Teacher Professional Development in Textbook Restructuring: A Qualitative Study of Two Secondary English Teachers’ Lesson Iterations

Abstract

The structural mismatch between textbook presumptions and students’ actual learning conditions constitutes a common challenge in the implementation of new textbooks in basic education, and also serves as a significant context for teacher professional development. Drawing on the lesson iteration processes of two secondary school English teachers using the PEP new textbooks, and employing Clarke and Hollingsworth’s Interconnected Model of Professional Growth, this study analyzes how teachers achieve professional growth through iterative cycles of “textbook comprehension–learner diagnosis–task restructuring–classroom validation–reflective adjustment,” based on four types of data: lesson design documents, teaching-research activity records, teacher reflective journals, and interviews. The findings indicate that, first, teacher professional development is not a direct product of external training but is endogenously achieved through sustained cycles of “design–validation–reflection” in textbook restructuring practice; second, teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is reactivated and reconstructed amid the tension between textbook presumptions and learning realities; third, teachers’ professional identity shifts from “textbook implementer” to “learning designer”; and fourth, evidence-driven iteration mechanisms and the support of teaching-research communities are key conditions enabling teachers to transform teaching tasks into research problems. This study offers a new analytical framework and practical pathway for teacher professional development amid the challenges of textbook implementation.