2.3. Studies on teacher professional development
2.3.1. Studies on teacher professional development in other countries
2.3.1.1. Activities for teacher professional development
Table 2.1 summarizes a number of professional development activities that have been commonly organized. These activities have received considerable attention of the researchers and scholars over the past fifteen years (Table 2.3).
Table 2.1: Professional development activities
Activity Definition
Workshops an intensive short-term learning activity to introduce specific knowledge and skills
Mentoring an activity in which a more experienced teacher helps the others to improve teaching practice
Coaching a cyclical process in which peers study the rationale of the new skills, see them demonstrated, practice them, and learn to provide feedback to one another
Teacher support groups
an activity in which group of teachers plans to address the needs of teaching and learning (e.g. sharing new practices, modifying curriculum, or developing lessons and materials)
Team teaching a process in which two or more teachers are simultaneously responsible for teaching a class from planning the lesson, teaching it to any follow-up related work
Teaching portfolios a collection of documents and artifacts that illustrate a teacher’s performance and help her to self-assess what she has done and achieve
Teacher journals an ongoing written account of observation, reflections, and other thoughts about teaching
Self-monitoring a systematic approach to observing, evaluating, and managing one’s own behavior to understand and control the behavior better Reflective teaching an activity in which the teacher thinks about what happens in classroom
lessons and about alternative means of achieving goals or aims Action research a systematic investigation into classroom issues or problems by a
teacher or a group of teachers for a resolution Online discussion
forums
an activity in which a group of teachers use a computer-based platform to discuss problems and solutions in their teaching practice
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The review of the previous studies on professional development activities also reveals that there exists more than one way to distinguish learning activities. The activities presented in Table 2.1 represents one way of categorization. These activities can be identified as individual and collaborative learning activities (Alvalos, 2011;
Desimone, Porter, Garet, Yoon, & Birman, 2002). Besides, teacher learning activities can be grouped as formal and informal activities (Alvalos, 2011; Borko, 2004;
Eekelen, Boshuizen & Vermunt; 2005; Lohman, 2000; Meirink, Meijer, and Verloop, 2007; to name but a few). Recently, a certain amount of research has focused on teacher learning at workplace with an attempt to explain the difference between formal and informal learning. Informal learning involves the activities implemented in the work settings that can lead to professional development. Formal and informal learning are distinguished in that the former refers to education programs while the latter can be either planned or unplanned, structured or unstructured (Eraut, 2004;
Lohman, 2000). Meanwhile, Tynjọlọ (2008), based on her review on perspectives into learning at workplace, postulates that workplace learning is both informal and formal.
Although agreeing that the most typical feature of workplace learning is probably informality, she argues some activities can be considered formal, for example on-the- job professional trainings. She adds that there should be a distinction between informal and incidental learning. Reviewing Marsich and Watkins (1990), she said
“informal learning is experiential and takes place outside educational institutes but can be planned, while incidental learning depicts unplanned learning that takes place as a side effect of other activities” (p.10). On these above grounds, Tynjọlọ proposes at least three modes of workplace learning: (1) incidental and informal learning, which takes place as a side effect of work, (2) intentional, but non-formal learning activities related to work, for example, mentoring, intentional practice of certain skills or tool use, (3) formal on-the-job and off-the-job trainings. In line with Tynjọlọ’s (2008) view, Borko (2004, as cited in Desimone, 2009) emphasizes that learning can happen incidentally or through teachers’ social experiences either consciously or unconsciously. She gives a number of examples of situations in which teachers learn:
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For teachers, learning occurs in many different aspects of practice, including their classrooms, their school communities, and professional development courses or workshops. It can occur in a brief hallway conversation with a colleague, or after school when counseling a troubled child. To understand teacher learning, we must study it within these multiple contexts, taking into account both the individual teacher-learners and the social systems in which they are participants (p.4).
Borko’s (2004) examples of learning situations imply the dynamic nature of professional development as ongoing, continuous and possibly embedded in teachers’
daily lives. Meirink, Meijer, and Verloop (2007) synthesizes more informal and/ or incidental learning activities through their review a variety of teachers’ individual learning in collaborative settings (Table 2.2).
Table 2.2: Categories of learning activities in the workplace learning of teachers Studies Categories of learning activities
Kwakman (1999)
Reading Reflection Doing/
experimenting
Collaboration Van
Eekelen et al. (2001)
Reading Thinking Doing Learning in
interaction Lohman and
Woolf (2001)
Environmental scanning
Experimentation Knowledge exchange Berings
(2006)
Learning from theory or supervision
Learning from reflection
Learning from one’s regular job
Learning from the application of something new during one’s job
Learning from social interaction with colleagues (Meirink, Meijer & Verloop, 2007) It is evident that teacher professional development activities can be formally organized or incidentally occur at teachers’ work place. Up to now, some formally structured professional development activities as reflective teaching, action research, team teaching, and online discussion forums have received more research attention.
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Meanwhile, informal and incidental professional learning, particularly that through involvement in course design, has been under-researched.
Another noticeable thing is that different types of knowledge can be embedded in these learning activities. Hence, with an attempt to understand the knowledge teachers may gain from their learning process, a wide range of concepts, for example, teacher awareness, teacher knowledge, practical knowledge, and teachers’ personal theories (Borg, 2006, 2009), has been distinguished. In research on EFL teacher cognition, teacher awareness is understood as teacher awareness of language or teacher language awareness. It is agreed by the 1982 Language Awareness Working Party to define language awareness as “a person’s sensitivity to and conscious awareness of the nature of language and its role in human life” (Andrews, 2007, p.11).
This definition, according to Van Lier (1996, as cited in Andrews, 2007, p.11), is open to a wide range of interpretations. One of the interpretations is that teacher language awareness can be synonymous with teachers’ knowledge about language.
According to Fenstermacher (1994, as cited Borg, 2006, p.21), there are two senses in which the term “knowledge” can be used in teacher cognition research. In the first sense, “knowledge” is used as a classifying term, in which other constructs, such as beliefs and conceptions, can be grouped under it. “Awareness”, therefore, can be considered as one construct under “knowledge” in this sense.
However, the terms “awareness” and “knowledge” sometimes appear to have different intended meanings; specifically, “knowledge” can refer to something factual while “awareness” can be associated with something that is personal relevant.
According to Wilson, Shuman and Richert (1987, as cited in Borg, 2006, pp.18-19), teachers have both theoretical knowledge (i.e. knowledge that teachers get from education or training) and practical knowledge of the subject matter “that informs and is informed by the teaching” and that “any portrait of teacher knowledge should include both aspects”. In this sense, “awareness” seems to be similar to practical knowledge that is defined by Elbaz (1981) as both knowledge of practice and knowledge mediated by practice (p.46). Connelly and Clandinin (1988, as cited in
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Meijer, Verloop, & Berjaard, 1999, p.1) add that personal practical knowledge is “a particular way of reconstructing the past and the intentions of the future to deal with the exigencies of a present situation” (p.25). Another way to understand the term
“knowledge” is to distinguish explicit knowledge and implicit knowledge. According to Ellis (2004, as cited in Andrews, 2007, p.13), explicit knowledge is declarative knowledge of “the phonological, lexical, grammatical, pragmatic and socio-critical features of an L2 [second language]” (p.244). Meanwhile, implicit knowledge, according to Krashen (1981), is acquired in a subconscious process that takes place only when the learner focuses on conveying meaning. Implicit knowledge is also understood as the application explicit knowledge (Johnson, 1996; Dekeyser, 1998, as cited in Andrews, 2007, p.15). In either way of understanding, implicit knowledge is hard to be described as compared to explicit knowledge, and it can become skills transferrable from one context to another context. Awareness, as something that is conscious agreed by the 1982 Language Awareness Working Party, can refer to explicit knowledge, rather than implicit knowledge. It is noticeable that the terms
“awareness” and “knowledge” in the literature focus more on language learning.
Nonetheless, the meaning of these terms can be extended to awareness and knowledge of any object that learners work on, and language is just one of objects that they deal with.
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Table 2.3: Trend and focus of professional development research worldwide
Activity Studies Focus
Workshops Cronin & Connolly (2007), Doppelt et al.
(2009), Haegele et al. (2016)
- Impacts of teachers’ participation in workshops targeting the teaching practice (curriculum reform at the classroom level) on teacher behavior and student achievement
- Impacts on teachers’ attitudes
- Integration of workshops and the other professional development form Mentoring Hudson (2013), Lee & Feng (2007), Lopez-
Real (2006), Moak (2014), See (2014), Weasmer & Woods (2010)
- Qualities of a successful mentor
- Mentors’ reflection on their involvement in mentoring
- Opportunities to learn (from the mentor/ mentee, self-reflection, mutual collaboration)
- Enhancement of communication skills - Development of leadership roles
- Improvement of pedagogical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge Coaching Cantrell & Hughes (2008), Jao (2013) , Lee
(2011), Zwart et al. (2008)
- Development of a model
- Development of pedagogical content knowledge - Learning activities and situations within peer coaching
- Relationships between learning activities within peer coaching and learning outcomes
- Needs and challenges of peer coaching - Development of teacher efficacy Teacher support
groups
Gersten et al. (2010), Herner-Patnode (2009), Meirink et al. (2007), Stanley (2011), Vescio et al. (2008)
- Development of a model
- Facilitating and inhibiting factors of study groups
- Changes in cognition and behaviors (reported more changes in cognition than in behaviors: value others’ methods, value the opportunities to participate in collaborative learning, be aware of own shortcomings)
- Changes in teacher practice and student learning
25 Team teaching Carless & Walker (2006), Crow & Smith
(2006), Higgens & Lizenberg (2015), Mastropieri et al. (2005), Scruggs et al.
(2007), Shaffer & Thomas-Brown (2015), Shibley (2010), Smith & Winn (2017), Solis et al. (2012); Tsai (2015),
- Development of a co-teaching model
- Responsibilities and emotions in co-teaching - Opportunities for experience sharing
- Development of professional identity - Needs of co-teachers
- Instruction delivery in co-teaching - Challenges of co-teaching
- Factors affecting the effectiveness of co-teaching (i.e. academic content knowledge, high-stakes testing, co-teacher compatibility, intra-personal factors vs.
inter-personal factors)
- Interdisciplinary team teaching
- Gains in content knowledge and corresponding pedagogical strategies - Development of teaching styles and collegial relationships
- Teacher learning of knowledge and skills (i.e. language knowledge and skills, knowledge of culture, teaching skills, understanding of students and schooling) Teaching
portfolios
Hall (2006), Chetcuti et al. (2011), Liu (2009) Pyửrọlọ (2014), Simon & Johnson (2008)
- Guidelines for developing teaching portfolios
- Teachers’ understanding of and attitudes to the use of teaching portfolios - The roles of teaching portfolios to different stakeholders
- Effects of reflective practice while keeping teaching portfolios Reflective
teaching
Afshar & Farahani (2015), Liu & Zhang (2014), Ma & Ren (2011), Mathew et al.
(2017), Minott (2006), Minott (2010), Ratminingsih et al. (2017), Wolfensberger et al. (2010), Qing (2009)
- Examination of contents, process and operational methods of reflective teaching - Examination of teachers’ teaching beliefs and practice
- Improvement of self-awareness and self-monitoring abilities
- Improvement of work-related knowledge (i.e. how to encourage students’
participation, how to differentiate instructions and learning, how to collaborate with colleagues)
- Teachers’ reflection on the use of reflective teaching - Factors impacting the effects of reflective teaching
26 Action research Ado (2013), Cabaroglu (2014), Capobianco
& Allan (2006), Doig & Groves (2011), Castro Garcés & Martinez Granada (2016), Goodnough (2011), Hathorn & Dillon (2018), Hine & Lavery (2014), Kim (2005), O’connor, Greene, & Anderson (2006), Shanks, Miller, & Rosendale (2012)
- Development of a model
- Development of a supportive culture - Teachers’ self-efficacy
- Teachers’ identity - Autonomous learning
- Improvement of problem-solving skills - Changes in classroom practice
Online discussion forums
Boyarko (2009), Chen et al. (2009), Ching
& Hursh (2014), Conrad (2005), Duncan- Howell (2007), Duncan-Howell (2010), Garbin et al. (2015), Hanewald (2013), Sari (2012)
- Perception of the term “community”
- Learning goals
- Facilitating and inhibiting factors of an effective online learning platform - Opportunities of sharing experiences and practices
- Professional relationships
- Desires to change teaching practices - Responsibility for learning and teaching Improvement
processes (curriculum development)
Graves (1996), Handler (2010), Mackenzie et al. (2009), Malebye (1999), Nunan (1987), Shawer et al. (2009), Shawer (2010a, 2010b, 2017), Zeegers (2012)
- Course development process
- Assessment of knowledge and skills of teachers as curriculum developers - Difficulties and solutions when implementing self-designed curriculum - Curriculum approaches
- Degree of teachers’ contributions to curriculum development - Integration of curriculum development and other PD activities
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