Teacher Portfolio: Effects and implications for English language teachers' competencies and professional development

This study firstly aimed to determine English language teachers? perceptions regarding their teaching competencies and professional development. Then, the effects of teacher portfolio construction on these issues were investigated.The sample for the study included six non-native teachers of English working at a private primary school in the city centre of Çanakkale. Following a case study design of qualitative and quantitative research methods, the study utilized a pre-test and post-test one group pre-experimental design in which competency questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data. The quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and paired-samples tests. For qualitative data, an inductive content analysis was conducted.The quantitative data showed that the teachers? perceptions related to their teaching competencies were quite high prior to the teacher portfolio construction process. However, after the process, the teachers were found to have some decreases for their perceptions of competencies. Besides, the qualitative data revealed that the participants had some challenges such as lack of time and heavy workload preventing them from getting fully engaged in the process. However, the whole process made them become both critical and truthful in terms of being more self-evaluative and reflective. It also made them gain awareness upon the value of teacher portfolio construction.In conclusion, it could be said teacher portfolio construction is an effective way of professional development despite the fact that the process is difficult and has some challenges.