Lee, Pui; (2025) Development of teaching practice among university English language teachers – cases from Hong Kong. Doctoral thesis (Ed.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

At the turn of the 21st century, universities in Hong Kong established language centres – teaching-focused units responsible for equipping the majority of their students, who are non-native speakers, with the language proficiency necessary for English-medium instruction. During the subsequent decades, the professional development needs of this unique group of teachers has been a concern of these centres’ managements. With a lack of previous models, they have adopted various approaches, resulting in varying policies, to encourage individual and collaborative professional development among these teachers. While there were various models of collaborative professional development such as Community of Practice (CoP) in the literature at the time this research started, this research examines the discrepancies between the theoretical model and the practitioners’ actual professional development experiences. This was achieved through the recording, analysis and discussion of the professional development experience of eight teachers from one of the university language centres in the territory. Three waves of semi-structured interviews were conducted over one calendar year, in order to elicit their memories and thoughts on their experiences in developing their teaching practices through a range of individual and collaborative activities. Transcripts of these interviews were then consolidated into cases and then analysed thematically, followed by a discussion of these findings’ implication for institutions in similar circumstances.

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