Journal of Education & Social Policy

“Listening to ELT Teachers’ Voices: Perceptions of Personal Professional Development in Relation to Their Gender, Teaching Experience and Institutions”
Fatma Seyma Dogan, Oktay Yagiz

Abstract
This study investigates 168 ELT (English Language Teaching) educators’ perceptions of personal professional development, and explores whether there is a difference between ELT teachers’ and academics’ perceptions according to their gender, teaching experience and institutions and the factors hindering the ELT educators’ professional development process. The subjects were randomly chosen from various regions of Turkey and a questionnaire consisting of both open-ended and close-ended questions was conducted. To analyze the quantitative data, descriptive analysis, and MANCOVA test were used. The qualitative data were analyzed by means of content analysis. Results showed that ELT educators have a strong awareness of professional development. However, in the course of time, particularly teachers’ eagerness tends to decrease. In terms of gender difference, female educators showed more sustainability to enhance their professional development. In terms of hindering factors, lack of motivation was found to be the most important factor throughout their professional development perception.

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