An evaluation of the professional development needs of English as a foreign language teachers working at different institutions

With the globalization of English, advances in technology and increasing mobility, the number of people learning English has increased recently. The increasing learning demands have forced countries and education systems to have high-quality language education. According to McLaughling and Talbert (2006), school administrators, teachers, professional development (PD) activities, and parents play a critical role in providing high quality education. Wermke (2011) states that teachers are core elements for higher quality education, so they need to be competent enough and highly motivated to enhance their knowledge to meet the needs of their learners. In that vein, it is highly required for language teachers to develop themselves professionally as well as adapt to advances and changes in education. As professional development is a life-long process and an indispensable part of language teaching, it is vital to know what to focus during the process. The purpose of this study is to assess the professional development needs of EFL teachers working at different institutions. Within this context, the activities that the EFL teachers do, the needs of those teachers, and the factors preventing EFL teachers from doing PD activities were identified. In addition, it was also aimed to find out whether the needs of EFL teachers display any differences based on the level of institutions they work at. The data was collected through a survey questionnaire adapted from the study of Eksi (2010). The number of participants is 150 EFL teachers working at university, high school, secondary and primary school levels. After obtaining the results of the survey, the data was compared with regard to the type of institutions (foundation and state) and level of institution (university, high school, secondary school and primary school). The data was entered in SPSS 23 and descriptive statistics and One-Way ANOVA tests were run to answer the research questions. According to the results, sharing experiences with colleagues, reflection on one's own teaching, asking colleagues for help and observing other teachers are the most common PD activities that the teachers do. Using games in ELT, identifying learner characteristics, use of technology in ELT, and increasing student motivation are the most needed PD areas. Furthermore, there are certain differences regarding the PD needs of EFL teachers between the levels of institutions. The differences mainly occur between elementary and university level. In terms of factors preventing teachers from doing PD activities, heavy workload, cost, unqualified trainers, lack of institutional support and inconvenient date and time are the most common factors. Key Words: Professional development, professional development needs, English Language Teaching, state schools, private schools