The Role of Self-Assessment in English Language Teachers' Professional Development in Pakistan

Abstract

This research attempted to explore the role of self-assessment (SA) as a professional development (PD) strategy to bring about continuous professional development of English language teachers in job-embedded environment. The crux of this research lies in the fact that teachers' professional development is usually influenced by many external factors, but its desire gusts from inner self. If a teacher does not have a keen desire for self-development, he/she cannot grow professionally, no matter how perfect and supportive the external environment and supervising measures are. In this sense, self-development is the basic motive which brings about professional development, and self-assessment paves the way towards it. The researchers adopted a pragmatic paradigm and explanatory sequential design. To collect data, the Self-assessment Instrument of Teaching Practice (SAITP) was designed to make English language teachers (ELTs) self-assess their teaching practice. After that, ELTs were made to express their views regarding this self-assessment practice on an ELTs' attitude survey designed by the researchers. In the next stage, a semistructured interview session was conducted with the selected ELTs who have already given their responses on SAITP and attitude survey, to get a detailed picture of their mind. For analyses of quantitative data, descriptive and inferential statistics were applied; for qualitative data, a content analysis technique was used. At the end, both quantitative and qualitative data were triangulated to draw conclusions. Findings showed that self-assessment plays an important role in the professional development of English language teachers. It is more effective than traditional professional development programs. This study paves the way for self-assessment and self-development culture in teacher community.