Team-teaching as a tool for professional development - insiders' views = Dạy cặp như một phương tiện phát triển nghề nghiệp quan điểm của người tham gia

1 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN KIM TÚ TEAM-TEACHING AS A TOOL FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: INSIDERS’ VIEWS (Dạy cặp phương tiện phát triển nghề nghiệp: quan điểm người tham gia) M.A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Supervisor: Đào Thu Trang, M.A HANOI-2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES _ TRẦN KIM TÚ TEAM-TEACHING AS A TOOL FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: INSIDERS’ VIEWS (Dạy cặp phương tiện phát triển nghề nghiệp: quan điểm người tham gia) M.A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 HANOI-2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Aims of the study Significance of the study Methods of the study Scope of the study Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter I: Review of Related Literature 1.1 Overview of Teachers’ Professional Developmet 1.1.1 Concepts of Teachers’ Professional Development 1.1.2 Areas of Language Teachers’ Professional Development 1.2 Overview of Team-Teaching 1.2.1 Definitions of Team-Teaching 1.2.2 Forms of Team-Teaching 1.2.3 Factors affecting Team-Teaching 1.3 Why Team-Teaching as a valuable means for Professional Development? 10 Chapter II: Methodology 13 2.1 The setting of the study 13 2.2 The research questions 14 2.3 The Participants 14 2.4 Data collection instruments 16 2.4.1 In-depth interviews 16 2.4.2 Class room-observation 16 2.5 Data collection procedures 17 2.6 Data analysis 18 Chapter III: Findings, Discussion and Recommendations 19 3.1 Major Findings 19 3.1.1 EFL teachers’ professional development fostered through Team-Teaching 19 3.1.1.1 EFL teachers’ professional development fostered through TeamTeaching between English teachers and Vietnamese teachers 19 3.1.1.2 EFL teachers’ professional development fostered through TeamTeaching between Vietnamese teachers and Vietnamese teachers 24 3.1.2 Barriers to Team-Teaching 27 3.1.2.1 Barriers to Team-Teaching between English volunteer teachers and Vietnamese teachers 27 3.1.2.2 Barriers to Team-Teaching between Vietnamese and Vietnamese Teachers 3.2 Discussion 29 29 3.3 Recommendations 31 3.3.1 Recommendations for the administrators 31 3.3.2 Recommendations for team-teachers 33 PART C: CONCLUSION 37 Conclusions 37 Limitation and suggestion for further study 37 REFERENCES 38 APPENDICES I Appendix I Appendix V Appendix XVII PART A : INTRODUCTION Rationale With the development of regional integration and global participation, the quality of education is becoming an urgent need to the Ministry of Education and Training as well as the government Since the Vietnamese government sees the quality of teachers as the major factor in improving education, it is setting targets for the general reform of cirriculum and teaching methods in all educational establishments There have been many annual education workshops, conferences, researches conducted in many universities in order to help teachers sustain high quality performance in their teaching career and encourage them to pursue life-long learning which is vital to their professional development To ensure this ongoing professional growth, teachers-as professionals-should constantly develop themselves Teachers’ own growth is necessary in order to cope with the ever-expanding knowledge base in subject matter and pedagogy, rapidly changing social contexts of schooling, and increasingly diversifying students’ needs EFL (English Foreign Language) teachers are not exempt from this professional responsibility In other words, teachers have to be viewed as learners- “the teacher as life-long learner”- and they need to learn together Teachers today are experimenting with many approaches for professional development such as: self-evaluation, portforlio collections, classroom observation and performance assessment, peer assessment, keeping a teaching journal, peer coaching, mentoring, action research Among these, team-teaching seems to be very effective in enhancing teachers’ professional growth, though for many teachers, team-teaching remains unexplored territory Although team-teaching is not new in some locations and used widely in many schools around the world, it is an experimental approach at my college because of some reasons below Firstly, in early 2001, many teachers at my college were sent to a 12-week-skillbased language teaching methodology course sponsored by the Vietnam-Australia Training (VAT) Project in Hanoi in which team-teaching was introduced as a new form to improve the quality of EFL teaching and learning Secondly, in recent years, our college has received some British volunteer teachers from some organizations in order to help EFL teaching and learning Then our Department has tried this form of teaching in order to take the advantage of our situation-that is, working with some British VSO (Volunteer Service Oversea) volunteers with the hope of contributing to teacher and student development Hence, team-teaching between a British volunteer teacher and a Vietnamese teacher or between two Vietnamese teachers has become a common way of conducting EFL classes As a teacher, the researcher has been teaching English for nearly 10 years During that time, I have observed many team-teaching lessons and I have also team taught with some colleagues The issue raised is that: to what extent team-teaching can help to foster teacher’s professional growth Thus, I decided to conduct the study on: “Team-teaching as a tool for professional development: insiders’ views” to investigate and explore the point of views, feelings and attitudes of team-teachers towards to team-teaching as a means for teacher’s growth Aims of the study The study was conducted to explore the team-teachers’viewpoints and attitudes towards team-teaching in order to find out the benefits of team-teaching in terms of their professional development as well as the barriers to team-teaching From the findings of the study, some recommendations were proposed for the administrators and team-teachers so as to use team-teaching as an effective means of professional development Significance of the study The study is expected to offer an in-depth understanding about the team-teachers’ point of views and attitudes towards team-teaching as a tool for professional development in terms of : (i) Theoretically, it justifies team-teaching as a tool of professional development in an EFL context (ii) Practically and pedagogically, the findings of the study contribute to the understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of team-teaching as a means of professional development (iii) The recommendations for administrators and team-teachers can improve the benefits and reduce the drawbacks of team-teaching in order to help team-teachers conduct a successful team-teaching 4.Method of the study This is a qualitative exploratory study because it was designed to deeply explore the teamteachers’ point of views regarding the effect of team-teaching on their professional development 10 In order to collect data for the study, two techniques were used: in-depth interview and class observation The interviews used in this study were semi-structured interviews with most of the questions being open-ended Besides, the researcher also used class observation to triangulate the data Scope of the study In educational history, there are many different activities to foster EFL teachers’ professional growth However, due to the limited time and length of a minor thesis, this smallscale study only explores participants’ point of views towards one of these activities: team-teaching This study focuses on the in-depth interviews from pairs of team-teachers (9 participants) and observed their lessons to explore their opinions about team-teaching as a tool to develop their teaching skills Besides, the study also investigates the data from these interviews to find out the challenges of team-teaching that these teachers have to face and give some recommendations for both administrators and teachers Design of the study The study is structured as follows: Part A- Introduction, Part B- Development and Part C- Conclusion Part A- Introduction presents the rationale, the aim, the significance, the scope, the methods and the design of the study Part B- Development consists of three chapters: Chapter I: Review of Related Literature - aims at the basic theoretical background concerning professional development and team-teaching Chapter II: Methodology - focuses on the setting of the study, the research questions, the participants, the data collection instruments, the data-collection procedures, and the dataanalysis Chapter III: Findings, discussion and recommendations - reports majors findings conducted from the result of previous chapter and discussion, and offers recommendations for better team-teaching Part C- Conclusion summarises all the issues in the study, particularly the major findings and recommendations The limitations of the study and some suggestions for further study are also included in this part 11 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE The opening chapter presents an overview of the nature of professional development and provides a conceptual framework for team-teaching and some related studies about teamteaching as a tool for professional development 1.1 Overview of Professional Development 1.1.1 Concepts of Teachers’ Professional Development The term “Teacher Development” or “Professional Development” for teachers is a broad term including a variety of aspects connected not only to a teacher’s professional development but also to his/her personal development (Igawa, 2002) In other words, “Professional development, in broad sense, refer to the development of a person in his or her personal role” (Eleonara, 2003, p.11) Surely, professional development enhances competence of all members in a learning community to pursue their life-long learning Underhill (1997) states that professional development involves teachers in a constant process of learning about their practice and discovering and using their own potential For Richards (1998), this process requires teachers to creat their own personal teaching methodology that takes into account their experience, beliefs and understanding about good teaching He adds that reflection, self-inquiry, self-monitoring, and self-evaluation are necessary elements in fostering professional development, since they help teachers to be better informed and to evaluate their professional growth, as well as to plan for improvement Likewise, Richards and Farrell (2005) assert that teacher development involves teachers in understanding themselves and their teaching; in analysing their teaching practices, beliefs, value and principles, in keeping up-to-date with theories and trends; and in sharing their experiences with colleagues So it can be said that in order to develop professionally, teachers should feel a continuous desire to learn more about themselves as professionals, and about their profession Hence, teachers’ professional development becomes a milestone in teacher’s continuum of life-long learning and career progression To sum up, although definitions and concepts of teachers’ professional development may be some what different as scholars might approach it from different perspectives, they all share a common view that professional development is used to refer to the process through 12 which teachers attain higher professional competence and expand their understanding of self, role, context and career It is any experience that teachers engaged in to widen their knowledge, appreciation, skills, and understanding of their work inline with goals, values, of the school and their interests and needs of teachers (Duke and Stiggins, 1990; Beerens, D.R., 2000; Norton, M.S, 2008) Professional development is, therefore, seen as “an ongoing process and an integral characteristic of a fully professional teacher” (Mc Donough, 1997, p.318) 1.1.2 Areas of Language Teachers’ Professional Development Educational reform, a rapidly changing student clientele, technological development, and new views on assessment are just a few of the pressures that today’s foreign language teachers are encountering Foreign language teachers must maintain proficiency in the target language and stay up to date on current issues related to the target culture Regardless of the skills and knowledge that foreign language teachers possess when they commence teaching, maintenance and improvement must be an ongoing process In most states, teachers must continue to accumulate academic credits, while teaching, in order to keep their teaching license current This can be done through evening cources, summer seminars, lectures, or workshops offered by professional associations or universities, so that teachers can improve language proficiency and cultural knowledge, teaching methods Met (1989) states that foreign language teachers need: “competencies in the general areas of education, interpersonal skills and professional education” (p.177) In addition to demonstrating Met’s ideas, Peyton, in his study, presented in 1997, points out some skills and knowledge that foreign language teachers need According to him, good foreign language teachers need the following: • A high level of language proficiency in all of the modalities of the target languagespeaking, listening, reading, and writing • The ability to use the language in real-life contexts, for both social and professional purposes • The ability to comprehend contemporary media in the foreign language, both oral and written, and interact successfully with native speakers in the United States and abroad (Phillips, 1991) • A strong background in the liberal arts and the content areas • Understanding of the social, political, historical, and economic realities of the regions where the language they teach is spoken 13 • Pedagogical knowledge and skills, including knowledge about human growth and development, learning theory and second language acquisition theory, and a repertoire of strategies for developing proficiency and cultural understanding in all students (Guntermann, 1992) • Knowledge of the various technologies and how to integrate them into their instruction Richards (1998) asserts that professional development is directed towards both the institution’s goals and the teacher’s own personal goal Achieving personal growth and improving departmental performance can go hand in hand Most schools strive for a mix of both From the point of view of some teachers’ personal development, he lists six domains of professional development as follows: • Subject matter knowledge: Increasing knowledge of the disciplinary basis of TESOL, that is, English grammar, discourse analysis, phonology, testing, second language acquisition research, methodology, curriculum development, and the other areas that define the professional knowledge base of language teaching • Pedagogical expertise: Mastery of new areas of teaching, adding to one’s repertoire of teaching specializations, improving ability to teach different skill areas to learners of different ages and backgrounds • Self-awareness: Knowledge of oneself as a teacher, of one’s principle and values, strengths and awareness • Understanding of learners: Deepening understanding of learners, learning styles, learners’ problems and difficulties, ways of making content more accessible to learners • Understanding of curriculum and materials: Deepening one’s understanding of curriculum and curriculum alternatives, use and development of instructional materials • Career advancement: acquisitions of the knowledge and expertise neccessary for personal advancement and promotion, including supervisory and mentoring skills Obviously, the field of language teaching is subject to rapid changes, both as the profession responds to new educational paradigms and trends and as institutions face new challenges as a result of changes in curriculum, national tests, and student needs As a result, teachers need regular opportunities to update their professional knowledge and skills, that is, their opportunities for professional development Teachers need to be able to take part in activities such as: • engaging in self-reflection and evaluation • developing specialized knowledge and skills about many aspects of teaching • expanding their knowledge base about research, theory, and issues in teaching ... research into how to overcome its barriers 1.3 Why team-teaching as a valuable means for professional development? The study of team-teaching as a viable alternative to traditional teaching as a. .. ? ?Team-teaching as a tool for professional development: insiders’ views? ?? to investigate and explore the point of views, feelings and attitudes of team-teachers towards to team-teaching as a means... Definitions of Team-Teaching 1.2.2 Forms of Team-Teaching 1.2.3 Factors affecting Team-Teaching 1.3 Why Team-Teaching as a valuable means for Professional Development? 10 Chapter II: