English Language Teachers' Views on Self-initiated Professional Development
Subject Areas : آموزش زبان انگلیسی
1 - Golestan Institute of Higher Education
Keywords: Professional Development, Foreign Language Teaching, English language teachers, Teacher Education, Self-initiated Professional Development,
Abstract :
Keeping pace with the continuous changes and innovations in the field of English language teaching is considered to be a necessity for the quality of teachers' teaching. There are numerous approaches to teacher development, among which self-initiated development stands as one of the noticeable trends. Although teacher development is crucial for the quality of education, it appears that there are not many studies on self-development of English language teachers in Iran. There are studies mostly concentrating on the evaluation of pre- or in-service programs in English language teaching. Addressing this call, the main purpose of this study was to investigate perceptions of 48 in-service English language teachers towards their professional development. The data collection instrument used was a researcher-made questionnaire consisting of both open-ended and close-ended items. Employing descriptive statistics, the data was analyzed. The results indicated that the teachers agreed with most of the concepts that indicate the importance of professional development. Moreover, they were aware of the importance of major professional development activities for their development. Yet, peer observation and action research were not preferred as much as the other activities.
References
Behura, S. (2012). A review of life skills education in schools. Elixir Psychology, 43, 6790-6794.
Birjandi, P. & Bagherkazemi, M. (2010). The relationship between Iranian EFL teachers’ critical thinking ability and their professional success. English Language Teaching, 3(2), 135-145.
Breen, M. P. (1984). Process syllabuses for the language classroom. In Brumfit. C.J. (Ed): General English syllabus design, ELT documents 118. (pp.47-60). London, Pergamon Press/British Council.
Dubin, F., & Olstahin, E. (1997). Course design: Developing programs and materials for language learning, Cambridge: CUP.
Hosseini, A., Pishghadam, R., & Navari, S. (2010). Tasire classhaye zaban dar afzayesh hooshe hayajani.Language and Literature Studies, 42, 1-11.
Gordon, R., Kane, T.J., & Staiger, D.O., (2006). Identifying effective teachers using performance on the job: The Hamilton project (Discussion Paper 2006-1). Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.
Mahmoodzadeh, M. (2013). Applied ELT: A paradigm justifying complex adaptive system of language teaching?. International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol-1, Issue-3, 58-74. Retrieved from http://www.eltjournal.org
Moafian, F. & Pishghadam, R. (2009). Construct validation of a questionnaire on characteristics of Ssuccessful EFL Tteachers. Pazhuhesh-e Zabaha-ye Khareji Journal, 54, 127-142.
Murty, S. & Wig, W. (2003). Who bother about mental health care? The tribune (24.12.2003).
Orley, J. (1997). Promoting mental heath and teaching skills for life: The WHO approach. Retrieved January 15, 2014, from www.healthchildrenwork.lu/pdf/ conference /1997/orleyenpdf.2003.
Pienemann, M. (1985). Learnability and syllabus construction. In Hyltenstam and Pienemann (eds): Modeling and assessing second language acquisition (pp 23-75). Clevedon, Multilingual Matters.
Pishghadam, R. (2008). Afzayeshe tafakore enteghedi az tarighe mobahesye adabi. Journal of Literature, 48,153-167.
Pishghadam, R. (2011). Introducing applied ELT as a new approach in second/foreign language studies. Iranian EFL Journal, 7(2), 9-20.
Pishghadam, R. Saboori, F. (2011). A qualitative analysis of ELT in the language institutes of Iran in the light of the theory of 'World Englishes'. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 2, 569-579.
Pishghadam, R., Zabihi, R. (2012). Life syllabus: A new research agenda in English language teaching. TESOL Arabia perspectives, 19(1), 23-27.
Pishghadam, R. Zabihi, R., Ghadiri, M. (2012).Opening up a new pathway to the future of ELT: Construction and validation of a scale for the measurement of L2 teachers’ Life-Responsive Language Teaching Perceptions of L2 teachers, The First Conference on Language Learning and Teaching: An Interdisciplinary Approach , 2012-10-30.
Pishghadam, R., Zabihi, R., & Norouz Kermanshahi, P. (2012). Educational language teaching: A new movement beyond reflective/critical teacher. Life Science Journal, 9(1), 892-899.
Weisen Birell, R. & Orley, J. (1996). Life skills education: Planning for research as an integral part of life skills education development, implementation and maintenance. Geneva: WHO, Programme on Mental Health.