level funding
allocation or two successful provincial or ministerial-level project funding applications
when applying for an associate professorship and one national plus two provincial or
ministerial-level funded projects (which should not only be approved but also finished) for
a full professorship.
5.1.2. The Distribution of External Research Funding Granted to GLTs
After reviewing the requirements for promotion to a professorship for Chinese GLTs, it
is necessary to work out how many NSSFC funding allocations have actually been granted
to GLTs. To answer this question, we examined the distribution of the 69 successfully
funded “German or Germany-related” projects identified through the procedures described
in Section 4.2 in terms of their different categories and titles, as shown in Figure 1.
There are five major funding categories: major funding (established through public
bidding; applicants should be professors), key funding (intended to solve important issues
or problems; applicants should be associate professors or PhD holders), general funding
(applicants should be associate professors or PhD holders), youth funding (applicants
should be younger than 35 years), and western funding (applicants should be from less
developed regions). Figure 1shows that general funding accounts for 55.07% of all the
“German or Germany-related” funding allocated, and youth funding makes up another
Sustainability 2022,14, 9910 7 of 15
27.54%. Taken together, these two categories account for a high proportion, more than
80% of all the funding. This is in parallel with the wider situation for the types of funding
granted to foreign language teachers and social scientists in general [40].
Sustainability 2022, 14, x FOR PEER REVIEW 7 of 15
or ministerial-level funded projects (which should not only be approved but also finished)
for a full professorship.
5.1.2 The Distr ibution of External Research Funding Granted to GLTs
After review ing t he requirements for promotion to a professor ship for Chinese GLTs,
it is necessar y to w ork out how many NSSFC funding allocations have act ually been
granted to GLTs. To answ er this question, we examined the distr ibution of the 69 success-
fully funded German or Germany -related projects identified through the procedures
described in Section 4.2 in terms of their different cat egories and titles, as shown in Figure
1.
(a) based on categories
(b) based on academics titles
Figure 1. Proportiona l distribution of the 69 funding allocations based on categories a nd academics
titles.
There are five major funding categories: major funding (established through
public bidding; applicants should be professors), key funding (intended to solve
important issues or problems; applicants should be associate professors or PhD
holders), general funding (applicants should be associate professors or PhD hold-
ers), youth funding (applicants should be younger than 35 years), and western
funding (applicants should be from less developed regions). Figure 1 shows that
general funding accounts for 55.07% of all the German or Germany-related
funding allocated, and youth funding makes up another 27.54%. Taken together,
these two categories account for a high proportion, more than 80% of all the fund-
ing. This is in parallel with the wider situation for the types of funding granted to
foreign language teachers and social scientists in general [40].
In addition, almost half of the approved funding (47.83%) was granted to sen-
ior researchers (the equivalent of full professors), 33.33% to associate senior re-
searchers (equivalent to associate professors), and only 18.84% to intermediate re-
searchers (equivalent lecturers and assistant professors). Generally, newly re-
cruited GLTs under a tenure track are classed as intermediate researchers who are
not likely to have many academic outputs, while applicants with higher titles
have had more chances to accumulate publications. Hence, it is not surprising that
senior researchers account for the largest proportion of the funding allocated.
5.2. Factors Contributing to GLTs External Research Funding Applications
In this section, we consider the factors that influence GLTs in managing the require-
ments for external research funding through an analy sis of the semi -structured int er-
view s. The specific analysis w as preceded by a brief overview of the interviewees suc-
cessful resear ch funding applications. Two of the eight interviewees (P2 and P6) were
awarded the NSSFC, and they undertook a western funding project and a sub -project of
Figure 1.
Proportional distribution of the 69 funding allocations based on categories and
academics’ titles.
In addition, almost half of the approved funding (47.83%) was granted to senior
researchers (the equivalent of full professors), 33.33% to associate senior researchers (equiv-
alent to associate professors), and only 18.84% to intermediate researchers (equivalent
lecturers and assistant professors). Generally, newly recruited GLTs under a tenure track
are classed as intermediate researchers who are not likely to have many academic outputs,
while applicants with higher titles have had more chances to accumulate publications.
Hence, it is not surprising that senior researchers account for the largest proportion of the
funding allocated.
5.2. Factors Contributing to GLTs’ External Research Funding Applications
In this section, we consider the factors that influence GLTs in managing the require-
ments for external research funding through an analysis of the semi-structured interviews.
The specific analysis was preceded by a brief overview of the interviewees’ successful
research funding applications. Two of the eight interviewees (P2 and P6) were awarded the
NSSFC, and they undertook a western funding project and a sub-project of a major funding
project (equivalent to a general funding, but not an independent funding application). P2
was a lecturer at the time of funding application and was promoted to associate professor
after receiving the NSSFC funding. The funding was granted to P2 after she changed her
research direction from foreign literature to interdisciplinary research on foreign literature
and Chinese literature. P6, an associate professor for many years, is the oldest interviewee,
who has accumulated extensive experience in the field of German literature and has been
designated as the leader of a sub-project of a major funding. The remaining six interviewees
all had experience in applying for fundings.
Based on the GLTs’ developing context structures proposed in Section 3and the
participants’ own experiences, we identify factors at four levels, i.e., individual context,
institutional context, social context, and chronological context.
5.2.1. Individual Context: Conflict of Multiple Roles and Academic Competence Shortage
The factors in the individual context can be classified into two general types, namely,
lack of time and lack of prior publications. Most of the GLTs are fulfilling multiple roles, not
only acting as teachers, but also managing service obligations, academic requirements, etc.
Among these multiple roles, their teaching workloads were the most commonly mentioned.
For instance:
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
Sustainability 2022,14, 9910 8 of 15
have to teach for more than 20 h a week, depending on my situation. (Interview
with P7)
According to P7, almost every GLT’s teaching time exceeded what he/she was con-
tractually required to do. Moreover, all of the young GLTs expressed that they also needed
to meet a number of service obligations (e.g., counselor, teaching secretary). On top of
the prep time required for their lessons and their service obligations, all eight participants
reported that preparing a funding proposal was a time-consuming process. They felt they
would need at least two months to prepare a funding proposal, with some stating that
they would need half a year or even a whole year to complete their funding proposal
preparation, from the selection of a topic to completing and submitting the application.
In this sense, their extraordinary teaching burdens and service obligations constrain the
participants’ endeavors to carry out research.
Apart from their lack of time, all participants expressed concern about their lack of
prior publications. In particular, the GLTs who had obtained their PhDs in Germany had
no mandatory requirements for publication during their doctoral studies. As a result, most
of them lacked awareness and experience of journal article publishing.
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)
P4 was a young GLT who had received his PhD in Germany. He did not consider the
importance of journal article publication during his doctoral studies because there is no
mandatory requirement to do so in German universities. Instead, he focused on his thesis.
However, when P4 was recruited as a college teacher in China, he found that publications
play a decisive role in both academic assessment and external research funding applications.
A scholar’s previous publication record and the level of these publications are seen as the
external manifestation of the applicant’s academic ability, based on which assessors are able
to judge whether the applicant can undertake the project [
41
]. A lack of prior publications
can therefore be a major impediment to funding applications.
5.2.2. Institutional Context: Growing Research Pressure and Inefficient
Organizational Support
The most frequently mentioned factors in the institutional context can be summarized
as the increasing emphasis on research, differential selection in the funding application,
and inefficient centralized tutorials. As discussed in Section 5.1, to meet the threshold for
promotion, GLTs need not only to publish papers, but also to receive external research fund-
ing. This means that GLTs have to cope with overt measurement of research performance
and outcomes while also managing a high teaching workload. Moreover, this increasing
emphasis on research is accompanied by an increase in recruitment requirements. More
than one participant mentioned that it is becoming very difficult to recruit new teachers
due to the high recruitment thresholds:
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)
Sustainability 2022,14, 9910 9 of 15
This increase in the recruitment threshold directly contributes to the shortage of GLTs,
which interacts with the individual context and means that most of the GLTs have a heavy
teaching burden. Moreover, all participants also reported that their universities require
teachers to apply to the NSSFC for funding, which means that all teachers who are eligible
to apply to the NSSFC are required to do so:
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)
Although universities require teachers to submit as many applications as possible, not
all funding proposals can be submitted to the NOPSS committee since each university is
only allowed to submit a limited number of NSSFC applications. This selection mechanism
encourages the universities to employ selection procedures to pick the best proposals, but it
also means that most proposals are not submitted to the NOPSS committee to be reviewed
or evaluated.
In addition, all of the sampled universities organized NSSFC application mobilization
meetings or tutorials, inviting experts to share their funding application experiences or
comment on applicants’ funding proposals. However, some participants gave negative
feedback about these sessions, especially in relation to the activities organized by universi-
ties. For instance, in P6’s university, the invited experts were not intradisciplinary (i.e., from
the areas of foreign languages and literature). The writing paradigms for funding proposals
in different disciplines vary significantly, but proposals will be ultimately reviewed and
evaluated by intradisciplinary experts on funding decision panels. Accordingly, it is not so
helpful to invite experts from other disciplines to give their advice.
5.2.3. Social Context: Higher Education in Transformation and LOTE in Marginalization
This context involves two key factors, namely, the reform of the personnel system in
higher education institutions and the dominance of English in the academic publishing
market. As part of the reform of personnel systems in Chinese higher education, universities
implemented further reforms of their personnel recruitment systems [
42
], changing their
personnel practices from the traditional promotion system to the tenure track system [
43
].
All of the newly enrolled participants were under a tenure track, indicating the rapid
establishment of this personnel system in China in recent years (see Table 2). However,
these young GLTs expressed their doubts about this personnel system, which is often called
the “up or out” rule in China [44]. For instance:
[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)
As a newly enrolled teacher on a tenure-tracked path, P5 was aware of the unreason-
ableness of this system for HSS disciplines. Compared to teachers of science and technology,
it is more difficult for GLTs to fulfill not only their excessive teaching burden but also harsh
academic requirements during their tenure assessment. Young GLTs have to apply for
funding to preserve their academic positions, and they have to succeed. However, GLTs
who are not employed under the “up or out” personnel system do not face such heavy
pressure or need to compete for tenure positions; they still have the luxury of being able
Sustainability 2022,14, 9910 10 of 15
to fail, and they can choose to remain at the rank of lecturer or associate professor until
their retirement.
As noted above, having insufficient prior publications is a major impediment to
funding applications. However, all participants mentioned that in academia it is difficult
for GLTs to get their articles published since their academic languages are generally German
or Chinese:
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 require-
ments, habits, or preferences. Compared to ELTs, LOTE teachers are too weak to
be competitive [in publishing]. (Interview with P7)
Under the “efficiency-oriented” academic context [42], both LOTE teachers and ELTs
need to complete increasing numbers of performance evaluations. However, publishing
about LOTEs in the Chinese market is not easy, as the Chinese publishing market pays great
attention to the impact factor of journals [
28
]. Hence, we were curious about whether our
GLTs had tried to publish in international indexed journals. Most of the participants con-
firmed their awareness that the English language plays a dominant role in the international
publishing market [
28
,
29
], and there are discrepancies in research paradigms regarding
different languages. It was difficult for them to improve their language skills and enter the
international publishing market in such a short time.
5.2.4. Chronological Context: Ever-Changing Research Trends and Inadequate Track
Records of Prior Research
In the chronological context, the most frequently mentioned factor influencing GLTs’
external research funding applications was the annual adjustment of research topics. Every
year, the NOPSS releases the NSSFC Guide, which details the major theoretical and practical
topics or issues that the country needs to solve, providing a basis and guidance for appli-
cants to draft their proposals. The scope of the topics covered is contemporary, political,
regional, and national [
45
]. For example, in recent years, hot topics include the “Belt and
Road” initiative, the New Liberal Arts Construction, and so forth. As a result, applicants
who have failed in previous applications may attempt to adopt new topics or adjust prior
topics to fit the Guide in that year. However, the reorientation of one‘s research needs a new
process of knowledge learning and publication accumulation, which would not happen
overnight. Therefore, most teachers, especially older faculty members, indicated that they
would stick to their research topics:
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)
P6 felt that although the NSSFC Guide was useful in listing the hot topics each year,
guiding applicants in their selection of topics, it would be unwise to blindly follow these
topics. The reason for this was that if applicants were not familiar with the relevant field, or
lacked relevant prior publications in that field, the quality of their funding proposal would
not be guaranteed.
Moreover, we found that the research items listed in the NSSFC Guide were general
directional entries, especially the topics under the category of foreign literature (e.g., “stud-
Sustainability 2022,14, 9910 11 of 15
ies of Chinese translations of foreign literary works”). Through a further observation of
the NSSFC Guides from 2010 to 2022, we found that among the 1961 designated area items
and research direction items under the categories of international studies, foreign literature,
and linguistics, only seven were “German or Germany-related”. This may be the reason
why most of our GLTs tended to choose self-selected topics for their funding proposals
rather than following the designated area items or research direction items listed in the
NSSFC Guide.
6. Discussion
Based on ecological systems theory and COR theory, we have summarized a four-level
developing context structure for GLTs that consist of the individual context, the institutional
context, the social context, and the chronological context; this structure provides a clear
framework for analysis. Our findings indicate that GLTs have to successfully apply for a
certain amount of external research funding to be promoted and secure their long-term
employment. The various factors in each ecological context are interconnected with each
other, and together they have a clear impact on GLTs’ funding applications.
From the individual perspective, COR theory suggests that individuals who have
greater initial resources are more likely to experience resource gain [
46
]. In this regard,
when GLTs have more resources, they are more likely to be successful with their funding
applications. Prior academic publications are heavily weighted in successful funding
applications [
41
,
45
], meaning that applicants with more prior publications have a greater
chance to succeed. Applicants with higher titles generally have a better accumulation
of publications, and therefore GLTs with senior titles may be at an advantage in the
competition for external research funding.
Moreover, LOTE teachers have fewer resources for publication than ELTs [
28
]. English
is the dominant language in the academic communication ecosystem [
28
,
47
]. It is difficult
for GLTs to improve their language skills and produce recognized research outputs over
the short terms specified by their tenure track. Meanwhile, the writing of a proposal in
itself is a long and intensive process, requiring significant effort and time to produce a
polished funding proposal to maximize the applicants’ chance of success in the competition.
However, GLTs are caught in a dilemma, with multiple roles interacting with each other
throughout their professional lives. Therefore, when GLTs’ personal resources cannot keep
up with the requirements of their universities, GLTs will face further resource loss.
In the institutional context, the universities have strengthened the performance evalu-
ations of their employees, complemented by a sharp increase in the thresholds for recruit-
ment under the “double first-class” construction [
48
,
49
]. As a result, it is difficult to recruit
new employees, particularly young teachers who are qualified for vacant positions but
who may lack relevant experience or research records, leading to an extraordinary teaching
burden for existing GLTs.
In addition, GLTs not only lose the autonomy and choice about whether to submit a
proposal, but also may not have access to the appropriate resources to have their proposals
reviewed. Increased work requirements are not always accompanied by an increase in
resources, which has led some GLTs to be reluctant to write funding proposals and fulfill
this requirement only passively [
50
]. Our findings do indicate that universities have
offered some support for teachers’ funding applications by inviting experts who have
succeeded in obtaining NSSFC funding in the past. However, the GLTs’ overall feedback
on these mobilization meetings was that they were not always satisfactory. In other words,
universities are failing to provide adequate and effective resources for GLTs’ sustainable
development, despite the high demand for employment.
At the social level, the reform of the personnel systems of higher education institutions
driven by the government has led universities in China to change their personnel practices
from traditional promotion systems to the tenure track. Our findings confirm the rapid
establishment and spread of this system in China in recent years. Hence, GLTs under a
Sustainability 2022,14, 9910 12 of 15
tenure track have to work hard to submit proposals to achieve a professorship and retain
their position at their existing institution.
As mentioned earlier, prior publications are highly significant in the success of funding
applications, but the overall academic environment is still dominated by English [
28
,
47
].
Our findings confirm that in the publishing market there is an implicit tendency that
favors publishing in and about English [
28
], which further disadvantages GLTs. In all,
the employment environment resulting from the overarching personnel reform and the
academic environment in which English is the dominant language both create significant
barriers to GLTs’ sustainable professional development.
From the perspective of the chronological context, GLTs who fail in their NSSFC
applications must negotiate a change in research topic for the following year’s submission.
Each year the NOPSS issues the NSSFC Guide to the major theoretical or practical issues that
the country needs to address, guiding applicants on the direction and scope of their research.
However, our findings indicate that in GLTs’ general research fields (i.e., international
studies, foreign literature, and linguistics) “German or Germany-related” items are rarely
listed as a priority. As a result, most GLTs tend to choose self-selected topics for their
funding proposals.
We also found that the research items listed in the NSSFC Guide under the category
of foreign literature tended to be general research directions in earlier years, but recently
the items have become more specific. To some extent, this reflects an improvement in the
specification of the NOPSS policy. However, due to the GLTs’ lack of personal resources,
most of them reported that they would stick to their original research topic. In this regard,
the age and professorship of the faculties also play an important role. Although associate
professors are also under pressure for promotion, they were not employed under the “up
or out” rule and can find a balance between funding orientation and personal interests.
Senior academics show a greater propensity to protect the resources they already own (e.g.,
previous proposals) and to reduce the action of investment (e.g., writing new proposals) so
as to protect against further loss [51].
All of these levels of ecological context interact with each other and influence GLTs’
sustainable professional development [
32
,
34
]. In each system, the factors that influence
GLTs’ funding applications can be seen essentially as the result of an imbalance between
requirements and resource support, and they all interact and impact GLTs’ external research
funding applications [
46
]. In the process of preparing and submitting funding applications,
different levels of ecological context are available to provide resource support to GLTs.
However, in general, the resource support available to GLTs is still far from adequate.
Although the pressure to apply for funding varies among GLTs who are employed under
different personnel systems, it is undeniable that the requirement for performance evalua-
tion and promotion is closely related to the survival and development of GLTs and has a
continuing influence throughout their career.
7. Conclusions
Through an analysis of university policy documents, database evidence, and semi-
structured interviews with eight GLTs from sampled universities in China, we found that
GLTs have to successfully apply for a certain amount of research funding within a particular
period in order to achieve promotion. However, the reality is that only a small amount
of funding is granted to GLTs. Through the lens of ecological systems theory and COR
theory, we have summarized GLTs’ developing context structures (i.e., individual context,
institutional context, social context, and chronological context) to identify the factors that
influence GLT’s external research funding application activity.
GLTs’ career development is a systemic project influenced by four dimensions. The
current study has found an imbalance between the academic demands faced by GLTs and
their available resource support. Adequate resource support is essential for GLTs’ profes-
sional development and can motivate teachers to pursue growth and development [
52
].
However, the support provided from different dimensions is generally inadequate. There-
Sustainability 2022,14, 9910 13 of 15
fore, effective strategies should be put in place at different levels to help GLTs to engage in
and maintain their sustainable professional development.
At the individual level, GLTs need to maintain and improve their English language
proficiency and academic capacity, consciously seeking collaborators and cooperation to
build their own academic circle, so as to accumulate publications for funding applications
and promotion. The more researchers collaborate with others, the more access to resources
they may have [
53
]. At the institutional level, universities should pay more attention to the
professional development of GLTs and provide more support. This is because the tenure
track is not only a “probation period” for universities to examine young teachers, but also
a “nurturing period” to motivate their growth through the provision of resources [
44
].
Such support may be diverse; for instance, universities should provide more adequate
and higher-level resource support than the provision of inefficient centralized tutorials.
At the social level, optimizing the academic labor market and remaining vigilant to the
“privilege” of English in the academic market [
28
,
54
] are two possible aspects that could
improve the healthy development of GLTs, perhaps by measures such as promoting a more
comprehensive journal assessment system or founding multilingual journals.
Generally speaking, GLTs’ professional development is a process of constant change
over time. In this process, the various ecological contexts interact with each other to
promote GLTs’ sustainable development. By paying special attention to GLTs, the current
research explores the assessment of academic performance in terms of external research
funding; this has rarely been investigated, particularly in the context of LOTEs. Based on
the four contextual levels, we explored GLTs’ developing context structures, providing a
clear analytical framework for research on the professional development of LOTE teachers.
We propose suggestions at the individual, institutional, and social levels to facilitate a
balance between requirements and resource support, thereby paving the way for more
systematic and healthier professional development for LOTE teachers in China.
Author Contributions: Conceptualization, Q.S., Y.C., S.L. and X.G.; Original draft preparation: S.L.;
Data collection and analysis: S.L. and Y.C.; Supervision and review: X.G. and Q.S. All authors have
read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding: This research received no external funding.
Institutional Review Board Statement:
The study was approved by Research Ethics Committee of
the School of Foreign Languages, Tongji University (protocol code tjsflec202106).
Informed Consent Statement:
Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in
the study.
Data Availability Statement:
The data presented in this study are available on request from the
corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to the privacy of research participants.
Acknowledgments: Our sincere thanks go to the participants who joined our interviews.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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... This situation may have been owing to the high threshold standards to recruit LOTE teachers. Many universities that emphasize research production have made it a mandate that applicants for the teaching position must have published a certain number of articles in high-impact journals, which is indeed difficult for many potential applicants to meet who have just obtained a Ph.D. or even a master's degree [22]. The shortage of faculty members not only affects the quality and sustainability of LOTE programs, but also reduces LOTE teachers to a state of working in a relatively isolated community for professional development, where there is an extremely small number of colleagues. ...
... Whilst university administrators have tried to provide opportunities for professional training, many LOTE teachers consider them ineffective because some of the training lacks pertinence to LOTE teaching and some overlaps with previously provided training [22,23]. Thus, in general, resources to promote professional development are lacking for LOTE teachers. ...
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... To date, much of the existing research on foreign language teachers' research engagement has focused primarily on academic writing and publication (Yuan 2017;Yuan 2021;Liu et al. 2022). However, there is a general lack of research on university foreign language teachers' experiences in applying for funding. ...
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... The hegemonic position of English may be so pervasive that LOTE teachers have to compete for institutional support (Warner & Diao, 2022) and fight for the social acceptance of their particular languages at community level (Acheson et al., 2016), which can be emotionally draining. Negative emotions among LOTE teachers have been reported in the Chinese context, where LOTE teachers have increased job opportunities in universities because of the One-Belt-One-Road initiative, but also experience huge pressure to fulfill research requirements, causing them to feel lonely and passive (Kang, Shen, & Zheng, 2022;Liu, Chen, Shen, & Gao, 2022;Tao, Zhao, & Chen, 2019. However, it must be noted that the above research on language teachers has primarily been conducted in tertiary settings; we still have only a limited knowledge of language teachers working in secondary schools, not to mention LOTE teachers (with the exception of Acheson et al., 2016), where institutional settings and students' learning motivations could be very different (Li & Lian, 2018). ...
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... Analysis of interview data and policy texts suggests that these LOTE teachers perceive tremendous pressure from current educational policies, experience diverse emotional responses, and construct different professional identities. Informed by the social-psychological framework, this study examines the interactions between professional identity, situational demands, and emotional responses, revealing the fact that LOTE teachers have to assume excessive tasks with insufficient support [36]. It is suggested that this problem results from the absence of LOTE teachers' participation in educational policy-making, as well as the technical-managerial perspective adopted by the university, and argued more generally that LOTE teachers deserve more attention and support from their institutions. ...
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