The Effects of training and ongoing support on teachers perceptions and their application of an innovative practice

The emphasis and the importance of teacher development in teacher training programsare unquestionable. Teachers, as the educators of others, are subject to ongoing interest inidentifying their strengths and weaknesses and bring about improvements in their teaching.Moreover, encouraging innovation and reflecting on its consequences to adjust the teachingaccording to the results achieved are vital for teacher development.Based on the participants? own expressions of the need to try an innovation, thepresent study was conducted at Anadolu University School of Foreign Languages toinvestigate whether the training and ongoing support to carry out implementing the innovationmade any difference in participants? perceptions of and responses to the innovative practice.The effects of training on the teachers? application of the innovative practice in their ownclasses throughout 16 class hours were also investigated in the study.In order to identify the effects of the training and ongoing support on the teachers?perceptions and their application of the innovation, the teachers were divided into two groups.The teachers in the experimental group received an ongoing support and training with themeetings and reflection sessions on the innovative practice, MI. The teachers in the controlgroup were provided with the lesson plans without any training and support; that is withoutany daily meeting and reflection sessions. The data collection started with the initialorientation to introduce the participants in both groups to the innovation and its applicationsin the field, ELT. To find out the teachers? initial perceptions, they were required to answerthe initial reflection questions which identified teachers? perceptions in terms of teachers?teaching, students? learning and its applicability in the teachers? teaching context. Then, theywere handed in MI implemented lesson plans to apply in their classrooms over a two-weekperiod comprising 16 class hours. After that, they were told to keep diaries on their experiencefor each MI lesson. In diaries, they reflected on their experience by answering the questions inthe Reflection Guideline for Teachers? Diaries. At the end of the implementation period, allthe teachers were asked to answer the questions for final reflection. The aim was to get theirperceptions of the innovation after they implemented in their classrooms and see whether thetraining and ongoing support had any effect on their application of the practice.After the collection of the diaries, they were analysed separately for the control andexperimental group according to Constant Comparative Method to determine thecommunication units in them. These communication units were then contrasted and comparedto bring similar ones together. Then they were categorised under main and sub-categories.The data for how participants in the control and experimental group perceived the innovationbefore and after implementing it were categorised in three pre-conceived categories: theeffects of MI on teachers? teaching, the effects of MI on students? learning, and itsapplicability in their teaching context. Moreover, for both of the group teachers? self-reportedpositive aspects and problems related to the innovation, the data analysis revealed four maincategories as student-related positive aspects, teacher-related positive aspects, student-relatedproblems, and teacher-related problems. The analysis of the data suggested that the trainingon the innovative practice had an effect in the teachers? self-reported perceptions of theinnovation. The findings revealed that the teachers who received training and supportthroughout the implementation of the innovative practice reflected on some different issues onthe pre-conceived categories. That is, they reported some different issues than the teacherswho did not receive any training and support on teachers? teaching, and students? learning.The data also revealed that teachers in the experimental group reported more positive aspectsand fewer problems compared to the teachers in the control group as they actuallyimplemented in their own classes. The final chapter of the thesis posits and discusses anumber of implications for teacher development programs.