Research on core competencies of university English teachers and pathway optimization based on fsQCA.

INTRODUCTION

This study aims to examine how individual, organizational, and social resources jointly shape the professional core competencies of college English teachers from a configurational perspective. It integrates Expectancy-Value Theory, the Job Demands-Resources Model, and Social Capital Theory to explain the formation of professional core competencies.

METHODS

A questionnaire on the influencing factors of professional core competencies among college English teachers was developed and validated. Data were collected from 561 college English teachers across 17 universities in East, Central, and Southwest China through stratified random sampling combined with snowball sampling. Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis was employed to explore the configuration effects and pathways of these influencing factors.

RESULTS

The findings show that external training support and self-efficacy-professional commitment serve as recurrent core conditions across sufficient configurations rather than as single necessary conditions. Other factors demonstrate resource complementarity effects, forming four effective configuration pathways: comprehensive empowerment, collaboration-policy dual-core, policy-efficiency support, and incentive-deficit compensation. These pathways indicate that professional competency formation is characterized by equifinality, resource complementarity, and functional substitution.

DISCUSSION: The high-level development of professional core competencies among college English teachers results from the synergistic coupling of personal resources, organizational resources, and social capital. The findings suggest that higher education administrators should optimize teacher training systems, improve incentive mechanisms, build collaborative platforms, and provide time management support. Theoretically, this study extends research on teacher professional development by demonstrating the value of configurational causality in understanding professional core competencies.