New approaches to teacher development in an EAP context

Abstract

Professional development is an important part of teachers’ professional lives. It involves improvement of individual skills, personal performance, chances of obtaining a good job, and career advancement. The article reports on teacher professional development of English language teachers. It, first, explains the need for teacher training seminars and an increased demand for new IELTS exam teaching skills based on a study conducted by the author; then it outlines standards for English teachers and, finally, it looks at various areas of teacher development at the tertiary level, such as teaching portfolio, collaboration, teacher study groups, workshops, and research seminars. Findings reveal that teachers lack experience of teaching for IELTS and its assessment; they have also difficulties in teaching academic style to students and explaining the text structure for two IELTS essays; the format of the speaking part is also a problem with several teachers. These results indicate that there is a need for teacher training seminars as the first step in teacher development and a demand for continuous professional development in a particular university context.