BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI LUẬN ÁN TIẾN SĨ PHÁT TRIỂN CHUYÊN MÔN CỦA GIẢNG VIÊN TIẾNG ANH Ở CÁC TRƯỜNG CÔNG AN DƯỚI GÓC NHÌN CỦA THUYẾT HOẠT ĐỘNG PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF EFL TEACHERS IN PUBLIC SECURITY HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS THROUGH THE LENS OF ACTIVITY THEORY Giáo viên hướng dẫn: PGS. Phạm Ngọc Thạch PGS. Nguyễn Thị Mai Hương Nghiên cứu sinh: Trần Văn An Mã số học viên: 20A7010001 Chuyên ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh Hà Nội, năm 2024 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply grateful for all those who have supported me during my PhD learning journey. Without their support, I would not have been able to accomplish my thesis.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my principal supervisor, Associate Professor Dr. Pham Ngoc Thach for his invaluable guidance, support, and detailed feedback. His patience, understanding, and encouragement have motivated me to deal with numerous challenges during my candidature and contributed to my professional growth. I am indebted to my associate supervisor, Associate Professor Dr.
Nguyen Thi Mai Huong for her professional guidance and constructive comments. She has always motivated me to be confident in my abilities. I also wish to thank my former supervisor, Dr. Truong Thi My for her suggestions and practical feedback on the very first drafts of my thesis.
My sincere thanks go to the leaders of the Department of Post Graduate Studies, Hanoi University, and their supporting staff for providing me with support and favorable conditions for my study. I would like to extend my gratitude to the leaders of the University of Fire Prevention and Fighting (UFPF) for offering me the opportunity to pursue my PhD study. My thanks also go to deans of English faculties in the MPS for consent to approach EFL teachers for data collection. I would like to express my special appreciation to the participants of the study, who have made this study possible.
I am grateful to my friends for their special contributions to the study. I must mention Dr. Dau Duy Lich, Dr. Hoang Huu Cuong, and Dr.
Nguyen Duc Chinh for their valuable comments at the early stage of my journey. I am indebted to my colleagues at the Faculty of Fundamental Sciences and English under UFPF for sharing the workload so that I have been able to concentrate on my study. I also owe thanks to my PhD mates who are willing to help me with professional comments and encourage me with positive words when am faced with difficulties. Last but not least, my heartfelt thanks go to my parents, my wife, and my sons for their emotional support and unconditional love.
They are always by my side, giving me the greatest motivation to go through the rough times during my journey. i TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. I TABLE OF CONTENTS. II LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
V LIST OF FIGURES. VI LIST OF TABLES. Background to the study. Rationale of the study.
Aims of the study and the research questions. Significance of the study. Teacher Professional Development. Definition of professional development.
Benefits of PD. Factors influencing teachers’ engagement in PD. Models of PD. Empirical studies on PD of EFL teachers.
Gaps in related studies. Theoretical framework: Activity Theory. Definition of Activity theory. Activity theory as a theoretical framework of this study.
Mixed methods research approach. Ontological and epistemological assumptions. The research context. Data collection instruments.
Data collection procedures. Quantitative data analysis. Qualitative data analysis. The role of the researcher and ethical considerations.
The role of the researcher. Research validity and reliability. THE QUANTITATIVE FINDINGS. Demographic information of the sample.
Teachers’ Conceptualizations of PD. Teachers’ preferences for professional development tools. Descriptive statistics of the quantitative results. Teachers’ frequency of participating in PD tools.
Descriptive statistics of the quantitative results. Factors mediating teachers’ participation in PD tools. Mediating factors and teachers’ frequencies of participation in PD tools. Teachers’ perceptions of the PD outcomes.
Descriptive statistics of the quantitative results. Teachers’ frequency of participation in professional development tools and outcomes. THE QUALITATIVE FINDINGS. Teachers’ conceptualizations of professional development.
Professional development as tools. Professional development as objects. Triangulation of quantitative and qualitative results. Teachers’ preference for professional development tools.
Preferred professional development tools. Less preferred professional development tools. Triangulation of quantitative and qualitative results. Factors mediating teachers’ participation in professional development tools.
Institutional and ministerial factors. Triangulation of quantitative and qualitative results. Teachers’ perceptions of the professional development outcomes. The qualitative results.
Triangulation of the quantitative and qualitative results. Summary of the chapter. Teachers’ conceptualization of professional development. Teachers’ preferences for professional development tools.
Factors mediating teachers’ participation in professional development tools. Division of labor. Teachers’ perceptions of the professional development outcomes. The outcomes related to English language teaching.
The outcomes related to the teaching career. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS. How do EFL teachers in Public Security HEIs conceptualize PD?. What PD activities are preferred by the teachers?.
How do the demographic factors relate to teachers’ preferences for PD activities and frequency of PD involvement?. What factors influence teachers’ participation in PD?. How do teachers perceive the outcomes of PD?. How does teachers’ frequency of PD participation correlate with the influential factors and outcomes of PD?.
Implications for policy-makers and academic managers. Implications for EFL teachers. Contributions of the study. Contribution to theory.
Contribution to practice. Limitations of the study. Recommendations for further study. 218 iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AT Activity Theory CEFR Common European Framework of Reference CFA Confirmatory Factor Analysis CoP Community of Practice CPD Continuing Professional Development EFA Exploratory Factor Analysis EFL English as a Foreign Language ELT English Language Teaching HEI Higher Education Institution INSET In-service Training MPS Ministry of Public Security MOET Ministry of Education and Training OECD Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development PD Professional Development TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages UFPF University of Fire Prevention and Fighting VSTEP Vietnamese Standardized Test of English Proficiency v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.
Vygotsky’s model of mediated action. Structure of human activity system. The basic model for the third generation of AT. Structure of EFL teacher PD activity system based on Engeström.
The explanatory sequential design of the present study. The participants’ definitions of PD. The participants’ conceptualization of PD. Factors mediating the EFL teachers’ PD participation in the MPS.
The teachers’ perceived outcomes of PD participation. 182 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 2. Effective PD’s core features. Spectrum of PD models.
Demographic information of teachers participating in the interviews. Demographic information of leaders participating in the interviews. Purposes of the data collection instruments. The questionnaire structure.
Demographic information of the participants. Teachers’ preferences for PD tools. Association between preferred PD tools and gender. Association between preferred PD tools and teaching experience.
Association between preferred PD tools and institutions. Associations between preferred PD tools and teaching majors. Teachers’ frequency of participating in PD tools. Associations between gender and the frequency of participating in PD tools.
Associations between teaching experience and the frequency of participating in PD tools. Associations between teachers’ institutions and the frequency of participating in PD tools. Associations between teaching majors and the frequency of participating in PD tools. Teachers’ perceptions of the mediating factors.
The results of KMO and Bartlett's Test (before removal). EFA results of PD tools (before removal). The results of KMO and Bartlett's Test (after removal). EFA results of PD tools (after removal).
The total variance explained. The results of KMO and Bartlett's Test (before removal). EFA results of mediating factors (before removal). The results of KMO and Bartlett's Test (after removal).
The total variance explained. EFA results of mediating factors (After removal). The regression results for Collaborative PD Tools. The regression results for Formal PD Tools.
The regression results for Individual PD Tools. Teachers’ perceptions of the PD outcomes. Relationship between teachers’ frequency of PD participation and outcomes. The themes regarding teachers’ conceptualization of PD.
Themes regarding teachers’ preferences for PD tools. Themes regarding teachers’ perception of influential factors. 124 viii ABSTRACT Teacher professional development (PD) has been identified as a crucial means to raise the quality of education (Desimone, 2009). However, the tertiary English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ PD in the context of Vietnam, especially in unique contexts such as the higher education system of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), remained under-researched.
Thus, drawing on the Activity Theory (AT) as the theoretical framework, this study sought to address this gap by investigating the EFL teachers' PD involvement at the MPS higher educational institutions. The study employed the explanatory mixed-method research approach, comprising the quantitative and qualitative phases (Creswell & Clark, 2011). Survey questionnaires were administered to 150 EFL teachers from eleven HEIs in the MPS, followed by semi-structured interviews with 19 EFL teachers and seven Deans of the English faculty. The results from the two phases were connected to yield the research findings on teachers’ conceptualizations of PD in the context of MPS, their preferences for PD activities, the factors influencing EFL teachers’ PD engagement, and the outcomes of their involvement in PD initiatives.
The study results indicate that teachers generally conceptualized PD as continuous, life-long learning through engaging in formal and informal tools to develop professional knowledge and skills. Particularly, they emphasized the role of formal PD tools and the focus on improving English proficiency and teaching methods. Similarly, although teachers were positive about most of the PD activities listed in the questionnaire, they generally preferred formal PD tools. In addition, inferential statistical analyses of the data indicate several significant differences in preferences for and frequency of PD participation in PD tools regarding teachers’ gender, teaching experience, assigned programs, and places of work.
Also, several individual, institutional, and ministerial factors mediated teachers’ PD engagement. Examined as specific factors, they played the role of both enablers of and barriers to teachers’ frequency of PD participation. However, the composite factors (Institutional factor, Nature of PD activities, and Individual factor positively predicted teachers’ frequency of PD participation. Another major finding is that PD tools were generally perceived to be useful as they led to teaching and career development.
The study sheds light on tertiary EFL teacher PD in the context wherein it has been conducted and can be significant to other contexts. The findings of the study provide implications for policymakers, academic managers, and EFL teachers to make improvements in the quality of PD for tertiary EFL teachers in Vietnam, especially in the context of the MPS. Background to the study People are living in an ever-rapidly changing world and the world of language teaching is not an exception to this trend. Teachers are required to constantly develop to keep pace with many innovations and developments being introduced into the field of expertise as well as respond to their working environment which is dynamic and ever-changing in nature (Avidov-Ungar, 2016; Darling-Hammond, 2005; Sadeghi & Richards, 2021; Villegas-Reimers, 2003).
In addition, the pre-service training is generally believed to insufficiently prepare teachers to perform their jobs effectively (Gyimah & Ayinselya, 2022; Mizell, 2010; Mohammadi & Moradi, 2017; Richard & Farell, 2005; Yook & Lee, 2016). Therefore, to meet the growing demand of society and the authorities on teachers, their PD plays a key role. By pursuing PD activities, teachers can make changes to their knowledge (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017; Kelly & Cherkowski, 2015), classroom practices (Gusky, 2002; Hung & Yeh, 2013), attitudes and beliefs (Gusky, 2002; Kelly & Cherkowski, 2015), and student’s learning outcomes (Gusky, 2002; Gusky, 2003; King, 2014). In Vietnam, as a result of globalization, English has been recognized as one of the important keys to opening the door to the world.