HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES ------------ HO THI THUY CHI A STUDY ON PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT NEEDS OF ENGLISH TEACHERS AT SOME HIGH SCHOOLS IN QUANG TRI PROVINCE MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, University of Foreign Languages and International Studies, Hue University THUA THIEN HUE, 2022 HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES ------------ HO THI THUY CHI A STUDY ON PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT NEEDS OF ENGLISH TEACHERS AT SOME HIGH SCHOOLS IN QUANG TRI PROVINCE MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 8140111 SUPERVISOR: ASSOC. LE PHAM HOAI HUONG THUA THIEN HUE, 2022 ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ ------------ HỒ THỊ THÙY CHI NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHU CẦU BỒI DƯỠNG NGHIỆP VỤ CỦA GIÁO VIÊN TIẾNG ANH TẠI MỘT SỐ TRƯỜNG THPT TRÊN ĐỊA BÀN TỈNH QUẢNG TRỊ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 8140111 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: PGS. LÊ PHẠM HOÀI HƯƠNG THỪA THIÊN HUẾ, 2022 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and has not been previously submitted for a degree or diploma at any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due references are made.
Signature Ho Thi Thuy Chi Date: 20/12/ 2022 i ABSTRACT This study aims to investigate the perceptions of professional development of EFL teachers at some high school in Quang Tri Province and the ways they would like to carry out their professional development acitivities. The partiticipants included sixty EFL high school teachers with their teaching experience ranged from 2-30 years and their ages from 23 to over 50. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire and an interview protocol. The findings show that most of high school EFL teachers in Quang Tri province perceived PD as the process that helped teachers to develop new skills, stay up-to-date on current trends, and advance their career.
In particular, participation in a network of teachers was considered to be the most common PD activity reported by all the participants. Moreover, various benefits of PD activities were mentioned by EFL teachers. One of the PD activities’ benefits mentioned by most participants is the ability to enable schools to develop and apply new strategies concerning the curriculum and other aspects of teaching practice. What’s more, the other helpful thing that PD brings to teaching found in this study is helping novice teachers or the teachers who are not very confident about their teaching ability gain more experience and teach more effectively.
The participants also stated that taking part in PD activities served the need for understanding more about the cultures of English - speaking countries in order to convey the lessons to students more accurately and effectively. Besides, the results indicate that the need to know how to select appropriate materials and the ways to adapt them contributed to EFL teachers’ PD. From the findings, implications for administrators and teachers are put foward for EFL teachers to realize their needs for improvement. Key words: Professional development, EFL teachers, common PD activities ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the following people for their support, guidance and help throughout the entire process of this research paper.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Associate Professor Le Pham Hoai Huong, who assisted me in the early stages of my research proposal and offered valuable advice, intellectual guidance, and constructive feedback throughout the period of this investigation. Second, I am also very grateful for the assistance of the teachers at the English Department of Hue University, University of Foreign Languages and International Studies who taught me in the master’s program. Third, my sincere gratitude is sent to the teachers of English from 11 high schools in Quang Tri province for their enthusiastic participation in answering my questionnaires and interviews.