An action research study on teacher development in a university context

This Action Research study on teacher development in a university context focused on two aims. The first aim was to help teachers in the university English preparatory school develop themselves through the use of small-scale Action Research in their own classrooms. The second aim was to learn how to establish a teacher development unit at Çağ University's preparatory school in order to encourage a culture of development among the teachers in the preparatory school. A 10-week in-service Teacher Development Course directed two teachers through small-scale Action Research projects in their individual classrooms. Data for the researcher's large-scale Action Research project was collected using the researcher's diary, Self-Evaluation Questionnaires I and II (see Appendices 1 and 2), a Course Evaluation Questionnaire (see Appendix 3), and semi-structured follow-up interviews. Data was analyzed using content analysis, and triangulation was used to confirm the content analysis. The results of this study aimed firstly, to show whether or not the small-scale Action Research projects help teachers become aware of their strengths and weaknesses as teachers; and secondly, what factors should be considered when establishing an in-service teacher development course. Keywords: Teacher Development, Action Research, English as a Foreign Language Teacher Education