VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TỐNG THI ̣ THU A CASE STUDY: THE IMPACT OF SUMMER IN-SERVICE TEACHER TRAINING ON TEACHER CHANGE NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ THAY ĐỔI CỦA GIÁO VIÊN DƯỚI TÁC ĐỘNG CỦA CHƯƠNG TRÌNH BỒI DƯỠNG CHUN MƠN NGHIỆP VỤ HÈ M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60-14-10 HANOI – 2011 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TỐNG THI ̣ THU A CASE STUDY: THE IMPACT OF SUMMER IN-SERVICE TEACHER TRAINING ON TEACHER CHANGE NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ THAY ĐỔI CỦA GIÁO VIÊN DƯỚI TÁC ĐỘNG CỦA CHƯƠNG TRÌNH BỒI DƯỠNG CHUYÊN MÔN NGHIỆP VỤ HÈ M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60-14-10 Supervisor:Lê Văn Canh, Ph.D HANOI – 2011 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS MOET: Ministry of Education and Training YLSS: Yen Lac Secondary School CPD: Continuing Professional Development INSET: In-service Teacher Training EFL: English as a Foreign Language TEFL: Teaching English as a Foreign Language LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES Chapter Table 1.1 Differences between training and development Chapter Table 2.1: Summary of participant selection as it occurred in my study Table 2.2: Summary of interview participant details TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………… i Abstract………………………………………………………………………………… ii Lists of Abbreviations…………………………………………………………………… iv Lists of Tables and figures……………………………………………………………… v Table of contents………………………………………………………………………… vi PART A: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………… 1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………… Rationale ………………………………………………………………………… Aims and objectives of the study……………………………………………… Research questions……………………………………………………………… Scope of the study……………………………………………………………… Methods of the study…………………………………………………………… Significance of the study ……………………………………………………… Design of the study……………………………………………………………… Summary ……………………………………………………………………… PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THE LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………… Introduction……………………………………………………………………… Teacher training and teacher development Continuing professional development (CPD) and In-Service Teacher Training (INSET)………………………………………………………………………… INSET activities and their impact on teacher development…………………… Factors affecting the actualization of INSET activities………………………… 5.1 Societal factors……………………………………………………………… 5.2 School/local education authorities‟ expectations…………………………… 10 5.3 Contextual and cultural factors…………………………………………… 10 Studies on the impact of short training workshops on teacher change ………… 11 Summary ……………………………………………………………………… 12 CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY…………………………………………………………… 13 Introduction …………………………………………………………………… 13 The case and participants……………………………………………………… 13 Research methods……………………………………………………………… 14 3.1 Development of the interview schedule…………………………………… 15 3.2 Classroom observation ……………………………………………………… 17 3.3 Post-observation interview ………………………………………………… 17 Data analysis and findings……………………………………………………… 17 4.1 Data analysis………………………………………………………………… 17 4.2 Findings……………………………………………………………………… 18 4.2.1 Teachers‟ opinions of the impact of the summer in-service workshops on their teaching …………………………………………………… 18 4.2.2 Teachers‟ opinions of the limitations of the summer in-service workshops ……………………………………………………………………… 21 4.2.3 The impact of the summer in-service workshops on teachers‟ classroom teaching …………………………………………………………… 24 4.2.4 Discussions of the findings………………………………………… 27 Summary ………………………………………………………………………… 29 PART C: CONCLUSIONS………………………………………………………… Conclusions of the study……………………………………………………… 30 30 Limitations of the study…………………………………………………………… 30 Suggestions to enhance INSET activities ………………………………………… 31 Suggestions for further research………………………………………………… 31 REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………… APPENDICES ………………………………………………………………………… 32 PART A INTRODUCTION Introduction In this part I present the rationale for carrying out this study This is followed by a brief presentation of the aims and objectives, the research questions, the methods, the scope and the significance of the study Finally, the design of the thesis is presented Rationale Teacher development is a never ending cycle of teacher learning that begins with initial teacher training and continues for as long as a teacher remains in the profession The fact that teaching is a public profession places teachers in the spotlight of societal expectations of continually finding ways to improve student learning The way to make this possible is by enabling teachers to “continue to evolve in the use, adaptation and application of their art and craft” (Lange, 1994, p 250) Hence, the terms teacher development, in-service teacher training (INSET), and continuing professional development (CPD), are often used in a broad sense to refer to all forms of formal and less formal learning undertaken by teachers during the course of their career (Craft, 2000) Teachers undertake learning during their careers not only because they lack knowledge but also because there is an obvious need for teaching professionals to cater to the needs of a continually and rapidly changing world The government has been showing its commitment to educational reform for the last few years In 2008, the Vietnamese Prime Minister issued Decree N° 1400/QD-TTg on approving the National Plan for “Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages in the National Formal Education System in the period of 2008 - 2020”, according to which one of the major tasks is to enhance teacher professionalism and develop a professional force which is able to implement the new curriculum In order to achieve the goal of the new curriculum, teachers really need great support in different aspects to help them grow professionally Hence, The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) focused on developing teachers by encouraging INSET activities among teachers as a mandatory requirement As a result, INSET activities, which usually appeared in the form of short workshops, have been organized annually during the summer time by the Department of Education and Training of Vinh Phuc to EFL teachers in order to encourage them in their classroom teaching improvement The purpose of my thesis is then to investigate the impact of summer in-service workshops on teacher change in their classrooms in Yen Lac Secondary school (YLSS), in Vinh Phuc, with the focus on their opinions of the effectiveness, the limitations and the practice of these short courses in their classrooms My interest is to explore the change of teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) which plays a significant role in the lives of teachers I am also familiar with the context and some of the factors that affect the INSET activities of these teachers Such factors include opportunities to engage in development events I have worked for the Education and Training Department of Vinh Phuc for seven years now and my role involves organizing summer in-service workshops for English language teachers in Vinh Phuc Through the feedback gained on these workshops organized and through personal interactions with teachers from local schools who were either participants or presenters, I obtained useful feedback about these summer in-service workshops To the best of my knowledge there has been little research carried out or literature produced on the summer in-service workshops of EFL teachers in secondary schools in Vinh Phuc As a result, there is minimal or no insight into the teaching practice in local schools Hence, the aim of my study is to investigate the impact of summer in-service training workshops on class teaching of the teachers at Yen Lac Secondary School, in Vinh Phuc Province Through an exploration of their experiences, I expect to develop a better understanding of how EFL teachers can be supported in their INSET efforts both within their schools and outside Aims and objectives of the study The study aims to find out the impact of summer in-service workshops on teachers‟ teaching practices as reported by the teachers participating in these workshops In order to achieve the above aim, the study seeks to achieve the following objectives: To understand teachers‟ opinions of the impact of summer in-service workshops on their teaching To explore how summer in-service workshops affect their actual classroom teaching Research questions The following research questions guide my investigation: What are teachers‟ opinions of the impact of summer in-service workshops on their teaching? What are teachers‟ opinions of the limitations of the summer in-service workshops? What impact the summer in-service workshops have on teachers‟ classroom teaching? Scope of the study It would be too ambitious for this small-scale thesis to specify all aspects of inservice teacher training activities Therefore, the researcher would like to focus only on the impact of summer in-service workshops on teachers‟ classroom teaching The subjects of the thesis are three EFL teachers of YLSS Methods of the study With reference to the aims of the study, a semi-structured interview in the first stage of the study was conducted This was followed by classroom observations, which were for the purpose to probe deeply into the impact of short in-service workshops on teacher‟s classroom teaching In the last place of the study, a post-observation interview was made to find out the major barriers of the implementation of the training content These procedures were aimed at collecting rich data about views on the impact of the summer in-service workshops on teachers‟ classroom practice through the teachers‟ opinions and their classroom teaching Significance of the study Findings from this case study can provide teacher educators and administrators useful information about the needed improvement on teacher in-service workshops Such improvement is to support teacher change better so that the quality of English language teaching at the high school can be raised Design of the study The research study is organized into three parts: Part A - Introduction - provides basic information including the rationale, aims, research questions, scope, methods, significance and the design of the study Part B – Development - is composed of two chapters Chapter reviews the related literature on teacher training and development, continuing professional development and in-service teacher training activities Chapter presents the information about the case school, detailed methodology, data collection and analyses followed by the findings In part C – Conclusion - I present a summary of major findings of the research and suggestions to enhance INSET activities of EFL teachers in the context, as well as suggestions for further research into the topic of in-service workshops as a teacher development activity Summary In this part I present the reasons why I conducted this study as well as how the study was conducted In the next par – Part B – I will present the literature review of the study ... IN-SERVICE TEACHER TRAINING ON TEACHER CHANGE NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ THAY ĐỔI CỦA GIÁO VIÊN DƯỚI TÁC ĐỘNG CỦA CHƯƠNG TRÌNH BỒI DƯỠNG CHUN MƠN NGHIỆP VỤ HÈ M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Language Teaching... 4.2.1 Teachers‟ opinions of the impact of the summer in-service workshops on their teaching …………………………………………………… 18 4.2.2 Teachers‟ opinions of the limitations of the summer in-service workshops... find out the major barriers of the implementation of the training content These procedures were aimed at collecting rich data about views on the impact of the summer in-service workshops on teachers‟