English teachers perceived needs and wants of anual training workshops for senior secondary schools

The findings revealed that English teachers in Dan Phuong district were in urgent needs of theoretical ideas underlying practice, skills and techniques to deal with their problems in pra

HOANG THI HONG NGOC

English TEACHERS’ PERCEIVED NEEDS AND

WANTS OF ANNUAL TRAINING WORKSHOPS FOR SENIOR SECONDARY schools

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of Requirements of The Degree

of Master of Arts in TESOL

Supervisor: Nguyen Nguyet Minh, M.A

Ha Noi

October 2009

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES V LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS V

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 1

1.2 AIMS OF THE STUDY 6

1.3 S COPE OF THE STUDY 7

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 7

1.5 OUTLINE OF THE THESIS 7

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 9

2.1 T EACHER DEVELOPMENT 9

2.1.1 Teacher development vs teacher training 9

2.1.2 Teachers’ learning 12

2.1.3 Teachers’ needs when implementing an innovation 14

2.2 WORKSHOPS IN TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 20

2.2.1 Definitions of workshops 20

2.2.2 Considerations in teacher training workshops 21

2.3 PREVIOUS RESEARCH 26

2.4 SUMMARY 29

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 30

3.1 DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS 30

3.2 SUBJECTS OF THE STUDY 33

3.3 PROCEDURES 34

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 37

4.1 TEACHER TRAINEES’ NEEDS OF THE WORKSHOP CONTENTS 37

4.1.1 Teachers’ needs related to theoretical ideas underlying practice 37

4.1.2 Teachers’ needs related to practical ideas to cope with particular problems 39

4.1.3 Teachers’ needs related to their further professional development 42

4.2 T EACHER TRAINEES ’ WANTS AND NEEDS OF WORKSHOP ORGANIZATION AND METHODOLOGIES 44

4.3 THE EXTENTS TO WHICH TEACHER TRAINEES FELT SATISFIED WITH THE WORKSHOP CONTENTS 50

4.3.1 Teachers’ satisfaction of theoretical ideas underlying practice 50

4.3.2 Teachers’ satisfaction of practical ideas to cope with particular problems 51

4.3.3 Teachers’ satisfaction of their further professional development 53

4.4 TEACHER TRAINEES’ SATISFACTION OF WORKSHOP ORGANIZATION AND METHODOLOGIES 55

4.5 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS 61

CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION 65

5.1 RECOMMENDATIONS 65

5.1.1 Pre-workshop preparation 65

5.1.2 Annual training workshop 66

5.1.3 Follow-up meetings 68

5.2 LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 69

5.3 CONCLUSION 69

REFERENCES 72

APPENDICES 78

APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS 78

APPENDIX 2: VIETNAMESE VERSION OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE 84

who offered enthusiastic help, expert advice, and critical comment through each stage of conducting the research

Above all, I am especially grateful to my supervisor, Mrs Nguyen Nguyet Minh (M.A) for her encouragement, guidance, patience, and constant support from the very beginning stage of selecting the topic to the final stage of writing up the report

I take this opportunity to thank Dan Phuong High School’s Principal, Nguyen Tu Luc, who created convenient working conditions for me to study at the Department of Postgraduate Studies of Hanoi University

I would like to thank my colleagues at three senior secondary schools in Dan Phuong district for their responses to the questionnaire and important feedback

Finally, I owe the completion of this study to my parents and my husband, who gave me encouragement throughout the study

training workshops for senior secondary schools The subjects of the study were

27 English teachers from three senior secondary schools in Dan Phuong district They were asked to give their responses to a questionnaire about their wants and needs of the training workshops they participated in in the past few years in former Ha Tay province They were also asked to rate their extents of satisfaction

of these training workshops Both types of open-response questions and response ones were used to investigate teachers’ wants, needs, and the extents of their satisfaction The findings revealed that English teachers in Dan Phuong district were in urgent needs of theoretical ideas underlying practice, skills and techniques to deal with their problems in practising communicative teaching, and especially the needs of further professional development The findings also indicated that these teachers felt rather satisfied with the theoretical ideas they received in training workshops However, their needs for practical ideas and further professional development were not met as perceived by them The study ended with some recommendations of workshop content, organization, and methods to meet English teachers’ needs

closed-LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1: Teachers’ needs related to theoretical ideas underlying practice…… ………38

Table 2: Teachers’ needs related to practical ideas……… ………39

Table 3: Teachers’ needs related to their further professional development………… 42

Table 4: Teachers’ needs related to workshop organization……… …44

Table 5: Teachers’ perceptions of the balance between theory and practice………… 48

Table 6: Teachers’ perceptions of modes of input……… ……… …… … 48

Table 7: Teachers’ satisfaction of theoretical ideas underlying practice……….…50

Table 8: Teachers’ satisfaction of practical ideas……… ………… … 52

Table 9: Teachers’ satisfaction of further professional development……… …54

Table 10: Teachers’satisfaction of workshop organization……….… 55

Table 11: Summary of teachers’ needs and satisfaction of workshop contents….…… 61

Table 12: Paired Samples T-Test Results……… ….63

Figure 1: Respective merits of TT and TD …… ……… ……….……… 10

Figure 2: The experiential learning cycle……….……… ……… 13

Figure 3: Teachers’ development needs……… ….………… 17

Figure 4: Teachers’ perception of role allocation…… ……… ….…… 45

Figure 5: Teachers’ perception of workshop agenda……… ……… … 46

Figure 6: Teachers’ perception of trainers……… ……… …… 47

Figure 7: Teachers’ preference for types of assessment……….….49

Figure 8: Teachers’ satisfaction of the role allocation……… …56

Figure 9: Teachers’ satisfaction of workshop agenda……….…… ….57

Figure 10: Teachers’ satisfaction of trainers………… ……… …….58

Figure 11: Teachers’ satisfaction of the balance between theory and practice…… …59

Figure 12: Teachers’ satisfaction of workshop input……… … …………59

Figure 13: Teachers’ satisfaction of assessment……… ……… 60

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides the background to the study, states the aims and research questions, discusses the scope as well as the significance of the study, and outlines the thesis

1.1 Background to the study

In-service training (INSET) or continuing professional development (CPD) is essential in almost every professional or technical field nowadays if one has an ambition to rise in the profession because the initial training and knowledge one acquires will not be sufficient for him to function satisfactorily for the whole of his career Therefore, it can be easily understood that CPD has recently grown as

a global trend with the increase in its importance and status This is especially significant in the stage of education innovation in all countries CPD, in fact, has been considered “the key element in strategies to raise the quality of educational provision” (Hayes 1997, as cited in Yan 2007, p 10) School teachers need CPD opportunities in order to grow professionally, that is to develop their content knowledge and skills they need to succeed in their classroom (Moeini, 2009) Nowadays professional development is no longer viewed as separate from the teaching job but a continuous, job-embedded, and career-long process

According to Cheng and Wang (2004), there are various kinds of professional development activities that may help teachers First, teachers may improve their English teaching by pursuing advanced degrees or participate in in-service teacher development programmes such as summer courses, conferences and workshops where they can upgrade both the subject and pedagogical knowledge Second, working with other teachers in their schools and visiting other schools also contribute to their professional development In fact, teachers may improve their teaching practice by being observed by others and receiving feedback Third, writing reflective journals is of great help to teachers’ professional

development Next, access to English teaching journals, books and Internet resources is another way that helps teachers grow professionally

In the stage of education innovation, in-service teacher development programmes have received much attention from studies Moeini (2009) asserts that attending high quality professional development programs is crucial to the future of teachers However, not all professional development programmes are of high quality and a lot has to be taken into consideration because there exist accounts

of not only success but also failures in CPD initiatives as stated by Yan (2007) According to him, a number of problems and issues concerning in-service teacher training programs will arise Guskey (2000) argues that “educators themselves frequently regard professional development as having little impact on their day-to-day responsibilities, which in turn has caused, among some teachers,

a sense of apathy towards CPD” (as cited in Yan 2007, p 10) The problems may also come from school administration Cheng and Wang (2004) highlight that there is usually little administrative support in the schools for teachers to attend INSET courses For example, if a teacher voluntarily attends a teacher-training programme, the missed lessons need to be covered by themselves on their return Another problem is that the uptake of development programmes is not very high

A study by Cheng and Wang (2004) about professional challenges faced by Chinese teachers of English shows evidence for this When asked about the ways teachers wish to do to improve their teaching, only 9.1% mentioned attending workshops and summer courses However, the reason for this teacher low interest

in teacher development programmes is not clarified in the study My assumption

is that this is partly because there is some disparity between the resources invested and the needs of the teachers If the teachers do not feel satisfied with what the development programmes bring them, they will not want to take part in these programmes any more

In Vietnam, to meet the demands of the innovation in language teaching and learning, new training workshops are designed and delivered with a focus on

training communicative teachers in a bid to address the fault of teaching methodologies Vietnam’s English Teacher Training Network (VTTN), which is supported by the British Council in Vietnam, was set up in 2000 to develop the quality and effectiveness of English language teaching in senior secondary schools, initially in 10 provinces around Vietnam It is a forum for teachers and trainers to get together, exchange ideas and take part in discussions and events reflecting the changes happening in English language teaching in Vietnam For the last few years, the main focus of VTTN has been on training for the key trainers in each province VTTN has focused on changes in approaches and techniques in teaching and learning, encouraging a more learner-centered approach to language teaching to suit Vietnamese context In practice this has resulted in teachers experimenting with pair work, group work and a whole range

of strategies and activities aimed at encouraging students to communicate more effectively in English Since 2000 through VTTN the British Council has also supported provincial workshops focusing on how teachers can apply learner-centered approaches in using the new text books in many cities and provinces around Vietnam Another organization, International Language Academy in Vietnam (ILA Vietnam), in co-ordination with the departments of education and training in some provinces around the country, has also delivered many training workshops to improve senior secondary school English teachers’ professional quality This program has begun since January 2008 in Hanoi, Hai Phong, Da Nang, Nha Trang, Vung Tau and Can Tho to discuss the issues related to English teaching practice

With the desire to contribute to the future practice of teacher development programmes in Vietnam, the present study aims to unravel Dan Phuong senior secondary teachers’ perceptions of annual training workshops they have participated in former Ha Tay province Located in Ha Tay province, Dan Phuong district has three senior secondary schools In the past, students in these schools learned either Russian or French Then, in 1993, they began to have another choice, which was English In the new social context, English became

more and more dominant More and more students did not want to learn Russian and French any longer As a result, to suit the new context, the three senior secondary schools in Dan Phuong district decided to give up Russian in 2003 and French in 2006 At first, English textbooks for three-year programme were introduced, and then in 2000 the seven-year programme textbooks were adopted The latter were obviously better than the former ones However, they were still not appropriate for communicative teaching, as they focused mainly on grammar and reading (Nguyen Be and Crabbe, 1999) That was the reason why they were soon replaced by completely different textbooks of a new English language syllabus that aims to help students acquire both linguistic and communicative competence simultaneously This change resulted in the adoption of new teaching methods known as communicative approach

According to Le Van Canh (1999), most of Vietnamese teachers have positive attitude towards the communicative approach, but it is not easy for them to implement this new approach in their classroom This is true to teachers in Dan Phuong district Most of them were either Russian or French teachers who then studied English in in-service courses a long time ago For a long time they had to teach the textbooks which focused only on grammar Their teaching method was therefore mainly traditional and the new set of English textbooks, which involves the use of communicative approach, obviously presents an immense challenge Compounded to this is the fact that the students and facilities do not facilitate the new approach According to Bock (2000), Vietnamese students are familiar with only the grammar-translation approach and they are passive not only in English classes but also in classes of other subjects, where they are mostly required to stay quiet and do written exercises The classroom setting is not supportive to communicative language teaching (CLT) either The students sit in rows of fixed seats, which makes it inconvenient for them to do group work

It is difficult for English teachers in Dan Phuong district to overcome so many challenges

in their teaching practice Because of the limit of time and finance, very few teachers can

afford to pursue formal education opportunities such as postgraduate study Reference books and magazines on language teaching and learning are not available for them They are not introduced to useful language education websites on the Internet either Moreover, they hardly have chances to work with more experienced teachers from other schools and mentors Their most popular kinds of development activities are working with other teachers in the same school and being observed by them and receiving feedback Another help that teachers receive is the help from training workshops delivered by Ha Tay Department of Education and Training

Seven training workshops focusing on providing the practising teachers with the knowledge and skills to teach the new English textbooks have been delivered in

Ha Tay province since 2006 All the seven workshops were made compulsory for the teachers to take part in If someone couldn’t participate in a workshop because of some reason, he/she had to fulfil it when it was repeated some days later With the help of the trainers, the teachers had chances to review their teaching practice, to discuss their problems, to share experiences and to learn new things in teaching methods Most of the trainers of these workshops were teachers from language schools for gifted children in Ha Tay province Some of them were lecturers from University of Foreign Language Each workshop lasted two or three days Normally, there were about 40-45 teachers with two or three trainers in each group Nevertheless, sometimes, due to the lack of classrooms, over 100 teachers had to gather in a big meeting hall of a school, which led to the fact that many teachers at the back could not see the board and could not hear the presenters very well

The trainers used Microsoft Office Power Point to present their lessons First, the trainers usually talked about how to teach skills and language items effectively Then they showed a video clip of an English lesson The teachers then discussed the strengths as well as the weaknesses of this English lesson and suggested some other ways to improve it Sometimes the trainers showed their lesson plans as models and asked the teachers to work in small groups to make their own lesson

plans for another unit on poster-size paper Some groups then were chosen to show their lesson plan and to tell others how to teach that unit The trainers in some training workshops had another way to help teachers They asked the teachers to look through the new textbook to see if there were any difficult lessons to teach Then, the trainers asked them to share their experiences and finally suggested their own ways to deal with the problems

As stated above, many English teachers in Dan Phuong district are puzzled by communicative approach Therefore, they hope they would get much help from the training workshops they participate in However, the fact shows that not all the teachers feel satisfied with these training workshops This gives rise to the need to investigate what the teachers’ needs and wants of the training workshops are and to what extent they are satisfied by the workshops

An investigation into this situation may be very important for it may help workshop trainers, curriculum designers and administrators plan more effectively for the future teacher training and development in the stage of educational innovations

1.2 Aims of the study

The overall aim of this study is to explore Dan Phuong senior secondary school teachers’ experience with training workshops delivered in the former Ha Tay province in the past three years as perceived by them

To achieve the aim, this study seeks to answer the following research questions:

1 What were the teachers’ needs and wants of the training workshops they participated in?

2 To what extent did they think the training workshops satisfied their needs and wants?

1.3 Scope of the study

This study limited itself to concentrate on how the needs and wants of the training workshops were perceived by English teachers at three senior secondary schools in Dan Phuong district, former Ha Tay province and to what extent these needs and wants were satisfied by the workshops

1.4 Significance of the study

It is hoped that the findings of this study may contribute to a better understanding

of the effectiveness of the previous training workshops in former Ha Tay province This may probably lead to suggestions for more appropriate and effective workshop design in the future in order to improve teachers’ teaching practice and their professional development

1.5 Outline of the thesis

The thesis is organized in five major chapters including Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Results and Discussion, Recommendations and Conclusion

Chapter 1, Introduction, provides the background to the study, the aims and research questions, discusses the scope as well as the significance and outlines the thesis

Chapter 2, Literature Review, presents the issues related to professional development by contrasting teacher training and teacher development Then teachers’ learning and teachers’ needs when implementing an innovation are explored in the next part Definition of a teacher training workshop and considerations in teacher training workshops are also presented in this chapter

Chapter 3, Methodology, describes the subjects of the study, the data collection instruments, and data analysis The procedures of the data collection are presented at the end of this chapter

Chapter 4, Results and Discussion, presents the results and discusses the findings

Chapter 5, Recommendations and Conclusion, presents some recommendations for more effective training workshops, provides a brief summary of key findings

of the study, discusses limitations, and makes some suggestions for further research

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter consists of three sections The first section reviews the literature related to teacher development It defines teacher development by contrasting teacher development with teacher training and discuses the issues of teachers’ learning and teachers’ needs when implementing communicative language teaching during innovation The second section discusses teacher training workshops It includes definition of a teacher training workshop and some considerations Finally, some previous researches are presented to find appropriate data collection instruments used in the study

2.1 Teacher development

2.1.1 Teacher development vs teacher training

Teacher development can be defined as a “process of continual intellectual, experiential, and attitudinal growth of teachers” (Lange 1990, p 250) The term

‘development’ is used by Lange (1990, p 250) with the intention to indicate that

“teachers continue to evolve in the use, adaptation, and application of their art and craft” In other words, in the teacher development process one may have opportunities to become the best teacher one can be (Scrivener, 1994)

Spratt (1994, p 54) shows some comparison to clarify the respective merits of teacher training and teacher development (Figure 1) It is clear that the two terms, teacher training and teacher development, have certain distinctions The time of training courses is limited and fixed by administrators, while teacher development is a life-long process, a process that can be started but never finished According to Ur (1996), this process of teacher development is vital for maintaining and enhancing the quality of teachers and in some situations, this may decide on survival or dropping out The problem of

professional survival described by him starts from the first year of teaching Because of the difficulties teachers may have to cope with during the first years, some of them give up the career; many others who remain may find they have less and less confidence and optimism In later years of one’s teacher career, one may also have a feeling of failure: disillusionment, boredom, loss of momentum This phenomenon is known as ‘burn-out’, which “usually comes on gradually, although it may be accelerated by personal crises such as family or financial problems” (Ur 1996, p 318) After pointing out to first-year stress and later burn-out, Ur (1996) asserts that the above problems can be forestalled or solved by constant teacher development Therefore, this teacher development should be considered a necessary contributor to success and satisfaction in one’s teaching career

Teacher Training (TT) Teacher Development (TD)

 time-bound

 related to needs of course

 terminal outcomes pre-empted

 information/skills transmission

 fixed agenda

 top-down

 continuing

 related to needs of the individual

 terminal outcomes open

 problem solving

 flexible agenda

 bottom-up

Figure 1: Respective merits of TT and TD (Spratt, 1994)

The second distinction between teacher training and teacher development is that training is related to the needs of the course, for example, “helping a person with little or no previous teaching experience enter a class with some degree of confidence in what s/he is doing” (Freeman 1982, p 22) Development, on the other hand, addresses teachers’ individual needs such as the need to grow, to explore new ideas

The terminal outcomes of teacher training are pre-empted because teachers are expected to acquire and master teaching as a finite skill Freeman (1982) makes a very interesting comparison when he claims that the way teachers learn to teach

is the same as the way they learn to tie shoes or to ride a bicycle According to him, in teacher development, teaching is considered a constantly evolving process of growth and change in which teachers are expected to acquire an expansion of skills and understanding to cope with different teaching situations

While teacher training mainly involves the transference of knowledge about teaching, teacher development pays more attention on the process of reflection and change which can lead to doing a better job Richard (1991, p 1) notes that

“reflective teaching utilizes recordings of teachers’ performances, evaluation, journals, and peer observation to provide constructive feedback to help teachers improve their performance” Jackson (1992) points out that teacher change can refer to many things including knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, understanding, self-awareness, and teaching practices

self-Different approaches used make another distinction between teacher training and teacher development Top-down approaches in teacher training may apply educational research to classroom teaching or use a method approach based on systematic reasoning Whereas bottom-up approaches in teacher development

“use the teacher’s actual teaching experiences as the basis for constructing theories and for developing notions of effective teaching” (Richard 1991, p 1)

The importance of ongoing teacher development has in fact resulted in significant changes in teacher-certification regulations Instead of offering permanent certification, many states in the US require teachers to participate in career-long professional development In New York State, for example, a completion of 175 hours of professional development every five years is an obligation for teaching certificates to remain valid (Torff & Sessions, 2008)

2.1.2 Teachers’ learning

Professional development involves teachers in a constant process of learning about their practice and discovering and using their own potential (Richards, Gallo, & Renandya, 2001) The concept of teacher learning is a new one in the field of second language (L2) teacher education but one that deserves more attention and exploration Becoming a teacher does not mean that one can stop learning Everyone who enters the job should know that “who dares to teach must never cease to learn” (Dana 2009, p 1) Sharing the same idea, Scrivener (1994,

p 200) notes “the moment you stop learning you also stop being involved in education.”

In the process moving forward, teachers become students of learning, of their own as well as that of others The first aspect of teacher learning is described as cognitive process in which teachers need to rethink their assumptions about teaching and learning (“National Center,” 2009) It is teacher development programmes that introduce teachers to better ideas and provoke to question their own experiences so that they can change their beliefs related to former conventional teaching practices

The second conceptualization of teacher learning is understood as learning to enhance the subject matter knowledge “National Center” (2009) describes the way teachers enhance their subject matter knowledge as follows

Teachers need to encounter substantive ideas within and about their disciplines and to engage in learning tasks that help them connect new ideas to previously held ideas Over time, this process enables teachers to understand their subjects in a broader and deeper context, thus enhancing their ability to present subject matter in ways that enable diverse learners to connect with subject matter knowledge

Another aspect of teacher learning occurs in the process of reflection The concept of reflective teaching has received much attention in the teacher development literature (see for example Scrivener 1994; Ur 1996; & Wallace

1991) According to Richard (1991, p 10), “reflection refers to an activity or process in which an experience is recalled, considered, and evaluated.” Scrivener (1994) has another explanation of reflective teaching as shown in Figure 2:

Figure 2: The experiential learning cycle (Scrivener, 1994)

It can be seen from Figure 2 that reflection is a response to experience and involves conscious recall and examination of the experience as a basis for evaluation and decision-making and as a source for planning and action A critically reflective teacher may employ many different approaches such as observation of oneself and others, team teaching and exploring one’s view of teaching through writing It is when involving this or other approaches of reflection that teachers engage in learning in a number of formal and informal ways According to Richard & Farrell (2005), teachers may gain new knowledge and understanding of their students, schools, curriculum, language, and methodology through unconscious everyday experience or conscious, planned learning strategies such as self-monitoring, action research, and reflective journals Learning also occurs through interactions between teachers when they have informal conversations in the staffroom, peer collaborations such as peer coaching, action research and team teaching Formal teacher development programmes including teacher support/study groups, working with a teacher education consultant, and workshops organised by the teaching institution are also opportunities for teaches to learn more about their teaching practice in order

to improve and thus to move forward

Do

Recall

Reflect Prepare

Conclude

2.1.3 Teachers’ needs when implementing an innovation

Recently, educational innovations in L2 education have received considerable attention ‘Innovation’ can be defined as an idea or practice perceived as new by

an individual or individuals (White, Martin, Stimson & Hodge, 1991) It is intended to bring about improvement in relation to desired objectives It is fundamental in nature, and is planned and deliberate According to them, an innovation involves changes in teachers’ attitudes and practices, it always leads

to an increase in teachers’ workloads, and there is an economic cost in terms of time and funds

The change described by Pinar (1999) is complex and means many things to the teachers involved They may take on a new administrative role at school, use a new course-book, experiment with a new idea recommended by a colleague, or apply new technology in class (James, 2001)

Qiang (2002) argues that in the period of innovation, teachers are expected to change in many aspects Firstly, teachers’ view about language teaching as knowledge-based is expected to change into an ability-based one Secondly, instead of being a knowledge transmitter, teachers are expected to become a multi-role educator who takes the responsibility of the whole child development Thirdly, the approach teachers use must be more activity-based in order to make students the center of learning Fourthly, the way teachers use to assess students’ achievement in learning the language is also expected to change Next, teachers are expected to create more effective resources for learning and for using the language by using modern technology Another aspect of change is the improvement in teachers’ own language proficiency Without this improvement, the fulfillment of other roles will certainly be blocked

For any educational change, teachers are the crucial factors as they are the implementers of the new ideas However, James (2001) asserts that change is usually so difficult because in this process of change teachers have to face so

many obstacles According to Kennedy (1999), the first barrier to the implementation of the innovation is that the teachers are required to learn more about their subject areas, to use texts that are becoming more and more difficult, and to use new methods in teaching The second barrier is the lack of student motivation and the lack of help, which result in very little change in the classroom

Through a cartoon, Spratt (1994) has an original and lively way to summarize the difficulties teachers may have on the way of development and the help teachers need to overcome these difficulties The person in the cartoon is a teacher who is struggling to get away from many obstacles such as lack of confidence, isolation, despair, pressure, stress, and depression In this frightening struggle, the teacher needs much help and support to reach the other bank of the river that is to be successful in his professional development

Carless (1999) highlights that for the implementation of the innovation teachers need to acquire the skills and knowledge to implement CLT, as it is highly different to their previous methods According to Li (1998), CLT starts with a theory of language as communication, and its goal is to develop learners’ communication competence In other words, in a CLT classroom language is presented for use, not study, the focus is on functions rather than forms Learners with high participation are the center of learning; they are given opportunities to negotiate meaning in class Other significant aspects of CLT are authentic materials, functional tasks and group and pair work

In the context of CLT in many countries, teachers need support to tackle problems they encounter in teaching since the implementation of CLT sometimes proves to be so difficult Firstly, teachers need help and guidance in basic teaching skills, teaching techniques and classroom managing Some studies reveal that students are one of the sources of difficulties in implementing CLT (Qiang, 2002) A study conducted in Vietnam mentions students with four

specific problems: lack of motivation for communicative competence, resistance

to class participation, using Vietnamese during group work and low English proficiency (Bock, 2000) Li (2001) points out that the Japanese students they studied generally did not feel a pressing need to use English, so the goal of communicative competence seemed too distant for them Large size classes are also considered one of the difficulties in teachers’ everyday teaching practice (Goh, 1999) With a class of 40 or more students, teachers have difficulty carrying out pair work and group work When ten groups are involved at one time, monitoring students’ performance is difficult, especially in classes where discipline is a problem According to a survey conducted by APA’s Center for Psychology in the Schools and Education (Solberg et al, 2006), teachers want help with classroom management to deal with students' negative or disruptive behaviors Apart from discipline problem, large size classes also mean the mix of students’ abilities, which is the reason for teachers’ strong need for assistance to serve a wide range of achievement levels students bring to the same classroom

Goh (1999) highlights that teachers need support related to teaching materials In the past teachers were used to relying heavily on textbooks for every lesson Now, when they have to implement the new syllabus, they find it difficult to spend extra time preparing additional teaching materials and aids To some teachers, the costs are high, as they have to spend a lot of free time and experience preparing for the use of new materials This opinion is reinforced by Pinar (1999) who suggests that one of the reasons for the rejection of change is that the teachers do not have the necessary guidance on what they are expected to

do with the new materials Valdes and Jhones (1991) also report on the lack of authentic materials in a non-English speaking environment Their study indicates the need to adapt textbooks to meet the needs of communicative classes However, adapting new books would require extra time and effort from the teachers and this is a further constraint This fact results in teachers’ additional workload whereas they have to work in poor working condition with low

salaries This negative combination is certainly one of the causes of teachers’ poor motivation, stress and depression (Kennedy, 1999)

Another help teachers need is the help to tackle the problems from themselves Among these problems are a lack of teaching ideas and a lack of personal involvement (Goh, 1999) Some teachers do not have a clear understanding of the underlying principles of the new approach, which results in the fact that they soon run out of ideas when developing and improvising learning activities The lack of personal involvement occurs when teachers do not take a personal interest

in the new syllabus They feel they are passive receivers who have to implement the prescribed new syllabus without any rights to decide anything In studies of CLT outside Asia, Valdes and Jhones (1991) report on difficulties such as teachers’ lack of proficiency in English and their traditional attitudes toward language teaching One study by Bock (2000) also reports on difficulties from teachers themselves with three themes that emerged: feelings of inadequacy, lack

of training in CLT and the inability to assess communicative competence

It is clear that to implement the innovation in language teaching and learning teachers need much support and help to deal with both objective and subjective factors However, what are the sources of this support? The answer to this question is given in Figure 3

Figure 3: Teachers’ development needs (Spratt, 1994)

7 I need a language improvement course

1 I need time to read books and articles about language teaching

3 I need time to talk to colleagues

6 I need further qualifications

4 I need a methodology course

5 I need to attend some conferences

2 I need time to reflect on

my teaching

It can be seen from Figure 3 that it is various professional development opportunities that can be useful and effective sources of support and help for teachers to overcome their difficulties First, reading books and articles may give teachers more understandings of theories related to language teaching and learning For example, teachers may learn about how to teach a language communicatively and how to become reflective teachers Furthermore, from articles, journals and reports, teachers may learn how to deal with constraints and problems they have to face through other teachers’ experience

The second source of help shown in Figure 3 is reflection In the first step to involve in the process of reflection, teachers have to be clear about what they are doing by observing or collecting evidence about their own teaching (Bartlett, 1990) Then they have opportunities to look back, to recall what happened, “to evaluate their teaching, to decide if aspects of their own teaching could be changed, to develop strategies for change, and to monitor the effects of implementing these strategies” (Richards & Lockhart 1994, p 2) Thus by involving in reflection teachers have opportunities to grow better in their profession It is in the process of reflection that teachers need to talk to their colleagues One may get feedback from other teachers by asking them to come in and observe some of his lessons One may also exchange observation with others After that, teachers may meet to share ideas and skills In some cases when there is no observation of colleagues for some reason, teachers can simply talk about the lessons they have taught and the colleagues simply listen and support Scrivener (1994, p 196) highlights that “this kind of helping is very simple to describe but extremely powerful in action.”

In-service teacher development initiatives such as conferences, workshops, seminars, symposiums and courses are other sources of help for teachers According to Kennedy (1999), with the lack of professional support, even the teachers who are motivated to implement change may feel disheartened when obstacles block their way, which result in very little change in the classroom

Accordingly, the traditional way of teaching with chalk and talk dominates Therefore, Moeini (2009) asserts that attending high quality professional development programs is crucial to the future of teachers They help teachers change their beliefs about language and language learning; have a clear understanding of what is expected of them in their new role and how to carry out this role with necessary skills Moreover, it is when participating in teacher development programmes that teachers have chances to share their both problems and success with colleagues from the same teaching context in order to find a solution to a problem and to get an idea of how to teach something (Ur, 1996) In a study by Richards et al (2001), teachers find in-service courses, conferences, seminars and workshops so useful for they have a chance to share ideas with counterparts in other schools, to find out what else is being done to handle similar materials and how others are overcoming similar problems, which encourages them to implement some of the new ideas they have learned

In some in-service teacher development initiatives, teachers may also have chances to be upgraded in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) In fact, in an increasingly globalized world teachers need to

be technologically competent and information-literate (Moeini, 2009) Firstly, articles, journals, and researches on various educational websites are valuable sources that help teachers get up to date knowledge in the field of language teaching and learning Secondly, using ICT also enables teachers to share information and materials with their colleagues in a fast and effective way Thirdly, effective and appropriate use of ICT in teaching is certainly of great help for teachers to organize their lessons effectively Thanks to ICT, they can now create a combination of learning materials in various types such as text, audio, video and animations, which helps stimulate students’ interest in the lessons; create interactive learner-centered learning environment by giving more time for pair and group work It is clear that ICT is a facilitator that helps teachers enhance the quality of teaching and learning rather than a laborsaving device

In conclusion, in the process of implementation of innovation teachers express their various needs and wants with different levels Most of these needs are come from obstacles teachers have to face during everyday teaching practice These needs, in term, bring about teachers’ needs to participate in different teacher development activities as sources of support and help to grow better in the profession Therefore, it is important for teacher development programmes to identify teachers’ needs and try to plan the content, organization, and methods so that they can meet teachers’ needs

2.2 Workshops in teachers’ professional development

2.2.1 Definitions of workshops

As shown in the previous part, teachers often show their strong needs for some development activities such as conferences, seminars, and workshops Richards and Farrell (2005) suggest that workshops are ideal formats for introducing an educational innovation and preparing teachers for the change According to them workshops can be defined as intensive short-term learning opportunities that are designed to allow teachers to attain specific knowledge and skills which they can later apply in their classrooms Day (1999, p 131) defines workshops as planned events of INSET which are “intended to provide intensive learning over a limited period…with designated leaders whose role is not only to facilitate but also actively to stimulate learning” According to him, the purpose of INSET in general is to fit teachers’ needs of development growth, including additive growth (taking knowledge, skills, understanding forward a step), and transformative one (resulting in major changes in beliefs, knowledge, skills or understandings)

A study conducted in Malaysia to examine the implementation of the new English language syllabus found out that one key implementation strategy was the retraining of thousands of teachers (Goh, 1999) This enormous task was taken first in the form of training courses and then training workshops This

finding is confirmed by another study by Richards et al (2001) which concludes that workshops are one of the most common and useful forms of professional development activities for teachers In this study, teachers report that seminars, conferences, and workshops are among the top three sources for the changes Their explanation is that they can choose suitable ideas from those given in conferences, seminars and workshops to put in practice; they have an opportunity

to upgrade their skills, to keep up with latest teaching methods and materials, to

be introduced a new light on English language teaching (ELT) and to reinforce their old ideas; they are provided with lots of good, well-tested strategies and access to new resources and materials; and more importantly their attitude toward English teaching is changed

Gebhard (1998) emphasizes that in-service workshops can offer teachers chances

to experience different teacher development activities and to understand how they can work on developing their teaching on their own In the stage of implementation of the innovation language teachers cannot independently cope with the incessant flood of new theories, ideas and materials in TEFL and one of the best way is to bring them to short refresher workshops

2.2.2 Considerations in teacher training workshops

Increasing attention is being paid to the effectiveness of professional development (PD) initiatives which include training workshops, raising questions concerning how best to provide PD services for teachers - e.g., how such services should be designed, what topics they should cover, and which teachers should be served (Garet, Porter, Desimone, Birman & Yoon, 2001) Researchers have focused on investigating the conditions under which PD initiatives are most effective in enhancing teacher learning and improving classroom practice For example, Garet and colleagues administered a survey to a nationwide sample of 1,027 math and science teachers (Garet et al., 2001) The results indicated that

PD was rated as most effective when it (a) was sustained and intensive rather than short-term, (b) was focused on academic subject matter with links to

standards of learning, (c) provided teachers opportunities for active learning, (d) afforded opportunities for teachers to engage in leadership roles, (e) involved the collective participation of groups of teachers from the same school, and (f) was meaningfully integrated into the daily life of the school

Several features of effective training workshops can be identified from the literature These features are described and discussed in some aspects of training workshops as follows

top-be given opportunities to participate in decisions about what they will learn, how they will learn, and how they will use what they learn This can be done through surveys, interviews, and group discussions involving teachers

Looking at the same issue of the content of the teacher development programmes, Ilyushina (1997) notes that these programmes should depend on the teachers’ prior education, experience, awareness and other factors to balance the theory and practice: background and procedural knowledge She mentions theory

as a view of the nature of language, language learning, and an awareness of social and educational context Theory forms the basis of background knowledge whose value is to provide a sound basis for making decisions in the various areas

of ELT Procedural knowledge can be defined as that type of knowledge deriving from, and through, experience and which is related to teacher experience and performance Procedural knowledge comprises practical idea and techniques for teaching, the ability to implement them – i.e teaching skills, and choose from a repertoire of techniques appropriate to a given situation In general, there is an opinion that both theory and practice are of crucial importance for language teacher education However, a balance should not be fixed and made identical for even similar groups of learners This needs to be adjusted during the course on the basis of an on-going evaluation of course effectiveness Vespoor’s (1989) review of 21 educational reform projects revealed that adjusting the content of training programmes to the level of the teachers’ knowledge and experience was

a key element for the success of the programme

According to Breen, Candlin, Dam & Gabrielsen (1989, p 134), an effective professional development programme should introduce an innovation “by building on what teachers currently know and do and what occurs in class.” They argue that instead of maintaining that teachers’ knowledge and experience must

be changed or replaced, training should entail reflection and development In other words teachers must not be viewed as entering the programme with deficiencies New ideas and information must be presented on the basis of teachers’ existing frames of knowledge and experience It is clear that while new knowledge can obviously be presented to teachers, taking into account their wants and needs, more attention should be paid on what teachers know and do, and how they can more fully explore their beliefs and practices

Breen et al (1989) also highlight that introduction of an innovation with convincement of the rightness of communicative language teaching is not enough

to meet the teachers’ needs This is so because there is usually a gap between theory/research and the rich, complex, and unpredictable daily classroom life of teachers To make workshops more effective, trainers should help teachers identify their particular problems they have experienced in classroom practice and then exploit particular communicative principles to search for solutions

Mariani (1979) has another description of the content of an in-service training programme According to her, apart from knowledge of the subject taught, in-service training should deal with all aspects of what she calls the professional profile which includes conscious understanding of the teacher’s role, and of the learning/teaching situation; knowledge of the learners and of the learners’ learning processes; and knowledge of specific TEFL/TESL methods and techniques

In summary, for teacher-oriented content of training programmes it is useful to find out where trainees are coming from and is even vital to find out where they are at now Learning must be related to the individual needs of the schools and teachers involved No training procedures can function with maximum

2.2.2.2 Organization and methodology

Wallace (1991) argues that ways or methods (‘modes’) of teaching and learning used in teacher education programme should be various depending on various teaching and learning purposes Considering the way to deliver workshops, he notes that

it is just as important (perhaps more important) to learn how to solve problems in general, as to learn the solution to any one particular problem A useful skill for tutors to master when organizing workshops is, therefore, the art of making issues

‘problematic’, i.e turning teaching points round so that they become problems or puzzles to be solved by trainees using their own ingenuity, background knowledge, work experience, or whatever

(p 38)

In other words the effectiveness of training depends to a large extend on how far that training is transferred to the real classroom situation This also means that effective course methodology should be trainee-centered Altman (1983 as cited

in Ilyushina 1997, p 6) claims that “teachers teach the way they are taught, not as they were told to teach.” Therefore, for ‘learner centered’ teaching to be carried out by trainees they should have been exposed to a trainee-centered programme

Furthermore, the programme must serve as an excellent model of good teaching, incorporating practices of strategies such as problem solving and cooperative learning It is also necessary that the approach to teacher learning incorporates theories of how adults learn

Some other characteristics related to workshops methods are discussed as the following:

2.2.2.2.1 Hands-on activities

Sandholtz (2002) notes that teachers in a development programme prefer activities that are directly relevant to their teaching situation because they believe that the techniques and strategies they learn from these activities will be possible

to implement in their classrooms Therefore, in-service programmes should provide teachers with opportunities to do something important, not to simply hear about it Finding the way to adapt or redesign teaching materials, creating lesson plans, and microteaching are some examples of such activities Hayes (1995) suggests that through these activities teachers have chances to practice new ideas in non-threatening environment before applying them in their own classrooms

2.2.2.2.2 Opportunities for collaboration

According to Vygotsky (1978), a collaborative teacher learning environment is

so important to teachers participating an in-service teacher training programme Learning seems to be more effective when teachers have opportunities to interact with their colleagues since each individual is seen as not only a learner, but also a resource person and thus learning becomes more active Furthermore, through problem solving in a collaborative learning atmosphere new ideas are discovered with a “feeling of it being a joint venture” (Mohamed, 2006, p 54) This feeling

is believed to be crucial to creating an effective learning climate in an in-service teacher training programme

2.2.2.2.3 Encouragement for further change

Mohamed (2006) highlights the importance of the fact that teacher development programmes should be organized in such a way that encourages teachers’ further change The reasoning on this point is that teacher learning should not end at the conclusion of a workshop since change cannot be achieved in a short time Moeini (2009) argues that professional development programmes should be more than a range of an afternoon or a full day traditional in-service session with everything is designed and packaged as a quick-fix for teachers’ inadequacies and incompetence in order to meet teachers’ need of continuing professional development In other words, teacher development programmes should raise teachers’ need to inquire and question existing practice by encouraging teachers

to become reflective, evolve and seek new understanding throughout their career Mohamed (2006) claims that only by doing so can educational reform be made meaningful, effective and long-term

2.3 Previous research

Recently, new English textbooks have been introduced into secondary schools not only in Vietnam but also in many other countries Cheng and Wang (2004) argue that teachers are central to improving English teaching in this time of innovation To help teachers improve their teaching practice and their professional development many researches have been carried out to study teachers’ concerns and their needs

One study (Wu, 2002) explores what changes and concerns 41 English language teachers have experienced when using the New Textbook in Taiwan The findings point out the fact that most of teachers have experienced the increase in their creativities in methodology, emphasis on learner autonomy, time for preparing lessons, frequency of reflection upon teaching, interaction with students, use of authentic materials, use of pair and group work and use of English in teaching However, it is discouraging to see that only a small number

of teachers have experienced the increase in their making decision, their professional status, their cooperation among the staff, and their attendance in follow-up training programmes In addition, there is little hard evidence that the New Textbook has encouraged a greater degree of students’ interest in learning English and their communicative competence These results may relate to the teachers’ concerns that remain strong at all stages According to the study, most

of the teachers are concerned about the insufficiency of the information provided about the New Textbook, the insufficiency of resources, the rushing of the lessons, class size, mixed ability classes, and the focus of exams An important conclusion then was made that in education, a systemic change is essential for a successful innovation and “if the Communicative Approach in ELT is the objective of the innovation, the alteration of textbooks alone will not be enough

to bring about a long-term change in methodology” (Wu, 2002, p 41)

The second study by Cheng and Wang (2004) is aimed to understand the professional challenges faced by 47 secondary teachers of English who were attending a summer professional upgrading progamme in a Teacher College in Northern China The results show that the challenges these teachers face are teaching methods, high-stakes testing, their language proficiency, and ways to motivate their students to learn English To meet these challenges, most of the teachers mention that the predominant communicative language teaching is what they needed to gain more knowledge through their professional development It

is therefore indicated that the professional upgrading of English teachers in China

is an urgent need and requires a great deal of more research

In another study, Yan (2007) examines a cross-culture in-service teacher training program in China The subjects of the study were 172 secondary English teachers and 53 teachers from tertiary vocational institutions Trainees’ expectations of the program and their views of the program were investigated The author then concluded that good quality of training would depend on the degree of fitness between the course itself and the expectations of trainees He emphasizes that

training programs need to constantly adjust their delivery mode, course content, and methodology to suit teachers’ needs

Ilyushina (1997) also has a critical look at the professional needs of 96 secondary English teachers participating in INSET programs as viewed by them and by their trainers, their evaluation of, and satisfaction with INSET provision in St Petersburg, Russia The study points out that at the time of the study the majority

of teachers felt that INSET should supply them with procedural knowledge (including ‘gaining some practical ideas’, ‘practising new techniques’, etc.) Like Yan (2007), Ilyushina also supports the view that training at any stage should be relevant and applicable to teaching However, in her study, the author finds out some serious contradictions in the views of different groups involved in INSET that are likely to affect negatively the provision of INSET in St Petersburg First, she argues that there is the mismatch in the views of teacher trainers, administrators, and teachers on INSET, its methods and contents Secondly, she points out to the mismatch between the declared views and the actual behavior of teacher trainers She then concludes that the current situation of INSET in the Russian context is complex and problematic and that the success of the further development of INSET will partly be determined by the solving of the above contradictions

Workshops as a kind of in-service teacher training in Vietnam also draw a considerable attention of researchers In one article by Ha Van Sinh (2003), the author focuses on the self-monitoring capabilities of Vietnamese teacher trainees According to him, only by focusing on classroom input and interaction, training programmes can ensure sustainable professional growth for teachers He gave some evidences for his above-mentioned conclusion The first evidence is teachers’ inability to reflect on practical classroom situations Based on a videotaped lesson of a teacher on a professional reflection project, he found out that the teacher in that lesson were not skilled at modifying her speech or body language to make her language easier to comprehend However, the teacher was

unable to identify the problem Another evidence given by Ha Van Sinh (2003) related to 48 English teachers participating in the Teacher In-Service Education programme in Hanoi These teachers were asked to think of the problem resulting

in students’ low participation in English lessons Most of their answers were that the materials must be unsuitable, boring, or too difficult for the students None of the participants considered the possibility that the problem might be a lack of interaction in the classromm Ha Van Sinh (2003) then argues that most of in-service training workshops delivered in Vietnam focus on communicative language teaching techniques rather than try to improve trainees’ self-awarenees

of classroom input and interaction As a result, the participants are happy because they ‘know’ how to teach English communicatively, but their enthusiasm soon fades when they face the same textbooks, the rigid curriculum, and the knowledge-based final examinations at their schools

2.4 Summary

In this chapter, the review of literature focuses on vital role of L2 teacher development activities including teacher training workshops The information in this chapter helps to find out what help and support teachers’ need during the process of becoming better teachers Teacher training workshops are reported to

be one of the most popular sources that can meet these needs of teachers The definition of teacher training workshops and some considerations related to content as well as methodology of these training workshops are then reviewed The previous research lays a foundation for the researcher to find out an appropriate data collection instruments in the next two chapters

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

According to Brown (2001), researchers in their language studies use survey research very often This type of research is defined as a procedure “in quantitative research in which investigators administer a survey to a sample or to the entire population of people in order to describe the attitudes, opinions, behaviors, or characteristics of the population” (Creswell, 2005, p 354) Brown (2001) asserts that by doing survey research the researcher can address many useful questions Therefore, the best way to find out what people think about any aspect of a language program is to ask them directly in an interview or on a questionnaire This study aims to explore teachers’ opinions of their wants and needs of training workshops they participated in Therefore, the survey method is suitable to carry out this study

This chapter consists of three sections Section 3.1 provides details on the data collection instruments Section 3.2 gives information about the subjects participating in the study The chapter ends with section 3.3 that presents the procedure of the research

3.1 Data collection instruments

Data in a survey are collected using two basic forms: questionnaires and interviews A questionnaire is a written form with a series of questions or statements for the participants or the subjects in a study to complete and then return to the researcher (Creswell, 2005) An interview is a procedure “used for gathering oral data” (Brown, 2001, p 5), that is, the researcher asks questions, listens for these answers or observes behavior and records responses on the survey Both of these survey instruments certainly have their advantages as well

as disadvantages However, a questionnaire would be more appropriate research instrument for gathering information for this study because of the following reasons First, a questionnaire is easier to administer, especially in the context of large distribution of the teachers-respondents in the study Second, a

questionnaire is more convenient for the respondents to complete when it suits them, which is good for the teachers’ hectic schedules Third, a questionnaire is confidential and the respondents can remain anonymous This is very important,

as they might not have felt comfortable when asked to give comments on senior colleagues

The questionnaire administered to the teachers was designed based on some previous studies and the literature review conducted in Chapter Two It consists

of questions and statements in a mixed format of Likert Scale, closed-response and open-ended questions (see Appendices) It is divided into three major parts

as listed below

 Part A: Background information

 Part B: Teachers’ wants and needs of training workshops

 Part C: The extent of satisfaction

After being piloted (as detailed later in Procedue), the final draft of the questionnaire is as follows

Part A consisting of seven items is about teachers' personal and educational backgrounds, which demonstrates who they are as teachers of English at senior secondary schools in Dan Phuong district Questions 1 to 4 are aimed to elicit the respondents’ age, gender, and degrees held The next three questions are adapted from the study by Cheng and Wang (2004) which was also aimed to investigate teachers’ initial training, and the number of their teaching experience years Part B explores teachers’ opinions about their wants and needs of the training workshops they participated in The ideas of conducting this section were based

on the questionnaire by Ilyushina (1997), which is designed for teachers who took part in in-service teacher training courses in Russia The two studies have the same purpose: to investigate teachers’ perceived needs of training courses Some questions from Ilyushina (1997) are adapted so that they are put in more