An investigation into the implementation of teaching journals as a professional development tool by efl teachers of upper secondary schools at quang binh province

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES -  - TRAN THI TOAN AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TEACHING JOURNALS AS A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TOOL BY EFL TEACHERS OF UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOLS AT QUANG BINH PROVINCE MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING HUE, 2013 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES -  - TRAN THI TOAN AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TEACHING JOURNALS AS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TOOL BY EFL TEACHERS OF UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOLS AT QUANG BINH PROVINCE MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60140111 SUPERVISOR: TRUONG VIEN, Assoc Prof Dr HUE, 2013 i BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ -  - TRẦN THỊ TOAN NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC THỰC HIỆN VIẾT NHẬT KÝ DẠY-HỌC CỦA GIÁO VIÊN NHƯ LÀ MỘT CÔNG CỤ PHÁT TRIỂN NGHIỆP VỤ TẠI CÁC TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THƠNG Ở TỈNH QUẢNG BÌNH LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60140111 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TRƯƠNG VIÊN, PGS.TS HUẾ, 2013 ii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true and have not been published elsewhere Author Tran Thi Toan iii ABSTRACT Teaching journals are one of the useful tools for teachers‟ personal-professional development They enable the English teachers to reflect their teaching and think about the issues they confront during their day-to-day classroom teaching Researches into keeping journals for promoting reflective thinking and developing teachers‟ profession have been conducted However, few studies on keeping teaching journals as a professional development tool by EFL teachers at upper secondary schools In fact, teaching journals have not been widely kept in order to develop teachers‟ profession As an attempt to contribute to gaining more insights into keeping teaching journals for teachers‟ professional development, the research aims to investigate the implementation of teaching journals as a professional development tool by EFL teachers of upper secondary schools at Quang Binh province This research was conducted with 30 teachers of English from five different upper secondary schools in Quang Binh A multi-method approach combining quantitative and qualitative was employed to collect the data The data for the study were collected through questionnaires and interviews The findings show that (1) the vast majority of the participants acknowledged the necessity and the benefits of keeping teaching journals They could benefit from journal writing such as sharing difficulties and concerns with other colleagues, and being more aware of their own teaching; (2) high school teachers of English in Quang Binh province had rather positive attitudes towards implementing teaching journals Teaching journals were written at least twice a week and shared with their colleagues at the meetings of English session; (3) strengths, weaknesses about teachers‟ teaching or problems faced in their teaching were main topics mentioned in their teaching journals; (4) in spite of the necessity and benefits of teaching journals, there still existed some difficulties hindering their keeping teaching journals Suggestions for keeping teaching journals effectively are discussed iv This research is a milestone in all my personal and professional endeavors I am extremely grateful to a number of people who helped to bring this project to fruition My thanks first go to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Truong Vien for constant encouragement, enthusiastic guidance, invaluable advice, detailed comments, correction, and his great insights into my thesis writing I have been extremely lucky to have a supervisor who cared so much about my work My gratefulness extended to all the other lectures of the MA course at Hue College of Foreign Language for imparting their knowledge and enthusiasm of their respective areas of specification I have learnt much from them and their insights have helped in the moulding of this study I wish to send my appreciation to all the teachers of English of upper secondary schools in Quang Binh province who participated in this study for their willingness to help me with questionnaires and interviews I would like to show my deep gratitude to my family for their encouragement and confidence in me Especially, the love and support, I have received from my husband during the time I was taking MA courses and conducting my thesis, cannot be expressed in words v v TABLE OF CONTENTS SUB COVER PAGE i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP iii ABSTRACT iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ix LIST OF CHARTS x LIST OF TABLES xi LIST OF CHARTS x vi LIST OF TABLES xi vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study 1.2 Rationale for the study 1.3 Aims of the study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Scope of the study 1.7 Structure of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 What is professional development? 2.2 Why is teachers‟ PD important? 2.3 Activities for teacher professional development 2.3.1 Analyze a critical incident 2.3.2 Teaching portfolio 2.3.3 Reflective teaching 10 2.3.4 Individual development plan 11 2.3 Workshop 11 2.4 What is a teaching journal? 12 vi 2.5 The difference between keeping teaching journals and writing dairies 13 2.6 Benefits of keeping teaching journals 14 2.7 Problems of keeping teaching journals 16 2.8 Implementing teaching journals 17 2.9 Suggestions for keeping a teaching diary 19 2.10 Types of teaching journals 20 2.10.1 An Interpersonal journal: 20 2.10.2 Dialogue or dialogic journal: 20 2.11 Previous studies 20 2.12 Summary 23 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 25 3.1 Research approach: 25 3.2 Research participants and research sites: 25 3.2.1 Research sites and number of participants 25 3.2.2 Characteristics of participants 26 3.2.2.1 Gender and age 26 3.2.2.2 Teaching experience and educational level 27 3.3 Research instruments 28 3.3.1 Questionnaire 28 3.3.2 Interview: 29 3.4 Procedures of data collection 29 3.4.1 Administering the piloting of the questionnaire 29 3.4.2 Administering the questionnaire 29 3.4.3 Conducting the interview 30 3.5 Data analysis methods 30 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 31 4.1 The reliability statistics of data collected from the questionnaires 31 4.1.1 The pilot study 31 4.1.2 The official study 32 4.2 Findings and discussion 32 vii 4.2.1 Teachers‟ perception on teaching journal for their PD 32 4.2.1.1 Necessity of teaching journals for PD 34 4.2.1.2 Benefits of teaching journals 36 4.2.2 Teachers‟ teaching journal implementation 39 4.2.2.1 Teachers‟ perceptions on how to keep and share teaching journals 40 4.2.2.2 Teachers‟ perceptions on time to keep teaching journals 42 4.2.3 The content of teaching journals 45 4.2.3.1 Procedures and approaches used in their lesson 46 4.2.3.2 Evaluating their teaching 47 4.2.3.3 Activities in the class and questions about teaching 49 4.2.4 Difficulties in keeping teaching journals 50 4.3 Summary of the findings and discussion 53 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 55 5.1 Summary of the key findings 55 5.2 Implications 56 5.2.1 For teachers of English 56 5.2.2 For administrators 57 5.3 Limitations of the study 58 5.4 Suggestions for further research 59 REFERENCES 60 APPENDICES 64 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS No Abbreviation EFL English as a foreign language ELT English Language Teaching MOET PD SPSS TESOL TJ Full version Ministry of Education and Training Professional Development Statistical Package for the Social Science Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Teaching Journal ix 13 I often write down strengths and weaknesses about my teaching so as to find suitable solutions 118.70 52.456 095 721 118.90 53.878 -.101 727 121.00 52.667 054 723 119.00 55.111 -.379 732 119.30 52.011 205 716 120.00 45.778 581 687 119.60 50.711 165 719 119.00 55.556 -.471 735 119.80 42.622 625 675 118.40 52.489 102 720 119.20 48.622 567 697 119.10 54.322 -.129 739 119.60 44.711 380 703 for the next lessons 14 I write down thoughts, observations and reflections on my teaching 15 Due to the workload, I have little time to keep teaching journals 16 Sharing difficulties and concerns with other teachers and colleagues is one of the benefits that keeping teaching journals brings about 17 Writing a teaching journal provides me an opportunity to describe and explore my own teaching practices 18 Through teaching forums or email, I can share my teaching concerns and problems with other teachers and colleagues 19 I write teaching journals for myself about dayto-day teaching concerns 20 I might write about classroom activities, student-teacher interactions and my feeling about a particular lesson 21 I write about both problem lessons and successful ones 22 Opportunities for them to exchange their teaching journals and share experiences in keeping TJ are limited 23 Keeping a teaching journal helps me avoid difficulties and have good plans and activities for class 24 Journal writing helps me not only enrich my knowledge about teaching but also enhance my understanding of my students 25 I only write journals whenever I have difficulties or interesting things in my teaching 78 26 After finishing each lesson, I immediately keep teaching journals 27 In my teaching journal, I only focus on success and the things that go well in the class 28 I often write about the problems faced in my teaching 29 Writing regularly in a teaching journal can help me become more aware of my teaching 121.10 50.544 398 708 121.60 56.711 -.448 744 118.60 50.044 417 706 118.80 53.733 -.075 727 118.70 52.456 095 721 120.70 46.011 495 692 118.90 44.989 617 682 118.90 48.544 509 699 119.50 55.611 -.317 738 120.30 57.122 -.607 744 30 Journal writing not only helps me think deeply about my teaching and profession but it also gets me improving my English writing skill 31 After finishing a teaching day, I immediately keep teaching journal 32 I often write teaching journals at least twice a week 33 I myself often make questions involving the lesson 34 Keeping teaching journals is an important departing point to modify more suitable curriculum or lessons 35 Actually, I have not understand in detail the literature (methods, procedures) of keeping teaching journasl for my PD Scale Statistics Mean Variance Std Deviation N of Items 123.10 53.433 7.310 35 79 APPENDIX RELIABILITY OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE Case Processing Summary Cases Valid Excluded Total a Reliability Statistics N 30 % 100.0 30 100.0 Cronbach's Alpha 753 N of Items 35 Item Statistics Mean Std Deviation N 4.57 504 30 4.47 507 30 4.60 498 30 4.17 648 30 1.97 615 30 2.77 898 30 2.20 887 30 Writing teaching journal is too time- consuming 2.63 1.273 30 Teacher should practice reflective teaching (consider 4.37 490 30 4.40 498 30 Teachers should pay much attention on opportunities for professional development during their teaching in order to gain new knowledge and skills A teaching journal is considered as a notebook in which a teacher writes regularly about teaching experience and other events My teaching journals are written in the form of a notebook I just jot my comments on teaching down my lesson plan or a notebook The procedures of a lesson (from class beginning to class ending) are described in a teaching journal Approaches used in my teaching are described in teaching journals Due to the economic condition, I have little time to write teaching journals and evaluate) because it assists teachers' lifelong PD 10 Keeping teaching journals is one of the most common activities for teachers to reflect their teaching activities 80 11 I often store my teaching journals in my computer 2.60 968 30 12 I often share teaching experience and discuss 4.43 504 30 4.47 507 30 4.37 490 30 3.13 1.074 30 4.40 498 30 3.77 568 30 3.53 681 30 2.07 1.015 30 4.17 379 30 2.97 1.033 30 4.70 466 30 3.83 592 30 3.87 730 30 teaching issues with my colleagues at group's meetings 13 I often write down strengths and weaknesses about my teaching so as to find suitable solutions for the next lessons 14 I write down thoughts, observations and reflections on my teaching 15 Due to the workload, I have little time to keep teaching journals 16 Sharing difficulties and concerns with other teachers and colleagues is one of the benefits that keeping teaching journals brings about 17 Writing a teaching journal provides me an opportunity to describe and explore my own teaching practices 18 Through teaching forums or email, I can share my teaching concerns and problems with other teachers and colleagues 19 I write teaching journals for myself about day-to-day teaching concerns 20 I might write about classroom activities, studentteacher interactions and my feeling about a particular lesson 21 I write about both problem lessons and successful ones 22 Opportunities for them to exchange their teaching journals and share experiences in keeping TJ are limited 23 Keeping a teaching journal helps me avoid difficulties and have good plans and activities for class 24 Journal writing helps me not only enrich my knowledge about teaching but also enhance my understanding of my students 81 25 I only write journals whenever I have difficulties or 4.07 828 30 1.90 548 30 1.80 664 30 4.47 507 30 4.40 498 30 4.47 507 30 2.40 675 30 32 I often write teaching journals at least twice a week 4.23 679 30 33 I myself often make questions involving the lesson 4.33 547 30 34 Keeping teaching journals is an important departing 3.50 572 30 3.13 1.008 30 interesting things in my teaching 26 After finishing each lesson, I immediately keep teaching journals 27 In my teaching journal, I only focus on success and the things that go well in the class 28 I often write about the problems faced in my teaching 29 Writing regularly in a teaching journal can help me become more aware of my teaching 30 Journal writing not only helps me think deeply about my teaching and profession but it also gets me improving my English writing skill 31 After finishing a teaching day, I immediately keep teaching journal point to modify more suitable curriculum or lessons 35 Actually, I have not understand in detail the literature (methods, procedures) of keeping teaching journals for my PD 82 Item-Total Statistics Scale Mean if Item Deleted Scale Variance if Item Deleted Correcte d ItemTotal Correlati on Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted 122.57 60.944 380 743 122.67 60.644 416 742 122.53 64.878 -.117 761 122.97 58.861 494 736 125.17 60.213 377 742 124.37 60.930 175 753 124.93 58.685 347 742 124.50 57.086 285 749 122.77 62.530 183 750 122.73 63.306 080 754 124.53 57.499 392 738 122.70 60.217 475 740 122.67 61.333 327 745 Teachers should pay much attention on opportunities for PD during their teaching in order to gain new knowledge and skills A teaching journal is considered as a notebook in which a teacher writes regularly about teaching experience and other events My teaching journals are written in the form of a notebook I just jot my comments on teaching down my lesson plan or a notebook The procedures of a lesson (from class beginning to class ending) are described in a teaching journal Approaches used in my teaching are described in teaching journals Due to the economic condition, I have little time to write teaching journals Writing teaching journal is too time- consuming Teacher should practice reflective teaching (consider and evaluate) because it assists teachers' lifelong PD 10 Keeping teaching journals is one of the most common activities for teachers to reflect their teaching activities 11 I often store my teaching journals in my computer 12 I often share teaching experience and discuss teaching issues with my colleagues at group's meetings 13 I often write down strengths and weaknesses about my teaching so as to find suitable solutions for the next lessons 83 14 I write down thoughts, observations and reflections on my teaching 122.77 61.771 283 747 124.00 61.448 094 761 122.73 61.582 302 746 123.37 61.964 212 749 123.60 58.662 485 736 125.07 64.133 -.060 770 122.97 62.654 232 749 124.17 59.247 243 749 122.43 64.254 -.038 758 123.30 61.459 256 747 123.27 61.720 169 752 123.07 57.857 448 736 125.23 65.013 -.127 762 125.33 60.023 362 742 15 Due to the workload, I have little time to keep teaching journals 16 Sharing difficulties and concerns with other teachers and colleagues is one of the benefits that keeping teaching journals brings about 17 Writing a teaching journal provides me an opportunity to describe and explore my own teaching practices 18 Through teaching forums or email, I can share my teaching concerns and problems with other teachers and colleagues 19 I write teaching journals for myself about day-today teaching concerns 20 I might write about classroom activities, studentteacher interactions and my feeling about a particular lesson 21 I write about both problem lessons and successful ones 22 Opportunities for them to exchange their teaching journals and share experiences in keeping TJ are limited 23 Keeping a teaching journal helps me avoid difficulties and have good plans and activities for class 24 Journal writing helps me not only enrich my knowledge about teaching but also enhance my understanding of my students 25 I only write journals whenever I have difficulties or interesting things in my teaching 26 After finishing each lesson, I immediately keep teaching journals 27 In my teaching journal, I only focus on success and the things that go well in the class 84 28 I often write about the problems faced in my teaching 122.67 61.264 336 745 122.73 61.375 329 745 122.67 61.816 265 747 124.73 60.409 317 744 122.90 59.403 413 739 122.80 62.717 135 752 123.63 63.068 087 754 124.00 56.483 442 735 29 Writing regularly in a teaching journal can help me become more aware of my teaching 30 Journal writing not only helps me think deeply about my teaching and profession but it also gets me improving my English writing skill 31 After finishing a teaching day, I immediately keep teaching journal 32 I often write teaching journals at least twice a week 33 I myself often make questions involving the lesson 34 Keeping teaching journals is an important departing point to modify more suitable curriculum or lessons 35 Actually, I have not understand in detail the literature (methods, procedures) of keeping teaching journasl for my PD Scale Statistics Mean Variance Std Deviation N of Items 127.13 64.189 8.012 35 85 APPENDIX Necessity of teaching journals for teachers’ professional development Teacher should practice reflective teaching (consider and evaluate) because it assists teachers' lifelong PD (Item 9) agree strongly Valid agree Total Frequency Percent Valid Percent 19 63.3 63.3 Cumulative Percent 63.3 11 36.7 36.7 100.0 30 100.0 100.0 Keeping teaching journals is one of the most common activities for teachers to reflect their teaching activities Through keeping journals, teachers can identify teaching problems and build their teaching skills.(Item 10) agree Valid strongly agree Total Frequency Percent Valid Percent 19 63.3 63.3 Cumulative Percent 63.3 11 36.7 36.7 100.0 30 100.0 100.0 86 APPENDIX Benefits of teaching journals Keeping teaching journals is an important departing point to modify more suitable curriculum or lessons.(Item 34) Valid 3.3 Valid Percent 3.3 Cumulative Percent 3.3 13 43.3 43.3 46.7 agree 16 53.3 53.3 100.0 Total 30 100.0 100.0 Frequency Percent disagree undecided 87 APPENDIX Teachers’ perceptions on how to keep and share teaching journals My teaching journals are written in the form of a notebook.(Item 3) Valid 40.0 Valid Percent 40.0 Cumulative Percent 40.0 18 60.0 60.0 100.0 30 100.0 100.0 Frequency Percent Agree 12 strongly agree Total I just jot my comments on teaching down my lesson plan or a notebook.(Item 4) 3.3 Valid Percent 3.3 Cumulative Percent 3.3 3.3 3.3 6.7 20 66.7 66.7 73.3 strongly agree 26.7 26.7 100.0 Total 30 100.0 100.0 Frequency Percent disagree undecided Valid agree I often store my teaching journals in my computer.(Item 11) Valid 6.7 Valid Percent 6.7 Cumulative Percent 6.7 16 53.3 53.3 60.0 undecided 13.3 13.3 73.3 agree 26.7 26.7 100.0 Total 30 100.0 100.0 Frequency Percent strongly disagree disagree 88 I often share teaching experience and discuss teaching issues with my colleagues at group's meetings.(Item 12) Valid 56.7 Valid Percent 56.7 Cumulative Percent 56.7 13 43.3 43.3 100.0 30 100.0 100.0 Frequency Percent agree 17 strongly agree Total Actually, I have not understand in detail the literature (methods, procedures) of keeping teaching journals for my professional development.(Item 35) Valid 3.3 Valid Percent 3.3 Cumulative Percent 3.3 10 33.3 33.3 36.7 undecided 10.0 10.0 46.7 agree 16 53.3 53.3 100.0 Total 30 100.0 100.0 Frequency Percent strongly disagree disagree 89 APPENDIX 10 Procedures and approaches used in their lesson The procedures of a lesson (from class beginning to class ending) are described in a teaching journal (Item 5) strongly disagree Valid disagree undecided Total Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 20.0 20.0 20.0 19 30 63.3 16.7 100.0 63.3 16.7 100.0 83.3 100.0 Approaches used in my teaching are described in teaching journals (Item 6) strongly disagree disagree Valid undecided agree Total Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 3.3 3.3 3.3 13 8 30 43.3 26.7 26.7 100.0 43.3 26.7 26.7 100.0 46.7 73.3 100.0 90 APPENDIX 11 Evaluating their teaching I often write down strengths and weaknesses about my teaching so as to find suitable solutions for the next lessons.(Item 13) Valid Cumulative Frequency Percent Percent Percent agree 16 53.3 53.3 53.3 Valid strongly agree 14 46.7 46.7 Total 30 100.0 100.0 100.0 I write about both problem lessons and successful ones (Item 21) Valid disagree undecided agree strongly agree Total Frequency Percent 15 12 30 50.0 6.7 40.0 3.3 100.0 Valid Percent 50.0 6.7 40.0 3.3 100.0 Cumulative Percent 50.0 56.7 96.7 100.0 In my teaching journal, I only focus on success and the things that go well in the class.(Item 27) Valid Cumulative Frequency Percent Percent Percent Valid strongly disagree 30.0 30.0 30.0 disagree undecided agree Total 19 1 30 63.3 3.3 3.3 100.0 63.3 3.3 3.3 100.0 93.3 96.7 100.0 I often write about the problems faced in my teaching.(Item 28) Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent agree 16 53.3 53.3 53.3 Valid strongly agree Total 14 46.7 46.7 30 100.0 100.0 91 100.0 38-39,47,49,53,55,60 2-5,7-37,40-46,48,50-52,54,56-59,61-103 92