scholarly journals Novice and Experienced EFL Teachers: Which Professional Development Programs Matters for Our Classroom?

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (9) ◽  
pp. 1243
Author(s):  
Shandra Nitalinawati

<p><strong>Abstract:</strong> This study aimed at exploring the perceptions of EFL novice and experienced teachers on the impact of professional development programs to their teaching practice. The design of this study is a descriptive study by using in-depth interviews for gaining the data. The result of this study revealed that novice and experienced teachers have different needs in developing their professionalism. This differences then lead to different preferences of development programs which really fulfill their needs and influence their teaching practice. Meanwhile, both teachers agree that the time permission is the most important factor of a successful development programs for teachers.</p><strong>Abstrak:</strong><em> </em>Penelitian ini menyelidiki persepsi guru Bahasa Inggris pemula dan guru berpengalaman dalam dampak kegiatan pengembangan keprofesian terhadap kegiatan pembelajaran mereka. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode wawancara mendalam dengan pertanyaan-pertanyaan terbuka. Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa guru bahasa Inggris pemula dan berpengalaman memiliki kebutuhan yang berbeda dalam mengembangkan profesionalisme mereka. Perbedaan ini kemudian mengarah pada perbedaan pilihan kegiatan pengembangan keprofesian.

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Mohammadi ◽  
Khaled Moradi

AbstractContinuous professional development (CPD) is important for teachers in attaining sustainable education. Accordingly, exploring teachers’ perceptions could be a significant endeavor as teachers’ beliefs impact their classroom practices, thereby, impacting student learning and, thus have educational implications. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate this fundamental issue via establishing professional development workshops to train teachers in order to promote sustainable professional growth. It examined 86 EFL teachers’ beliefs and attitudes toward CPD before and after attending workshops for professional development. The data were collected through a questionnaire and a follow-up interview. Paired-samples t-tests were run to measure differences between responses of pre and post surveys. Moreover, raw frequencies and percentages were calculated in order to prioritize the items the teachers selected in each variable. The findings demonstrate that beliefs about CPD can change. Survey data collected before and after professional development workshops revealed a statistical significant shift in EFL teachers’ beliefs. This finding was also supported by semi-structured interviews. In addition, the results also revealed that the participants perceived customized professional development programs with professional development framework as a beneficial tool to be included in the professional development programs. The study may have some pedagogical implications to be utilized in the educational process directed at sustainable professional development.


Author(s):  
Hongmei Han ◽  
◽  
Jinghua Wang

This study explores the impact of teacher learning community on EFL teachers’ professional development. The participants are 17 EFL teachers from Hebei University in China. A year-long study was conducted on these teachers' group leaning activities through participatory observation and in-depth interviews. The preliminary results are as follows: 1) Generally speaking, through conversation, interaction and online peer evaluation in learning community, participant teachers have improved professionally in terms of critical thinking, academic writing, reflective thinking and research awareness; 2) In learning activities of the community, the experienced teachers focused more on the construction of knowledge regarding research methodology, through interaction with others and participation in teaching-based research activities, to reconstruct their knowledge about teaching and research; while the novice teachers placed more emphasis on the reconstruction of knowledge regarding pedagogical theories and the way these theories are applied in teaching practice, through social interaction with other teachers.


Author(s):  
Suha Abdulrazzaq Slim

This study attempts to investigate the willingness of Jordanian EFL teachers to endure taking Online Professional Development Programs (OPD) rather than face to face learning in both private and public schools. Therefore, a qualitative research methodology was carried out to examine the extent to which Jordanian EFL teachers are willing to endure taking Online Professional Development Programs (OPD) rather than face to face learning. Data were collected via online interviews with teachers through e-Learning forums as well as other means of interactive social Medias such as Zoom, Facetime and Microsoft teams during COVID-19 Pandemic in the second semester of the scholastic year 2019-2020. Ten EFL teachers were randomly chosen from forty public and private EFL school teachers to respond to the interviews. The sample consisted of ten teachers who were selected randomly for the interview. The interview content focused on two domains which are: the challenges faced teachers in online learning and the good learning practices experienced by EFL teachers during online learning regarding their experiences through the pandemic. The interviews were taking the form of semi-structured interviews. The findings of the study revealed that the majority of EFL teachers are unwilling to continue taking online professional development programs as they faced many troubles and obstacles through experiencing distant learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic as part of their first hands on experience. Two teachers showed a tendency to continue Online Professional Development Programs in parallel with face to face programs.


2005 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence Ingvarson ◽  
Marion Meiers ◽  
Adrian Beavis

This report examines effects of structural and process features of professional development programs on teachers' knowledge, practice and efficacy. It is based on four recent (2002-2003) studies undertaken through the Australian Government Quality Teacher Programme, designed to enhance teacher quality. The total data set for the survey study includes 3,250 teachers who had participated in eighty individual professional development1 activities within these studies. Teachers were surveyed at least three months after participating in an activity, which provided them with the opportunity to gauge the impact of programs on their practice. To investigate factors affecting impact, a theoretical model was developed based on recent research into the characteristics of effective professional development and tested using blockwise regression analysis. The model included contextual factors (e.g., school support), structural features of programs (e.g. ,length), process features (e.g., emphasis on content; active learning; examination of student work; feedback; follow-up), a mediating variable (level of professional community generated), and four outcome measures (knowledge; practice; student learning and efficacy). Consistent significant direct effects were found across the four studies for the impact of content focus, active learning, and follow-up on knowledge and professional community. Feedback was rarely incorporated into program design. Impact on efficacy was strongly related to the perceived impact of activities on teachers' practice and student learning outcomes.


Author(s):  
Mandy Frake-Mistak ◽  
Heidi L. Marsh ◽  
Geneviève Maheux-Pelletier ◽  
Siobhan Williams

In this chapter, the authors share their reflections on the practice of using a community-based approach to doing SoTL research. They examine two professional development programs at their respective institutions—York University and Humber College in Ontario, Canada—that support faculty members' engagement in SoTL research. EduCATE and the Teaching Innovation Fund are two variations of SoTL programs in which participants come together to engage in and support each other through the process of doing SoTL research and are organized around participants' individual goals rather than a predetermined set of outcomes. The authors provide a fulsome narrative and reflective account of the EduCATE and Teaching Innovation Fund programs with a particular focus on each program's development and relative success. Throughout, the impact of SoTL as a form of professional development is emphasized.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 2
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Ramos-Rodríguez ◽  
Elvira Fernández-Ahumada ◽  
Astrid Morales-Soto

A concern in Mathematics Education is the professional development of the teacher and to promote effective training programs. The literature provides principles guiding the design of such programs, which were considered for an instruction intended to strengthen the teacher’s practice in relation to the development of mathematical skills. The objective of this work was to study if the designed program was effective, in relation to the impact on the teacher’s teaching. A case study on a group of in-service teachers focused on the ability of mathematical modeling (MM) and their perspectives of this skill was carried out. This was divided into three moments: before, during, and after the program. The findings show that, before the program, teachers conceived modeling from epistemological, pragmatic and conceptual perspectives; during the program, they focused on the pragmatic and educational perspectives; and at the end of the program, the group was stripped of the pragmatic, epistemological and conceptual perspectives to move towards the educational and socio-critical. They were also able to justify the choice or disassociation of one or more of them. The study advances towards the concretion of more specific and robust professional development programs for mathematics teachers.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jeong Hyun Cho

<p>This multiple-case study investigated experienced English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teachers’ perceptions of changes to teaching practice as a result of professional development (PD) in South Korea. The study used one-on-one semi-structured interviews as the primary data source to capture teachers’ views on changes to their practice and the impact of their PD experiences. The study drew upon cultural historical activity theory as a theoretical framework and the literature on PD and teacher change to understand the relationship between PD and teacher change, and the influences on this relationship. This study found that various aspects of the teachers’ context – the English education curriculum, teacher culture, the school environment, and education policy – and the complex interrelationship among these factors led these teachers to develop a passive attitude towards PD learning and implementation. So, despite engaging in diverse PD experiences over their career, they rarely considered implementing changes within their teaching practice. This study revealed these experienced EFL teachers’ overarching concern about their levels of English proficiency. It showed that they were inclined to value newly qualified teachers’ capability over their own long teaching experience. They felt isolated within a stagnant teacher culture where they perceived that there was limited support for professional development from either school or education policy. Finally, they felt caught between the conflicting demands of the English education curriculum and classroom teaching. These experienced EFL teachers might be encouraged to develop a more positive attitude if their expertise and capacity were acknowledged as valuable. This would require an investment of time and effort to allow them to prepare for and contribute to PD learning and implementation. Orchestrated efforts from policymakers, school administrators, and teachers could help bring about substantial changes in experienced teachers’ teaching practice and enable them to share their expertise with other educators.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jeong Hyun Cho

<p>This multiple-case study investigated experienced English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teachers’ perceptions of changes to teaching practice as a result of professional development (PD) in South Korea. The study used one-on-one semi-structured interviews as the primary data source to capture teachers’ views on changes to their practice and the impact of their PD experiences. The study drew upon cultural historical activity theory as a theoretical framework and the literature on PD and teacher change to understand the relationship between PD and teacher change, and the influences on this relationship. This study found that various aspects of the teachers’ context – the English education curriculum, teacher culture, the school environment, and education policy – and the complex interrelationship among these factors led these teachers to develop a passive attitude towards PD learning and implementation. So, despite engaging in diverse PD experiences over their career, they rarely considered implementing changes within their teaching practice. This study revealed these experienced EFL teachers’ overarching concern about their levels of English proficiency. It showed that they were inclined to value newly qualified teachers’ capability over their own long teaching experience. They felt isolated within a stagnant teacher culture where they perceived that there was limited support for professional development from either school or education policy. Finally, they felt caught between the conflicting demands of the English education curriculum and classroom teaching. These experienced EFL teachers might be encouraged to develop a more positive attitude if their expertise and capacity were acknowledged as valuable. This would require an investment of time and effort to allow them to prepare for and contribute to PD learning and implementation. Orchestrated efforts from policymakers, school administrators, and teachers could help bring about substantial changes in experienced teachers’ teaching practice and enable them to share their expertise with other educators.</p>


1996 ◽  
Vol 178 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne H. Chapin

Professional development activities have historically targeted teachers as the recipients of reform efforts. In order to affect lasting change in terms of what mathematics is taught and how it is taught, however, programs must recognize the different intersecting needs and perspectives of a school's education constituencies—administrators, teacher-leaders, teachers, students, and parents. Professional development programs that include components for each group have the potential to dramatically extend the impact of the resources dedicated to the reform.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document