Professional Development Needs Of English Language Teachers In Malaysia

Abstract

This study surveyed the professional development (PD) needs of school English language teachers at Melaka State in Malaysia. With close cooperation with the Department of Language at the Ministry of Education, the whole population of English language teachers had been studied on their types of professional development needs in instructional skills. The data showed that 99% of the English language teachers perceived that they needed professional development at some level while only about 1% stated no need to any types of PD activities. Nearly 50% indicated their need for PD to be very high or high. Maintaining language skills, assessing students, and using cooperative learning were respectively the first, second and third instructional skills for which teachers indicated very high or high levels of need for PD. The quantitative data also shed light on how PD needs were related to the demographic factors of the participants. The results of this study would give insightful feedback to the administrators of the Language Department in Malaysia to better design PD activities with more developmental outcomes.