Paving the way forward : seeking continuing professional development in the teaching of English to foreign learners in Malta

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the practices, beliefs and attitudes of teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL), Directors of Studies and EFL Board Members in relation to Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in the context of the Maltese EFL industry. The researcher sought to meaningfully contribute to this field by conducting original empirical research, prompted, but not heavily preconditioned, by existing literature on the topic of CPD. The study’s aim is to generate a faithful overview of the contemporary opinions and experiences of actual working education professionals in the industry and thus substantially add to and/or interrogate existing notions of the purpose, effectiveness and practicality of different types of CPD and their implementation. A total of 116 teachers participated in the teacher questionnaire and another twelve teachers participated in a one-to-one semi-structured interview, three of whom participated in a focus group. Ten Directors of Studies and two EFL Board Members were also interviewed. This study adopted a mixed methods mode of investigation that helped the researcher to gain this holistic understanding of the CPD opportunities available locally. The data collection was carried out between June and September 2014. The data gathered attested to the most common or predominant views and opinions on CPD among working professionals and thus constitute the basis for the researcher’s observations about the reality of CPD in the Maltese context, and her subsequent suggestions and recommendations.