Professional and instructional development through the point of view of the instructors at Eskişehir Osmangazi University foreign languages department

The aim of this study is to determine the point of views of the instructors at Eskişehir Osmangazi University Foreign Languages Department on the professional and instructional development. The research was held in 2009-2010 academic year. The participants of the research are the 49 instructors at Eskişehir Osmangazi University Foreign Languages Department. The data of the research were gathered through an open-ended questionnaire and through semi-structured interviews. Through the open ended questionnaire it was aimed to determine the general point of views of the instructors on professional development. There were 7 questions in the questionnaire. In the light of the data gathered from the questionnaire, semi-structured interviews were prepared and held on instructional development with the 16 instructors chosen as the second phase of the data collection of the research. However, due to the technical problems with the recordings, the data from 15 instructors was evaluated in the research. The instructors for the interviews were chosen on the basis of their working years of experience. The data were analyzed by descriptive analysis.The findings of the study revealed that the instructors define professional development as the activities ranging from collegial meetings, workshops and seminars to post-graduate studies in order to improve the professional skills and knowledge. It was identified that the instructors attend professional development programs in order to share opinions with the colleagues, hear about the professional innovations and get to know the institution and the students. According to the instructors the main factors impeding them from attending professional development programs are workload, the place and the time that the activities take place, the cost of the activities, academic culture and private and health problems. Most of the instructors are in need of instructional development. The instructors stated that the needs and the conditions of the institution must be taken into consideration before determining the content of the programs. The trainers of the instructional development programs must be not only experts in their fields; but also they must be aware of the problems in the institution. To be able to maintain the continuous instructional development, instructors regard constant meetings and personal efforts as crucial as institutional support.Key words: Faculty development, instructional development, language instructors