Professional Development (PD) for ESL Teachers’ Knowledge Orientation: An Empirical Study

ABSTRACT: PD initiatives have a broader implication for English as Second Language (ESL) teachers at theSri Lanka university sector to improve their professional growth and students‟ performance. A qualitative casestudy was undertaken with ten ESL teachers of a government university of Sri Lanka to identify the implicationsof PDfor the acquisition and improvement of skills and expertise for their improved practice. The study usedsemi-structured interviews as the research instrument, and Thematic Analysis for recognizing, analyzing andinterpreting of data. The findings indicate three vital implications of PDthat enable teachers to develop astronger knowledge base in ESL: up skilling knowledge and expertise, disseminating knowledge throughresearch, and improving teaching skills. Although both sponsored and independent PD activities are beneficialin providing meaningful learning opportunitiestoheighten teachers‟ knowledge base, activities relevant,interesting and practitioner-centeredcan only maximize teacherengagementandachieve these outcomes. Towhich extent practitioners‟ perceptions are in line with managerialist or democratic professionalism is mostlydetermined by the nature of knowledge expected to be achieved by them. The findings of this study aresignificant to PD providers and policy makers fordesigningand delivering of PD programs in ESL to gainoptimum outcomes through effective PD opportunities.

KEY WORDS:knowledge, perceptions; professional development;managerialism; democratic; university