Encouraging Teacher Development through Conducting Action Research in Second Language Classes at a Kuwaiti Training Centre

Abstract

Like any other profession, teaching undergoes on-going developments. Therefore, teacher development is a continuous pursuit that cannot be named simply in some workshops organized for in-service teachers. It is more like a continuing education system aiming to foster teachers' professional progress. This way, teachers ought to look for all possible professional development opportunities in order to advance in their careers. In some teaching contexts, development opportunities may not be so varied. This paper suggests that action research can be used as a useful technique in developing teachers in contexts where development opportunities are limited. The paper focuses on the role of action research in developing teachers especially in my teaching context, which is EFL program in an internal corporate training centre in Kuwait. I will review the literature on teacher development, how it is important for in-service teacher, how it would help both teachers and learners, how it differs from training, and the principles, objectives and methods of teacher development. Then, I explore action research as a way of doing teacher development, its role in teacher development. In the last section, I address the need for teacher development within a specific teaching context, namely EFL classes in a corporate training centre in Kuwait. Then, I present an action research case study which could be implemented by in-service teachers in my teaching context as a means of doing teacher development in this specific context.