EFL teachers’ beliefs about professionalism and professional development

Abstract

This study explores how English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ perspectives on professionalism and beliefs about the usefulness of professional development (PD) activities influence their teaching practices and acceptance of new approaches. The focus is on tertiary English-language teachers working in Oman, and an exploratory research methodology was employed in which qualitative data were obtained from two focus group interviews with two groups of six teachers. The first group, which was asked about the meaning of professionalism, indicated that while a variety of aspects were of concern, there was a shared belief that professionalism is mainly related to moral values, which should be context sensitive. The second group, which was asked about PD, indicated that teachers’ engagement with PD activities is mainly related to context-specific skills improvement activities, and that the main obstacle to PD is a lack of institutional support. The research thus contributes to the study of English language teachers’ own perspectives on professionalism, a topic which has previously received only limited attention.