Iranian EFL Teachers' Attitudes towards the Effectiveness of ELT Conferences
محورهای موضوعی : Research Paper
Ebrahim Mohammadkarimi
1
(Department of English Language Teaching, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran)
Javad Gholami
2
(Department of English Language Teaching, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran)
Mehdi Sarkhosh
3
(Department of English Language Teaching, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran)
کلید واژه: Professional Development, ELT conferences, teachers' attitude, teaching practices,
چکیده مقاله :
This study was an attempt to evaluate the attitude of Iranian conference participants regarding the effect of ELT conferences on their professional development and teaching practices. To this end, an appropriate questionnaire was administered to 192 conference participants selected through convenience sampling. The collected data was statistically analyzed, and the obtained results revealed that the participants believed that ELT conferences in Iran have positive effects on the participants' professional development and teaching practices in terms of familiarity with the existing trends in the ELT, motivation for conducting further studies and application of conference materials in their teaching. The results also showed that the participants noted a number of drawbacks in such events, including the low quality of papers and presentations, attendance just for the sake of getting a certificate, and theoretical rather than practical orientation, which might be the cause of demotivation for teachers to attend upcoming conferences. To remove these drawbacks, the participants offered some suggestions such as providing guidelines for presentations and double-blind review papers, holding more workshops, internationalizing the conferences, and attracting more keynote speakers and foreign presenters.
k
Aubrey, J., & Coombe, C. (2010). The TESOL Arabia Conference and its Role in the Professional Development of Teachers at Institutions of Higher Education in the United Arab Emirates. Academic Leadership: The Online Journal, 8/3, 53.
Borg, S. (2015). The benefits of attending ELT conferences. ELT journal, 69/1, 35-46.
Büyükyavuz, O. (2016). Turkish ELT Professionals' Conference Attendance Motives: Why Do They Attend and What Do They Take Back Home? Journal of Education and Training Studies, 4/9, 135-143.
Canagarajah, A. S. (2012). Teacher development in a global profession: An autoethnography.TESOL Quarterly, 46/2, 258-279.
Darling-Hammond, L., Wei, R. C., Andree, A., Richardson, N., & Orphanos, S. (2009). Professional learning in the learning profession. National Staff Development Council, Washington DC: USA.
Garet, M. S., Porter, A. C., Desimone, L., Birman, B. F., & Yoon, K. S. (2001). What makes professional development effective? Results from a national sample of teachers. American educational research journal, 38/4, 915-945.
Gebhard, J. G., & Oprandy, R. (1999). Language teaching awareness: A guide to exploring beliefs and practices. Cambridge University Press, New York: The USA.
Glotthorn, A. (1995). Teacher development. In Anderson, L. (Ed.), International encyclopedia of teaching and teacher education (pp. 41-46). Pergamon Press, London: England.
Golombek, P. (2009). Personal practical knowledge in L2 teacher education. In A. Burns, & J. C. Richards (Eds.), The Cambridge guide to second language teacher education (pp. 155-162). Cambridge university press, New York: The USA.
Graves, K. (2009). The curriculum of second language teacher education. In A. Burns, & J. C. Richards (Eds.), The Cambridge guide to second language teacher education (pp. 115-124). Cambridge university press, New York: The USA.
Junaid, M. I., & Maka, F. (2014). In-‐service teacher education in Sub-‐Saharan Africa. A synthesis report, ADEA. Retrieved from http://www.adeanet.org/fr/system/files/updated_ in-service_consolidated_report_august_2014_final2.pdf
Moore, C., Fisher, T., & Baber, E. (2016). Virtually unknown: teacher engagement in an online conference. Elt Journal, 70/2, 200-211.
Nguyen, H. T. M. (2011). Primary English language education policy in Vietnam: Insights
from implementation. Current Issues in Language Planning, 12/2, 225-249.
OECD. (2009). Creating Effective Teaching and Learning Environments: First Results from TALIS. OECD Publishing, Paris: France
Roberts, J. (1998). Language teacher education. Routledge, Oxford: the UK.
Tomlinson, B. (1988). In-service TEFL: Is it worth the risk. The Teacher Trainer, 2/2, 1-3.
Veenman, S. (1984). Perceived problems of beginning teachers. Review of Educational
Research, 54: 143-178.
White, M. A., Raun, C. E., & Butts, D. P. (1969). A study of contrasting patterns of inservice education. Science Education, 53/1, 13-19.
