Uygulayıcıların alternatif bir mesleki gelişim programını değerlendirmesi

The research on the Professional Development Programs (PDP) organized for teachers in Turkey has shown that they are not found to be effective by practitioners due to various reasons. The purpose of the current study is to find out the opinions of prospective and in-service English language teachers working at different institutions on PDPs in general and the Alternative PDP applied (APDP) during the study and investigate which kind of PDP they prefer. The APDP is prepared based on the needs of the participants' and the literature review on the expected qualities of an effective teacher in line with the curricular changes in the primary, secondary and higher education, the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and the European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL). Eight in-service and two pre-service teachers working at different institutions participated in the study. Two different open-ended protocols and a post program interview were used as data gathering instruments. The pre-program protocol was administered before professional development sessions began in order to learn the perceptions of the participants on professional development programs in general. At the end of each module, post-module protocol was given to the participants in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the session. Finally, at the end of the program the researcher implemented a post-program interview with the participants, which aimed to compare the alternative five-week program with the other PD programs that they had received before. The findings of the study revealed that all ten participants preferred the APDP to the other PDPs they had participated in before, mainly because it promoted practice rather than theory. Moreover the topics of the modules, which were found to be up-to-date, appealed to the needs of the participants. The participants also appreciated the size of the group since in small groups, they felt more relaxed to ask questions and it was easier to get feedback. Keywords: Professional development, effective teacher, in service training, English language teaching