The Influence of International Postgraduate Programmes on Teaching Beliefs, Attitudes, and Intentions of Libyan English Teachers

Abstract

Many Libyan teachers have been sponsored to study abroad to gain postgraduate degrees. Sponsorship programmes are a form of a professional development policy to upgrade teachers’ knowledge and to contribute to the development of English teaching at Libyan universities. The research project was inspired by my own experience as a Masters’ student in the UK, which challenged my beliefs and practice about English teaching. This exploratory study aimed to examine beliefs, attitudes, and intentions of Libyan teachers, while undertaking postgraduate programmes in applied linguistics and TESOL at international contexts. My research aims to contribute to the gap in the literature about understanding the nature of teachers’ experience at international postgraduate programmes (IPPS) and its influence on Libyan teachers. My research first explored the local learning and teaching experience of participants to understand the nature of beliefs and practice participants had, and then explored the international learning experience, in terms of classroom practice, learning opportunities and challenges and their influence on participants’ beliefs and attitudes. I finally examined intentions participants developed for English teaching, besides their considerations and recommendations to the Libyan context. This research adopted an interpretivist paradigm. Data were collected by conducting semi-structured interviews with 21 participants at Masters’ and PhD level in four international contexts (UK, USA, Canada, and South Africa) before they returned home to Libya. Data were analysed by thematic analysis and provided answers to the four research questions. Findings suggest that the prior learning and teaching experience constructed more teacher-centred beliefs and attitudes about English teaching and most participants followed the practice of their lecturers when they started teaching. During learning abroad, many teachers developed beliefs and attitudes associated with a more learner-centred approach and they seemed to develop respective intentions, such as minimising teacher’ role, adopting interactive activities, utilising technological and authentic resources, and modifying assessment designs. Between them, participants stressed potential challenges that may restrict application of their intentions in Libya (originated from familiarity with the context). These include the perceived unsupportive role of administration, institution culture, lack of resources, and lack of collegiality, in addition to lack of learners’ proficiency and their potential resistance to a different teaching style. Participants suggested several factors that might support their intentions, such as enhancing the quality of teaching content, initiate CPD programmes, as well as providing sufficient and updated teaching resources. This research contributed to fill the gap in knowledge about the influence of IPPs on teaching beliefs, attitudes, and intentions of Libyan teachers, and contributed to understanding the nature of classroom practice teachers intend to implement. My findings strengthened previous research about the wide-spread of teacher-centredness at university classes and absence of CLT implementation in the Libyan context. My findings also support research around a PD programme as a factor in belief change. My work has implications for the Ministry of Education, decision-makers, teachers, and stakeholders at English departments in Libya.