The Journal of Asia TEFL
The Journal of Asia TEFL
The Journal of Asia TEFL
Introduction
Many countries around the world stress the importance of implementing educational activities to
innovate their national education system for the better (Ekşi, 2010). In Vietnam, these innovations result
in new requirements for English language teachers in terms of the English Teacher Competency
Framework (ETCF) which identifies what makes effective teaching (Vu & O’Rourke, 2013). For this
reason, it is essential for EFL in-service teachers to be aware of and keep up with the updated
requirements of teachers’ competencies. Therefore, ongoing professional development is considered to be
necessary and important for improving the quality of language teaching and education in teachers’ lives
(Wong, 2011).
In light of previous research, there are some reasons why teachers’ personal growth and development is
vital and appreciable in education. First, having a high quality of education requires teachers’ self-
improvement for their teaching profession. Hargreaves and Fullan (1992) emphasized the importance of
an increase in educational standards, which correlates primarily to better educational opportunities for
students in schools. In other words, better educational opportunities for students require a better quality of
teaching. The teachers, thus, are in need of developing and equipping themselves with not only content
knowledge but also pedagogical knowledge, so that they can provide improved opportunities of learning
for students. Second, the teaching career requires language teachers to engage in continuous professional
development because teachers’ expertise in teaching grows over the span of their teaching career (Tom,
1997). Therefore, one of the teachers’ responsibilities includes their own continuous professional
development by adopting strategies and making use of the opportunities they have for professional
development. Finally, teachers’ life-long learning can be an inspiring model for the students to emulate
towards their own continuous learning. Day (1999) stated that teachers’ primary duty is to instill life-long
learning into their students through their persistent application of continuous learning.
In Vietnam, although some studies have been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the teachers’
professional development (Truong, 2017), there has been a paucity of research looking at what the
teachers do to develop their knowledge, especially pedagogical knowledge. This study, therefore, focuses
on teachers’ pedagogical development, primarily aiming to shed light on EFL teachers’ perceptions and
activities for developing their pedagogy in the Vietnamese context.
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Literature Review
When it comes to teachers’ pedagogical development, to the best of the researcher’s knowledge, very
little relevant research can be documented. Instead, this study was informed by a number of studies that
intended to describe the characteristics of pedagogical development in terms of professional development.
In a study by Moradkhani et al. (2013), one of the eight categories of teacher educators’ pedagogical
knowledge is the knowledge of professional development, which has to do with the teachers’ ability to be
engaged in professional development activities. Moreover, teachers’ engagement with professional
development activities is influenced by their pedagogical beliefs (Burridge & Carpenter, 2013).
Additionally, teachers can keep up with knowledge and pedagogy in their subject areas and in the field of
education through continuous professional development (Sinyangwe, Billingsley & Dimitriadi, 2016).
Therefore, there is a need to explore teachers’ perceptions and activities for pedagogical professional
development.
Several studies available in the literature have investigated English teachers’ perceptions on
professional development activities in the field of ELT (e.g., Alibakhshi & Dehvari, 2015; Alshumaimeri
& Almohaisen, 2017; Doran, 2014; Şener & Çokçalişkan, 2017; Sywelem & Witte, 2013; Tawalbeh,
2015). These studies present an overview of the teachers’ perceptions of professional development
activities in different contexts. No clear consensus exists in the results of these studies because different
studies show different results. For instance, Saudi teachers in Sywelem and Witte‘s (2013), Tawalbeh’s
(2015), and Alshumaimeri and Almohaisen’s (2017) studies found that the teachers perceived the
professional development activities negatively owing to some contextual reasons, whereas the teachers in
the other studies showed the opposite by recognizing the importance and necessity of professional
development activities. Noticeably, these studies were limited by a small sample size as demonstrated by
the fact that they were implemented with only nine and ten participants for qualitative data, (i.e., Şener &
Çokçalişkan, 2017; Doran, 2014). This leads to the findings being less valid.
With respect to teachers’ perceptions, Borg (2003) claimed that teachers’ perceptions are the things
that the teachers believe in, think of, and know about. In the current study, the researcher limits teachers’
perceptions being analyzed into three categories, namely teachers’ understanding, awareness, and
evaluation of the importance and necessity of pedagogical professional development. That is, the
researcher investigates teachers’ understanding about how teachers understand the characteristics of their
own process of pedagogical development, by what means they develop their pedagogical knowledge and
the reasons why they develop their pedagogical knowledge. Additionally, the awareness of pedagogical
development was examined. Finally, EFL teachers also evaluate the importance and necessity of
pedagogical development in their context.
Concerning EFL teachers’ activities for pedagogical professional development, three studies were
reviewed. These studies were carried out by Topkaya and Çelik (2016), Karaaslan (2003), and Ekşi
(2010). The three studies reached unanimous consensus that engaging in collaborative activities with
colleagues, participating in courses, workshops, or conferences, and doing reflections on teaching were
the three strategies favored by the teachers. On the other hand, peer observation was not the activity that
most teachers chose to practice for professional development. Moreover, the researcher observed teacher
education in the Vietnamese context which has drawn attention to the importance of feedback to EFL
teachers. In light of these theoretical and contextual issues, through this study, the researcher proposed
five strategies that EFL teachers in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam may practice to develop their pedagogy
including (1) Receiving feedback and suggestions (2) Observing classrooms, (3) Discussing with
colleagues, (4) Reflecting on one’s practice, and (5) Participating in workshops and conferences.
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Methods
Central to the current study was to investigate EFL teachers’ perceptions and activities for pedagogical
professional development in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Therefore, the study was designed as a
descriptive one that used both quantitative and qualitative approaches to collect data from 110 EFL
teachers, but only a total of 104 teachers were reached. A convenience sampling technique enabled the
researcher to approach the eligible participants for the study. Twenty-eight of the participants were males,
and 76 of them were female. These participants were all EFL teachers.
These participants were invited to respond to the questionnaires to find out their perceptions and
activities for pedagogical professional development. Among the participants, ten of them were randomly
asked to participate in semi-structured interviews to support the results of the questionnaires. These
interviews lasted between 15 to 25 minutes and were conducted in either English or their first language.
The data from the questionnaire were then analysed quantitatively with SPSS (version 18.0). Then the
qualitative data from the interviews was transcribed and analyzed qualitatively to triangulate the
quantitative data.
Results
Descriptive statistical tests were run to calculate the overall mean score of the EFL teachers’ awareness
of pedagogical professional development. The mean score was 3.79 (SD = .47) out of 5. The interviews
were used to examine teachers’ awareness of pedagogical professional development from different
perspectives. From the interviews, nine out of ten participants said they were aware of developing
pedagogical knowledge, shown in one of the interviewees’ responses:
Yes, I am aware of this process because when I read books or journal articles, I realize that the
authors wrote some teaching activities. Therefore, I think I can learn from these activities.
Moreover, when I attend some workshops or conferences, I can learn some new teaching
techniques. (Teacher 6)
The response from one participant expressed opposing ideas. This participant stated unawareness of
developing pedagogical knowledge due to the participants’ contextual teaching requirements. The
participant claimed:
Actually, I am not because in my teaching context, I don’t have to make lesson plans. I usually teach
English according to my teaching habits. (Teacher 10)
A descriptive statistical test was run to calculate the overall mean score of EFL teachers’ evaluation of
the importance and necessity of pedagogical professional development. The overall mean score of the
participants’ evaluation is a little higher than the 4 in the five-point scale (M= 4.09, SD= .49). To have a
deeper understanding of the teachers’ evaluation, the researcher used the qualitative data from the
interviews to investigate the teachers’ evaluation from different aspects. All participants reached a
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consensus on the evaluation of importance and necessity of developing pedagogical knowledge. The
following example reflected this consensus in more detail:
Developing pedagogical knowledge is very important and necessary which I focus on everyday
because if I have little or no understanding of my pedagogical knowledge, my teaching quality will
be poor... (Teacher 1)
Additionally, although two participants agreed that developing pedagogical knowledge is important
and necessary, they also emphasized the importance and necessity of other teaching aspects such as
language competence, classroom management, and the like. One said:
Developing pedagogical knowledge is very important and necessary in parallel with developing
linguistic competence. This is because I am an English teacher, so these two features are equally
important. (Teacher 2)
By analyzing thematically the interviewees’ responses, the researcher found three themes of teachers’
understanding. First, in terms of how the participants understand the characteristics of their own process
of developing pedagogical knowledge, the majority of the interviewees believed that pedagogical
professional development is a long, on-going, challenging, and difficult process. For instance, one
participant stated:
The process of developing pedagogical knowledge is a long and difficult process… (Teacher 1)
…It is not simple, but we can learn or attend workshops and training programs on teaching young
learners to acquire new knowledge… (Teacher 10)
Finally, regarding the reasons for developing pedagogical knowledge, half of the interviewees
proposed three reasons why they wish to develop pedagogical knowledge, namely (1) to teach English
more effectively, (2) to practice different teaching methods, and (3) to acquire new knowledge. The three
following examples reflected these reasons:
We can learn or attend pedagogical workshops and training programs to develop pedagogical
knowledge. From these activities, we can acquire new knowledge. (Teacher 10)
Results from the questionnaires suggested that among the participants, the three most common
activities that EFL teachers practiced to develop their pedagogy were “Receiving feedback and
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suggestions” (86%), “Observing classrooms” (75.6%) and “Participating in workshops and conferences”
(75.4%). The results are depicted in Table 1.
TABLE 1
EFL Teachers’ Activities for Pedagogical Professional Development
Activity Percent
Receiving feedback and suggestions 86%
Observing classrooms 75.6%
Discussing with colleagues 37.8%
Reflecting on one’s practice 67.4%
Participating in workshops and conferences 75.4%
In order to further understand the reason why these activities were employed by the participants to
develop their pedagogy, the researcher collected and thematically analyzed qualitative data from the
interviews. First, concerning “Receiving feedback and suggestions,” two out of ten interviewees reported
their use of this activity owing to recognizing teaching weaknesses, as shown in the following example:
Second, regarding “Observing classrooms,” one interviewee explained that the interviewee frequently
used this activity to develop pedagogical knowledge because the interviewee wanted to receive feedback
and gain teaching experiences from experienced teachers. The interviewee said:
…I usually ask for permission to observe other teachers’ classes whom I believe as experienced
teachers. Moreover, I also ask my colleagues to observe my classes and give me feedback and
teaching experiences… (Teacher 4)
Third, “Discussing with colleagues” was mentioned by three out of ten interviewees. They used this
strategy because they could share their knowledge and apply the knowledge for their own teaching
context, as illustrated below:
…I often discuss with my colleagues about pedagogial knowledge. For example, we will discuss
how we teach a lesson, then my colleagues or the group leader will share their experiences, so I can
learn from them a lot… (Teacher 5)
However, three interviewees refused to use “Discussing with colleagues” in their teaching context
because they believed that some colleagues were unwilling to share theire knowledge, so discussions
were unnecessary, as shown here:
...when I discuss my problems with my colleagues, sometimes I can have useful responses,
sometimes not... (Teacher 2)
Fourth, with respect to “Reflecting on one’s practice,” seven out of ten interviewees agreed that they
used this activity to develop pedagogical knowledge because they desired to improve their teaching
practice and develop their knowledge. One stated:
… I usually think of what I taught in the class to improve my teaching quality… (Teacher 10)
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Last, the reasons why seven out of ten participants in the present study employed “Participating in
workshops and conferences” was acquiring new knowledge of pedagogy and increasing their teaching
quality, as shown in the following example:
…I usually go to some pedagogical workshops to learn more about new teaching methods for better
teaching… (Teacher 9)
After analyzing the five activities mentioned above, the reseacher found that three more activities were
also employed to develop pedagogical knowledge by the interviewees. Noticably first, “Reading books
and journals” was reported by six out of ten participants in an attempt to develop their pedaogical
knowledge for reasons of improving teaching quality, developing pedagogical knowledge, and searching
for useful information. The following example illustrated the opinion:
...I will look for educational journals to read, or search for other information to teach more
effectively... (Teacher 1)
Next, caught less attention from the interviewees, “Attending training programs” was stated by one
interviewee who wished to gain knowledge and experience through this activity, as shown in the
following example:
Last but not least, “Conducting action research” was also an activity that one interviewee employed to
develop pedagogical knowledge. The interviewee explained that “Conducting action research” served for
the purpose of improving teaching quality. For example,
...Lastly, I think that the teacher can collect data from his or her classes, so he or he can research
which is needed to improve his/her teaching quality. (Teacher 5)
Discussion
The results from both the questionnaires and interviews showed that most of the participants were
aware of pedagogical professional development and recognized the importance and necessity of
pedagogical professional development in their own teaching context. These findings are consistent with
those of Doran (2014), Alibakhshi and Dehvari (2015), and Şener and Çokçalişkan (2017) in light of
professional development. However, these findings are different from those in Saudi Arabia of Sywelem
and Witte (2013), Tawalbeh (2015), and Alshumaimeri and Almohaisen (2017) research, which revealed
that EFL teachers perceived professional development activities negatively. One possible explanation
could be that the needs of EFL teachers in Saudi Arabia were not taken into account in designing
professional development activities (Tawalbeh, 2015). This results in EFL teachers being less interested
in professional development activities. On the other hand, as observed from the Vietnamese context, it is
believed that teachers should always be better than students. That belief drives Vietnamese teachers to
engage themselves actively in many kinds of professional development. Thus, Vietnamese teachers
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stressed the importance and necessity of developing pedagogical knowledge as well as being aware of its
place in their teaching context.
The results from the qualitative data collected by means of the interviews showed that the participants
considered pedagogical professional development as a long, on-going, difficult, and challenging process
which they involved themselves in to update their knowledge, use new teaching methods, and improve
their teaching quality. Compared to the definitions of professional development of Wong (2011) “a
lifelong endeavor, a way of being, and a perspective on how one practices as well the practices itself”
(p.142) and Alemu (2013) “the engagement of individuals in any activity for the enhancement of their
capacity at the workplace and to gain, improve, and share a body of knowledge and skills that are relevant
to perform particular duties in their workplace” (p.306), it is apparent that the participants’ understanding
of pedagogical professional development and the definitions of Wong (2011) and Alemu (2013) are
somewhat identical in terms of the characteristics of the process, the effect of professional development
activities, and the reasons for professional development. Therefore, it can be concluded that Vietnamese
EFL teachers see the process of pedagogical professional development from the perspective of
professional development.
A detailed look at the results of the questionnaires and interviews revealed that EFL teachers in the
study practiced the four activities, including “Receiving feedback and suggestions,” “Observing
classrooms,” “Reflecting on one’s practice,” and “Participating workshops and conferences” to develop
their pedagogy. This finding is not very surprising since it has been examined by numerous previous
studies (e.g., Ekşi, 2010; Karaaslan, 2003; Topkaya & Çelik, 2016). It is worth noting that in Karaaslan‘s
(2003) research, the researcher found that observing classrooms was not perceived as critical to the
teachers’ development because classroom observation might be seen as a kind of evaluation rather than
development assistance, so it caused negative feelings from the teachers being observed. In the present
study, however, Vietnamese teachers appreciated the usefulness of observing classrooms in developing
pedagogical knowlege. There may be a couple of reasons for this reaction towards classroom observation.
One reason can be that the teachers’ desire for pedagogical development was stronger than the feeling of
being evaluated. Another reason for the popularity of classroom observation among EFL teachers may be
that the teachers being observed believed the observers were competent enough to reflect upon their
lessons being observed. Therefore, it is highly important to stress that observers be experienced and
professional (Cosh, 1999).
Furthermore, the results from the questionnaires and interviews disclosed that the teachers were still
less attracted by using “Discussing with colleagues” to develop pedagogical knowledge. This could be
explained by the interviewees’ responses that some of their colleagues were not pleased to help or share
their knowledge, so “Discussing with colleagues” was not helpful in pedagogical development. On the
other hand, according to the questionnaire and interview results, “Reflecting on one’s practice” was used
by two thirds of the partipants. This implies that teachers put more effort into their teaching by thinking
of the events that happen in their classes carefully and deeply. Inferred from the results of the two
activities, “Discussing with colleagues” and “Reflecting on one’s practice”, the teachers in the present
study preferred working independently to discussing matters with other teachers in their context.
Moreover, according to the results of the interviews, the participants also proposed three activities that
they practiced to develop pedagogy, namely “Reading books and journals,” “Attending training
programs,” and “Conducting action research.” In fact, all of these strategies are well reflected in Villegas-
Reimer’s (2003) models of professional development; however, the first two activities were frequently
employed to develop teachers’ professionally, as investigated in Topkaya and Çelik’s (2016), Karaaslan‘s
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(2003), and Ekşi’s (2010) research. Therefore, it is interesting to note that one participant reported
conducting action research to develop pedagogy. It is reasonable to infer that Vietnamese teachers
recently have paid more attention to conducting research and examining their own teaching context, but
the fact remains that only a minority of teachers initiate classroom investigation. The most likely
explanation is that teachers may have inadaquate knowledge or experience in action research, so
conducting action research in their context can be considered a high-risk professional development
activity. Furthermore, teachers may face a serious shortage of incentive, time, and available resources to
undertake research in their teaching context.
Conclusion
The current research was conducted with the aim of investigating EFL teachers’ perceptions and
activities for pedagogical professional development. Drawing on the results of this study, the teachers’
perceptions of developing pedagogical knowledge were positive. Specifically, the teachers perceived their
process of developing pedagogical knowledge as a professional development activity, recognized the
importance and necessity of developing pedagogical knowledge, and were aware of this process in their
context. Moreover, the teachers practiced the four activities, namely “Receiving feedback and
suggestions,” “Observing classrooms,” “Reflecting on one’s practice,” and “Participating in workshops
on pedagogical knowledge,” together with three additional strategies (i.e., “Reading books and journals,”
“Attending training programs,” and “Conducting action research”), to develop their pedagogy.
The Author
Đặng Vũ Hoài Nhân obtained his M.A. in teaching English from Can Tho University. Presently, he is a
lecturer of English at Nam Can Tho University. His research interests include language testing and
assessment, language teaching, and professional development.
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