Professional Designing as One of Key Competencies of Modern Teacher

Questions such as “How to determine the professionalism of a teacher?”, and “What forms of a teacher professional development are the most efficient?” have been a subject of many publications. In this chapter, the author focuses on the approach based on a professional designing as a central tool for improvement of professionalism of a teacher. The discussion involves analysis of factors helping teachers to achieve his or her professional goals, such as an ability to model their own practice, analyze students' motives, describe professional goals and challenges, as well as description of various events helping to strengthen those factors.

Effects of Teacher Portfolio Construction on English Language Teachers' Perceived Teaching Competencies

This study investigates the effects of teacher portfolio construction upon in-service English language teachers' perceived teaching competencies. With the participation of six non-native teachers, data were collected through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews conducted before and after a sixteen-week teacher portfolio construction program. Analyses of the data through descriptive statistics and inductive content analysis revealed that the teachers' perceptions related to their teaching competencies were quite high prior to the portfolio construction process. After the process, however, decrease was observed in the teachers' perceived competencies. Findings also showed that the portfolio construction program was effective for the teachers' in that the process led them to become more self-evaluative, thus reflective and realistic about their competencies.

Collaborative Teacher Development on Teaching World Englishes

Teachers play a central role in shaping education. Educational innovations succeed or fail with the teachers who shape it (Lieberman & Pointer Mace, 2008); thus teachers' professional development process should be given utmost importance and organized in a way that supports and promotes their growth. Traditional INSET programs based on knowledge-transmission are found to be ineffective in reaching this aim. The present case-study introduces a collaborative INSET program, in which the participating pre-and in-service teachers tried to develop their understanding of World Englishes and integrate it into teaching under the guidance of university supervisors. Data collected by means of interviews revealed that this process enriched the knowledge of the participants and enabled them to look at the relevant issue from a critical perspective.

Moving Forward with an Eye on the Past

Teacher research has become a well-known term in professional development circles, yet it is still often misunderstood. This chapter seeks to facilitate those who are interested in teacher research by providing a historical perspective. Understanding the development of teacher research over that past century will allow interested parties to move forward with greater insight of the potential benefits and drawbacks inherent in teacher research. Such an analysis may lead to increased success for teacher research projects as the twenty-first century unfolds. Although teacher research can be a challenging form of professional development, it has incredible transformative potential. It has the potential to enhance the entire profession of teaching as well as the knowledge, skills and abilities of individual teachers. A call is made for teachers and academics to move forward by forming an alliance to explore new models and methods of teacher research.

Professional Development Landscapes

This chapter aims to present two action research case studies conducted in the English Language Schools of two universities in Turkey and discuss the long-term effects of this Professional Development activity on teachers' professional lives. In both of these studies, teachers were involved in collaborative action research. The first case study discusses a small scale collaborative Action Research project which targeted 16 English language teachers. Case Study Two, on the other hand, is a large scale project which explores 160 English language teachers' collaborative action research study. Detailed information about each case study is provided by highlighting the aims, institutional contexts, participant profiles, methodology used and findings. Teachers' perceptions about action research and the long-term impact of it on their professional growth are also discussed. Conclusion part highlights the factors that need to be taken into consideration while setting up collaborative action research projects in institutions. Finally, future research recommendations are made.

Exploratory Practice in Continuing Professional Development

This chapter is constructed as a reflective professional narrative coming from the context of public and private continuing professional development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The authors start the text by making explicit their involvement and alignment with the rationale of Exploratory Practice, within the broader horizon of language Teacher Development (Allwright, 2001). The text establishes a theoretical dialogue with Reflective Practice, Action Research and Exploratory Action Research, considering them as recent trends in teacher education and other possible modes of Practitioner Research (Allwright & Hanks, 2009). The authors expand on Exploratory Practice as a paradigm that foregrounds inclusivity, ethics and criticality. Examples of Potentially Exploitable Pedagogic/Professional Activities (PEPAs) and Potentially Exploitable Reflexive Activities (PERAs) will be shared by showing that they result from integrating the ‘work for understanding' with regular pedagogic activities or broader educational practice.

The Features of a Standard INSET

Adopting a qualitative descriptive methodology, the current study aims to explore whats and hows of planning, delivery, and follow-up in in-service teacher training. While doing this, together with presenting the general picture of in-service teacher trainings in Turkey, the study also makes use of a delivered in-service teacher training program so as to find how issues regarding planning, delivery, and follow-up were dealt with. The data collected through semi-structured written interview and supported with informal dialogues and telephone conversations revealed what was done and how was done for the three components. However, similar to many other trainings, the findings showed that lack of needs assessment, hands-on practice, and follow-up unfortunately makes the training to be restricted to what is known as traditional and top-down. For this reason, the findings shed light on the reality to consider teachers' needs, their active involvement, and on-going practice for effective in-service teacher trainings.

The Rewards and Challenges of an Ongoing In-Service Teacher Training Programme

Designing and conducting an effective scheme of in service teacher training is a challenge that supervisors face nowadays. Although this kind of training has grown in importance, its quality varies significantly according to their designer's ability to organize a programme which is mainly focused on ongoing professional development. This chapter aims at describing a model of in-service, which has been implemented at a language institution for some time now. The authors will explain the rationale for the approach, and offer a detailed account of the scheme they have devised and which has been carried out with a considerable degree of success. To conclude, they will report on the implications of their findings and specifically address the need to maintain a programme which may shape the future of academic institutions by focusing on teachers' individual growth.

Setting New Standards for In-service Teacher Training

The top-down approach to teacher professional development that is typical in the Turkish context has been highly criticized in recent years as failing to meet the practical needs of classroom practitioners. Amid increasing calls for a more meaningful approach to in-service training, the author was called on to develop and present a seminar for Turkish teachers of English as a foreign language that would support their understanding of a newly designed English language teaching. With the need for responsive teacher training in mind, the author designed a program that would encourage teachers to share their experiences in the classroom and to highlight their concerns. Furthermore, the program would provide opportunities for ongoing interaction between the participants and the author in terms of feedback on the process, the impact of the program, and sharing of resources and other information. This chapter provides a detailed description of the training program, which was offered in two separate modules for elementary and secondary EFL teachers. The author hopes that the program may provide a useful model for teacher trainers and program designers in providing an actionable approach to teacher development.

English Language Development for Non-Native Pre-Service Teachers

This chapter is describing a plan for a mentor teacher assisting pre-service teachers during their practicum using English in an Emirati national school. The plan consists of 20 lessons that covers speaking, reading, listening, and writing to Kindergarten to primary school age students (3 – 12 years old). As an educator, the author is constantly looking for ways to enhance student's communicative abilities, especially non-native speakers of English. There is a constant need to provide scaffolding and learning situations to make sure pre-service education students feel comfortable using English language in a classroom setting. This chapter will give background information for people who want to do research into incorrect language usage and its effect on students in the classroom. It also describes an outline for a course to develop language proficiency and confidence to use communicative language in a classroom setting.