TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Pages TABLE OF CONTENTS .1 LIST OF ABBREVIATION.4 LIST OF TABLES .5 LIST OF FIGURES. Rationale of the study. Research aims and questions of the study. Structure of the thesis.
11 Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definition of Professional Development and Teacher Development .3 The importance of Professional Development in teaching English. Knowledge and subject matter. The teachers‟ roles.
How to improve the knowledge. Collaborative Study Groups. Individual Development Plan. Observations feedback seminars.
31 Chapter 4: FINDING S AND DISCUSSION. Hue Junior College teachers‟ perceptions about PD in the field of English Proficiency. The ways of improving English proficiency by Teachers of English at Hue Junior College of Education .3: Independence samples T-test of the mean scores of the ways of improving English proficiency between male group and female group. Advantages and disadvantages of improving their English Proficiency for PD 43 4.
Summary of the result. 48 Chapter 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS. Summary of the findings. What are the teachers‟ perceptions about PD especially in the field of subject matter (English proficiency)?.
What are the ways the teachers made use of to improve their English proficiency?. What advantages and disadvantages do the teachers have to improve their English proficiency for PD?. For policy makers. For further research.
54 3 LIST OF ABBREVIATION EFL : English as a Foreign Language EP : English Proficiency HUCFL : Hue University College of Foreign Languages IDP : Individual Development Plan PD : Professional Development WTO : World Trade Organization 4 LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1a: Descriptive statistics of mean scores of perception in questionnaire between male group and female group .1b: Independence samples T-test of the mean scores of perceptions in the questionnaire between male group and female group .2: Descriptive Statistics of the mean score of the teachers‟ perceptions about PD.1: PD is helpful for my career .1: PD helps me reduce stress .1: Descriptive Statistics of the mean scores of the ways of improving English Proficiency by Teachers of English at Hue Junior college of Education .2: Descriptive statistics of mean scores of the ways of improving English proficiency for PD between male group and female group .a: Doing action research for PD .b: Writing teaching journals or diaries to improve English proficiency for PD .c: Observing colleagues‟ teaching and sharing perspectives to improve English proficiency for PD .d: Attending conferences, seminars, workshops. to improve English proficiency for PD .e: Having individual plans to improve English proficiency for PD .f: Using authentic materials to improve English proficiency for PD .g: Doing teacher research for PD.1: Descriptive Statistics of the mean score of advantages and disadvantages to improve PD in the questionnaire between male group and female group.2 Independence samples T-test of the mean scores of the teachers‟ advantages and disadvantages to improve English proficiency for PD between male group and female group.3: Descriptive Statistics of the mean scores of the teachers‟ advantages and disadvantages to improve English for PD .1: Low income does not prevent me to improve English proficiency for PD .2: Family does not prevent me to improve English proficiency for PD. 47 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: Descriptive Model of Teaching: The Constituents AWARENESS triggers and monitors attention to:.2: Descriptive Factors to Be A Good Teacher. 17 6 ABSTRACT This thesis aims to investigate the ways to improve English proficiency for PD by teachers of English at Hue Junior College of Education.
The collected data from nineteen questionnaires, five interviews and five observations of feedback stages were analyzed by SPSS programme. The findings showed that most teachers of English at Hue Junior College of Education were aware of the significance of PD. They realized that the ways to improve English proficiency for PD were vital activities in teaching cereer. However, in the process of improving English proficiency for PD, there were some disadvantages such as lack of time, the influence of their family and financial support.
Based on the findings, it is suggested that the teachers need to pay more attention to improving English proficiency for PD. In addition, the teachers need to choose the appropriate ways to improve English proficiency for PD. Also, the teachers need to manage their time and make suitable schedule to have good condition for improving English proficiency for PD. Besides, the leaders of institution need to create more favorable conditions such as giving more financial supports, courses or training, as well as the time to improve English proficiency for PD.
Background It has long been recognized that English is an International language. According to Kachru (1992, cited in Tran, 2000) English belongs not only to the native speakers in the Inner Circle, but to speakers in the Outer and Expanding Circle as well, so that people from around the world can use it as a useful tool to communicate with one another and to gain their purpose. In Vietnamese context, since the open-door policy to foreign investment, especially, joining the WTO, the teaching and learning of English has been taken into greater consideration than ever. In recent years, in Vietnamese context, English has been taught not only at lower and upper secondary schools but also at primary schools.
And Vietnamese education system has changed very much. English has become a compulsory subject in the national examinations at certain stages of the school education system. To bring success in teaching and learning English, we need educational reforms. One of the key elements in most of these reforms is the professional development of teachers.
So, the teachers of English and educators have used modern teaching methodology and applied it in Vietnamese context, every day they must adapt their teaching to the diverse needs of students. However, the quality of teaching and learning English is still low. It is said that there are no bad methodologies but they are not completely appropriate with Vietnamese culture as well as Vietnamese context. So, both teachers and students face difficulties when applying them.
Moreover, many years in the past until now, the official income is low so many teachers had to spend much time to earn more to support for the life of their family. That is one of the important reasons why many teachers cannot change their teaching ways. They think the knowledge that they got from university is good enough to teach students. Whereas, it is said that language always changes so teaching a language needs to change to improve.
8 Being teachers of English, everybody wonders how they can motivate students into teaching and learning, what is the best way to help students understand the lesson as well as promote the quality of teaching and learning English. Therefore, individual teachers should improve themselves by using the strength is necessary. It is said that Teacher Development is one of the key factors to improve the quality of teaching. According to Duong, Teacher Development is one of the decisive factors for successful, effective, and high-quality education (2003,p4).
In fact, Teacher Professional Development helps teachers to change present situation and easily meet their students‟ needs. It is important for teachers to recognize and use the appropriate ways to improve their English proficiency for Professional Development, (Brown, cited in Duong, 2003, p. Professional Development involves activities such as class observation, reading, attending conferences and doing research, aiming to “achieve personal and professional growth for teachers”. Although, these studies are not new in teaching English language in Vietnam, they are necessary for teachers of English in TTH as well as teachers of English at Hue Junior College of Education in educational reform work.
Rationale of the study This research was carried out for the following reasons: Firstly, Professional Development is the popular term in the field of English language teaching. This term shows to be particularly important and essential nowadays in teaching English. It is believed that teaching English needs to change, so the teachers of English have to change and develop their teaching to keep up with the innovation of the education system in Vietnamese context as well as around the word. Secondly, as a teacher of English who has devoted most of time and energy to teaching English, I find it necessary to have more insights into Professional Development such as to find out the ways to improve my English proficiency.
Finally, it is said that Professional Development is not new in teaching language in the world in general and in Vietnam in particular. In Thua Thien Hue 9 (TTH), however, it is still strange to some teachers, especially, the teachers of English at Hue Junior College of Education. So with my desire to conduct the research is to have an overview of the ways of improving English proficiency by teachers of English at Hue Junior College of Education where I am working to draw out some suggestions and implications from findings of the research. It is also the way to develop my profession.
Research aims and questions of the study With the reasons mentioned above, the aims of this study, accordingly, are: - To investigate the teachers‟ perceptions about their Professional Development especially in their English proficiency development and ways to improve their English proficiency for PD. - To find out how teachers of English at Hue Junior College of Education improve their English proficiency for their teaching. - To draw out some implications to help teachers improve their English proficiency for PD. Specifically, the study aims to answer the following questions: 1.
What are the teachers‟ perceptions about PD especially in the field of subject matter (English proficiency)? 2. What are the ways the teachers made use of to improve their English proficiency? 3. What advantages and disadvantages do the teachers have to improve their English proficiency? 1. Research scope The data for this study was collected at Hue Junior College of Education and the findings might not be generalized to other contexts.
Furthermore, it attempted to clarify the teachers‟ points of view on the necessity of PD in teaching English language. Research significance This research is carried out with an effort to explore some ways to improve English proficiency and make some changes in teaching English for PD. Hopefully, the findings of the study will be of a great value to teachers of English to realize and attempt to improve their English proficiency for PD. Structure of the thesis The research proposal consists of five chapters as follows: In chapter 1, the background as well as the rationale, the aims and research questions, the scope, the significance of the study and the structure of the thesis is mentioned before the study was carried out.
Chapter 2 focuses on writing literature review with the relevant materials. Studies from other researchers of the same topic are also mentioned Chapter 3 presents the research design and methodology, participants, data collection and data analysis. Chapter 4 reports on the findings from the questionnaires and interviews with teachers of English at Hue Junior College of Education. Based on the findings through the questionnaires and the information from the interviews, some issues relating to ways teachers of English used to improve their English proficiency are discussed.
Chapter 5 summarizes the results of the study and provides some pedagogical implications of the study based on the findings in previous chapter, and some suggestions for further research of the issue. 11 Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2. Introduction This chapter starts by some definitions of Professional Development in teaching English and discusses its importance. Then, definitions of knowledge and how to improve it are pointed out.
And the previous studies that relate this topic are mentioned. Finally, in the conclusion the need for the study will be highlighted. Definition of Professional Development and Teacher Development Most of teachers of English have always been concerned with the way English is taught as well as the way they attract students to be involved in a training program.