A teacher development program for young learners of English: An action research

In 1999, the Turkish Ministry of Education instituted English as a foreign language intothe fourth and fifth grade curriculum. However, the Ministry of Education (MEB) didnot prepare teachers to teach these grades. As a result, the necessary backgroundinformation, skills, and techniques needed for this new task were lacking in theseteachers.This led the researcher implement a teacher development program entitled ?TeachingEnglish at the 4th and 5th Grades?. Hence, a survey was sent to 220 schools under thejurisdiction of Konya City Directorate of the Ministry of Education. Second, given 120survey results, plus participants? expectations; the researcher conducted a teacherdevelopment program.This study, conducted as an action research, is based on Kelly?s (1955) PersonalConstruct Theory, which considers everyone a personal scientist. The Repertory GridTechnique, the data collection tool of the Personal Construct Theory is the main datacollection tool used in this study.It is used at the beginning of the study to elicit the participants? underlying personalbeliefs on efficient primary grades English teachers. These have been made explicit fortriggering participants change and development. The Repertory Grid Technique is usedat the end of the ?Teaching English at the 4th and 5th Grade? teacher developmentprogram? to determine the changes in the content and structure of the participants?beliefs.The results revealed changes in both the content and structure of the participants?beliefs, regarding the features of English teachers teaching at the grades of four andfive.Key words: Teacher Development, Personal Construct Theory, Repertory GridTechnique, English in the Primary Grades, In-service Teacher Development Program.