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

iii ABSTRACT The efficiency of professional development for novice EFL teachers has largely been validated to possess intensive influence on the quality of English teaching so far.. Thi

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

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

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DECLARATION

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

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper

Hanoi, 2017

Bùi Thị Khánh Huyền

I also wishto take this opportunity to record my thankfulness to my friends and my colleagues for their timely assistance and effective cooperation in collecting data for completing this study Their enthusiastic participation was indispensable to my research

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

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ABSTRACT

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

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

of professional development programs to train novice ones However, the topic is still under-investigated as too little work related to the field could be found in the country This study employed qualitative research approach to conduct in-depth interviews with six Vietnamese novice EFL teachers, exploring under-surface problems Collected data revealed that although these teachers were thirsty for professionalizing their major, their professional development faced not a small number of challenges Indeed, their self-initiated learning appeared to be more beneficial than those training activities held at their community of practice

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

COP: Community of practice

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

PD: Professional development

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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

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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

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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 why the problems need to be researched In addition, the aims, research questions together with scope of the study are presented The chapter concludes with an overview 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 the dramatic increase in the popularity of English as an International language As an official language of more than 67 countries and being spoken by over 840 million people around the world, this language is regarded as the third most commonly spoken language on this Earth, besides Mandarin Chinese and Spanish English words 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 Decision number 1400/QĐ-TTG approving the Project2020 by the Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan (2008) has pointed out vital purposes of studying English as a foreign language and set a goal to shift the foreign language as the strength of Vietnamese people This decision has resulted in the necessity to enhance both the quantity and quality of teaching English, as a student is badly in need of being exposed to qualified 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 ineffective teacher” (Teacher Induction, 2008)

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

of practices in EFL contexts is not yet adequately researched Answers to this question 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 of Vietnamese novice EFL teachers in their COP, as well as the factors influencing their participation

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

This study aims to investigate how Vietnamese novice EFL teachers experience and participate in PD in their first years of teaching Also, the study is proposed to find out 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?

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1.4 Significance of the Study

Due to the great demand of high quality EFL teachers to fulfill the need of effective English learning in Vietnam these days, theefficiency of PD in novice EFL teachers‟ COP should be put into proper consideration The answers for the three research questions in this work are supposed to explore the participation degree of Vietnamese novice teachers in PD together with both motivated and inhibited factors influenced the process It can be seen as a reference for graduated pedagogical students as well as those who are beginning initial years of teaching career or are involved in PD Additionally, this study is expected toassist headmasters, principals and educationalists to propose applicable policies and PD programs to facilitate novice EFL teachers to develop their profession right at their COP, from which teaching output can be enhanced by converging sufficient conditions Besides, the research outcomes are hoped to benefit the authorities in education and training by providing an authentic overview about the real situation of Vietnamese novice teacher‟s PD and especially recommendations for appropriate guidelines 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 EFL teachers experienced when they begin their new career life in COPand together with how they perceive it Thence, factors affecting their participation will also be explored 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 and Conclusion

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First of all, an overview of the whole study including rationale, the objectives, the settings 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 critical review of theoretical literature and related studies How the study is carried out can

be found in the following Methodology chapter with a detailed description of participants, data collection and analysis instruments The next section is subsequently used to analyze the collected data, discuss the findings and propose answers to the three research questions Finally, the Conclusion chapter gives an overview of the main discussed issues and draws a conclusion; points out some limitations 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 than five years of teaching experience To be more specific, Farrell (2009) provided a definition to the term as teachers who have finished their pre-service teacher education and have just initiated their pedagogical career in an educational institution Comprehensibly, the professional experiences of those teachers “are mediated by their previous schooling experiences, the nature of the pre-service teacher 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 an essential period when “teachers test their beliefs and ideas, expand their teaching strategies, 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 are also in developmental stages, just as students are learners The initials years of teaching life have been recorded to emerge countless problems as well as difficulties A research from the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers (Johnson, 2002)reported that new teachers “feel that they have no access to clear answers, feel that their sense of professional competence is challenged, and

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

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

to their contexts of work, and hence their conceptions and understanding of teaching, which is developed in these contexts” He offered a list of attributes new teachers 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, their deficiency and lack of experience, repeatedly notice the considerable distance between themselves and experience teachers and realize their shortcomings in this stage, which is a double-edged sword It can either motivate them make efforts to learn and improve or discourage them to engage in the chosen career This association of features cannot be left out as a noticeable factor influencing their later teaching life in particular, especially their participation in PD and the quality of education in general

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

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2.1.2 Professional development (PD)

It cannot be denied that in recent decades, the subject matter of professional development has raised great concerns in educational community and has been clarified by various researchers In the context that the root of poor student achievement in many schools has been believed to be blamed on inadequate ongoing teacher professional development, and as a result of changes in national curriculum and tests as well as student needs, teachers are supposed to take “regular opportunities to update their professional knowledge and skills, that is, their favorable circumstances for PD”(Richards & Farrell, 2005, p 7) When defining the term PD These two authors remind that teachers need to be able to take part in a series 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 to develop new knowledge, skills, approaches, and dispositions to improve their effectiveness in their classrooms" ((Loucks-Horsley, 1998, p xiv) Also, Horn (2004) shared the same viewpoint like the authors above by bringing out a further discussion to the term as “a broad range of processes and activities that contribute to the learning of educators” To make it more specific, Killion (2002) identified PD as centralized 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

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who recognized PD as a systematic process “enhancing teacher effectiveness by focusing on teacher knowledge, skills, and attitudes” It is apparent to see that no matter which way these researchers offer their definitions of “PD”, their arguments stood on the same side The noticeable importance of PD was admitted and emphasized by all of them, especially the influence of it on students‟ improvement

PD “should be about shaping teachers‟ knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes, and success should be determined by student outcomes” (Kubitsky & Fishman, 2007).PD generally serves “activities for teacher to achieve a longer-term goal and seeks 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 following figure:

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Figure 1: Forms of professional development in language teaching

(Richards & Farrell, 2005, p 4)

2.1.3 Community of Practice (COP)

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

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

Forms of professional development in language teaching

- Workshops - Journal writing - Self – reflection

- Self- monitoring - Peer observation - Team teaching

- Teacher support groups - Teaching portfolios - Action research

- Professional meetings - Presentations - Conferences

- the reading of

professional materials

- Peer coaching - Seminars

- Analysis & discussion of

critical incidents

- Case analysis

-

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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 to members and other stakeholders” It brings inspiration to people to “contribute and participate, guides their learning, and gives meaning to their actions” Thus, it is always advisable for teachers in COP to deeply understand the domain Perceiving the boundaries and the leading edge of the domain empower “members to decide exactly what is worth sharing, how to present their ideas, and which activities to pursue It allows them 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 and trust” can be fostered in a strong community An eagerness to share ideas, expose one'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)

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2.2 Role of community of practice in professional development

Wenger‟s(1998) perspective in his work pointed out that “learning as social participation' where one is an "active participant in the practices of social communities 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 we do" (p 4) This means that learning involves participation in a COP It is impossible for a successful PD to neglect the contribution of COP, especially PD programs for novice teacher In a study on teachers‟ first-year experiences, Richards & Pennington (1998) proved this importance by finding that the teaching context have played an influential role in determining novice teachers‟ classroom practices

The explanation for the indispensable roles of COP is that most conventional explanations of learning have failed to view its social character Learning should be regarded 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 in communities rather than “the reception of factual knowledge information” That expounds why COP is absolutely necessary in the learning of novice teachers, those who 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 COP enables teachers to “accept primary responsibility for their growth in expertise by equipping them with fundamental strategies to build on their own knowledge” This professional 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 to meet student needs, a district climate more conducive to risk taking and innovation, and a greater sense of professional efficacy to improve student learning” (Wood,

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2007, p 717) A COP can be definitely used as a framework for understanding and promoting teacher learning and as a particular theoretical approach to professional development, 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 participation degree 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 their COP has been greatly concerned by researchers all around the world Long time ago, in the work of Theory of Reasoned Action, Fishbein & Ajzen (1975) mentioned the influence of psychological and sociological perspective on teachers‟ attendance Becker & Gibson (1998) later on re-categorized those factors into individual and societal determinants respectively including personal attitudes and social pressures

“Both the individual and the desires of others are important to the individual and play a part in motivating individuals” (p.7) Rubenson (1977) gave further clarification of the two influential groups by adding the interactions of a variety of personal variables such as previous experience, personal attributes, and needs and environmental variables In his paper, a hierarchical structure, norms and values of significant others, and available educational possibilities were mentioned as environmental 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

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Recently, in the 21st century, influential factors founded in those theories were reorganized 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,

self-and school culture (working environment) were proposed to be in external teams by

many researchers like Bayindir (2009), Fullan (1995) and Torff & Sessions (2008)

In addition to these factors, the third set of influential elements called “personal characteristics of teachers” has been identified and adjoined by some research Ozer

& Beycioglu (2010) after several experiments has concluded that female teachers have more positive attitudes toward PD activities than male teachers and experienced teachers 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 theoretical framework 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

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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‟ issue have been found in literature from everywhere around this world Most of them concerns about the working lives, experiences, motivations, believes, difficulties and 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) in Turkishcould be listed out as successful instances Most of them employ qualitative approach, in-depth interview or case studies to be more specific, to explore the targeted affair It is not a complicated work to realize that this appropiate selection

Nevertheless, little have known about how novice teachers perceive PD in their COP 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 PD for novice teachers in specific COP have not been deeply concerned, although the importance of it has been perceived by Vietnamese educationalists for a long time Moreover, reccomendations and guidelines for novice EFL teachers when initating their career are rarely put into consideration In fact, there are some Vietnamese studies in this area However, they just focused on the quality of PD or merely the individuals 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 to all possible influential factors of EFL novice teachers‟ participation in PD in typical COP in Vietnam Learning from the success of several mentioned previous studies inthe areas, qualitative approach together, specifically in-depth face to face interview,was employed again in this study

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

The chapter presents the methods used for the data collection and data analysis in the study It starts with an explanation of the participant recruitment criteria and a description 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 of participation, qualitative methodology is adopted in this study with the hope to collect the most reliable data This choice can be explained by the effectiveness in obtaining culturally specific information about the values, opinions, emotions, behaviors, and social contexts and especially in identifying intangible factors of particular populations of qualitative research (Qualitative Research Methods Overview) According to Willig(2001), qualitative research is usually concerned with meaning, and “in particular how people make sense of the world and how participants experience events from their perspectives” (p.26) Griffin (1986) additionally explained that the methodology had power to enable researchers to make connections between different aspects of people‟s life including domestic sphere, employment and leisure time, which is considerably beneficial in this work Moreover, research results reported from recent related studies by scientists all around the world such as “The development of novice teacher‟s autonomy” by Pineda & Frodden (2008) in Colombia, “A comparison between expert and novice teachers” by Farrokhi, Rahimpour, & Papi (2011) in Iran,“Working lives and motivation of secondary school teachers” by Kumazawa (2011) in Japanor “Teacher learning in the workplace” by Kang & Cheng (2014) in China has proved this undeniable efficiency of qualitative approach in the field Thus, it was decided that

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 hidden participants among their‟ colleagues, acquaintances and friends

At first, the researcher got access to participants in their network via email in which the information of the research was introduced and an invitation to participate in the study were included Participants need to be novice EFL teachers who have been teaching in a Vietnamese specific school for at least one year or more but no longer than 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 as well They all have a great hope to have opportunities to know how to deal with their problems in teaching as well as improve their teaching skill

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

3.2.2 Research participants

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

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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

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

University

Pseudonym Male Age Community of

Practice (COP)

Working experience

English Competence

Qualifications

Dorothy 25 High School 3 years C1 (CEFR) BA (ULIS – VNU)

Hanah 24 High School 3 years IELTS 8.0 MA (Victoria)

Sam X 25 High School 3 years IELTS 7.0 MA (Victoria)

FCE

BA (ULIS – VNU)

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3.3 Data collection instruments

In order to collect information about novice EFL teachers‟ participation in PD in their 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”, it allows 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 to investigate various hiding aspects of novice teacher‟s participation in PD in their COP, the method is undoubtedly beneficial In addition, according to Dialsingh (2008) with the support of the interviewers‟ presence, respondents will find it is easier to clarify answers or ask for Consequently, higher–quality data with deep understandings are potential to be collected focusing on solving the three research questions

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

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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 only were patients encouraged to take part and share their experiences in the research, but contact 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 several days 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 three research questions After the stage of recruiting participants, a pilot interview with one of the participants was conducted subsequently to make necessary changes to the set of questions All the questions were categorized into four sections to make the data analysis stage easier Interviewees were expected to tell about their background, their profession, their experience in PD in their COP, and several factors around their individual lives This information will enable the researcher to investigate 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 of merely the researcher and one participant All the interviews were carried out in English since all these EFL teachers are relatively proficient in this language (as detailed in Table 1) Dialogues were entirely recorded Afterwards, the responses were transcribed afterward using the Microsoft One Note application to prepare for the data analysis stage

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3.5 Data analysis methods

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

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CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH FINDINGS

AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Access to PD activities

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

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

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