Coaching as a means of enhancing English teachers' professional development: A case study

Coaching as a means of enhancing English teachers' professional development: A case study

• Li, Ka Wo Benjamin The Hong Kong Institute of Education
• Chan, Sui Ping Shirley The Hong Kong Institute of Education

2004

International Language in Education Conference 2004: The Way Forward in Language Education (2004: The Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong, China)

• M Teachers & Education for Teachers
  • MA Professional Education for Teachers
• F Learning & Teaching
  • FE Medium of Instruction, Language of Teaching, Bi-& Multilingual Education, Problems of Bilingualism, Code-mixing & Code-switching

Theory and Practice of Teaching and Learning Primary Education

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Primary Education
• Post-Secondary Education

Bringing a coach or coaches into a school to provide support is not entirely a new idea in Hong Kong. In local schools there is increased emphasis on coaching – a process whereby teacher trainers provide instructional support, professional development opportunities, feedback, and materials to classroom teachers – as a means to improve instruction and strengthen the competence of teachers. This paper reports on a pilot study which involved two academic staff from the Hong Kong Institute of Education and teachers of English in a local primary school to work together to enable teacher professional development. The paper reports a sub-set of the findings of a study which aims at identifying a coaching model for English teachers' professional development, and at developing a school-based language teaching curriculum development framework pilot school using a school-based language teaching curriculum development framework piloted in earlier research projects by the investigators. Data were collected through pre-, while- and post-questionnaire surveys, focus groups interviews, and lesson observations. The findings echo earlier research that modeling instruction in individual classrooms, rather than just the provision of group-focused activities, is most likely to result in modifications in instructional practices. It is also argued that in addition to teachers' exposure to new teaching materials, continuous joint professional discourse between coaches and teachers about how to use the materials would also lead to changes in teachers' instructional goals and practices. Implications for incorporating the use of coaches into school improvement plans for optimum results will also be discussed.

Paper presented at the International Language in Education Conference 2004: The Way Forward in Language Education

• English

Conference Papers

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/en/bibs/4257d88a

2015-07-14