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Combining empirical insights from two lesson studies (LSs), this research aims to investigate EnEFL (English as a foreign language) teachers’ development in understanding and practical skills regarding the recent national English curriculum reform in China. It also strives to incorporate students’ performance and perceptions in the evaluation of the effectiveness of these LSs and teachers’ development.

Two LSs were conducted in the same school with 3 years in between. Standardized procedures were followed in the two LSs, including pre-LS interviews, talk-lesson session, rehearsal lessons, and one public lesson. Triangulated data were collected from lesson plans, reflective journals, discussion notes, and interviews to probe into teachers’ learning and development. Students’ task performance and perceptions were analyzed to help reexamine the influence of teachers’ development on student learning.

The teachers in the two LSs encountered similar problems in both understanding and implementing the curriculum reform. The LSs helped them reach a contextualized understanding of the key concepts. Besides, developments were also seen in their instructional skills to adopt innovative methods and activities. The students’ task performance and perceptions endorsed the teachers’ efforts.

First, this research combines data from two standardized LSs at different periods of curriculum implementation in the Chinese EFL context, which provides insights into teachers’ difficulties and development regarding curriculum reforms on a longer timeline. Second, students’ performance and perceptions are included as important data sources to assess the effectiveness of the LSs and teachers’ development.

Against the backdrop of China’s curriculum reform, this paper explores how a Chinese lesson study (CLS) of English literature instruction in a senior high school promotes the teacher participant’s professional development (PD) in teacher beliefs and emotions, teaching contents, teaching approaches and learner outcomes.

This study adopted the CLS approach to explore the teacher participant, Lily’s PD. Three rounds of CLS of short fiction instruction were conducted. Triangulated data including interviews, reflection journals, discussion notes and lesson materials were collected for directed qualitative content analysis.

The results show that through the CLS, Lily has (1) changed her beliefs about the curriculum and literature instruction, and improved her emotion management and become more resilient and motivated; (2) shifted her teaching focus from forms and facts to meanings; (3) adopted a more learner-centred and inquiry-based teaching approach and (4) received satisfactory learner outcomes including increased learner participation and quality output. The follow-up class observations suggest the sustainability of such development.

This study applies and validates a conceptual framework of teachers’ PD, and establishes the value of promoting curriculum reform and facilitating EFL teachers’ PD through CLS and literature instruction.