1. Introduction

This article introduces the policy background of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on building a high-quality teacher team, points out the practical problems existing in the foreign language teacher team in Chinese universities, emphasizes the importance of team structure, professional ethics, and professional development, and proposes the purpose and significance of the national survey on the structure and teaching status of foreign language teacher teams conducted by the China Foreign Language and Education Research Center of Beijing Foreign Studies University, aiming to provide reference for relevant decision-makers. The research focuses on the current structure and teaching status of foreign language teachers in Chinese universities, as well as their influencing factors.

2. Research Design

Introduced the research design, including sample distribution and research tools. The sample covers 22258 foreign language teachers from universities across the country, covering seven major geographical regions and 12 types of universities. The survey questionnaire is adapted from the OECD's TALIS 2018 Teacher Questionnaire, which has been tested and revised by experts. It includes five items: teacher team structure, teaching work, etc. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS 26.0.

3. Structure of foreign language teacher team in universities

This chapter conducts a detailed investigation into the current structure of foreign language teachers in Chinese universities, covering multiple dimensions such as gender, age, education, professional title, and teaching experience. Gender imbalance, with female teachers accounting for 80.4%. The age structure is reasonable, mainly ranging from 31 to 50 years old. The majority of teachers have a master's degree, with 14.3% holding a doctoral degree, indicating significant regional differences. The main professional titles are lecturers, and the distribution of teaching experience is relatively balanced. English teachers account for 86.3%, while teachers of other languages account for 13.7%. The teacher's professional background and job matching are relatively high, with a focus on foreign linguistics and applied linguistics. There are certain differences in the structure of the teaching staff among different regions, university levels, and types.

4. Teaching status and influencing factors of foreign language teachers in universities

A detailed report was provided on the teaching status of foreign language teachers in Chinese universities, and an analysis was conducted from four dimensions: familiarity with educational policy documents and emphasis on teaching work, teaching workload, teaching cooperation, and teaching innovation. Research has found that the majority of teachers have a low level of familiarity with the "2020 Edition of College English Teaching Guidelines" and the "Teaching Guidelines for Undergraduate Foreign Language and Literature Majors in Ordinary Higher Education Institutions", and there are differences in the degree of emphasis placed on teaching work. In terms of teaching workload, the distribution of teachers' weekly working hours and class hours is relatively even, but their investment in scientific research and professional learning is limited. The average weekly class hours for teachers are 11, with an average class size of 55 students. Different factors such as gender, language, and teaching experience have a significant impact on the weekly class hours. In terms of teaching cooperation, teachers collaborate more frequently, especially in discussing teaching and student learning progress. However, the degree of cooperation in team teaching and material exchange is relatively low, and different factors have a significant impact on the frequency of cooperation. In terms of teaching innovation, teachers hold a positive attitude towards teaching innovation, but different factors such as gender, teaching experience, and education have a significant impact on innovation attitude. Finally, based on the "job requirements resource model", the impact of job requirements and job resources on teachers' attitudes towards teaching innovation was analyzed, and it was found that class size and teaching cooperation were important factors affecting teachers' attitudes towards teaching innovation.

5. Discussion and Suggestions

This survey found that the structure of foreign language teachers in Chinese universities has problems such as gender imbalance and insufficient proportion of highly educated and professional title teachers. The proportion of female teachers exceeds 80%, far higher than the global average. Only 14.3% of teachers have a doctoral degree, which is lower than the national average for university teachers. The proportion of teachers with high professional titles is also relatively low. It is suggested that universities adjust their recruitment and promotion policies, attract highly educated talents, support teachers to pursue doctoral degrees, and establish a diversified performance evaluation mechanism.

6. Conclusion

This chapter summarizes the extensive and in-depth research on the structure and teaching status of foreign language teachers in Chinese universities, aiming to provide reference for optimizing the structure of foreign language teachers and improving teaching quality in universities. At the same time, we call on colleagues in the academic community to conduct more in-depth and large-scale research, combined with quantitative and qualitative research, to accurately solve the problems in foreign language education in universities and enhance the educational effectiveness of foreign language education. Finally, we encourage educators to devote themselves to the field of education with the spirit of educators and contribute to the high-quality development of higher foreign language education in China.