scholarly journals Collaborative reflection on shared journal writing to foster EFL teacher CPD

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-281
Author(s):  
Summaya W. Elhussain ◽  
Aisha Y. Khoja
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Continuous Professional Development ◽  
Proximal Development ◽  
Collaborative Reflection ◽  
Efl Context ◽  
Efl Teacher ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Theoretical Foundations

Despite the importance of Continuous Professional Development in the EFL context, a limited research has been done on EFL teachers’ collaborative reflection on teaching. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of teachers’ reflection that is fostered and enhanced by the collaborative written exploration of practice using an online-shared teacher journal in a Saudi tertiary context. To achieve this, the study adopted three theoretical foundations: the characteristics of the online teacher professional development, Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development and the constructivist theory of learning. The level of reflection in the teachers’ journal is analysed by using the discourse semantics approach, namely, systemic functional linguistics. Besides, a semi-structured interview is used to collect the qualitative data. They strongly suggest that maintaining an online-shared teachers’ journal will support and augment teachers’ reflection, enhance knowledge and improve teaching performance. Keywords: Continuous professional development, reflective practice.

scholarly journals EFL teachers’ online teacher professional development experiences amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: Practices and perceptions

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Arief Eko Priyo Atmojo
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Teacher Professional Development ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Teaching Online ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Online Teacher ◽  
Online Teacher Professional Development

This research investigates the EFL teachers’ practices and perceptions of online teacher professional development (OTPD) experiences to improve their competencies for teaching online language learning amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. 42 EFL teachers voluntarily became the participants through invitation. All participants were requested to give responses on a questionnaire. Eight participants were then invited for an individual semi-structured interview. Descriptive statistics were employed to analyze the questionnaire data, whilst qualitative coding was used to analyse the interview data. The results reveal many important findings regarding EFL teachers’ practices and perceptions of experiencing OTPD amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings are beneficial to help OTPD designers and providers, policy makers, and school leaders provide OTPD which best fits EFL teachers’ needs, preferences, and teaching contexts.

scholarly journals Progress in English Language Teaching Through Continuous Professional Development—Teachers’ Self-Awareness, Perception, and Feedback

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Balachandran Vadivel ◽  
Ehsan Namaziandost ◽  
Abdulbaset Saeedian
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
English Language ◽  
Continuous Professional Development ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Sample Population ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Global Standards ◽  
Efl Teacher ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Teachers Professional Development

This research aimed to investigate the various aspects of EFL teachers’ professional development through Continuous Professional Development (CPD). Hence a study involving 83 EFL teachers from different socio-economic, multi-cultural, educational, and disciplinary backgrounds was conducted to ascertain their attitudes, perceptions, and feedback on CPD. The sample population was random, and the data collection was through a questionnaire. The results showed that teachers take charge of their CPD, but for better outcomes, they need professional development through shared experience, reflective teaching, and have a sense of community among them to stay at par with the global standards of the education system. Through this research, the concept of CPD and its significance in teaching English are made available. This study also proposes higher achievement in education through teacher professional development programs. Moreover, the analysis demonstrated that teachers are confident in what they do because of their positive belief in their own CPD. From the results, it was clear that every EFL teacher should take charge of their professional development to become better teachers and help students achieve their goals.

scholarly journals Mobile Teacher Professional Development (MTPD): Delving into English Teachers’ Beliefs in Indonesia

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 143-160
Author(s):  
Jepri Ali Saiful
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Teacher Professional Development ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Teachers Beliefs ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Potential Use

In recent years, mobile phones have been used for teacher professional development (TPD). However, the potential use of smartphones, a current-generation of mobile phones, to develop teachers’ pedagogical, social, personal, and professional competences remains underexplored. This mixed methods study, examining the potential use of smartphones for TPD by delving into English teachers’ beliefs, employed a sequential explanatory approach. A quantitative survey was completed by 81 participants, followed by qualitative interviews with 8 selected participants. All the respondents were English teachers in elementary, junior, and senior high schools in 11 provinces in Indonesia. The survey was tested for validity and reliability, and analysed using the descriptive statistics method, while the semi-structured interview was analysed using the content analysis method. Almost all teachers had very favourable and favourable beliefs about the use of smartphones for TPD, perceiving that a smartphone could facilitate the enhancement of their pedagogical knowledge, communication skills, positive characters and English proficiency. Very few teachers had unfavourable beliefs, but among those who did, they believed traditional face-to-face TPD was more beneficial and that smartphones would only lead to addiction. This study recommends that smartphones be optimally applied by English teachers for TPD activities and that governments facilitate such implementation by constructing smartphone TPD models and applications.

scholarly journals Promoting pre-service EFL teacher reflection: An investigation of reflection levels in Thai context

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosukhon Swatevacharkul
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Teaching Techniques ◽  
Teaching Improvement ◽  
Efl Teacher ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
Professional Teaching ◽  
Program Data

Reflection is essential for the teaching practice course since it enhances life-long professional teaching development of the teachers. Capacity to reflect needs to be developed. The objectives of this study were 1) to investigate the levels of learning reflection of pre-service EFL teachers at the end of the teaching practice course, and 2) to explore how reflection contributes to changes of the reflection levels.  This study took the form of an embedded experimental mixed methods research design using a close and open-ended questionnaire and semi-structured interview to collect data from 13 international students at an MA ELT program.  Data analysis was performed by a t-test and thematic content analysis.  The findings revealed that 1) on average, the level of Habitual Action, Understanding, and Critical Reflection at the beginning and the end of the course was not significantly different. However, the level of Reflection was significantly different at the end of the course.  Three themes: 1) Revision of past experiences for teaching improvement; 2) Thinking and writing skills development, and 3) Change of beliefs and teaching techniques were generated causing such reflection capacity changes.  Recommendations were provided for further research in this area.

scholarly journals Professional development of English language teachers in Malang, Indonesia: Institutional and individual perspectives

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Anik Nunuk Wulyani
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Proficiency ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Ict Skills ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
English Language Teachers ◽  
The Individual

<p>Two important areas of professional development for teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Indonesia identified in the 2003 Law on National Education System and 2005 Law on Teachers and Lecturers are disciplinary knowledge and ICT skills. The present thesis investigates institutional and individual aspects of EFL teacher professional development (TPD) in Indonesia in relation to the development of these two areas of expertise.  Three studies were carried out. The first study measured Indonesian EFL teachers’ target language (English) proficiency as a core component of their professional knowledge and how it is maintained and developed by the teachers. EFL teachers’ language proficiency in this study was operationalised as their lexical, reading and writing proficiency and measured using the Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT), IELTS-like reading comprehension test and IELTS-like academic writing test, respectively. The results showed that the teachers’ length of service correlated negatively with their knowledge of academic vocabulary, as well as reading and writing proficiency, indicating issues with the outcomes of the TPD in this area. To triangulate the test results, teacher perceptions data were also gathered using questionnaires and interviews. It was found that the EFL teachers tended to overestimate their own overall English language proficiency.  The second study used a longitudinal blogging activity with the EFL teachers as a form of personal professional development that targeted their English language and ICT skills while reflecting on topics related to their professional (teaching) activities. Qualitative analysis of the blog entries of three EFL teachers suggested that the individual teachers’ blogging, critical reading and reflective writing skills were very uneven. Interviews with nine teachers and 11 educational stakeholders were then conducted to understand their views on blogging as a form of professional development. The results revealed that the perceived obstacles and drawbacks outweighed the perceived benefits of blogging as a form of personal professional development.  The third study examined Indonesian national TPD policy documents, how these policies were translated into local professional development programmes in Malang district. It was found that the needs for EFL teachers to maintain their English proficiency and ICT skills were only partially addressed in TPD policy and implementation. In addition, the interviewed teachers and stakeholders perceived the definitions, goals, administration, evaluation, benefits, and challenges of TPD differently.  Taken as a whole, the present findings show that institutional implementation of TPD policies in Indonesia needs to better target individual EFL teachers’ English proficiency and ICT skills, and that opportunities for better professional development need to be sought at both personal and institutional levels. At the individual level, self-motivation to continue learning is crucial for English language teachers who want to keep up with change and innovation in English language teaching. At the institutional level, needs analyses and environmental analyses are essential in designing programs for maintaining and developing teacher professional competency.</p>

scholarly journals Reinforcing Indonesian EFL Teacher Self-Efficacy: Accomplishing the Responsibilities and Avoiding Absenteeism

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 956-965
Author(s):  
Raga Driyan Pratama ◽  
Lies Amin Lestari ◽  
Syafi’ul Anam
Keyword(s):  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Teacher Absenteeism ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
Efl Teacher ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Professional Development Model ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Teacher Self Efficacy ◽  
To Come ◽  
Teaching Responsibilities

Indonesian EFL teachers are currently facing many oppressive burdens regarding their profession. They are commanded to conduct effective English teaching as part of their pedagogical responsibility including constructing an English milieu at school. In other sides, they are required to cope with non-pedagogical tasks which are likely in a form of administrative things. Moreover, they are mandated to conduct several events and publish papers in accredited journals, of which those tasks can seize up their teaching responsibilities. Such phenomena can tragically cause the presence of teacher burnout that further shrinks their eagerness to perform better. The condition might also influence their self-willingness to commit with teacher absenteeism or even an early retirement as a result of teachers’ handling-capacity overload. Therefore, this study proposes a theoretical contribution that reinforcing teacher self-efficacy can be a penetration to make a robust teachers’ eagerness to perform better pedagogical and non-pedagogical responsibilities. This study is also supplemented with a teacher professional development model as an effort to reinforce teacher self-efficacy. Further, this study is expected to come in useful for Indonesian government to effectively hold certain programs in connection with enhancing Indonesian EFL teacher self-efficacy.

scholarly journals INVESTIGATING EARLY-CAREER TEACHERS’ ADAPTATION CHALLENGES: A CASE OF INDONESIAN EFL TEACHERS

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 367
Author(s):  
Yogi Saputra Mahmud
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Classroom Management ◽  
Beginning Teachers ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Teaching Resources ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Teacher Professional

Teacher professional development has recently become a central focus in the Indonesian context, particularly after the implementation of the post-bachelor teacher professional education program or Pendidikan Profesi Guru (PPG) for both pre-service and in-service EFL teachers in 2013. However, studies reveal that the transition from teacher education programs to the initial teaching career at schools has been described as a challenging phase. Despite the growing attention of scholars in exploring beginning teachers’ challenges, studies focusing on the early-career Indonesian EFL teachers, particularly those who just completed the PPG program, are considered limited. Therefore, drawing on a qualitative case study with two beginning Indonesian secondary EFL teachers, this study aims to unravel the challenges during their first-year teaching experience at school after completing the PPG program. By thematically analysing the semi-structured interviews, this study indicated that the teachers experienced four significant challenges: 1) pedagogical (classroom management, lack of teaching resources, test-based learning atmosphere), 2) professional (complex self-identification), 3) social (maintaining rapport with senior teachers), and 4) personal (mood management).  Despite having been trained professionally through the PPG program, the result suggested that the beginning teachers still faced considerable challenges during their initial endeavour as an English teacher at school. Pedagogical implications are discussed in terms of the need for continuous professional development for the newly certified teachers during their initial career at schools.

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