Continuing Professional Development (CPD): Development of a New Scale to Measure EFL Teachers' CPD

Subject Areas : All areas of language and translation

Mehrdad Mohajerpour ¹ , حسین خدابخش زاده ² , Khalil Motallebzadeh ³ , محمد علی فاطمی ⁴

1 - Department of English, Torbat-e Heydarieh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Torbat-e Heydarieh, Iran
2 - Department of English, Torbat-e Heydarieh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Torbat-e Heydarieh, Iran
3 - Department of English, Torbat-e Heydarieh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Torbat-e Heydarieh, Iran
4 - Department of English, Torbat-e Heydarieh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Torbat-e Heydarieh, Iran

Received: 2022-11-08 Accepted : 2022-12-11 Published : 2023-07-01

Keywords: Dynamic Assessment, Professional Development, Teacher Education, Continuing Professional Development,

Abstract :

Teachers' continuing professional development (CPD) is currently an engrossing area worldwide. Nevertheless, despite the growing range of literature concentrating on certain aspects of CPD, there is a paucity of literature addressing a measurement scale to know where teachers are standing and act as a motivating role. The purpose of this study was to construct and validate a new scale for measuring EFL Teachers' CPD. This scale is considered pristine because of the added characteristics of Dynamic Assessment (DA) as another aspect of improving teachers' CPD. The present study further sought to establish the validity and reliability of the questionnaire, as well as add more value and precision to the pre-existing inventories available. Moreover, in this study, the developed scale was validated through piloting the items, and the factor analysis confirmed the five-factor questionnaire. With reference to the final results, the questionnaire was found to be reliable, having internal consistency by performing Cronbach's Alpha analysis. Cronbach's alpha of .91 indicated a high internal consistency. The CPD questionnaire was validated via exploratory factor analysis to establish a new validated scale to evaluate teachers' current level of CPD. The results are discussed in the context of language teaching, and based on that, authorities and administrators should be attentive to the results. Future studies can use a mixed-method approach to evaluate teachers’ CPD by employing a questionnaire and interviews.

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