______________________________________________________________________________ AJOTE Vol. 4, No. 1 Part I (Fall 2014/Spring 2015) FACTORS SUPPORTING OR HINDERING CONTINUATION OF A COLLABORATIVE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING Anto Arkato Gendole Arba Minch University, Ethiopia Fer Coenders University of Twente, the Netherlands Joke Voogt University of Amsterdam and Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands Jules Pieters University of Twente, the Netherlands Abstract In this study, the continued use of core elements of a collaborative professional development program (CPDP) for communicative language teaching (CLT) after program termination is reported. A cross-sectional design using quantitative and qualitative data collection was applied. Teachers, facilitators and management perceived CPDP relevant and teachers appreciated the program elements. Teachers who participated in the development and implementation sessions of CPDP tended to apply CPDP-elements better than teachers who merely used CPDP elements. Teacher collaboration was limited. Facilitators and management offered little support for teachers after the termination of the CPDP. The study recommended embedding CPDP in the English language department system as an in-service professional development program. Keywords: program continuation, sustainability, professional development, educational change. Introduction English plays a crucial role in Ethiopia. In education, it serves as medium of instruction at high school and higher education. However, the teaching quality of the language is threatened by various factors. Higher education English language teachers lack adequate preparation. Because of the rapid and vast increase in universities and student enrolment, universities recruited many under-qualified English language teachers with little or no pre-service teacher education or prior 2 Factors on Continuation of a Collaborative Program for Communicative Language Teaching ______________________________________________________________________________ AJOTE Vol. 4, No. 1 Part I (Fall 2014/Spring 2015) teaching experience. To address this problem, the professional learning needs of higher education teachers were assessed (Gendole, Coenders, & Voogt, 2012) and a Collaborative Professional Development Program (CPDP) focusing on the teachers’ learning and implementation of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) was designed and successfully implemented twice in an Ethiopian university (Gendole, Coenders, Voogt, & Pieter, 2013, 2014). CLT has been emphasized for its wide acceptance and effectiveness in language teaching (Harmer, 2001; Richards, 2006; Richards & Rodgers, 2001). It focuses on the development of learners’ communicative competence through authentic and meaningful interaction among learners. The teacher plays a facilitative role in the teaching - learning process (Harmer, 2001; Richards, 2006). Specific characteristics of CLT include: (a) active involvement of students in teaching learning processes; (b) use of students’ authentic experiences and materials; (c) provision of chances for students to practice and use new language items for communication; (d) facilitation of students’ collaborative learning; (e) integration of language skills; (f) communication of purposes to learners; (g) contextualization of grammar and vocabulary teaching; (h) assessment integration with language teaching; (i) tolerance of students’ errors; and (j) use of target language for classroom communication. After the termination of CPDP, English language teachers need to continue to improve their CLT knowledge and practice (Fullan, 2007; Harvey & Hurworth, 2006) through the use of the core CPDP elements. To understand the prospects and challenges of using the core elements, this study was conducted 17 months after the first implementation and 7 months after the second implementation of CPDP. The core elements of CPDP reported as effective included: 1. Teacher collaboration: promotes teacher learning through collegial sharing, reflective discussion, collaborative design and practice of curricular materials and provision of feedback (Austin, 2002; Harmer, 2001; Hord, 2004; Little, 1990) 2. Handout: explains the essentials of CLT as a source of teacher learning; it presents rich information on innovative teaching approaches (Atherton, 2011). 3. Teacher guide (collection of lesson guides): fosters teacher learning (Thijs & van den Berg, 2002) and enhances curriculum implementation (van den Akker, 1988) as it provides specific procedural-instructions on all lessons of Communicative English Skills. 4. Experienced teachers with good CLT preparation were trained to become facilitators in the CPDP (Gendole, et.al., 2013; Harrison & Killion, 2007). Similar to facilitators, peers (teachers with equal professional status) also carried out a coaching role (Thijs & van den Berg, 2002) during CLT implementation. Conceptual framework In literature, terms such as sustainability (Harvey & Hurworth, 2006), institutionalization (Fullan, 2007), maintainability (Hargreaves & Fink, 2003) and routinazation (Rogers, 2003) are used interchangeably with program continuation. All these terms focus on continued use of various aspects of a program. Fullan’s definition of program continuation is adopted in this study. He describes continuation as an extension of using the ideas, program or the activities after implementation, usually after the phase out of external support and funds (2007, p. 66). Continuation in this study, hence, refers to: (1) the teachers’ continued use of CPDP elements, (2) the existence of facilitator or peer professional assistance to enhance the teachers’ use of the elements and (3) availability of management administrative support and monitoring activities for 3 Anto Arkato Gendole, Fer Coenders, Joke Voogt, & Jules Pieter the teachers’ proper use of CPDP elements after the termination of formal implementation of CPDP. To organize the data collected in this study, a conceptual framework introduced by ten Brummelhuis (1995) was adopted (see Figure 1). He categorized indicators influencing implementation and continuation of an educational change under four frame factors: exogenous preconditions, endogenous adoption conditions, endogenous implementation conditions, and implementation outcomes. Exogenous preconditions include factors outside organizational control and internal factors difficult to alter by the organization such as state and national policies. In this study, government initiatives to enhance English ability of higher education teachers, government policies addressing professional development of the teachers, and the university’s Senate Legislation fell in this category. Endogenous adoption conditions included three essential factors affecting the continuation of an educational innovation: relevance, readiness, and resources (Fullan, 1991). In this study, relevance represents the importance that the teachers, facilitators, and the management attached to CPDP as a program and the way the teachers appreciated its elements. Readiness refers to the teachers’ ability and preparedness to use CPDP elements in their CLT teaching practices. Resources, in this study, address the presence of necessary materials such as books, magazines, and journals on CLT, language lab, audiovisual, and audio materials for CLT teaching. It also included finance support and time for facilitators to render professional support and time for teachers to participate in professional learning activities. Endogenous implementation conditions considered the existence of organizational policies, professional and administrative assistance to the teachers, and strategies for monitoring the implementation. Policies are important for organizational support to promote implementation and continuation of a professional development endeavor (Guskey, 2000). The presence of professional assistance at the workplace for teachers practicing the initiated program was considered a vital factor for successful continuation of the program (Fiszer, 2004; Joyce & Showers, 2002). Professional assistance could be through the support of teacher leaders (Gendole et. al., 2013; Harrison & Killion, 2007; Lieberman & Miller, 2004) or through peer support (Thijs & van den Berg, 2002). Facilitators played vital roles in creating a culture of collaboration among staff and in supporting teachers (Hord, 2004; Lieberman & Miller, 2004). Peer support in the form of coaching was also found to be an effective strategy (Thijs & van den Berg, 2002) for continued use of innovative ideas (Richards & Farrell, 2005). Peer coaching also reduced the sense of isolation that teachers tended to feel in their teaching roles (Joyce & Showers, 2002; Richards & Farrell, 2005). Moreover, management support was of paramount importance for proper continuation of professional development efforts to protect participating teachers from intrusions, to recognize success, and to provide adequate time (Guskey, 2000). Monitoring and evaluation by management enabled effective continuation (Loucks-Horsley, Hewson, Love, & Stiles, 2010). Endogenous implementation conditions addressed the feasibility of facilitators’ professional assistance, continuation of peer support, and management support and monitory actions. Implementation outcomes addressed the expected ultimate goal of an innovation. Continuation of CPDP as a PD program was seen as the implementation outcome. 4 Factors on Continuation of a Collaborative Program for Communicative Language Teaching ______________________________________________________________________________ AJOTE Vol. 4, No. 1 Part I (Fall 2014/Spring 2015) As reflected in Figure 1, the exogenous preconditions are believed to have direct influence on endogenous adoption conditions and indirect effect on endogenous implementation conditions. Implementation outcomes (continuation of CPDP) are thought to be the results of the interplay among the variables situated in the other three frame factors Fig. 1: Conceptual framework of implementation of CPDP elements, adapted from ten Brummelhuis (1995). This study was guided by the following general and specific research questions: General questions 1. How were core CPDP- elements perceived and used by English language teachers after the termination of external support? 2. What are the opportunities and challenges of continuous use of core CPDP- elements to enhance CLT learning and implementation? To answer these questions, the following specific questions were formulated using the conceptual framework as represented in Figure 1 above as an organizer: Specific questions Exogenous preconditions 1. What government and institutional policies promote or constrain the implementation of CPDP- elements? Endogenous adoption conditions 2. How do stakeholders (teachers, facilitators & management) perceive the relevance of CDPD-elements? 3. Are the teachers ready now and in the future to use CPDP-elements? Implementation outcomes Endogenous implementation conditions Exogenous preconditions Endogenous adoption conditions Continuation of CPDP  Assistance  Monitoring  Relevance  Readiness  Resources Contextual factors (government and institutional policies) 5 Anto Arkato Gendole, Fer Coenders, Joke Voogt, & Jules Pieter 4. Are necessary resources available for the implementation of CPDP-elements? Endogenous implementation conditions 5. Is professional support for the implementation of CPDP elements in place? 6. How can peer support be continued to enhance CLT learning and teaching? 7. Is management support and monitoring of the implementation of CPDP elements in place? Methods Context. The study included 16 teachers who participated in the two previous CPDP studies, referred to as participating teachers (PTs) and 23 teachers who did not participate in CPDP, referred to as non-participating teachers (NPTs), but were teaching the course, Communicative English Skills during data collection. NPTs were included because CPDP intends to support all English language teachers to use the program elements (CLT handout, teacher guide, teacher collaboration) and facilitator/peer support to enhance CLT learning and teaching, and their views and practices are therefore important for the continuation of CPDP. Before data collection, all NPTs teaching Communicative English Skills received the CLT handout, the teacher guide, revised learner material, and some audio-texts to support their teaching of the course. Design. A cross-sectional design (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2007) to explore the continuation of the use of CPDP elements by the teachers at a particular point of time was applied. The conceptual framework from ten Brummelhuis (1995) was adapted and used to organize the data. Participants Teachers. The 16 BA/BEd holding PTs received a questionnaire through email and 12 of them returned it. Four teachers came from the first study and eight from the second. From these 12 teachers, four volunteers (two from first and two from second study) were interviewed. As all the PTs had left Arba Minch University (AMU) for further studies, they provided information about the experiences they gained during their participation in CPDP and during their subsequent teaching experiences. Also, 23 MA holding NPTs teaching Communicative English Skills were asked to fill in the questionnaire, and 19 returned it. Four volunteer NPTs were interviewed and four other volunteer teachers were observed teaching lessons of Communicative English Skills. Facilitators. During data collation, three facilitators who participated in the study were still at the university and involved in this study. Management. The head of the English language department and the dean of Social Sciences and Humanities College participated because they decide on time, finances, and manpower. Instruments Teacher questionnaire. A teacher questionnaire having close and open-ended items was administered through email to PTs and in person to NPTs. The questionnaire addressed the issues of relevance and readiness in endogenous adoption conditions, and assistance and monitoring in endogenous implementation conditions. The teachers rated various statements regarding CPDP and its elements on a five-point Likert scale, measuring the constructs 6 Factors on Continuation of a Collaborative Program for Communicative Language Teaching ______________________________________________________________________________ AJOTE Vol. 4, No. 1 Part I (Fall 2014/Spring 2015) (reliability and numbers of items in brackets): CPDP relevance (α=0.86, 4); appreciation of CLT handout (α=0.89, 5); teacher guide (α=0.90, 7) and teacher collaboration (α=0.81, 9). They also rated their degree of using the elements on a four-point Likert scale: CLT handout (α=0.89, 4), teacher guide (α=0.95, 6) and teacher collaboration (α=0.90, 9) and the teachers’ readiness to provide or receive support (α=0.84, 4). The open-ended items gathered information on the teachers’ challenges in using CPDP elements, on kinds of support the teachers received from their peers, facilitators and management, and their experience of support provision to their colleagues, and on the feasibility of peer support. Teacher interview. The teacher interview was conducted with PTs and NPTs to collect data on all the issues addressed by the questionnaire primarily for validation purposes (Miles & Huberman, 1994). Management interview. The department head and the college dean were interviewed about the support and monitoring activities they had undertaken thus far to support and maintain the use of CPDP elements, and about the feasibility of peer-support. They were also asked about their intentions to monitor and support the process in future. Observation. The degree the four NPTs used CLT features in their teaching practices (readiness) was assessed through lesson observations. The observation checklist to rate the performances of the teachers applied in the previous studies was revised and used in this study. The three facilitators and the former department head assisted the researcher to conduct lesson observations. Each of them observed two lessons of one teacher to get a clear image of the teacher’s use of CLT features. The researcher joined each of them during the second observation. A resource inventory was also conducted through observation to check availability of resources. Focus group discussion. A focus group discussion was held with all facilitators and collected data about the assistance they offered to the teachers after the formal implementation of CPDP had ended. The feasibility of peer-support as professional development strategy and the facilitators’ preparedness to provide professional support to the teachers were also discussed. Document review. The following documents were reviewed to understand the stance of government, the university, and the department regarding teachers’ professional development: (a) the Education and Training Policy (ETP) (MoE, 1994), (b) the English Language Improvement Program (ELIP) document (MoE, 2005) (c) Senate Legislation of AMU (AMU, 2012), (d) AMU College of Social Sciences and Humanities (CSSH, 2012) annual plan of 2012/2013, and (e) AMU Department of English Language (DELL, 2012) annual plan of 2012/2013. Table 1 gives an overview of the research questions in relation to the data collection instruments, the data sources and the corresponding component in the conceptual framework. Table 1: Conceptual Framework: Research questions, instruments, data sources, and corresponding component. Specific research questions Instruments Data source Component 7 Anto Arkato Gendole, Fer Coenders, Joke Voogt, & Jules Pieter 1. What government and institutional policies promote or constrain the implementation of CPDP elements? Document review Documents Exogenous preconditions 2. How do stakeholders (teachers, facilitators, management) perceive the relevance of CDPD and its elements? Teacher questionnaire Teacher interview Management interview Focus group discussion Teachers Facilitators Management Endogenous adoption conditions (relevance) 3. Are teachers ready now and in the future to use CPDP elements? Teacher questionnaire Teacher interview Observation Teachers Endogenous adoption conditions (readiness) 4. Are necessary resources available for the implementation of CPDP elements? Management interview Observation Management Endogenous adoption conditions (resources) 5. Is professional support for the implementation of CPDP elements in place? Teacher questionnaire Teacher interview Focus group discussion Teachers Facilitators Endogenous implementation conditions (Assistance) 6. How can peer support be continued to enhance CLT learning and teaching? Teacher questionnaire Teacher interview Management interview Focus group discussion Teachers Facilitators Management Endogenous implementation conditions (Assistance) 7. Is management support and monitoring of the implementation of CPDP-elements in place? Questionnaire Interview Document review Teachers Management Documents Endogenous implementation conditions (Monitoring) Data Analysis. A mixed approach employing both quantitative and qualitative techniques was used to analyze the data. Quantitative analysis conducted with SPSS was used to analyze data obtained through close-ended questionnaire items, resulting in descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation). Mann-Whitney non-parametric tests were used to compare PTs and NPTs in terms of their perception and use of CPDP elements, and their readiness to provide or receive professional support. The reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) was calculated for each construct from the questionnaire data. Cohen’s d was calculated to measure the effect size of the two teacher groups. The qualitative data were analyzed using summary, data reduction and data display techniques (Miles & Huberman, 1994). Data collected from the department head and the college dean were summarized and presented to the respective respondents for verification before reporting. Data obtained from teachers through interviews were transcribed, transported into Atlas.ti (Version 6.2) and analyzed using thematic codes generated from the data. Sample interview quotations were re-coded by a colleague to check inter-coder reliability (Kappa= 0.80, P<0.001) which was found to be good. Similarly, the inter-rater reliability (Kappa= 0.61, P<0.001) of lesson observation data of the assistants and the researcher was calculated to be good again according to Altman’s (1991) benchmarking. 8 Factors on Continuation of a Collaborative Program for Communicative Language Teaching ______________________________________________________________________________ AJOTE Vol. 4, No. 1 Part I (Fall 2014/Spring 2015) Findings: Exogenous preconditions Policies promoting or constraining implementation of CPDP elements. Varying attention has been paid to professional development conditions of Ethiopian higher education teachers by the Education and Training Policy (ETP) (MoE,1994), the English language improvement program (ELIP) document (MoE, 2005) and Senate Legislation of Arba Minch University (AMU, 2012). The ETP document, Article 3.4, mandates that all Ethiopian higher education teachers to have necessary teaching qualification and competency in instruction through pre-service and in- service training before they are assigned to teaching. The ELIP document also explains the government commitment to improve English language proficiency of Ethiopian higher education teachers. The Senate legislation of AMU (AMU, 2012), however, interprets teacher professional development only in terms of the number of teachers the university intends to send for further studies to obtain higher qualifications. Inconsistent with the demand of the ETP, the Senate legislation does not mention any in-service arrangement the university provided or planned to provide to improve the professional competencies of its teachers. Endogenous adoption conditions Relevance. Both PTs and NPTs tended to agree or strongly agree with the statements representing the teachers’ perception of the relevance of CPDP and of its elements. PTs tend to appreciate the CPDP and its elements more than NPTs do, though Mann-Whitney non- parametric test only showed a significant difference in the CLT handout (Z=-2.1, P=0.03 & effect size =1.0). Participating teachers (PTs) Through interviews and open-ended items of the questionnaire, all the PTs reported that CPDP was a relevant program for both teachers with and without CLT background. Shire, who was without CLT background, for instance, narrated the following: It is a relevant program, particularly for teachers like me who did not have any training on CLT before starting teaching. It equipped me with basic understanding of the main ideas of CLT. It enabled me to learn, for instance, specific roles I and my students need to assume in teaching English; activities I need to use; procedures I should follow in teaching various language skills. All the PTs added that they liked all the CPDP elements: the CLT handout, the teacher guide, and teacher collaboration. Zab explained the contributions of the handout to his CLT learning and class use as: For instance, the handout provided me with useful information on the essentials of CLT: its definition, underlying assumptions, teacher and student roles, activities to be used, strategies used to teach different skills etc. It allowed me to properly assume the teacher role in my language teaching. Non-participating teachers (NPTs) 9 Anto Arkato Gendole, Fer Coenders, Joke Voogt, & Jules Pieter The interviewed NPTs, who only received the teacher guide and the handout, but did not participate in the training sessions of CPDP, disclosed that the handout provided them with the main ideas of CLT, and the teacher guide gave them procedural specifications on diverse teacher and student activities of communicative English Skills. Mekt, for example, said: For example, the guide offered me clear and specific directions in undertaking various activities of the course. It made my teaching easier. Teacher collaboration is hardly practiced among the teachers. One teacher said: I feel that teacher collaboration is good. It could be an essential source of knowledge through experience sharing. But it is rarely practiced among the department teachers. All the teachers conveyed their willingness to carry on using the elements to enhance their CLT knowledge and implementation. The college dean, the department head and the facilitators substantiated the views of the teachers that CPDP is an important program, particularly for those who lack prior CLT training. Readiness. A four-point Likert scale was used to let teachers rate the frequency they used the elements in their teaching learning. PTs indicated use of all CPDP elements in falling between 2 = half & less of my lessons and 3 = half & more of my lessons. A similar picture emerges for NPTs except for teacher collaboration which was found to fall below 2 = half & less of my lessons. PTs were found to have significantly better collaboration practices (Z=-2.4, P=0.02 & effect size =1.1) than NPTs (see Table 2). Table 2: PTs and NPTs’ use of CPDP elements. Constructs PTs (N=12) NPTs (N=19) M (SD) M (SD) Z As. sig. (2-tailed) Effect size, Cohen’s d CLT handout 3.0 (0.45) 2.9 (0.97) -0.1 0.9 0.1 Teacher guide 2.9(0.75) 2.4 (0.85) -1.7 0.09 0.6 Teacher collaboration 2.5(0.54) 1.9 (0.56) -2.4 0.02 1.1 Note: 1=never, 2=for half and less of my lessons, 3=for more than half of my lessons, 4= for all of my lessons. Participating teachers (PTs) The interviewed PTs indicated that they often used the handout and the teacher guide in their teaching. All the teachers only informally collaborated to carry out some daily routines such as preparing course outlines, quizzes, and sharing ideas on handling students’ misbehavior. Regarding collaboration, Tola reported: 10 Factors on Continuation of a Collaborative Program for Communicative Language Teaching ______________________________________________________________________________ AJOTE Vol. 4, No. 1 Part I (Fall 2014/Spring 2015) We properly collaborated only when the program was formally implemented and supervised. Then after, because of large teaching load, teachers’ lack of interest etc, we did not collaborate. Non-participating teachers (NPTs) Classroom observation data displayed that all the NPT teachers practiced the majority of CLT features in their teaching of Communicative English Skills. Despite the variation in their educational background (Met & Zeb, MA holders in TEFL; Dem & Yet, MA holders in Linguistics), all teachers involved students actively in their lessons, used authentic materials and experiences in their teaching, and facilitated students’ collaborative learning through group/pair works. Moreover, Dem and Yet used an integrated-skills approach (using all language skills together) in their teaching practices. Met and Yet also communicated lesson objectives to students at the start of their lessons. Although all the four interviewed NPTs said that teacher collaboration could foster their learning and implementation of CLT, none of them practiced it formally at their workplace. They shared experiences informally with some of their intimate colleagues. Readiness for Collaboration. Using a five-point Likert scale the teachers indicated their agreement with various statements reflecting their readiness to provide support to their colleagues or receive it from them. On average (PTs: M=4.3, SD=0.39; NPTs, M=4.2, SD=0.68), the teachers appeared to be ready to provide or receive the support (Table 3). Table 3: Teacher readiness to provide/receive professional support. PTs (N=12) NPTs (N=19) M(SD) M(SD) Z As. sig. (2-tailed) Readiness of support reception 4.7(0.49) 4.5 (0.61) -.5 0.57 Readiness of support provision 4.3(0.49) 4.4(0.69) -.6 0.52 Knowledge possession for support provision 4.1 (0.51) 3.9 (0.94) -.4 0.71 Skills possession for support provision 4.0 (0.60) 3.9 (0.94) -0.1 0.92 Overall 4.3 (0.39) 4.2 (0.68) -0.1 0.95 Note: 1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=not decided, 4=agree, 5= strongly agree The interviews confirmed this result. Yek explained his readiness to provide and receive support as: Yes, I need to provide professional support to my colleagues to let them improve their knowledge and teaching practices. Similarly, I need their support to improve my professional knowledge, teaching practices and my student learning. The teachers further marked (via questionnaire) the extent they wanted to offer or receive professional support using the levels: little, some, and large. Among 12 PTs, 9 (75%) and 2 11 Anto Arkato Gendole, Fer Coenders, Joke Voogt, & Jules Pieter (16.7%) respectively indicated large and some. Among 19 NPTs, 15 (78.9%) and 3 (15.6%) marked large and some respectively. One teacher from each group did not mark it. Resources. The inventory of resources showed that there were audio texts for teaching listening skills, many photocopied but outdated text books on CLT, some individually and 7 department possessed laptops. Also, there was a non-functioning language lab. Both the dean and the head informed that they did not make any special arrangement for resources after the end of CPDP implementation. Endogenous Implementation Conditions Assistance. Regarding facilitators’ support provision, all the facilitators reported that they did not offer any properly arranged professional support to any teacher after the end of formal implementation of CPDP. They provided only informal support they used to provide before they were involved in the program. But all of them indicated to be ready to offer professional support to their colleagues if the management arranges time, reduces their workload, and puts necessary incentives/rewards in place. One facilitator reported: I am ready to support professional learning of other teachers. I feel my knowledge and experience allow me to do the activity. However, things like availability of time, willingness of the supported teachers, and management support must be in place. Continuing peer support. Gendole et.al. (2013) showed that peer support was an effective, sustainable and cheap form of support during teachers’ lesson implementation and also promoted a culture of collaboration among teachers (Fullan, 2007). The majority of the interviewed teachers (75%) of this study agreed with Geg’s explanation: In the context of AMU, peer support seems a more feasible form of support because most senior teachers are usually busy with different activities….The university also appears to encounter shortage of budget to pay facilitators for extra work. To maintain peer support among the teachers, PTs and NPTs suggested different strategies: arranging training on how teachers carry out reciprocal peer coaching, pairing up teachers teaching similar courses and let them share offices, designing a guideline that directs the implementation of the peer coaching and conducting regular discussions on the progress of each pair and overall process. One of the NPTs said: When teachers offering the same course pair up and share the same office, it makes it easy for them to access each other. It also creates a more collaborative working environment. The facilitators also viewed peer support a viable option. Aba, one of the facilitators articulated his thoughts: 12 Factors on Continuation of a Collaborative Program for Communicative Language Teaching ______________________________________________________________________________ AJOTE Vol. 4, No. 1 Part I (Fall 2014/Spring 2015) Though the involvement of senior teachers in the provision of professional support to junior teachers is important, since the university culture of availing incentives for professional development efforts is not promising, peer support could help more in this regard. For the continued use of peer support, the facilitators proposed provision of training by experienced teachers (facilitators) to other teachers on various aspects of peer coaching: objectives, issues addressed during various stages of the process, strategies of effective classroom observation, provision of constructive feedback, and reflection on the feedback. The management also thought that peer support could be useful. Both the college dean and department head elaborated that when the department is composed of many junior teachers, some senior teachers can provide training to the juniors on how to practice peer support before the juniors commence supporting each other. The seniors might supervise the peer support process of the juniors. In this case, the seniors could have reduced workload to offer the support and to accomplish the supervision duties. The dean also expressed his readiness to support teacher professional learning financially and otherwise. He said: The college is ready and even financially capable to support professional learning of its teachers. It can provide necessary materials, allocate sufficient time, recruit PD leaders and facilitators, and provide them financial rewards for their professional services. The department head further suggested pairing up teachers teaching similar courses, facilitating conditions for the teachers to share similar offices to promote professional conversations and experience sharing among the teachers, and conducting regular monitoring and evaluation of peer coaching processes. Monitoring. Although the college dean had not taken any action, the department head reported that the department had effected certain measures: revision of learner material of Communicative English Skills to make it more communicative, distribution of the CLT handout, the teacher guide and learner materials to teachers, establishment of a committee monitoring teachers’ use of these materials, and provision of laptops for teachers lacking their own to teach listening skill lessons. One of the NPTs said: I received the handout, teacher guide, audio texts and the learner material from the head. I did not receive any support from the dean. Concerning their future plans to support the implementation of CPDP elements, the dean and the head expressed that they are ready to offer the support and to monitor the implementation activities. To ensure successful continuation, the dean disclosed that the college has a plan to place CPDP under the English Language Improvement Program (ELIP) which works on English enhancement of all the university teachers. The ELIP coordinator confirmed the college’s proposal to put CPDP under ELIP. In the 2012/2013 annual plan of the College Social Sciences and Humanities (CSSH, 2012), it states that the college demands its teachers to participate in ongoing professional development to continuously build their professional capacity: 13 Anto Arkato Gendole, Fer Coenders, Joke Voogt, & Jules Pieter The College needs to continuously build capacity of its workers in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitudes in different capacities and the associated human resource handling and rewarding systems of the college. (p. 30) The department head stated that the department has a plan to support and supervise the implementation of CPDP elements by its teachers. However, these were not yet part of the department annual plan. Conclusion and Discussions This study has examined the continuous use of CPDP elements by English language teachers to enhance their CLT learning and practice. With regard to the exogenous preconditions, the study found that the government formulated policies to encourage in house professional development of teachers at Ethiopian universities. These policies lay a good ground for continued use of the CPDP elements, as policies create a framework for action (ten Brummelhuis, 1995). Universities, however, paid limited attention to these initiatives and focused on making the teachers pursue further studies to obtain higher qualifications. Fortunately, the dean demands teachers to participate in ongoing professional development and to place CPDP under the English Language Improvement Program. This means that there will be sufficient managerial support to continue using the CPDP elements. From the perspective of endogenous adoption conditions, all the stakeholders perceived CPDP as a relevant program and all PTs and NPTs found the handout, teacher guide, and teacher collaboration relevant. With significant difference, PTs perceived the handout more relevant than NPTs did. Teachers used the CLT handout and the teacher guide in more than half of their lessons. The PTs’ better perception of CLT handout and better use of the handout and the teacher guide can be explained by the fact that PTs had exposure to the materials during their CPDP training sessions. Possibly, because of experiencing collaboration during actual CPDP implementation, PTs continued to use teacher collaboration better than NPTs did after the termination of the program. NPTs showed greater variations (larger standard deviations) in their perceptions and use of CLT handout and teacher guide than PTs. This may be attributed to more qualification and teaching experience variations noticed among NPTs as compared to PTs. To support teachers in their CLT practice, audio materials, learner materials, a teacher guide and the CLT handout designed in the previous studies were further developed and made available for use. However, lack of up-to-date books, magazines, and journals on CLT and a disfunctioning language lab hamper CLT implementation. Teachers’ appreciation of collaboration as a means to encourage teacher learning through collaborative discussion, sharing and reflection on their common issues and practical experiences is consistent with the views of many scholars (Harmer, 2001; Harvey & Hurworth, 2006; Little, 1990) who take teacher collaboration as a vital instrument for enhancing teacher learning. Despite this fact, the teachers had limited practice of collaboration and they attributed it to shortage of common time to get together and jointly carry out these activities. The poor culture of collaboration among Ethiopian higher education teachers could be another vital limiting factor (Fisher & Swindells, 1998). The study shows that teachers are ready to receive and provide assistance (endogenous implementation conditions) in enhancing their CLT application. Facilitators express their 14 Factors on Continuation of a Collaborative Program for Communicative Language Teaching ______________________________________________________________________________ AJOTE Vol. 4, No. 1 Part I (Fall 2014/Spring 2015) willingness to take up their leadership roles if the management arranges for it, e.g. allocating time, extra payment. Stakeholders suggest different strategies to continue and extend peer support as a means to enhance CLT teaching practice. These strategies include: (1) arranging a training on peer coaching; (2) regular monitoring and evaluation of the peer coaching processes by facilitators (Zwart, Wubbels, Bergen, & Bolhuis, 2007); (3) preparing experienced teachers (facilitators) to train teachers on various aspects of peer coaching; (4) pairing up teachers teaching similar courses; (5) facilitating conditions for teachers to share similar offices; (6) providing necessary materials (Guskey, 2000); (7) allocating sufficient time; (8) recruiting PD leaders and facilitators; and (8) providing financial rewards for staff involved in various professional development undertakings. The study further reveals that the college plans to put CPDP under their English Language Improvement Program (ELIP) for the sustenance of the program. The department head had the learner material of the Communicative English Skills course revised. He also dispatched the learner material, the handout and the teacher guide to the teachers. In addition, laptops were provided to teachers who lacked their own laptop to teach listening skills. To conclude, CPDP made important contributions to the professional development of English language teachers of Arba Minch University. First, English language teachers perceived the materials (handout and teacher guide) developed as part of CPDP to support them in their teaching as relevant and they are ready to use the materials. The absence of significant difference between PTs and NPTs in terms of their perception and effective use of most of the CPDP elements implies that the program and its elements are useful for both teacher groups for successful learning and implementation of CLT. The importance of reading materials (Atherton, 2011; Joyce & Showers, 2002), teacher guide (Ottevanger, 2001; Thijs & van den Berg, 2002) and concrete resources such as audio texts (Richards & Farrell, 2005) as part of professional development was also found in other studies as productive tools to enhance teachers’ professional learning and facilitate curriculum enactment (Garet, Porter, Desimone, Birman, & Yoon, 2001; Voogt, 2010). Second, English language teachers are open to initiatives that encourage teacher collaboration and peer support, to enhance their CLT skills further. These findings indicated that teachers felt committed to the implementation of CLT (Fullan, 2007). The better use of teacher collaboration of PTs than NPTs has an implication that in order to use collaboration in their teaching practices effectively, teachers should participate in a professional development initiative in which collaboration is an integral part. Third, the importance put on continuing professional development in national and university policies offers opportunities to develop strategies to promote teacher collaboration and peer support as professional development strategies for English language teachers. These findings suggest that bottom up and top down strategies to support the implementation of CLT are in balance (Fullan, 2007). For continuing use of CPDP elements, it is crucial to have a system embedded at the university in place responsible for: (a) keeping the teacher guide and the handout up to date; (b) distributing these materials to teachers; and (c) encouraging and facilitating teachers to collaborate and support each other in their classroom teaching. Other universities across the country could also implement this system. 15 Anto Arkato Gendole, Fer Coenders, Joke Voogt, & Jules Pieter The study was not without limitations. 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