BARRIERS PREVENTING EFL TEACHERS FROM PARTICIPATING AND CONSTRUCTING COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE

Tran Thanh Duy, Nguyen Huynh Trang

Abstract


Communities of practice (CoPs) appeared to be one of the possible solutions for professionals, especially EFL teachers, who have to deal with an increasing number of complicated tasks and problems which cannot be individually solved effectively. However, CoPs were reported in several studies not to reach the popularity they deserve. Hence, this study is aimed at identifying the barriers that prevent EFL teachers from participating and constructing CoPs. The study was conducted in different cities and provinces in the Mekong Delta. A questionnaire was employed to examine participants’ agreement on the suggested barriers described in the theoretical framework, and interviews were used to confirm and improve the results of the quantitative data collected. Regarding the research participants, 116 EFL teachers in public schools and English centers in the Mekong Delta responded to the questionnaire, while seven of them were chosen to conduct the interviews. The findings were classified into teacher-related and organization-related barriers. While the former includes cultural and psychological factors, the latter consists of barriers from school leaders’ power and policies.

 

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communities of practice, barriers, EFL teachers

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejfl.v6i2.4405

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