Novice efl teachers participation in professional development in their community of practice

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OFPOST-GRADUATE STUDIES BÙI THỊ KHÁNH HUYỀN NOVICE EFL TEACHERS’ PARTICIPATION IN PROFESSIONA

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF

OF PRACTICE

Sự tham gia vào hoạt động phát triển chuyên môn của giáo viên tiếng Anh mới vào nghề tại

cộng đồng thực hành

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

HANOI - 2017

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF

POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

BÙI THỊ KHÁNH HUYỀN

NOVICE EFL TEACHERS’

PARTICIPATION IN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN THEIR COMMUNITY

OF PRACTICE

Sự tham gia vào hoạt động phát triển chuyên môn của giáo viên tiếng Anh mới vào nghề tại

cộng đồng thực hành

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Lê Văn Canh

HANOI - 2017

I hereby declare that this thesis is a presentation of my original research worksubmitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Art degree atthe Faculty of Postgraduate Studies, University of Languages and InternationalStudies, VNU The material in the research has not been submitted anywhere forany formal course assessment or any award Wherever contributions of otherresearchers are involved, every effort is made to indicate this clearly, with duereference to the literature, and acknowledgement of collaborative research anddiscussion The work was done under the guidance of Associated Professor Lê VănCanh, at the University of Languages and International Studies

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in thelibrary should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordancewith the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan orreproduction of the paper

Hanoi, 2017

Bùi Thị Khánh Huyền

I also wishto take this opportunity to record my thankfulness to my friends and mycolleagues for their timely assistance and effective cooperation in collecting data forcompleting this study Their enthusiastic participation was indispensable to myresearch.

Above all, I would like to express my heart full indebtedness to my family andespecially my husband who have always supported, encouraged and inspired me tomove on and finish the work I‟m strongly in debited to their unconditional love andcares They have been always my strongest motivation to move on

The efficiency of professional development for novice EFL teachers has largelybeen validated to possess intensive influence on the quality of English teaching sofar In Vietnam, the Decision number 1400/QĐ-TTG approving the National Project

2020 by the Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan (2008) has pointed out vitalpurposes of teaching English as a foreign language and set a goal to shift the foreignlanguage as the strength of Vietnamese people This decision has obliquelyemphasized the necessity of skillful English teachers and especially the significance

of professional development programs to train novice ones However, the topic isstill under-investigated as too little work related to the field could be found in thecountry This study employed qualitative research approach to conduct in-depthinterviews with six Vietnamese novice EFL teachers, exploring under-surfaceproblems Collected data revealed that although these teachers were thirsty forprofessionalizing their major, their professional development faced not a smallnumber of challenges Indeed, their self-initiated learning appeared to be morebeneficial than those training activities held at their community of practice

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

COP: Community of practice

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

PD: Professional development

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF FIGURES & TABLES vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Significance of the Study 3

1.5 Scope of the study 3

1.6 Organization 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Definition of terminologies 5

2.1.1 Novice teachers 5

2.1.2 Professional development (PD) 7

2.1.3 Community of Practice (COP) 9

2.2 Role of community of practice in professional development 11

2.3 Factors affecting teachers‟ participation in PD in their COP 12

2.4 Related studies on novice teachers‟ PD in their COP 14

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 16

3.1 Research design 16

3.2 Selection of research participants 17

3.2.1 Method of sampling 17

3.2.2 Research participants 17

3.3 Data collection instruments 19

3.4 Data collection procedure 20

3.5 Data analysis methods 21

CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 22

4.1 Access to PD activities 22

4.2 Motivating factors behind novice EFL teachers‟ participation in PD 28

4.2.1 Personal Characteristic 29

4.2.2 Internal factors – Perceptions of PD 31

4.2.3 External (Environmental) factors 32

4.3 Contextual factors inhibiting novice teachers‟ participation in PD within their COP 34

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 38

5.1 Summary of findings and conclusion 38

5.2 Implications and applications 41

5.3 Limitations of the research and suggestions for further study 41

REFERENCES 43 APPENDIX I APPENDIX 1 - Invitation Email II APPENDIX 2 - Consent form IV APPENDIX 3 - List of interview questions V

LIST OF FIGURES& TABLES

Figure 1: Forms of professional development in language teaching 9

Figure 2: The three elements of COP 10

Figure 3: Factors affecting teachers' participation in PD in their COP 14

Table 1: Participants‟ backgrounds 18

Table 2 Teachers' PD activities in their COP 23

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides information about the research problem and the reason whythe problems need to be researched In addition, the aims, research questionstogether with scope of the study are presented The chapter concludes with anoverview of the chapters that follow in the thesis

1.1 Rationale

“Master teachers are not born, they become They become

primarily by developing a habit of mind, a way of looking critically at the work they do; by developing the courage to recognize faults, and by struggling to improve.”

(Kane, 2004)Recent decades, along with the rapid growth of globalization, has witnessed thedramatic increase in the popularity of English as an International language As anofficial language of more than 67 countries and being spoken by over 840 millionpeople around the world, this language is regarded as the third most commonlyspoken language on this Earth, besides Mandarin Chinese and Spanish Englishwords can be heard in every field, from economy, business to technology,entertainment and a great number of cultural and social activities In Vietnam, due

to the high requirements for communicating, studying and working, the importance

of studying English has been incredibly considered these days The Decisionnumber 1400/QĐ-TTG approving the Project2020 by the Prime Minister NguyenThien Nhan (2008) has pointed out vital purposes of studying English as a foreignlanguage and set a goal to shift the foreign language as the strength of Vietnamesepeople This decision has resulted in the necessity to enhance both the quantity andquality of teaching English, as a student is badly in need of being exposed toqualified teachers to be successful More seriously, they may geton the verge of

“being set back one to three grade levels” in case they are“exposed to an ineffectiveteacher” (Teacher Induction, 2008)

Therefore, comprehensibly, a large number of professional English as a foreignlanguage (EFL) teachers are needed to fulfill this demand However, according toBaggini (2005) the term “teacher professionalism” is recognized by not onlyteachers‟ specialized knowledge but extent they outcome the difficulties and theextent they are able to use their skills and experiences related to their profession aswell This means that ralatively merely well-qualified teachers with long timeexperiencing and improving in reality teaching can be master in the field Teacherswho have just finished their studying and training in teaching field are the newcomers in their community of practice (COP) where they continue learning for theirprofessional development (PD) While there have been a great number of studies onteacher learning in their communities of practice, the issue of how teachers whohave just started their career struggle to become full members of their communities

of practices in EFL contexts is not yet adequately researched Answers to thisquestion are much needed in the context of the Project 2020

So far, however, too little attention has been paid to the investigation of this topic.This has inspired the researcher to conduct a study on the participation in PD ofVietnamese novice EFL teachers in their COP, as well as the factors influencingtheir participation

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

This study aims to investigate how Vietnamese novice EFL teachers experience andparticipate in PD in their first years of teaching Also, the study is proposed to findout the contextual influences on their participation in PD activities

1.3 Research questions

1 To what extent do Vietnamese novice EFL teachers participate in

professional development in their community of practice?

2 What are the motivating factors behind their participation?

3 What challenges do they encounter in participating in their community

of practice?

1.4 Significance of the Study

Due to the great demand of high quality EFL teachers to fulfill the need of effectiveEnglish learning in Vietnam these days, theefficiency of PD in novice EFLteachers‟ COP should be put into proper consideration The answers for the threeresearch questions in this work are supposed to explore the participation degree ofVietnamese novice teachers in PD together with both motivated and inhibitedfactors influenced the process It can be seen as a reference for graduatedpedagogical students as well as those who are beginning initial years of teachingcareer or are involved in PD Additionally, this study is expected toassistheadmasters, principals and educationalists to propose applicable policies and PDprograms to facilitate novice EFL teachers to develop their profession right at theirCOP, from which teaching output can be enhanced by converging sufficientconditions Besides, the research outcomes are hoped to benefit the authorities ineducation and training by providing an authentic overview about the real situation ofVietnamese novice teacher‟s PD and especially recommendations for appropriateguidelines for teachers – to be and curriculum in teacher training institutions

1.5 Scope of the study

This study is carried out with a purpose to have an insight on the PD that EFLteachers experienced when they begin their new career life in COPand together withhow they perceive it Thence, factors affecting their participation will also beexplored Various aspects of these novice teachers‟ individual and career lives will

be investigated to find out whether they have influence on the process

1.6 Organization

The thesis is organized into five chapters which are respectively named:Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Findings & Discussions andConclusion

First of all, an overview of the whole study including rationale, the objectives, thesettings and the scope of the study is presented in the very first chapter:Introduction The next chapter offers definitions of key terms together with a criticalreview of theoretical literature and related studies How the study is carried out can

be found in the following Methodology chapter with a detailed description ofparticipants, data collection and analysis instruments The next section issubsequently used to analyze the collected data, discuss the findings and proposeanswers to the three research questions Finally, the Conclusion chapter gives anoverview of the main discussed issues and draws a conclusion; points out somelimitations of the research and gives suggestions for further studies

2.1 Definition of terminologies

2.1.1 Novice teachers

Novice teachers can be considered certificated teachers possessing about less thanfive years of teaching experience To be more specific, Farrell (2009) provided adefinition to the term as teachers who have finished their pre-service teachereducation and have just initiated their pedagogical career in an educationalinstitution Comprehensibly, the professional experiences of those teachers “aremediated by their previous schooling experiences, the nature of the pre-serviceteacher education programs from which they have graduated, and their experiences

of socialization into the educational and institutional culture” Thus, the first years

of teaching, as stated by Kang & Cheng(2014) in their work, is doubtlessly anessential period when “teachers test their beliefs and ideas, expand their teachingstrategies, acquire practical knowledge, and formulate their professional identity”.Definitely, this stage is badly in need of being investigated into

Regarding specific features of novice teachers, Bradley (2010) argued that they arealso in developmental stages, just as students are learners The initials years ofteaching life have been recorded to emerge countless problems as well asdifficulties A research from the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers(Johnson, 2002)reported that new teachers “feel that they have no access to clearanswers, feel that their sense of professional competence is challenged, and

ultimately question their choice of teaching as a career” Besides those pessimisticsensation, novice teachers still lack profound understanding about “what typicalclassroom activities and expected problems and solutions are like” (Berliner, 1987,

p 72) Tsui(2003, p 245) was successful in identifying professional limitations ofthose neophytes by asserting that the main dissimilarities between novice andexperienced language teachers “seem to lie in the different ways in which they relate

to their contexts of work, and hence their conceptions and understanding ofteaching, which is developed in these contexts” He offered a list of attributes newteachers generally hold when beginning their job:

- An elaborate knowledge base

- Ability to integrate and uses different kinds of knowledge

- Ability to make sound intuitive judgments based on past experience

- A desire to investigate and solve a wide range of teaching problems

- Understanding on students and students learning

- Awareness of instructional objectives to support teaching

- Understanding and use of language learning strategies

- Awareness of the learning context

- Fluidity and automaticity in teaching

Consequently, novice teachers, with a massive volume of challenges, theirdeficiency and lack of experience, repeatedly notice the considerable distancebetween themselves and experience teachers and realize their shortcomings in thisstage, which is a double-edged sword It can either motivate them make efforts tolearn and improve or discourage them to engage in the chosen career Thisassociation of features cannot be left out as a noticeable factor influencing their laterteaching life in particular, especially their participation in PD and the quality ofeducation in general

In this thesis, novice teachers are defined as those who are in their initial years oftheir teaching life at a specific educational institution To be more specific, thoseteachers have 1-5 years‟ teaching experience

2.1.2 Professional development (PD)

It cannot be denied that in recent decades, the subject matter of professionaldevelopment has raised great concerns in educational community and has beenclarified by various researchers In the context that the root of poor studentachievement in many schools has been believed to be blamed on inadequateongoing teacher professional development, and as a result of changes in nationalcurriculum and tests as well as student needs, teachers are supposed to take “regularopportunities to update their professional knowledge and skills, that is, theirfavorable circumstances for PD”(Richards & Farrell, 2005, p 7) When defining theterm PD These two authors remind that teachers need to be able to take part in aseries of activities to develop their profession in specific goals as follows:

- Engaging in self-reflection and evaluation

- Developing specialized knowledge and skills about many aspects of teaching

- Expanding their knowledge base about research, theory and issues in

teaching

- Taking on new roles and responsibilities, such as supervisor or mentor

teacher, teacher-researcher, or materials writer

- Developing collaborative with other teachers.”

In another report, a different concept of PD was referred as "opportunities todevelop new knowledge, skills, approaches, and dispositions to improve theireffectiveness in their classrooms" ((Loucks-Horsley, 1998, p xiv) Also, Horn(2004) shared the same viewpoint like the authors above by bringing out a furtherdiscussion to the term as “a broad range of processes and activities that contribute tothe learning of educators” To make it more specific, Killion (2002) identified PD ascentralized systems supporting the development of knowledge, skills, attitudes,aspirations, and behaviors leading to the improvement of student accomplishment.This identification is supported by the synthesis written two years before by Guskey

who recognized PD as a systematic process “enhancing teacher effectiveness byfocusing on teacher knowledge, skills, and attitudes” It is apparent to see that nomatter which way these researchers offer their definitions of “PD”, their argumentsstood on the same side The noticeable importance of PD was admitted andemphasized by all of them, especially the influence of it on students‟ improvement.

PD “should be about shaping teachers‟ knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes, andsuccess should be determined by student outcomes” (Kubitsky & Fishman,2007).PD generally serves “activities for teacher to achieve a longer-term goal andseeks to facilitate growth of teacher‟s understanding and of themselves as teachers.”(Horn, 2004)

In terms of PD specific activities, investigations into traditional PD have pointed out

several ways to formalize the process such as such as professional meetings,

conferences, seminars, presentations, workshops, and mentoring(Porter, 2002).Later

on, the reading of professional publications and discussions of professional issues

with colleagues within formal and informal structures were asserted by

Knight(2002) Additionally, Glatthorn(1995) recognized the value of teacher

discussions and interactions as fundamental to the improvement of teacher quality.

DuFour, Eaker, & DuFour (2005) impressed the necessary of collaborative

interactions within quality professional development structures Also in that year, a

series of tasks aggregated from results of previous studies was provided by Richards

and Farrell in their work Professional Development for Language Teachers In

short, advantageous schemes to assist the progress of PD are listed in the followingfigure:

Figure 1: Forms of professional development in language teaching

Forms of professional development in language teaching

- Teacher support groups - Teaching portfolios - Action research

professional materials

critical incidents

(Richards & Farrell, 2005, p 4)

2.1.3 Community of Practice (COP)

As proposed by DuFour(2004), the term “COP” is used to describe everyimaginable combination of individuals with an interest in education including gradelevel teams, school committees, departments, school districts, state departments ofeducation, and national professional organizations In other words, it is a group ofpractitioners "who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, andwho deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoingbasis" (Wenger, McDermott, & Snyder, Cultivating communities of practice, 2002,

p 4) The concept is analyzed by those three scientists to consist of three basiccomponents, which are described in the following figure:

Figure 2: The three elements of COP

(Wenger, McDermott, & Snyder, 2002, p 4)

• The domain creates common ground and a sense of common identity “A

well-defined domain legitimizes the community by affirming its purpose and value tomembers and other stakeholders” It brings inspiration to people to “contribute andparticipate, guides their learning, and gives meaning to their actions” Thus, it is alwaysadvisable for teachers in COP to deeply understand the domain Perceiving theboundaries and the leading edge of the domain empower “members to decide exactlywhat is worth sharing, how to present their ideas, and which activities to pursue It allowsthem to recognize the potential in tentative or half-baked ideas”

• The community creates “the social fabric of learning” It is an essential element

because “learning is a matter of belonging as well as an intellectual process,involving the heart as well as the head” Interactions “based on mutual respects andtrust” can be fostered in a strong community An eagerness to share ideas, exposeone's ignorance, ask difficult questions or listen carefully is encouraged in this place

as well

• The practice is a set of frameworks, ideas, tools, information, styles, language,

stories, and documents that community members share (pp 27-29)

2.2 Role of community of practice in professional development

Wenger‟s(1998) perspective in his work pointed out that “learning as socialparticipation' where one is an "active participant in the practices of socialcommunities and constructing identities in relation to these communities" which

"shapes not only what we do, but also who we are and how we interpret what wedo" (p 4) This means that learning involves participation in a COP It is impossiblefor a successful PD to neglect the contribution of COP, especially PD programs fornovice teacher In a study on teachers‟ first-year experiences, Richards &Pennington (1998) proved this importance by finding that the teaching context haveplayed an influential role in determining novice teachers‟ classroom practices.The explanation for the indispensable roles of COP is that most conventionalexplanations of learning have failed to view its social character Learning should beregarded as a process by which a learner internalizes knowledge, whether'discovered,' 'transmitted' from others, or 'experienced in interaction' with others"(Lave & Wenger, 1991, p 47)Professional learning is a story of participation incommunities rather than “the reception of factual knowledge information” Thatexpounds why COP is absolutely necessary in the learning of novice teachers, thosewho acquire a great deal of pedagogical learning theories but meet few opportunities

to practice in real classroom

Concerning the assistance of COP, Wood (2007) highlighted that attendance in COPenables teachers to “accept primary responsibility for their growth in expertise byequipping them with fundamental strategies to build on their own knowledge” Thisprofessional development allows teachers to “respond effectively to student needs”(2007, p 710) Results of a survey in his investigation suggested that there was

“increased trust among professional colleagues, a better understanding of how tomeet student needs, a district climate more conducive to risk taking and innovation,and a greater sense of professional efficacy to improve student learning” (Wood,

2007, p 717) A COP can be definitely used as a framework for understanding andpromoting teacher learning and as a particular theoretical approach to professionaldevelopment, where teacher learning is promoted, supported and sustained It could

be a hidden invaluable structure in schools if cultivated actively and systematically.However, is COP beneficial for novice teacher‟s participation in PD in the context

of education in Vietnam indeed? In this study, the thoughtful awareness of COP will

be used as a theoretical framework for understanding novice teacher‟s participationdegree in PD and influential factors hiding behind it

2.3 Factors affecting teachers’ participation in PD in their

COP

As a vital element creating successful PD, teachers‟ participation in PD in theirCOP has been greatly concerned by researchers all around the world Long timeago, in the work of Theory of Reasoned Action, Fishbein & Ajzen (1975) mentionedthe influence of psychological and sociological perspective on teachers‟ attendance.Becker & Gibson (1998) later on re-categorized those factors into individual andsocietal determinants respectively including personal attitudes and social pressures

“Both the individual and the desires of others are important to the individual andplay a part in motivating individuals” (p.7) Rubenson (1977) gave furtherclarification of the two influential groups by adding the interactions of a variety ofpersonal variables such as previous experience, personal attributes, and needs andenvironmental variables In his paper, a hierarchical structure, norms and values ofsignificant others, and available educational possibilities were mentioned asenvironmental elements affecting the participation of adults In the year of 1982,Darkenwald & Merriam who focused on sociological perspective shown out that of

all the factors, socioeconomic status factors are the most powerful one for adult

participatory behavior Besides, learning press was suggested in their report as an

encouragement or requirement for further learning in teachers‟ environment

Recently, in the 21st century, influential factors founded in those theories werereorganized and generalized by modern researchers Seven founded factors were re-divided into two groups, the internal (individual) and external (environmental) ones.

Teachers’ attitudes toward professional development activities and teachers’ efficacy were listed in the first group while time including: work-time, personal, leisure-time, and family-time, funding (supplementary salary for instance), principal influence (principal’s support, encouragement and facilitation), colleague influence, and school culture (working environment) were proposed to be in external

self-teams by many researchers like Bayindir (2009), Fullan (1995) and Torff &Sessions (2008) In addition to these factors, the third set of influential elementscalled “personal characteristics of teachers” has been identified and adjoined bysome research Ozer

& Beycioglu (2010) after several experiments has concluded that female teachershave more positive attitudes toward PD activities than male teachers and experiencedteachers generally have negative attitudes about PD activities According to the authors,

teachers’ age, years of teaching experience, the level of educational attainment and the grade level in which they teach influence their participation degree PD activities.

In the circumstance that there exists no single model reasoning teachers‟participation in PD(Becker & Gibson, 1998), this study adapts a theoreticalframework which synthesizes all previous theories about determinants of teachers‟attendance in PD relatively sufficiently by Bayar (2013) The theoretical framework

is illustrated in the figure bellow

Figure 3 Factors affecting teachers' participation in PD in their COP

(Bayar, 2013, p 39)

2.4 Related studies on novice teachers’ PD in their COP

Needless to say, massive investigations in the area of EFL novice teachers‟ issuehave been found in literature from everywhere around this world Most of themconcerns about the working lives, experiences, motivations, believes, difficultiesand the autonomy of the subjects Several works of Farrokhi, Rahimpour, & Papi(2011) in Iran,Kang & Cheng (2014) in China, Kumazawa (2011) in Japan, Pineda

& Frodden (2008) in Colombia, Dellar (1990) in Morocco, and Akbulut (2007) inTurkishcould be listed out as successful instances Most of them employ qualitativeapproach, in-depth interview or case studies to be more specific, to explore the targetedaffair It is not a complicated work to realize that this appropiate selection

of researching method has made great contribution to the success of those projects

Nevertheless, little have known about how novice teachers perceive PD in theirCOP as well as the extent they participate in it, especially in Vietnam Those papers,both about novice teacher and PD, only concentrate on their specific local area.Distictive analyzation of teacher‟s participation in PD in Vietnam is still under–investigation As a results, studies on influential factors of the effectiveness of PDfor novice teachers in specific COP have not been deeply concerned, although theimportance of it has been perceived by Vietnamese educationalists for a long time.Moreover, reccomendations and guidelines for novice EFL teachers when initatingtheir career are rarely put into consideration In fact, there are some Vietnamesestudies in this area However, they just focused on the quality of PD or merely theindividuals motivation in developing their profession like in Huyền‟s paper (2014),environmental influences on individuals‟ attendence in PD are nearly neglected.Therefore, this study is expected to fill in this research gap when paying attention toall possible influential factors of EFL novice teachers‟ participation in PD in typicalCOP in Vietnam Learning from the success of several mentioned previous studiesinthe areas, qualitative approach together, specifically in-depth face to faceinterview,was employed again in this study

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

The chapter presents the methods used for the data collection and data analysis inthe study It starts with an explanation of the participant recruitment criteria and adescription of the participants Also, data collection instruments and procedure

together with data analysis method are described.

3.1 Research design

As the research aim to investigate how Vietnamese EFL teachers participate in PD

in their COP as well as under-surfaced factors influencing their grade ofparticipation, qualitative methodology is adopted in this study with the hope tocollect the most reliable data This choice can be explained by the effectiveness inobtaining culturally specific information about the values, opinions, emotions,behaviors, and social contexts and especially in identifying intangible factors ofparticular populations of qualitative research (Qualitative Research MethodsOverview) According to Willig(2001), qualitative research is usually concernedwith meaning, and “in particular how people make sense of the world and howparticipants experience events from their perspectives” (p.26) Griffin (1986)additionally explained that the methodology had power to enable researchers tomake connections between different aspects of people‟s life including domesticsphere, employment and leisure time, which is considerably beneficial in this work.Moreover, research results reported from recent related studies by scientists allaround the world such as “The development of novice teacher‟s autonomy” byPineda & Frodden (2008) in Colombia, “A comparison between expert and noviceteachers” by Farrokhi, Rahimpour, & Papi (2011) in Iran,“Working lives andmotivation of secondary school teachers” by Kumazawa (2011) in Japanor “Teacherlearning in the workplace” by Kang & Cheng (2014) in China has proved thisundeniable efficiency of qualitative approach in the field Thus, it was decided that

the best method to adopt for this investigation was to inherit from those previoussuccess.

3.2 Selection of research participants

or contribute to the study In other words, “one subject gives the researcher the name

of another subject, who in turn provides the name of a third, and so on” (Vogt, 1999,

p 116) It enabled the researcher to find support in recruiting more hiddenparticipants among their‟ colleagues, acquaintances and friends

At first, the researcher got access to participants in their network via email in whichthe information of the research was introduced and an invitation to participate in thestudy were included Participants need to be novice EFL teachers who have beenteaching in a Vietnamese specific school for at least one year or more but no longerthan three years Although they may not be rich enough in teaching experience,these teachers should be not only fluent in English but always eager to learn more aswell They all have a great hope to have opportunities to know how to deal withtheir problems in teaching as well as improve their teaching skill

Those participants, then, introduced to the researcher the people they think to besuitable for this investigation

3.2.2 Research participants

Participants of this research were six newly graduated Vietnamese EFL teacherswho shared the same educational background and have been working as school

teachers for at least one year or more but no longer than three years All of these

patients were conferred bachelor degrees in English Language Teacher Education

together with high level of English proficiency Although they have not been

professional in pedagogical job, as their working contexts are educational

environment, they all underwent precious time experiencing real classroom teaching

and had golden opportunities to get involved in PD Impressively, they are all

teachers who own outstanding English competence, profound passion for teaching,

working with children along with intense desires to improve their profession The

specific backgrounds of these participants are illustrated in the table below

Table 1: Participants’ backgrounds

Pseudonym Male Age Community of Working English Qualifications

Practice (COP) experience Competence

FCE

*ULIS – VNU: University of Languages & International Studies – Vietnam

National University

3.3 Data collection instruments

In order to collect information about novice EFL teachers‟ participation in PD intheir COP together with influential factors behind it, in-depth face to face semi-structured interview was employed as a research instrument As the method is

“particularly useful for getting the story behind a participant‟s experiences”, itallows the researcher to “pursue in-depth information around the topic” (McNamara,1999) Specifically,Barriball & While in their work (1994) described the advantage

of personal interview as an appropriated choice for “the exploration of attitudes,values, beliefs and motives” Therefore, since this work undertakes a mission toinvestigate various hiding aspects of novice teacher‟s participation in PD in theirCOP, the method is undoubtedly beneficial In addition, according to Dialsingh(2008) with the support of the interviewers‟ presence, respondents will find it iseasier to clarify answers or ask for Consequently, higher–quality data with deepunderstandings are potential to be collected focusing on solving the three researchquestions

Based on theories provided in the literature review chapter, especially by Bayar(2013), a set of semi-interview questions were designed to investigate noviceteachers‟ participation in PD The inquired motivating and inhibiting aspects weredivided into three categories based on Bayar‟s theories: characteristic, internal andexternal factors The list of question was divided into three parts: the first one tosearch for teachers‟ personal information; the second one to collect data aroundteachers‟ participation and the last one to explore under-surfaced influentialproblems Interviewees were supposed to answer questions around how they getinvolved in PD within their COP together with aspects surrounding their life andtheir career

3.4 Data collection procedure

The data collection procedure was conducted respectively as follow:

Step 1: Selecting the participants: An informed email introducing briefly the

purposes of the research was sent to selected participants In this email, not onlywere patients encouraged to take part and share their experiences in the research, butcontact details were offered for further questions and arrangement consideration as

well (Appendix 1) A consent form was also attached for confirmation and rights clarification when joining the study (Appendix 2) Following their agreement, all

participants had been contacted again to schedule meeting time and venue severaldays before the interview was conducted

Step 2: Interviews preparation: The set of semi-structured interview questions

were firstly designed focusing on answering the targeted problems in the threeresearch questions After the stage of recruiting participants, a pilot interview withone of the participants was conducted subsequently to make necessary changes tothe set of questions All the questions were categorized into four sections to makethe data analysis stage easier Interviewees were expected to tell about theirbackground, their profession, their experience in PD in their COP, and severalfactors around their individual lives This information will enable the researcher toinvestigate a number of influential factors behind participants‟ participation in PD

The final version of the interview questions is clarified specifically in Appendix 3.

Step 3: Data collection: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with

participants Each interview lasted for about 30 – 45 minutes, with the presence ofmerely the researcher and one participant All the interviews were carried out inEnglish since all these EFL teachers are relatively proficient in this language (asdetailed in Table 1) Dialogues were entirely recorded Afterwards, the responseswere transcribed afterward using the Microsoft One Note application to prepare forthe data analysis stage

3.5 Data analysis methods

Qualitative analysis method was chosen for data analysis in this study as it held anability to “provide a more realistic feel of the world that cannot be experienced inthe numerical data and statistical analysis used in quantitative research” (Roshan &Deeptee, 2009) The method was advantageous since it supported the researcher indigging deeper into the field and discovering out under-surfaced problems After allthe records were transcribed, the collected data were summarized with key pointshighlighted, then coded and categorized into distinct groups responding to the threeresearch questions In this stage, the extent participants took part in PD in their COPtogether with influential elements around this participation were analyzed anddiscovered out Subsequently, relationships between those groups were identifiedand put into discussion as well All the procedure was carried out based on thetheoretical framework presented in the Literature Review chapter

CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH FINDINGS

AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Access to PD activities

As mentioned in the Literature review chapter, novice teachers are the one whooften have the feelings that “they have no access to clear answers, feel that theirsense of professional competence is challenged, and ultimately question their choice

of teaching as a career” (Johnson, 2002) Data collected in this research has stronglyproved this viewpoint when six over six members admitted their uncertainty inteaching fields and all are thirsty for improvement In other words, these teachersare badly in need of training activities to professionalize themselves Although thereexisted unlimited forms of professional development activities, what participantsreally got from those projects largely depend on how they actually got involved inthem, which was profoundly investigated throughout the interviews

Regarding forms of PD available in teachers‟ COP, not a large number of activitieswere mentioned in the interviews Some major types of them were found to beshared between the six participants, which are presented as the following statistics: