Colombian English Teachers’ Professional Development: The Case of Master Programs

Abstract

Master degree programs have rapidly increased in Colombia to the point where they are one of the most favored options for English teachers seeking to bolster their professional development. This survey study characterizes eighty participants, their five master programs, and their perceptions concerning the influence these graduate courses exerted on their teaching. While participants' pedagogical and research work seemed to have benefited the most from their studies, their practices involving language policy and administration were regarded as distant from what they learnt. Findings suggest that innovation, reflection, and collaboration permeated participants' overarching categories of development. Challenges to respondents' integration of their newly acquired education with their teaching included competing ideologies and agendas exhibited by stakeholders in school communities.Key words: Colombian English teacher education, English as a foreign language master programs, English teachers' graduate education, English teachers' professional development.Los programas de maestría en Colombia han aumentado rápidamente convirtiéndose en opciones preferidas para el desarrollo profesional de profesores de inglés. Empleando encuestas, se caracterizaron cinco programas de maestría, ochenta participantes y la influencia de sus estudios de maestría en su enseñanza. Mientras la pedagogía y la investigación fueron aparentemente los aspectos que más se beneficiaron de sus estudios, sus prácticas en política lingüística y administración fueron las menos favorecidas. Los hallazgos sugieren que la innovación, reflexión y colaboración permearon en general el desarrollo profesional de los participantes. Los retos que enfrentaron los participantes al integrar la educación posgraduada con su enseñanza incluyeron ideologías y agendas opuestas de los varios actores educativos en las escuelas.

Exploratory Study of Recent Trends in ELT Master’s Programs: Insights from the stakeholders

“…E nglish Language Teaching (ELT) Master's in Colombia arose from the needs of the educational sector to respond to the demands of social and economic development. This explains why from 2000 to 2016 the number of ELT Masters increased from two to 14 (Viáfara & Largo, 2018). For these authors, "MA graduates and candidates asserted that increasing of conceptual frameworks supported different features of their practices as they gained clarity about the teaching and learning processes and re-shaped their pedagogical actions" (p. 110).…”

“…In this section, we made three assumptions: a) MA programs represent one of the most important sources of professional development (Villegas-Reimers, 2003;Truscott de Mejía, 2016;Viáfara & Largo, 2018;Buendía & Macías, 2019), b) reflection is a sine qua non condition in continued teacher education (Hernández, 2015;Viáfara & Largo, 2018;Nuñez & Tellez, 2015), and c) curriculum design and implementation is the materialization of teaching initiatives and skills that translate in enhanced teaching practices (Graves, 2000;Nunan,1999).…”

“…22 2015). A recent survey by Viáfara and Largo (2018) with 80 MA candidates and graduates from five universities collected their perceptions on the impact of such experience on their teaching. Findings suggested that the master's significantly contributed to the improvement of teaching, attributable to reflection processes while in action, which led to a better understanding of their settings, innovation in the lesson design, and acquisition of research skills.…”

The Professional Development of English Language Teachers in Colombia: A Review of the Literature

“…Other considerations by such as individual and social perspectives of learning and teaching, post-method approaches, creation of knowledge in school and social settings, and promotion of meaningful practices among teachers are, nonetheless, worthy of inclusion in the design of teacher development programs. Viáfara and Largo (2018) reported that postgraduate programs, teachers' number one option for continuing their preparation, facilitate teachers' analysis of educational policies, their reflective skills, and curricular knowledge. More awareness of the relevance of doing classroom research to innovate, and the feeling of empowerment to be able to adjust institutional educational policies were other relevant findings in this study.…”

Beyond the Endorsement of Reflection in Language Teaching and Learning

“…Such a road will consequently lead them to a successful transformation in both their own learning and teaching. Secondly, teachers need to be prepared to face the challenges of contemporary education by shifting from obsolete and outdated ways of teaching to the design and development of more inclusive learning environments; tailored assessment systems and also through the strengthening of their professional skills (Viáfara & Largo, 2018). Finally, we believe that the triad comprising of systematic reflection, learner-centeredness, and self-regulation leads to the dynamization of the learning and teaching practices of the language classroom and also constitute the pillars (we believe) that are necessary to respond to the needs of contemporary professionals (see Figure 2).…”