EFL Teacher Professional Development Needs: Voices from the Periphery (original) (raw)
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The professional development of EFL teachers represents a challenge for teachers, teacher educators and policy makers in the accomplishment of better standards in education. Literature reviews on the area reveal the need for new models of professional growth for Colombian teachers. Within the framework of “Colombia Bilingüe”, the Ministry of Education proposes a professional development model that aims to reach a signifi cant number of teachers. This paper presents a critical review of this program in the light of national and international literature on teacher education. Conclusions suggest the need for more post-method approaches, for locally produced knowledge to be recognized, and for the collaborative work of policy makers and national scholars to generate teacher development programs more adequate to our reality. Key words: professional development, language policies, EFL, research
The Professional Development of English Language Teachers in Colombia: A Review of the Literature
Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal, 2019
This article offers a review of 25 empirical studies to identify the areas and findings of professional development initiatives for in-service English teachers in Colombia. The reviewed studies suggest that language teacher professional development has focused on six major areas: language proficiency, research skills and reflective practice, teachers' beliefs and identities, an integrated approach to teacher professional development, pedagogical skills and teaching approaches, and emerging technologies. Results suggest that there is a need to move from traditional masterapprentice, content-oriented, teacher-centered models of professional development towards initiatives that allow teachers to critically analyze their particular context and needs, and devise their own local alternatives so that they can become more active agents of their own process of change. Issues that constitute possible alternatives for future research in the professional development of English language teachers are discussed.
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The design and implementation of a holistic professional development program for elementary school English teachers in Colombia concerns target language improvement and pedagogical reflection. School-based and learner-centered, the program is characteristic of a synthetic, progressive, process-oriented curriculum as teachers' language and pedagogical needs determined the learning and pedagogical activities for the program. The teachers improved their use of conventional English and became aware of an alternative approach for early foreign language instruction. They reported increased confidence using English and implementing new methodological strategies by getting positive feedback from their learners. Positive changes in teachers' and students' attitudes towards English suggest that this holistic approach be used as a viable professional development program for elementary school teachers in Colombia.
HOW Journal, 2021
The professional development of English teachers is a significant area in language teaching and learning, as well as in teacher education. On the one hand, at least in theory, professional development initiatives respond to the teachers' changing needs. On the other hand, it reflects the beliefs that different educational authorities and stakeholders have about English uses and education. In this self-study, I consider the professional development of English teachers in Colombia and its tight connection to the language education policies of the country. Following a chronological approach, I present the findings as landmarks that have contributed to my reflections and research around professional development and language education policies. Discussing the findings, I show how the discourses and decisions about teachers' continuing learning represent certain views of language, second language acquisition, English language teaching and learning, and teachers as professionals. This self-study addresses some of the concepts that illuminate the discourses that have shaped English teachers' professional development. Focusing primarily on the development of the National Program of Bilingualism, I underscore the power of these concepts over the major decisions made at the local and school levels. In the analysis of the past and present of teachers' professional development in Colombia, I conclude on the necessity 1 She holds a doctoral degree in Linguistics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She is a professor at the Universidad de Antioquia in the undergraduate and graduate foreign language teacher education programs. Her areas of academic work include teacher professional development, language policies, World Englishes, and ELF.
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During the past twenty years, the paradigm of professional development in U.S. education has shifted from an analyitco-incremental model to an integrative-systematic model. The integrative-systematic model focuses on the whole-scale improvement of general student performance through the articulation, implementation, and assessment of standards that apply to teachers and teacher preparation institutions as well as to students. This article addresses the basis for this paradigm shift in the U.S. and the global expansion of the professional development mandate. The authors describe the first phase of a three-year, cross-cultural professional development program involving English-as-a-Foreign Language (EFL) teachers at a private school in Mexico.
The smooth and successful implementation of any educational reform is largely dependent on the quality of its teacher preparation. In the case of The National English Program in Basic Education (NEPBE) implemented in secondary schools in Mexico by the Department of Education last year, teacher preparation strategies have neglected the changes in the understanding of the profession. Both public and private higher education institutions throughout the country have implemented different professional development strategies. However, the strategies have taken the form of courses and workshops from a top-down managerial approach. They are mostly designed from the perspective of teacher educators and based on administration needs. Little attention is paid to the views, needs, and interests of teachers. Teachers are required to know how to analyze their learners’ needs, although no attempt is made to understand the teachers’ points of view regarding what they themselves need. This paper presents the results of a government-funded survey that investigated the characteristics of 297 secondary school English language teachers in northeast Mexico, in terms of their education, teaching experience, professional development track, as well as their views and attitudes toward different modes of professional development. Implications for professional development policies are discussed.
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Colombian English Teachers’ Professional Development: The Case of Master Programs
Master degree programs have rapidly increased in Colombia to the point where they are one of the most favored options for English teachers seeking to bolster their professional development. This survey study characterizes eighty participants, their five master programs, and their perceptions concerning the influence these graduate courses exerted on their teaching. While participants' pedagogical and research work seemed to have benefited the most from their studies, their practices involving language policy and administration were regarded as distant from what they learnt. Findings suggest that innovation, reflection, and collaboration permeated participants' overarching categories of development. Challenges to respondents' integration of their newly acquired education with their teaching included competing ideologies and agendas exhibited by stakeholders in school communities.
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