The Effects of a Professional Development Program on English as a Foreign Language Teachers’ Efficacy and Classroom Practice

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is twofold: (1) to investigate the relationship between the efficacy of teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) and their self‐reported practice of communicative language teaching (CLT) and (2) to examine the impact of an in‐service teacher education program on teachers’ efficacy and self‐reported and actual practice of CLT. Data came from a Teachers’ Background Questionnaire, English Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (Chacon, ), Communicative Orientation of Language Teaching (COLT; Spada & Frönlich, ), and the questionnaire version of COLT. Fifty Turkish EFL teachers working in eight schools responded to the questionnaires, and 20 of them were observed. The findings indicate that after the in‐service education program, the teachers not only improved their practice of CLT but also became more efficacious. The findings highlight the importance of awareness‐raising activities for professional development programs as well as the need for multiple instruments to analyse the extent to which teachers’ self‐reported beliefs and practices concur with their observed teaching practice.

Language Teachers’ Self-efficacy Beliefs: A Review of the Literature (2005-2016)

“…This has allowed observed behaviour to be compared to self-reported LTSE beliefs and pedagogical orientations, for example towards communicative language teaching or approaches to supporting reading. Ortaçtepe and Akyel (2015) employed the Communicative Orientation of Language Teaching (COLT) Observation Scheme (Spada & Frönlich, 1995) for such a purpose; this involves quantifying in real-time and afterwards (with the help of audio recordings) classroom events at the level of episode and activity, and communicative features of verbal exchanges. They observed 20 Turkish English language teachers, before and after a professional development programme, exploring changes in beliefs and practices.…”

Emotional Intelligence and Self-efficacy of Iranian Teachers: A Research Study on University Degree and Teaching Experience

“…Teachers' traits, attitudes and beliefs make contribution to their effectiveness as educators. (Ortaç tepe, Denİz, and Ayşe S. Akyel, 2015). Emotional intelligence (EI), as one of these traits, was first described by Peter Salovey and Jack Mayer in 1990 while each was searching for factors of what was important for functioning in society.…”

Experienced teachers’ beliefs and practices toward communicative approaches in teaching English as a foreign language in rural Ukraine

“…Finally, Smortrova shows that costly textbooks that support communicative activities are often unavailable. In sum, these findings appear to mirror those from more distant EFL contexts (e.g., Butler, 2005;Diallo, 2014;Hu, 2005;Lee, 2014;Ortactepe & Akyel, 2015). The Language Education Policy Profile, jointly published by the Council of Europe (2011) and Ukrainian authorities, made recommendations for the development of policies and language educational practices that would support CLT and multilingual education in Ukraine.…”

“…Over time, CLT has become an important functional and practical framework for language education worldwide (Duff, 2014). The shift in language policy from grammar-focused instruction toward CLT has been the object of study across diverse EFL settings (e.g., Ahmad & Rao, 2013;Ansarey, 2012;Butler, 2005;Diallo, 2014;Hu, 2002Hu, , 2005Karavas-Doukas, 1996;Lee, 2014;Orafi & Borg, 2009;Ortactepe & Akyel, 2015;Sato & Kleinsasser, 1999;Woods & Cakir, 2011). Although CLT has received some support, EFL teachers have expressed apprehension about this approach (Butler, 2005).…”