Teachers’ Perceptions of the Effect of Technology-Enhanced Global Training on Their Professionalism

Abstract

This study was conducted to fill a gap in the literature regarding teachers’ in-service professional training in Kuwait and suggest a new professional training trend. It is also aimed at gaining an understanding of global professional training plans and strategies. More specifically, the study aimed at determining the perceptions of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) teachers in Kuwait toward technology-enhanced global training’s effects on their professionalism. It also sought to determine the main barriers and obstacles teachers may encounter during the adaption of the training from TESOL teachers’ perspectives. This study was guided by the connectivism theory, the community-embedded learning model, and the technology acceptance model because of their high explanatory power in the context of investigating the effects of the technology-enhanced global training on teachers’ professionalism. The quantitative descriptive method was adapted to serve the objectives of the study, and a group of TESOL teachers who work for the Kuwaiti Ministry of Education in various school districts and at different teaching levels were invited to participate. The findings of the study indicate that Kuwaiti TESOL teachers demonstrated mainly positive perceptions of the effects of technology-enhanced global training on their professionalism. However, teaching experience seemed to be the most influential factor affecting this perception. Based on the findings, the researcher provided implications and recommendations as well as directions for future research.