Non-native English Language Teachers⿿ Perceptions of Professional Development: Implications for Career Stages

Topkaya, Ece Zehir; ÿelik, Handan

doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.10.003

Cited by 7 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Particularly, Topkaya and Ÿelik (2016) explained that "teaching is a developmental process and within this process there are identifiable growth patterns having unique characteristics which are called career stages" (p. 6). Rodríguez and McKay (2010) argued that senior teachers differed from novice teachers because they only took part in PD opportunities that affirmed the knowledge, experience, and intuitive judgment they had accumulated during their teaching careers.…”

Section: Pd At Different Career Stagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Professional Development Experiences Of English As A Foreign Language Lecturers At A Vietnamese University

Ngo¹

2021

Preprint

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As a consequence of globalisation, English language teaching (ELT) has been identified as one of the key emphases of the national education reforms in Vietnam. Professional development (PD) of teachers attempts to enhance the quality of ELT. However, there is a paucity of research investigating English as a foreign language (EFL) lecturers’ perceptions towards their experiences of PD in order to understand how PD currently functions and could potentially function within the context of Vietnamese higher education. My project has sought to address this gap by contributing insights into tertiary EFL lecturers’ PD experiences. More specifically, this study has drawn on Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological systems theory and Knowles’ (1980) andragogy theory as theoretical frameworks for understanding how tertiary EFL lecturers experience PD as adult learners and the contextual factors which influence their PD experiences. A phenomenological research design as proposed by Moustakas (1994) enabled lecturers’ lived experiences of PD to be explored through phenomenological interviews with 12 EFL lecturers across the three groups of beginning, midcareer, and late-career and four academic managers at one Vietnamese university. The recruitment of the participants from the three groups aimed to examine lecturers’ experiences of PD at their different career stages. The inclusion of both lecturers and academic managers was considered essential in collecting multiple perspectives on the PD experiences. In addition, document analysis was used to collect information from national and institutional documents in order to better understand the contexts within which lecturers experienced PD. Evidence from this study highlights that lecturers’ PD is a multidimensional and dynamic activity. Influenced by the national language reforms and important projects such as Project 2020 and Project 911, EFL lecturers had been exposed to a wide range of formal PD activities (e.g., seminars, workshops, and conferences) and job-embedded PD activities (e.g., research projects, textbook and teaching material development, and professional meetings) in the three years prior to data collection. Lecturers expressed their need for further PD activities that were content-focused, on-going, collaborative, and specific to their career-stage. EFL lecturers’ involvement in PD activities was positively influenced by enablers (e.g., the status of English as a global language, national policies and projects, student outcomes, occupational prestige, and personal responsibility), but there were also barriers hampering lecturers’ career development (e.g., top-down national requirements, inappropriate institutional policies, insufficient collegial and managerial support, and time constraints). This study demonstrates that PD initiatives for Vietnamese tertiary EFL lecturers need to be reformed. At the national level, it is important for the Vietnamese government and MOET to understand lecturers’ real needs for PD when implementing any PD activities. At the institutional level, a comprehensive framework with specific requirements and guidelines regarding lecturers’ engagement in PD activities would bring greater coherence and consistency. At the individual level, a proactive role by EFL lecturers would further foster their professional growth along with fulfilling the national and institutional requirements. The findings of this study are represented through an integrated framework of effective PD for tertiary EFL lecturers which combines three main aspects of content, context, and process. This representation helps to shed light on what PD planners and academic managers need to focus on when planning, organising, and implementing PD activities in the setting of Vietnamese education reforms. Implications are drawn for PD planners, academic managers, and EFL lecturers as these groups need to closely collaborate in order to promote lecturers’ PD and improve the quality of ELT in Vietnam. Implications for future research are also discussed. The study makes significant contributions to current literature related to tertiary EFL lecturers’ lived experiences of PD within the Vietnamese higher education context and may be applied to other international contexts.

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Section: Pd At Different Career Stagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Professional Development Experiences Of English As A Foreign Language Lecturers At A Vietnamese University

Ngo¹

2021

Preprint

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“…A detailed look at the results of the questionnaires and interviews revealed that EFL teachers in the study practiced the four activities, including "Receiving feedback and suggestions," "Observing classrooms," "Reflecting on one's practice," and "Participating workshops and conferences" to develop their pedagogy. This finding is not very surprising since it has been examined by numerous previous studies (e.g., Ekşi, 2010;Karaaslan, 2003;Topkaya & Çelik, 2016). It is worth noting that in Karaaslan's (2003) research, the researcher found that observing classrooms was not perceived as critical to the teachers' development because classroom observation might be seen as a kind of evaluation rather than development assistance, so it caused negative feelings from the teachers being observed.…”

Section: Efl Teachers' Activities For Pedagogical Professional Develomentioning

confidence: 62%

“…Moreover, according to the results of the interviews, the participants also proposed three activities that they practiced to develop pedagogy, namely "Reading books and journals," "Attending training programs," and "Conducting action research." In fact, all of these strategies are well reflected in Villegas-Reimer's ( 2003) models of professional development; however, the first two activities were frequently employed to develop teachers' professionally, as investigated in Topkaya and Çelik's (2016), Karaaslan's (2003), and Ekşi's (2010) research. Therefore, it is interesting to note that one participant reported conducting action research to develop pedagogy.…”

Section: Efl Teachers' Activities For Pedagogical Professional Develomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Concerning EFL teachers' activities for pedagogical professional development, three studies were reviewed. These studies were carried out by Topkaya and Çelik (2016), Karaaslan (2003), andEkşi (2010). The three studies reached unanimous consensus that engaging in collaborative activities with colleagues, participating in courses, workshops, or conferences, and doing reflections on teaching were the three strategies favored by the teachers.…”

Section: Appendixmentioning

confidence: 99%

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2020

The Journal of AsiaTEFL

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“…A recent study by Önalan and Ersoy (2020) Overall, analyzing the essence of the articles, it is seen that the studies that are associated with the EFL teachers' perceptions of PD in the context of Turkey generally focused on the effect of experience (Arıkan & Turhan, 2009;Dogan & Yagiz, 2015;Eksi & Aydın, 2013;Mahmoudi & Özkan, 2015;Şener & Çokçalışkan, 2017;Topkaya & Çelik, 2016), age (Babanoğlu & Yardimci, 2017;Çapar & Keçik, 2016;Dogan & Yagiz, 2015), gender (Babanoğlu & Yardimci, 2017;Dogan & Yagiz, 2015), strategies/activities (Büyükyavuz, 2013;Hismanoglu, 2010;Mahmoudi & Özkan, 2015;Özbilgin et al, 2016;Şener & Çokçalışkan, 2017) on PD, or investigating the hindering factors (Dogan & Yagiz, 2015;Eryılmaz & Dikilitaş, 2016;Yesilçinar & Çakir, 2018).…”

Section: International Journal Of Languages' Education and Teachingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Türkiye'deki İngilizce Öğretmenlerinin Mesleki Gelişim Algılarının Portresi: Bir Literatür Çalışması

Şanverdi¹

2021

ijlet

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This paper aims to provide a review of studies conducted on the professional development (PD) perceptions of EFL teachers in Turkey, focusing mainly on teachers' understanding of PD, type of practices, and hindering factors, the effect of experience, age, gender, institution type on PD. The study applied the Criterion Sampling method, one of the Purposive Sampling methods, to select the articles to be reviewed. Studies meeting the criteria were examined and it was concluded that EFL teachers in Turkey have mostly positive perceptions towards Professional Development while some have negative perceptions and misperceptions of it. It is also revealed that experience and age factors make a difference not in perceptions but in preference of practice types; that women are more inclined than men and teachers in private institutions are more interested than those in public schools.

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Non-native English Language Teachers⿿ Perceptions of Professional Development: Implications for Career Stages

Cited by 7 publications

References 3 publications

Professional Development Experiences Of English As A Foreign Language Lecturers At A Vietnamese University

Professional Development Experiences Of English As A Foreign Language Lecturers At A Vietnamese University

Untitled

Türkiye'deki İngilizce Öğretmenlerinin Mesleki Gelişim Algılarının Portresi: Bir Literatür Çalışması

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