Turkish EFL teachers‟ perceptions towards continuing professional development activities

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate English preparatory school teachers‟ perceptions toward engaging in CPD activities. To this end, the current study focused on finding out the preferred CPD activities of the SUSFL teachers, and investigating if the level of education, age, experience or doing a CELTA or a Delta course affect teachers‟ perceptions in terms of commitment, recognition, preferences, effectiveness, and motivation. The participants were 107 EFL teachers working at a preparatory school at a state university in Turkey. The data were collected via an online survey comprising of five parts, which focus on the perceptions on commitment, recognition, preferences, effectiveness, and motivation of EFL teachers. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The results of this quantitative study indicated that the English teachers engage in several CPD activities. Although several previous studies in the literature indicated that personal factors such as age and experience affect teachers‟ perceptions towards CPD, in terms of age or experience, this study showed no significant difference in EFL teachers‟ context. However, having a graduate degree, and doing a CELTA or a Delta course significantly changed teachers‟ perceptions, particularly their preferences and motivation. In the light of these findings, it can be concluded that these specific activities may be catalysts in building positive attitudes towards other CPD activities for EFL teachers.