TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Pages STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ………………………………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………………………………………………… ii TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………………… 1 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ………………………………………………. 4 LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS ………………………………………. 5 ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………………… 6 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION …………………………………………… 7 1. Background of the study ……………………………………………….
Rationale of the study …………………………………………………. Aims of the study ………………………………………………………. Significance of the study ………………………………………………. Scope of the study ……………………………………………………… 10 1.
Structure of the study …………………………………………………. 11 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW …………………………………… 12 2. Teacher professional development …………………………………. Definitions of teacher professional development …………………….
Significance of teacher professional development …………………… 14 2. Teacher collaboration for professional development …………………. Definitions of teacher collaboration …………………………………. Characteristics of successful teacher collaboration ………………….
Benefits of teacher collaboration ……………………………………. Barriers to teacher collaboration ……………………………………. Support for teacher collaboration ……………………………………. Common activities of teacher collaboration …………………………… 22 2.
Previous studies on teacher collaboration abroad and in Vietnam ……. 34 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY …………………………… 35 3. Instruments and procedures of data collection ………………………… 37 3. 40 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION …………………………… 41 4.
Questionnaire data analysis ……………………………………………. Teacher views on TC for their professional development …………… 42 4. Necessity of teacher collaboration ………………………………….2 Benefits of teacher collaboration …………………………………… 43 4. Barriers to teacher collaboration …………………………………… 46 4.
The realities of TC practice at ESP department – HUCFL …………. Teacher interests in TC opportunities ……………………………… 48 4. Employment of TC activities ………………………………………. Focus of TC activities ……………………………………………… 50 4.
Teacher partnership in TC activities ………………………………. Suggestions for promoting TC ………………………………………. Interview data analysis …………………………………………………. Teacher views on TC for their professional development …………… 54 2 4.
Necessity of teacher collaboration ………………………………….2 Benefits of teacher collaboration …………………………………… 55 4. Barriers to teacher collaboration …………………………………… 56 4. The realities of TC practice at ESP department – HUCFL …………. Teacher interests in TC opportunities ……………………………… 58 4.
Employment of TC activities ………………………………………. Focus of TC activities ……………………………………………… 60 4. Teacher partnership in TC activities ………………………………. Suggestions for promoting TC ……………………………………….
62 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS ……………………. Summary of the findings ………………………………………………. How do teachers at ESP department - HUCFL view teacher collaboration as a means for their professional development? ……………. What are the realities of teacher collaboration at ESP Department - HUCFL? …………………………………………………………………….
What are teacher suggestions for promoting teacher collaboration at ESP department - HUCFL? ………………………………………………… 65 5. Limitations of the Study ………………………………………………. Recommendations for Future Research ………………………………. Concluding thoughts …………………………………………………… 71 REFERENCES …………………………………………………………….
73 APPENDICES 3 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS GE General English ESP English for Specific Purposes HUCFL Hue University – College of Foreign Languages SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences TC Teacher Collaboration TPD Teacher Professional Development 4 LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Summary of participants Table 3.2: Summary of the questionnaire Table 4.1: The reliability of the questionnaire Table 4.2: Teacher views on TC Table 4.3: TC increases job satisfaction Table 4.4: TC increases teacher adaptability Table 4.5: TC enhances teacher knowledge and skills Table 4.6: TC enhances teacher self-awareness Table 4.7: The realities of TC practice Table 4.8: Suggestions for promoting TC LIST OF CHARTS Chart 4.1: Necessity of TC for teacher professional development Chart 4.2: Teacher attitudes towards benefits of TC Chart 4.3: Teacher agreement with barriers to TC Chart 4.4: Thinking vs Doing Chart 4.5: Informal vs formal TC Chart 4.6: Teacher participation in TC activities Chart 4.7: Focus of TC activities Chart 4.8: Teacher partnership in TC activities Chart 4.9: Suggestions for TC improvement 5 ABSTRACT This study aims to investigate the attitudes of teachers at ESP Department – HUCFL towards teacher collaboration as a means to benefit their professional development. It also attempts to explore the reality of teacher collaboration as well as offer suggestions to promote it at ESP Department – HUCFL. The data were collected through questionnaires and interviews. Forty questionnaires were delivered to forty teachers of ESP department.
Thirty eight surveys were completed and returned to the author. Five teachers from five divisions of ESP department were invited to participate in the in-depth interviews. The data collected from the questionnaires were processed quantitatively by means of SPSS and were presented in tables and charts, while information from the interviews was quoted and analyzed qualitatively. The findings from both quantitative and qualitative data show that most teachers at ESP department had positive attitudes towards teacher collaboration (TC).
Nearly all participants stated that TC was very necessary to teacher professional development and that teachers could benefit a lot from TC. However, the findings also indicate that teachers at ESP department tended to do their own things in the classroom with little collaboration with their colleagues. Many factors such as time constraints, lack of support, and teacher autonomy were seen as obstacles to TC. As a result, encouragements from administrators such as financial support, less teaching time, facilities, and training were suggested by teachers in order to promote TC at ESP department.
From the findings of this study, it is recommended that teachers should re-consider what the best reward of TC is. If teachers see their professional development, their students’ achievement, and their school’s success as the highest and most valuable rewards, it is possible that teachers will take more opportunities and even create more opportunities to engage in TC. Also, it is essential that the administrators of the college should create more favorable conditions for TC, such as giving financial support, providing more facilities, or creating some common time slots for teachers to participate in TC activities. Background of the study In this era of integration and globalization, there have been numerous changes in many aspects of our society.
Education is no exception. In order to reach the desired outcome from educational changes, teachers must employ appropriate strategies that can support their work. Consequently, teachers should consider professional development as a continuous process for their knowledge and practices. For example, Pham (2001) believes that “along with teacher training, teacher development must be a vital component in teacher education.
Development fills the gap in training by giving teachers opportunities to reflect on classroom practice, gain insight into teaching experiences, view education as a long-term process, and deal with change and divergence” (p. Many other educators, such as Bailey, Curtis, and Nunan (2001), also point out convincing evidence that professional development is indeed worth pursuing. According to the thesaurus of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) database, teacher professional development refers to "activities to enhance professional career growth". Such activities may include individual development, continuing education, and in-service education, as well as curriculum writing, peer collaboration, study groups, and peer coaching or mentoring.
Among a wide range of teacher development models, teacher - to - teacher collaboration attracts much researcher attention. The idea of teachers working together to improve teaching and learning seems so sensible that few would argue against it. Cook and Friend (1991) report that the evolution of collaborative practice in education began in the mid-seventies in the form of consultation, a process through which one professional assists another in solving a problem concerning a third person. This consultative approach in education was, for example, a service delivery model to meet the demand for special education service delivery in the 7 absence of trained special education teachers.
They also note that as a consultant, a teacher is not only expected to maintain a caseload of students who are seen on a regular basis, but also to serve as a classroom consultant to other teachers working with the same students and with others who require similar education needs. However, Cook and Friend (1991) characterize collaboration as different from consultation. The consulting model involves the unequal relationship of persons. In contrast, collaboration involves interaction between two or more equal parties who voluntarily share decision making in working toward a common goal.
Furthermore, models of collaboration present a framework in which consultation and teaming are presented as different forms of collaboration. Research shows that educators collaborate in a variety of ways. Educators routinely exchange information about student progress, coordinate development of instructional plans, team teach, plan for generalization of skills, jointly conduct parent conferences, share decisions with regard to grades, collaboratively solve problems, and participate in cooperative professional development. Many benefits of collegiality are also stated in the research literature.
Khorsheed (2007) claims that “collective effort is better than autonomous and isolated arrangements” (p. Collaboration helps teachers learn from one another as well as share and develop their experience together. Collegiality can also enable teachers to receive and offer ideas and assistance. Furthermore, in schools where teacher collaboration is promoted, teachers can trace both student achievement and the diminution of problematic behaviors in classrooms.
Rationale of the study The teachers of English in the ESP Department, Hue University – College of Foreign Languages (HUCFL), are in charge of teaching General English (GE) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) to all non-English major students within Hue University. Besides problems regarding language teaching in general, the teachers have to cope with difficulties found particularly in ESP teaching. 8 For instance, there are a wide range of conflicting viewpoints about the qualifications and capabilities needed by ESP teachers and of the tasks which ESP teachers are expected to perform. According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), “the great majority of ESP teachers have not been trained as such.
They need, therefore, to orientate themselves to a new environment for which they have generally been ill-prepared”. Moreover, they have to manage an abundance of work such as “needs analysis, syllabus design, material writing or adaptation and evaluation … in addition to the normal functions of a classroom teacher” (p. To deal with the heavy workload, collaboration among ESP teachers is of great necessity. Furthermore, who should teach ESP is still a matter of controversy.
In his book “ESP Today: A Practitioner’s Guide”, Robinson (1991) states that in many countries both qualified content teachers and trained English language teachers are employed to teach ESP. It is difficult for the content teacher, and even more so for the language teacher to make “knowledge of the subject” and “knowledge of the language” intertwined. Robinson (ibid) also reviews many solutions proposed by several educators and researchers to this problem. Among which, the collaboration between language teacher and content teacher is brought into focus.
Despite its great importance and necessity, collaboration among English language teachers at Vietnamese universities and colleges is still in short supply. Pham (2000) points out two main reasons for this problem. First, “The concept of teacher training and teacher development organized locally by local trainers seems quite new in Vietnam. … many teachers often express their wish to go abroad to study for a degree or to attend workshops organized by foreign aid agencies.
Not many mention the ideas of learning from their own colleagues”. Second, teachers cannot find time to collaborate with others. “Besides the mandated teaching hours to maintain the position at the university, many teachers save the rest of their time for additional teaching to supplement the modest state salary” (p. 9 In order to move towards improved quality in GE and ESP teaching at Hue University, an investigation into teacher collaboration at ESP department - HUCFL is a necessary task.
Aims of the study This study aims to investigate the attitudes of teachers at ESP Department – HUCFL towards teacher collaboration as a means to benefit their professional development. It also attempts to explore the reality of teacher collaboration as well as offer suggestions to better it at ESP Department – HUCFL. This study particularly will seek the answers to the following questions 1. How do teachers at ESP department - HUCFL view teacher collaboration as a means for their professional development? 2.
What are the realities of teacher collaboration at ESP Department - HUCFL? 3. What are teacher suggestions for promoting teacher collaboration at ESP department - HUCFL? 1. Significance of the study Teachers are their own most valued resource in the teaching profession.