scholarly journals PERCEPTIONS OF MRSM ENGLISH TEACHERS ON PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND THEIR EXPECTATIONS ON IN-SERVICE TRAINING

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (42) ◽  
pp. 155-167
Author(s):  
Faizahani Ab Rahman ◽  
Nurul Afrahah Hussin ◽  
Sutha Sugumaran

This paper looks at the perceptions of MRSM (Majlis Amanah Rakyat or also known as People’s Trust Council) English teachers on their current professional development and their expectations on in-service training. As teachers, they are often expected to act as a source of motivation to their students apart from being accountable in providing instructions, knowledge, and skills in their respective academic subjects. However, very often, teachers are not provided with sufficient and appropriate training that would prepare them to be the kind of teacher that they are required and expected to be. This prompts this study that determines whether the in-service training provided is sufficient and aptly to help the teachers produce academically excellent students. This case study used a qualitative approach with purposive sampling of seven English teachers at Maktab Rendah Sains MARA, Beseri in Perlis with teaching experiences between 10 to 30 years. Semi-structured interviews and focus group methods were used to answer the research question which dwells on the MRSM English teachers’ expectations of professional development teacher training of their students’ achievement. The findings of the study revealed that teachers expect to have more professional development in terms of pedagogy, proficiency level, technology integration, and stress management. They also believe that improvement in professional development can positively affect their students’ achievement as teaching and learning processes can be done more effectively. It is therefore recommended that MARA should highlight its current in-service training and development policy to be consistent with the needs of teachers.

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (35) ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Ramírez Casalvolone

This study proposes an innovative approach for English professors who lack the time to engage in professional development (PD) programs, believe such programs are conducted in a decontextualized manner, or regard them as too expensive. Based on a qualitative case study performed from January to September 2018, this study addresses the following question: How can team teaching promote PD for mid-career English as a foreign language university professors? It investigates the types of PD that emerged when two English professors at the University of Costa Rica engaged in synergistic team teaching. Theparticipants team taught a course for students newly admitted into the English-teaching major. In this study, synergistic team teaching is understood as a method in which two professors share classroom space and teaching practices and engage in planning discussions together. To understand what the participants learned when practicing team teaching, data were collected through semi-structured interviews and coded following Creswell and Poth’s (2018) data analysis spiral. The coding was developed in light of the conceptualization of PD developed by Guskey (2002), Sparks (2002), and Johnson (2006). Accordingly, thisstudy identifies instances (during the interview or during the classroom observation) that can be interpreted as change of the classroom practices, change in the attitudes and beliefs of the professors (Guskey, 2002), continuous improvement of teaching and learning (Sparks, 2002), and teacher’s knowledge transformed into practice (Johnson, 2006). This study shows how team teaching offers professors a community of practice in which they can share, discuss, and implement new teaching knowledge. Through team teaching, teachers receive PD benefits that match their classroom context perfectly, enabling them to engage in authentic, fully contextualized learning opportunities.


Author(s):  
Barry Kavanagh

This study aims to explore potential reasons why the use of the tools and methods of corpus linguistics are not prevalent in English teaching in Norway, using the research question What do in-service English teachers in Norway find useful about corpora and what do they find challenging? The study provides interview data from in-service teachers, contributing to our understanding of the in-service perspective on corpora. The research design consists of teaching corpus use in seminars for in-service English teachers (featuring LancsLex, the concordancer AntConc and the OANC), integrated into a language course that is part of a further education programme, and semi-structured interviews with four of the students who took the course, during which they also interacted with Netspeak, SKELL and COCA. As with previous research, the in-service teachers found corpora particularly useful for teaching and learning vocabulary, and found challenges to use which are categorized here as usability (criticism of AntConc), IT challenges (a lack of IT skills among teachers), learner-corpus interaction challenges (the complexity of software and concordance lines for pupils; pupil uninterest in language), and lack of teacher need (mistakes being “obvious” to teachers in the lower years). The article discusses some implications of these findings. Keywords: English language teaching, pedagogical corpus application, corpora           


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 36
Author(s):  
Majed Bin Othayman ◽  
Abdulrahim Meshari ◽  
John Mulyata ◽  
Yaw Debrah

The present case study aimed to investigate challenges in learning in Saudi Arabia’s higher education institutions in the context of the implementation of training and development. A qualitative study design was used, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 75 faculty members and human resource managers working in four public universities in Saudi Arabia. The interviews were recorded, and thematic analysis was applied to the collected data. On-campus and off-campus methods are used to implement training programmes in all four universities, regardless of the flaws of both types of training. Due to a lack of time, the majority of respondents indicated that their heavy teaching workload prevented them from engaging in university training and development. Multifactorial challenges are involved in the higher education institutions of learning with regards to the application of training and development in Saudi Arabia. One of the most significant obstacles that Saudi Arabian institution administrators face in their attempts to innovate and strengthen learning and teaching methods and methodologies is a shortage of qualified and domestic trained faculty. Because of contact breakdowns, hiring highly skilled and technically trained international teachers, for example, introduces language gaps and reduces the efficacy of teaching and learning processes. The key consideration is the execution of preparation and growth; universities have a smaller chance of achieving the goal value. With too much money being spent on training and growth, the question is not what organizations should prepare, but, rather, whether training is worthwhile and efficient.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Rawiri Hindle

<p>This thesis examines the impact of the Nga Toi professional development and implementation model on resource teachers of Maori and Maori advisors. It explores the inter-relatedness of understanding, doing and being in relation to professional development, and teaching and learning in general. With the intention of acknowledging that 'being' is an equally important component in arts education. This research is a qualitative investigation into the phenomenon of Nga Toi Professional Development and is embedded within a Kaupapa Maori paradigm. Eight participants were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using themes that arose out of the data itself. The data was categorised into the three areas of doing, being and understanding to allow for an analysis of what the respondents were saying in relation to the research question, 'How can Maori arts education contribute towards a holistic approach of knowing based on the inter-relatedness of understanding, doing, and being?' It is the interconnectedness of these three concepts that allow for a deeper knowing of things. This could be described as a knowing of the mind, body and soul and equates with terms such as realisation or 'in the zone' and enlightenment. The design of the Nga Toi professional development acknowledged and incorporated the allowance for 'being', as interpreted in this study, into the planning. This created some ambiguity in planning as some things emerged through the process and the learning was retrospective or came out of being reflective. Some of the structures, such as the dramaturgy processes assisted in creating an environment which in equal parts challenged yet supported participants to move into unknown spaces. Integrating 'being' as an integral part of arts education challenges current thought that everything has to be assessed and have an outcome. Being challenges this approach to learning as it is often the immeasurable quotient in a performance or action. Being in the arts evokes an emotional or even spiritual response; you know when it's there but can't predict what it will look like or the impact it will have. From the facilitators perspective success in the Nga Toi professional development was expressed through developing skills, understandings and being through experiential or practical workshops and following it up with the theory. A major intention of this study is to create a space and a dialogue for debate and discussion in regards to the inclusion of 'being' in arts education.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Rawiri Hindle

<p>This thesis examines the impact of the Nga Toi professional development and implementation model on resource teachers of Maori and Maori advisors. It explores the inter-relatedness of understanding, doing and being in relation to professional development, and teaching and learning in general. With the intention of acknowledging that 'being' is an equally important component in arts education. This research is a qualitative investigation into the phenomenon of Nga Toi Professional Development and is embedded within a Kaupapa Maori paradigm. Eight participants were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using themes that arose out of the data itself. The data was categorised into the three areas of doing, being and understanding to allow for an analysis of what the respondents were saying in relation to the research question, 'How can Maori arts education contribute towards a holistic approach of knowing based on the inter-relatedness of understanding, doing, and being?' It is the interconnectedness of these three concepts that allow for a deeper knowing of things. This could be described as a knowing of the mind, body and soul and equates with terms such as realisation or 'in the zone' and enlightenment. The design of the Nga Toi professional development acknowledged and incorporated the allowance for 'being', as interpreted in this study, into the planning. This created some ambiguity in planning as some things emerged through the process and the learning was retrospective or came out of being reflective. Some of the structures, such as the dramaturgy processes assisted in creating an environment which in equal parts challenged yet supported participants to move into unknown spaces. Integrating 'being' as an integral part of arts education challenges current thought that everything has to be assessed and have an outcome. Being challenges this approach to learning as it is often the immeasurable quotient in a performance or action. Being in the arts evokes an emotional or even spiritual response; you know when it's there but can't predict what it will look like or the impact it will have. From the facilitators perspective success in the Nga Toi professional development was expressed through developing skills, understandings and being through experiential or practical workshops and following it up with the theory. A major intention of this study is to create a space and a dialogue for debate and discussion in regards to the inclusion of 'being' in arts education.</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-72
Author(s):  
Teguh Kasprabowo

This study was part of a larger study on teachers’ continuing professional development (CPD) of English teachers in Ungaran Sub-districts. This study aimed to explain the perceptions and the implementation of CPD through innovation done by the respondents. This study employed qualitative case study. To gain the data, 21 teachers were involved in this study,17 of them were certified teachers and later selected as the respondents. 7 teachers were later selected conveniently for the interview. The study showed that there was awareness of the teachers on the importance of making innovation in their work. However, after being interviewed, only few of them made innovation in their teaching and learning process.   Keyword: CPD, innovation, awareness


RELC Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 003368822098178
Author(s):  
Anisa Cheung

This article reports a case study of an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher in Hong Kong who conducted lessons via Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study focused on the factors influencing her technology integration in synchronous online teaching mode. Using data from classroom recordings, stimulated-recall and semi-structured interviews, this study uncovered how Zoom functioned as a substitute for face-to-face lessons. The findings revealed that although there were fewer interactions between the teacher and her students, teaching in synchronous online mode provided the teacher with opportunities to utilize certain online features to augment methods of checking student understanding. The study identified the teacher’s pedagogical beliefs, the context and professional development as factors that influenced the level of technology integration in her Zoom classes. The study concludes that embracing process-oriented pedagogies may be necessary for a higher level of technology integration among ESL teachers who have adequate professional development opportunities and school support.


SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 215824402110237
Author(s):  
İlknur Bayram ◽  
Fatma Bıkmaz

This qualitative case study carried out at a Turkish university with four English language teachers aims to explore what teachers experience in the planning, implementation, analysis, and reporting phases of the lessons study process and what the implications of lesson study for teacher professional development can be. Data in this four-month study were gathered through observations, interviews, whole group discussions, and reflective reports. Findings revealed that lesson study had potential challenges and benefits for the professional development of teachers. The model poses challenges in finding a topic and research question, determining the lesson design and teaching style, making student thinking observable and analyzing qualitative data. On the other hand, it benefited teachers in terms of increasing their pedagogical content knowledge, reflectivity, research skills, collaboration, and collegiality. This study suggests that lesson study might be a good starting point for institutions wishing to adopt a more teacher-led, inquiry-driven and collaborative perspective for professional development.


2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-153
Author(s):  
Kari Sahan

Abstract As part of the trend toward internationalization of higher education, governments and universities have introduced policies to encourage the expansion of English-medium instruction (EMI). However, top-down policies do not necessarily translate to teaching and learning practices. This article provides a case study examining the implementation of undergraduate EMI engineering programs at a state university in Turkey to explore the gaps that exist between national- and institutional-level EMI policies and classroom-level practices. Data were collected through policy documents, classroom observations, semi-structured interviews with teachers, and focus group discussions with students. The findings suggest that the implementation of EMI varies across classrooms, even within the same university department. Despite policies that envision one-language-at-a-time instruction, the EMI lecturers in this study varied in terms of language preference and teaching practice in their EMI lectures. Implications are discussed with respect to policy planning, teacher training, and the expansion of EMI across university contexts.


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