Exploring What Korean Teachers of English Need for Effective Professional Development: from Peer Trainers' Perspectives

This research aims at exploring what Korean teachers of English need for their effective professional development, particularly from the perspectives of peer trainers who are school teachers as well as teacher trainers. The research is based on an assumption that despite the critical roles of peer trainers in the changing process of English education, very little attention has been paid to listening to their voices. Having an awareness of the meaningfulness of their voices in teacher education, the researcher collected and analyzed the data, employing a questionnaire responded by 32 peer trainers and in-depth group interview with 6 peer trainers who responded the questionnaire. The research findings suggest that the majority of peer trainers believe that the priority should be put on teaching practice rather than language competence for Korean English language teacher development. It has been found that they believe that teacher learning within the workplace with some support from outside experts is the most effective way of making classroom change possible and keeping teachers' professional development sustainable. Finally, the research suggests school-based professional development as an alternative strategy to satisfy their needs on effective and sustainable professional development.