Reflection and Collaboration: Barriers to Turkish ELT Teachers` Professional Learning

Abstract

This pilot study explores the professional learning (PL) of English Language teaching (ELT) teachers in Turkiye, how reflection and collaborative activity play a role in implementing change, and the factors affecting ELT teachers` pursuit of PL. Three ELT teachers were interviewed through narrative interviews, critical incidents and semi structured interviews. Two phrases stood out which encapsulate the different attitudes towards PL - I try no matter what and I try if. While one teacher seems to belong to the first category by showing a high level of motivation to pursue PL regardless of the circumstances, the other two teachers appear to belong to the second category by lacking motivation and feeling motivated only in certain circumstances. As the contexts the teachers were working in were found to affect the power they felt in themselves to bring change, providing individual and collective learning opportunities seems to be very critical for all teachers.