Teacher agency and professional development: A study on Cambridge English teacher program in the Arabian Gulf

Abstract

Teacher agency has a powerful influence on teachers’ classroom practices, student learning outcomes, and other professional undertakings. Although teacher agency shaping is a core subject of professional development (PD), most in-service PD initiatives focus on developing teaching knowledge and skills while enhancing teacher agency. The current study investigates the influence of Cambridge English Teacher (CET) professional development on EFL teachers’ agency development in an English Language Institute at a Saudi Arabian public university. Utilizing retrospective pretest post-test design, a quantitative questionnaire provides data to understand EFL teachers’ agency development as they participate in the CET development program. Based on the theoretical framework of the current study, EFL teacher agency change is characterized by three attributes: teachers’ say in curriculum and syllabus designing, teachers’ freedom to implement teaching methods and techniques, and teachers’ autonomy in using supplementary materials. In analysing the PRE and POST data, descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon signed Rank test were employed. The findings show that all three teacher agency attributes are significantly influenced as a result of the CET development program. However, regarding the extent to which teacher agency attribute has enhanced, the results exhibit different degrees of change. The findings suggest that institutionally imposed professional development is useful for the development of teachers’ agency, provided PD initiatives are cognizant of teachers’ needs and institutional requirements. The findings of the current study have implications for EFL teachers, teacher trainers or professional development specialists, and language institutes’ administration.

Keywords:

• Agency
• CET program
• EFL teachers
• teacher professional development

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT

These days for many educators, teachers’ professional development or professional learning is a panacea for poor teacher classroom performance and low student achievements. On the one hand, educational leaders rely on teachers’ professional learning to ensure enhancing student learning outcomes. On the other hand, something seems to impede teachers’ professional learning and hamper their ability to use their learning in achieving the stated goals of improving students’ performance. The heart of the matter is that the professional learning programs rarely focus on developing teacher agency. Teacher agency is defined as teachers’ freedom and capacity to act purposefully to direct their own professional growth and contribute actively to the learning of their students. It is from this background that the researchers tried to investigate how a professional learning program developed teacher agency. The findings of this article show that the program developed some aspects of teacher agency. Some recommendations for educators have been given at the end of the paper.

1. Introduction

In recent times, rapid changes in language teaching practices have led to the transformation of teacher development processes. Traditionally, language teacher development is characterized by acquiring externally defined teaching techniques and methodologies (Freeman, 2001), whereas teachers’ cognition and beliefs are ignored in the process (Freeman, 1989; Imig & Imig, 2006). While this trend still prevails, more awareness of teacher development and the complex nature of teacher education have resulted in a shift toward a more critical view of teacher learning (Abedinia, 2012). This new development considers teachers not mere passive technicians who consume others’ theories but also theorize from practice and follow their own theories (Kumaravadivelu, 2003). With this in mind, teacher professional identity over the past decades has emerged as among the most important factors in relation to teacher learning, which involves teachers’ cognition, beliefs, philosophies, and methods (Danielewicz, 2001), and has become a separate research area in teacher education in western countries (Abedinia, 2012; Beijaard et al., 2004; Varghese, 2001). From the socio-cultural perspective, teacher learning is a process of professional identity development rather than mere knowledge and skills acquisition (Nguyen, 2008). Teacher identity is often expressed in terms of teacher agency. Against this backdrop, teacher agency is the focus of teacher learning (Vähäsantanen, 2015) that contributes to teacher effectiveness. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence that teacher learning programs in EFL contexts promote the notion of teacher agency. In the Saudi EFL context, it is seen as a neglected phenomenon, hence, PD programs should consider developing teachers’ pedagogical practices and improving their agency (Almohammadi, 2015; Alsalahi, 2015).

Owing to the shortcomings of the traditional PD programs, three public universities in Saudi Arabia have initiated a Cambridge English Teacher (CET) PD program to address the context-specific professional learning needs of their EFL teachers teaching on a foundation year program. The CET professional development program is distinguished from the traditional approaches of teacher professional development in a sense that this is neither like training nor a traditional professional development, which is generally equated to attending one-shot workshops, seminars, conferences, and short-term courses (Richards & Farrell, 2005). Rather, it is a customized PD program catering to institutional requirements as well as individual needs of the EFL teachers. The current study may offer a solution to the issue of professional development in Saudi EFL context and may pioneer some other research in this area. Considering that Saudi Arabia has EFL teachers from different nationalities, the current study is beneficial for other EFL contexts in the Arab world where teachers are from diverse socio-cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Since teacher agency is a key concept of the current study, the CET may provide a model for transformative EFL teacher professional development. Hence, the findings of the current study serve as a point of departure for conducting interventions into how EFL teachers’ agency improve after participating in an institutionally sanctioned PD program. This study aims to answer the following research question.

RQ. To what extent has the Cambridge English Teacher (CET) professional development program improved the Saudi in-service EFL teacher agency?

1.1. Teacher agency

Before articulating teacher agency, it is important to make a distinction between teacher agency and teacher autonomy. As the boundary between the agency and autonomy is blurry when defined, they are generally used interchangeably by researchers (Tao & Gao, 2021). While establishing that agentive actions are socially and contextually situated, teachers as agents of change exercise their agency in broader educational setups. Teachers’ agency, according to Vahasantanen (2015) refers to teachers’ power and freedom in relation to their profession, including different aspects of teaching and learning. Although teachers exercise agency for several purposes, such as pedagogical, moral, and change (Molla & Nolan, 2020), the scope of the current study behoves to consider teacher agency from three points of view: a) the curriculum reform (Datnow et al., 2002), b) the teaching process (Yang, 2015) the professional development (Noonan, 2016).

Teacher agency in curriculum reform initiates teaching process from within the educational system rather than from outside. A teacher role in curriculum design and implementation makes sure that the changes are based on student needs and grounded in real classroom issues. Also, the process of transforming teachers into curriculum developers helps in bridging gaps between theory and practice.

Teaching process is the prime manifestation of teacher agency; that is teacher’s teaching methodology and preferences for classroom management should be guided by their teaching philosophy and contextual requirements rather than external factors, such as administrative control and pacing restrictions. Finally, teachers’ agentive role in choosing the modes and types of their professional development is based on the contextual requirements and challenges that they face in classroom.

Teacher agency is manifested in several educational undertakings. Noonan (2016) asserts that various kinds of professional development pathways and activities can make teachers more agentive. He categorized teacher agency in relation to professional development in three types: agency over, agency during, and agency emerging from. The dimension of agency over is the teachers’ say in choosing and designing the professional development content and process. The factor of agency during is the teachers’ freedom to steer the discussion and conversation according to challenges they face. And agency emerging from is allowing teachers to select and implement what they learnt during PD activities (Noonan, 2016).

2. Theoretical framework

The current study uses three socio-cultural theories as a theoretical framework since a multiple-theory approach provides a useful lens for investigating teacher agency in relation to learning experiences. The theoretical outlook that has underpinned the current research is based on: a) Vygotsky’s (1978) socio-cultural theory, b) Lave and Wenger’s (1998) communities of practice (CoPs), and c) DuFour’s (2002) professional learning communities (PLCs). Although these three theories complement each other and elucidate teachers’ improvement of agency via professional development, Wenger’s communities of practice theory (1991; 1998) serves as a foundation for the theoretical framework of this study. According to Varghese et al. (2005), “each theory limits one’s perspective on language teacher identity, its formation, and its contexts” (p. 38), hence, a combination of multiple theoretical frameworks provides a more conceptualized picture of teacher agency.

In learning, exercising personal agency is a pre-requisite for transforming and communicating knowledge of cultural practices (Giddens, 1984). Agency also represents teachers’ power and influence in all aspects of their profession because it is among the most crucial components of professional identity (Moore, 2007). At the foundation of Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory is the belief that teachers assert their agency during professional learning (Schluntz, 2018). In CoPs, identity development in social context is through negotiation of meaning by members, as identity is “a way of talking about learning changes who we are and creates personal histories of becoming in the context of our communities” (Wenger, 1998, p. 5).

While positioning agency and its development in CoPs, Wenger (1998) compares CoPs with theories of traditional existing social structures. Long-established historic social theories while lending legitimacy to institutions and social norms, view individual actions as mere realization of the rigid social structures and oftentimes “deny agency or knowledgeability to individual actors” (Wenger, 1998, p. 12). On the contrary, in CoPs the concept of power, identification, or agency is different. On the one hand, agency is a center of social self and social power, while on the other hand it is “rooted in our identities” which derives power from belonging and “exercising control over what we belong to” (Wenger, 1998, p. 207). However, in CoPs agency is negotiated rather than exercised unhindered. Moreover, in CoPs the exercise of agency by individuals legitimizes their participation and contributes to the competence of their organization (Wenger, 1998). That is, individuals’ power, control, and agency are negotiated that contribute to the functioning and competence of an organization. Thus, in CoPs individual agency is neither an uncontrollable power vested in individuals nor a complete lack of it, but a harmonious blend of both.

For Wenger (1998), agency is manifested in the process of reification, identification, and disidentification. Although his initial theory is less vocal regarding the elements of individual identity since the focus is on learning in a community, in his later writing, Wenger (2010) included a new term knowledgeability which describes agency in the process of meaning-making through social interactions. Learning in communities of practice builds teachers’ confidence that provides agency and structure for developing teacher professional identities (Wenger, 1998). Nonetheless, in an institutional setup where professional learning occurs in a structured environment, teacher agency is more explicit in PLCs as they provide teachers the authority and necessitate central leadership to bring changes in teaching practices (Vescio et al., 2008).

2.1. Studies on teacher agency in professional learning

Several studies have attempted to understand teacher agency development through professional learning experiences. These studies have mainly sought to know how the following four aspects of agency have been influenced as a result of teacher learning: a) teacher say in curriculum and syllabus design (Biesta et al., 2015; Lopes & Dambrosio, 2016), b) teacher freedom to implement methods and philosophies (Abedinia, 2012; Dierking & Fox, 2013), c) teacher autonomy in using supplementary materials (Lopes & Dambrosio, 2016), and d) teacher freedom to pursue their continuing professional development goals (Dierking & Fox, 2013; Lopes & Dambrosio, 2016; Mora et al., 2014). Some of these studies have explored more than one teacher agency aspect (e.g., Dierking & Fox, 2013; Lopes & Dambrosio, 2016).

Research shows the influence of professional learning on teacher say in the process of curriculum and syllabus design. For example, using narratives Lopes and Dambrosio (2016) investigated the contribution of a 360-h professional development course to four math teachers’ identity and their agency for different educational acts in the Brazilian context. The findings revealed that teachers after gaining knowledge about implementing alternative teaching methods were more confident and agentive in multiple classroom dimensions and their acts of insubordination. The PD experiences afforded the participants’ opportunities to deviate from the institutional curriculum and approach topics that could connect learners to the real world, as the current curriculum was irrelevant and demotivating. Mindful of the fact that knowledge is not captured by the prevalent tests, the participants developed their own alternative ways of assessment. Contrary to the norms of the school, the participants drew their focus toward planning instructions and adapting effective questioning techniques based on what they learnt in the PD course. Moreover, upon acquiring different techniques in the course, they supplemented their teaching with their own instructional material that would enhance students’ interest in tasks and collaborative engagement. Moreover, the PD course empowered them to work in collaboration and share methods and materials that suit their learning situations, thus the courses paved way for further professional development. The teachers’ renewed professional knowledge allowed them to reconstitute their professional agency by acts of insubordination. It appears that teachers felt empowered to incorporate the practices they gained during the PD course; hence, decision-making and creative thinking became integral elements of their professional identity. While the study employed narrative inquiry method to explore teacher agency of four participants, the current study utilizes a quantitative approach to investigate teacher agency of a large number of language teachers.

In a similar vein, in the Scottish context, Biesta et al. (2015) studied the role of beliefs in teacher agency while using ethnographic research methodology. The results suggest that though beliefs matter in teachers’ work but a mismatch between beliefs and wider institutional discourse hamper teacher agency. The findings also show that teachers during learning experiences and real practices are highly efficient and exhibit large repertoire of skills to render their classroom performance successful despite inevitable social, cultural, and material constraints. They were highly committed to achieving short-term goals, such as introducing innovative forms of pedagogy that were deemed effective for getting their job done. However, due to an apparent mishmash of teachers’ beliefs and the absence of clear institutional sense-making towards education, make the teachers’ long-term goals vague. Therefore, due to unclear educational policies teachers’ agency in curriculum-related matters is hardly seen to work. A structured organized professional development and robust institutional goals are suggested as these are ecological spaces where enhanced teacher agency can be achieved.

Moreover, studies that have explored the influence of professional learning on teacher agency in implementing methods and philosophies teachers learn during PD activities. For example, Abedinia (2012) studied the impact of an EFL teacher education course on Iranian in-service and pre-service teachers’ professional identity. Critical pedagogy served as a theoretical framework for this study and the data was collected through pre- and post-course interviews with seven EFL teachers. This PD course was designed by the author for the sole purpose of reconstructing teachers’ professional identity. Since EFL teacher education in Iran is transmission oriented which does not consider teachers’ voices and beliefs, teacher learning fails to contribute to teacher professional identity development. The data shows that teachers’ self-efficacy believes were transformed after taking part in the course by redefining their teacher self and reprioritizing their professional responsibilities. Towards the end of the course, teachers seemed to have included their voices in teaching affairs instead of conforming to the status quo. Consequently, their awareness raising transformed their agency. Although, the study explored the development of teacher agency as part of teachers’ professional identity as a result of participating in a course, there is no mention of how these changes were translated into their teaching practices and, in turn, into student learning. In a more recent study, Edwards (2019) found that during and after participating in an action research program, ESL teachers enacted their agency mediated by their would-be self and social and institutional political environments.

Likewise, Dierking and Fox (2013) studied the impact of a 2-year long writing professional development course on middle school writing teachers in the US. The authors examined the effect of a week-long professional development course on teachers’ perceptions of teaching, collegiality, and their sense of empowerment. The findings indicate that because of revived interest in learning through professional development, teachers gained confidence in applying theories and practices that make classes more productive and communicative. Due to an attitudinal change, teachers were able to take their own decisions about their teaching and were assured of the outcomes of their strategies. In addition to being empowered in their teaching, teachers also gained confidence in furthering their professional development in communities of experts.

Literature also indicates that professional learning enhances teacher agency in furthering teachers’ continuous professional goals. For example, Van Dusen et al. (2012) investigated the professional development of teachers in Streamline to Mastery project, a five-year professional development program. The project was a partnership between teachers and university researchers wherein the participants designed professional development programs for themselves and other teachers. The study employed Wenger’s (1998) CoP as a theoretical framework to inquire into the participants’ teaching practices, challenges, and the growth that occurred through developing leadership skills. The participants’ reflections on lessons, surveys, and videotaped PD events, email threads and interviews of the teachers were analyzed. The findings suggest that during the project the participants’ understanding of their teaching appeared to evolve, and their views about the academic leadership changed as they experienced a shift from a hierarchical community in which the researchers were deemed as a source and the teachers as mere recipients of knowledge to an egalitarian role where both benefit from each other’s shared knowledge. The study recommends that CoPs should be established where change might happen. This change should be relevant to the teachers’ context and teaching particularities. Secondly, it is stressed that the meaningful expertise for professional development should be initiated by teachers themselves rather than outside experts. In this study, the courses investigated came into being through professional collaboration network, while in the current study professional development program was designed and implemented by Cambridge University trainers. In addition, Mora et al. (2014) demonstrated a close relationship between professional development and teacher identity. In this study, the certificates awarded at the conclusion of the PD not only served as a credential but also a more pro-active approach to further PD in more agentive way. After participating in the PD, the teachers became more aware of their PD needs and therefore their decisions about furthering and sustaining PD were more informed.

3. The CET Professional development program

In the backdrop of the current socio-political changes in Saudi Arabia, at least three public Universities have initiated CET professional development program to enhance EFL instructors’ pedagogical knowledge and improve their instructional practices. The CET course comprised five phases: 1) online courses were completed by the entire faculty; 2) end-of-module assignment projects were submitted by the participants; 3) face-to-face training sessions were conducted; 4) selected CET participants were given the train-the-trainer (T-t-T) course to replace Cambridge trainers at the end of the training cycle; and 5) faculty training roles and responsibilities were shifted from Cambridge trainers to institutional trainers in a cascade manner. The focus of this study is on the first three phases of the CET that involves the professional development of language teachers in the Saudi EFL context.

The CET program involved various forms of professional learning experiences, such as expert training, teacher collaboration, classroom teaching, peer-observations, group discussions, self-reflection, and reading professional literature. The areas covered in the course were differentiated instruction, classroom management, classroom interaction, giving instructions, teaching language skills, teaching vocabulary, using language learning games in the classroom, learning strategies, student autonomy, students culture sensitivities, classroom observation, lesson planning, designing courses, adapting textbook materials, teacher collaboration, teachers’ autonomy and agency, and outlining future professional development goals.

4. Methodology

4.1. Retrospective pre-test/post-test method

In the current study, quantitative data was collected via a survey questionnaire using retrospective pre-test/post-test method, which is a commonly used method to evaluate learning, such as professional development and training programs. In this one-shot study, data was collected from the respondents on their attitudes, beliefs and learning before and after the intervention (Russ-Eft & Preskill, 2009). This method is applied when two ratings, pre and post are required following the intervention stage, as shown in Figure 1. In the same tool, first rating refers to the self-report before the initiative whereas the second rating is about the perceptions and experiences after the initiative. This method was first discussed by Campbell and Stanely (1963) wherein the participants’ knowledge and behavior were studied before and after an intervention program.

Figure 1. Retrospective Pre-test and Post-test Adapted from: Bennett (1984)

The retrospective pre-test/post-test method is considered superior to the standard pre-test/post-test method for many reasons. Educational programs are evaluated by the traditional pre-test and post-test method through which the data is collected before and after the programs. However, to overcome several deficiencies of this traditional method, retrospective pre-test/post-test tool was introduced and administered at the end of a program in which the responses were contemporaneous. In contrast, the standard pre-test/post-test tools were implemented twice: before the program and after the program (Posavac & Carey, 1997). However, the researchers identified a problem of response shift bias with the standard pre-test/post-test design (e.g., Pratt et al., 2000). Response shift bias occurs when the participants believe that they know when they actually do not. One of the reasons postulated for the introduction of retrospective pre-test/post-test method was to eliminate the response shift bias. Several studies have confirmed this claim of retrospective pre-test/post-test counteracting the bias effect (e.g., Lam & Bango, 2003; ; Pratt et al., 2000; Rohs, 2002). In addition, studies have reported a higher validity measure for retrospective pre-test/post-test as compared to the standard pre-test/post-test (Hoogstraten, 1982; Moore & Tananis, 2009). In a most recent study by Borg et al. (2018), it was observed that after taking part in professional development teachers’ confidence in using English was lower at the exit survey (post-test) than the baseline survey (pre-test). As traditional pretest/posttest measures were used, Borg et al. (2018) concluded that “at baseline teachers’ ratings were unrealistically high and at end-project they had a better understanding of how much they did not know” (p. 204). This reemphasizes the importance and validity of retrospective pretest/posttest method over the traditional one. Finally, between the two methods, retrospective pre-test/post-test is more cost-effective as the participants respond only once (Neilson, 2011). This methodology is given preference over the traditional pretest and posttest to reduce the limitations of the later (Campbell & Stanely, 1963;).

4.2. Sampling

The participants in the current study are EFL teachers from three different universities who teach English as a foreign language to foundation year students. The foundation year has four instructional modules, correlated with Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), and each module consists of 7–8 weeks. The foundation year is designed to help learners achieve an intermediate level of English language proficiency. Qualified EFL instructors deliver English language components to the preparatory year program across Saudi Arabia. EFL instructors are expected to demonstrate a high level of pedagogical competence in ELT and TESOL as well as to exhibit effective classroom management skills. For these purposes, faculty members are provided intensive PD opportunities around the academic year. CET program is one such endeavor wherein participation for the EFL instructors is mandatory in all three universities. The participants of the study were 120 EFL teachers who participated in the CET. A convenience sampling criterion was chosen, as all the male EFL teachers who participated in the CET program in three universities were selected (Creswell & Creswell, 2018; Mertens, 2010). Access to female participants was not possible due to a segregated educational system in Saudi Arabia.

4.3. Demographic data of the participants

Table 1 contains sampling characteristics of 120 EFL teachers, including age, academic credentials, language teaching qualification, EFL experience, length of stay in Saudi Arabia and their linguistic background.

Table 1. Sampling characteristics of quantitative questionnaire participants

Sampling Characteristics	Categories	%	N
Age	25–34	10.8%	13
	35–44	43.3%	52
	45–54	38.3%	46
	55–64	7.5%	9	120
Highest Academic Credentials	BA	20.8%	25
	MA	63.3%	76
	PhD	15.8%	19	120
EFL Qualification	CELTA/DELTA	32.5%	39
	MA/BA TESOL	49.2%	59
	MA English	18.3%	22	120
EFL Experience	3–4 years	0.8%	1
	5–9 years	15.8%	19
	10–15 years	40.8%	49
	16–25 years	32.5%	39
	> 25 years	10.0%	12	120
Length of stay in KSA	1–2 years	10.0%	12
	3–4 years	13.3%	16
	5–9 years	50.0%	60
	10–15 years	25.0%	30
	> 15 years	1.7%	2	120
Linguistic Background	NS	20.8%	25
	NNAS	35.0%	42
	NNNAS	44.2%	53	120

The respondents who participated in the CET course, ranged in age from 25 to 64 with a median age range of 35–44. 98% of them were in 35–54 age range. Of 120 participants, 24 (21.3%) had BA, 77 (63.1%) had MA, and 19 (15.6%) had PhD, the highest educational credentials. Of the 120 participants who participated in this study, 39 (32.5%) had CELTA or DELTA or both, 59 (49.2%) had MA TESOL/Applied Linguistics, BA TESOL/Applied Linguistics, or both as ELT qualification. The remaining participants 22 (18.3%) had MA English Language or MA English Language and Literature.

Of 120 participants, 12 (10%) had more than 25 years, 39 (32.5%) had 16–25 years, 49 (40.8%) had 10–15 years, 19 (15.8%) had 5–9 years, and only 1 (8.0%) had 3–4 years of EFL teaching experience. Their median experience range is 10–15 years with the vast majority (n = 88) having 10–25 years of teaching English as a foreign language experience.

Of 120 participants, 2 (1.7%) had more than 15 years, 30 (25%) had 10–15 years, 60 (50%) had 5–9 years, 16 (13.3%) had 3–4 years, and 12 (10%) had 1–2 years teaching experience at the ELI. The data indicates that half of the participants had the Saudi experience in the range of 5–9 years. Of 120 participants, 25 (20.8%) were native speakers, 42 (35%) were non-native Arabic speakers, and 53 (44.2%) were non-native non-Arabic speakers. More than 50% are non-native non-Arabic speakers.

4.4. TAQ questionnaire

The current study explored the impact of an in-service professional development program on EFL teacher agency. As part of the pre-experimental design (Cohen et al., 2018), a retrospective Teacher Agency Questionnaire (TAQ) was designed keeping in view the literature on EFL teachers’ agency constructs. Quantitative questionnaire, being one of the most widely accepted quantitative method, was used to study simple issues, such as demographic information as well as complex phenomena, such as attitudes and beliefs (Alreck & Settle, 2004).

4.5. Quantitative questionnaire development

Survey research owes its significance in social sciences to its ability in measuring as simple concepts as demographic features to as complex phenomena as beliefs, attitudes, and intentions (Alreck & Settle, 2004). The questionnaire, which is called Teacher Agency Questionnaire (TAQ) used for this study comprised two sections. Section A has six questions asking the participants about their demographic features: their age, academic credentials, ELT qualification, EFL experience, length of stay in Saudi Arabia, and their being native or non-native speakers of English. Section B, the main section of the questionnaire, consists of five items requesting the participants to measure their agency as EFL teachers before and after doing the CET course.

4.6. Validity of the TAQ questionnaire

Validity of a research tool refers to the degree to which it measures what it purports to measure. The validity of the questionnaire used in this study was established through passing a rigorous process outlined in the literature. In the first phase, the preliminary form of the questionnaire was sent to a panel of experts for reviewing it to identify the question problems and other potential errors in the questionnaire (Olsen, 2011). When a panel of experts review and approve a questionnaire item, this is referred to face validity. In addition, expert review of a questionnaire is a pretesting method (Esposito & Rothgeb, 1997) and identifies structural linguistic errors in questions (Schnell & Frauke, 2005). Thus, in the current study, the researchers consulted a panel of six experts (Olsen, 2011) who had extensive research and teaching experience in the domains of teacher professional development and teacher identity development. All six experts were assistant or associate professors employed in leading universities in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, and England. The experts were requested to judge the questionnaire items against the research objectives and research questions. As all the reviewers were based in different institutions, their opinions were taken independently. Some areas of concern were identified unanimously by the reviewers, such as ambiguous and double-barrel statements and the format of the quantitative questionnaire; however, all six reviewers highlighted different aspects of the questionnaire to be reconsidered.

In the second phase, the content validity of the questionnaire was established, which pertains to the degree to which the elements or attributes of an instrument are representative of the construct of interest (Haynes et al., 1995). Content validity is evidence to establish the degree to which a tool adequately measures and samples the area of interest (Wynd et al., 2003). Therefore, the current questionnaire was designed to adequately sample the EFL teachers’ agency with regard to the in-service professional development activities.

4.7. Reliability of TAQ questionnaire

For reliability and consistency, research tools are measured. To assess a questionnaire’s reliability, Cronbach’s Alpha is employed which determines statistical measure of the instrument (Kadwa, 2012). A reliability score of 0.77 is considered fairly strong for an instrument’s reliability measure. To demonstrate a questionnaire’s reliability in the current study, Cronbach’s alpha was calculated for the constructs of agency. Cronbach α denotes an estimate of the internal consistency of questionnaire which was 0.954 for the questionnaire used in the current study. This result suggests that the overall scale has a high internal consistency (Onwuegbuzie et al., 2000). It also shows a very strong reliability of the agency construct, as shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Internal consistency (Cronbach’s α)

Variable	No: of items	α Before	α After
Agency	5	0.816	0.846

4.8. Conducting quantitative questionnaire

The questionnaire link was sent via email to 120 male participants who had completed the CET course. Only 50 responses were received in the first week. To facilitate a better response rate, a follow-up email was sent to the participants, which resulted in 40 more responses. Finally, 30 more responses were received when in a third attempt, the non-respondents were sent the questionnaire link through a WhatsApp message. Thus, disseminating the questionnaire through multiple channels helped in obtaining maximum responses (N = 120). The retrospective pre-test and post-test (RPP) responses were pulled from the online questionnaire system and entered into SPSS for analysis.

5. Results

5.1. Teacher Agency Questionnaire (TAQ) analysis

The following statistical analysis techniques were employed to analyze TAQ data: basic descriptive statistics, normality test, and Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test.

5.1.1. TAQ analysis

The TAQ questionnaire was conducted to measure the EFL teachers’ perceptions before and after the CET course. Table 3 describes results of descriptive statistics of the before and after data to measure changes in the teachers’ agency after completing the CET course.

Table 3. Descriptive statistics of the five agency items: PRE and POST

Attributes		PRE		POST
	N	Mean	Std. Deviation	Mean	Std. Deviation
Teacher agency	120	3.3750	0.84319	3.5750	0.97138

As can be seen in Table 3, the after mean scores are greater than the before mean scores with regard to the teacher agency, which indicates that EFL teachers’ agency enhanced after the CET program. Percentages and inferential statistics are given in the sections that follow.

5.2. Normality tests for the pre and post data

The K-S test was used to determine whether the data was normally distributed.

As can be seen in Table 4, the K-S test’s results indicated that the data violated the normality assumptions. Since the p-values for all five attributes are less than 0.05 and there is not enough evidence to accept that no change occurred between the pre and post scores; therefore, to compare the differences between the pre and post score the use of a non-parametric test was justified.

Table 4. K-S Test for the PRE and POST Measures

	N	PRE		POST
Constructs		K-S Z	Sig. (2-tailed)	K-S Z	Sig. (2-tailed)
Teacher agency	120	1.426	.034	1.396	.041

Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test is used for dependent samples and is the parametric equivalent for the dependent sample t-test. In the case of dependent samples, as in before and after using the same subject and sample, it is recommended to use the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test instead of the t-test (Bluman, 1997), provided the normality assumption is not considered. As in the current study, the data was collected retrospectively from the same group for two points, before the course and after the course, the samples are not independent. Hence, the use of the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test is the most viable option.

5.3. Teacher agency

In this section, the before and after data were compared to find the difference between the two scores on teacher agency. The TAQ questionnaire presents EFL teacher agency in four categories: Item 1: teachers’ say in curriculum and syllabus designing; Item 2: teacher agency in their supplementary materials; Item 3 and 4: teachers’ voice in pursuing their professional development goals and pathways; and Item 5: teachers’ autonomy implementing teaching methods and techniques learnt in PD

Table 5 shows descriptive statistics of before and after data on teacher agency. The data revealed that the after percentages of agree and strongly agree are higher than the before percentages of agree and strongly agree on teacher agency.

Table 5. Frequencies of individual items on teacher agency

TEACHER AGENCY
		PRE					POST
No	TAQ Item	SD%	D%	N%	A%	SA%	SD%	D%	N%	A%	SA%
	My institution seeks my input in curriculum and syllabus designing.	15.0	10.0	34.2	28.3	12.5	15.8	8.3	25.8	29.2	20.8
	I am free to use my own supplementary materials to enhance student learning.	8.3	15.0	24.2	37.5	15.0	10.0	12.5	21.7	32.5	23.3
	My institution seeks my opinion regarding the contents and modes of my professional development.	12.5	15.0	37.5	27.5	7.5	22.3	18.0	20.3	26.2	13.2
	I am free to choose my professional learning pathways.	5.8	8.3	30.0	39.2	16.7	8.3	6.7	22.5	35.8	26.7
	I can implement the techniques and methods learnt during professional development sessions.	3.3	6.7	20.0	43.3	26.7	4.2	4.2	14.2	24.2	53.3

As shown in Table 6, the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test results indicated that post-test ranks were statistically and significantly higher than pre-test ranks (Z = −3.061, p < .000). Hence, the findings show that EFL teacher agency was significantly improved as a result of the CET course. Since the results indicated a marked increase in scores from the before test to the after test, it means that the EFL teachers’ agency was enhanced after their participation in the CET program.

Table 6. Results of Wilcoxon signed rank test on teacher agency

TEACHER AGENCY
	Ranks	Mean Ranks	Sum of Ranks	Z	Sig. (2-tailed)
Negative	9	24.78	223.00	−3.061	.002
Positive	33	20.61	680.00
Ties	78
Total	120

Negative = POST<PRE, Positive = POST>PRE, Ties = POST = PRE- b. Based on negative ranks

5.4. Effect size of the five EFL Teacher agency attributes

A significant change was seen between the pre and post scores; however, to know how much identity change is attributed to the professional development intervention, R² is measured. R² determines the percentage of change affected by independent variable. Cohen’s (1988) conventions for the effect size are given in Table 7. In the current study, independent variable is the CET professional development. Furthermore, to identify the relative importance of the five attributes, beta coefficients are measured. Beta coefficients measure show how strongly each attribute influences the overall dependent variable. Thus, the higher the beta value, the stronger the impact of a variable is on the target variable.

Table 7. Conventions for effect size (Cohen, 1988)

Effect Size Coefficient	Convention
0.01–0.08	Small
0.09–0.24	Medium
> 0.25	Large

As can be seen in Table 8, in the current study R² for POST measure is .85, which indicates that 85% of the change is caused by the CET to five teacher agency attributes. Moreover, the standardized Beta coefficient of each attribute suggests that, relative to each other, “TAQ Item-1” exerted large influence; whereas each the rest of the four attributes exerted medium influence on teacher agency.

Table 8. Effect size of five teacher agency attributes—POST

Coefficients^a
Constructs		Unstandardized Coefficients		Standardized Coefficients	t	Sig.
		B	Std. Error	Beta
	(Constant)	−.324	.196		−1.668	.098
	TPIQ Item-1 POST	.278	.084	.244	3.381	.001
	TPIQ Item-2 POST	.178	.061	.193	2.885	.005
	TPIQ Item-3 POST	.253	.085	.221	2.917	.004
	TPIQ Item-4 POST	.257	.073	.235	3.351	.001
	TPIQ Item-5 POST	.152	.052	.163	2.962	.004
	R Squared POST = .85
a. Dependent Variable: Overall POST

6. Discussion

The results of the study suggest that the CET had some positive effects on teacher agency. The data has revealed that the POST mean score (M = 3.57, SD = .97) is higher than the PRE mean score (M = 3.37, SD = 0.84). A similar pattern was obtained by Lopes and Dambrosio (2016) who found that the renewed professional knowledge of teachers allowed them to reconstitute their professional agency by acts of insubordination. Overall, these findings are in accordance with findings reported by Mora et al. (2014) who concluded that institutional professional learning was a conduit for the participants’ continuing professional development that they deemed appropriate in their teaching context. Likewise, Abram (2019) found that student teachers became self-aware of their teaching and PD goals after participating in teacher education program. However, when comparing the findings of the current study with those of the aforementioned studies, it is worth mentioning that all of them were conducted in non-Arab EFL contexts.

In relation to the impact of CET on teacher agency, the current study represents the EFL teacher agency in four constructs: a) teachers’ say in curriculum and syllabus, b) implementing teaching methods and techniques learnt in PD, c) using teacher designed supplementary materials, and d) teachers’ voice in pursuing their professional development goals and pathways (Noonan, 2016). As shown in the data, teacher agency was affected by the CET course but not to a great extent.

6.1. Teachers’ say in curriculum and syllabus designing

In response to the TAQ item 1: The ELI seeks my input in curriculum and syllabus designing, 9.2% increase in agreeing and strongly agreeing responses on five-point Likert scale (pre 40.8%, post 50%) was resulted. The effect sizes indicate that the TAQ item 1 contributed the most to teachers’ agency enactment. This finding contradicts the results of Lopes and Dambrosio (2016) who found that the PD experiences afforded the participants opportunities to deviate from the institutional curriculum and approach topics that could connect learners to the real world, as the curriculum was irrelevant and demotivating for students. Nevertheless, the participants of the current study do not seem to completely reject the current syllabus, but they yearned for their say in curriculum design and syllabus selection. In contrast, the finding is in accordance with conclusion arrived by Biesta et al. (2015) who elaborated that due to the lack of clear institutional policy towards students’ learning, teachers despite possessing a large repertoire of teaching strategies, are unable to exercise their agency in curriculum and syllabus. In line with the findings of Vähäsantanen (2015), the findings of the current study revealed that teachers’ boundary crossing and increased intentionality (Wenger, 1998) in curriculum is vital for developing the practices of education and teacher identity. It is recommended that institutional goals should be made clear and then professional development initiatives should be aligned with broader institutional goals without hindering teachers’ agency and empowerment.

6.1.1. Teachers’ agency in their supplementary materials

The current study also examined teachers’ agency change in using their supplementary materials to cover the deficiency of textbooks or provide tailored activities and tasks to cater to students’ different learning styles and needs. The findings indicate that there was a minor change, between pre and post results. In response to the TAQ questionnaire item 2: I am free to use my own supplementary materials to enhance student learning, a mere 3.3% increase in agreeing and strongly agreeing responses on five-points Likert scale (pre 52.5%, post 55.8%) was resulted. This is the lowest change among all 22 items of TAQ questionnaire.

In the researchers’ view, teachers’ resentment toward institutional check on unhindered use of supplementary materials may stem from their pre-CET beliefs and practices. While observing classes, some teachers would go adrift and would bring activities to their lesson that would not only run counter to the main teaching goals of that particular lesson but would also affect the validity of existing textbook tasks and activities outlined for that specific day. Therefore, more research is needed to investigate the role of professional development courses regarding the use of supplementary material in the presence of a set curriculum and syllabus in place.

6.2. Teachers’ voice in pursuing their professional development goals and pathways

As indicated in the literature review, professional development is not only an agent of change in teachers’ current roles and responsibilities but also a tool to equip and empower them to reframe their professional future self by pursuing their continuing professional development. The current study shows that teacher agency in following their professional development pathways was also seen to have changed, though to a lesser degree, after their participation in the CET. In response to the TAQ questionnaire item 3: The ELI seeks my opinion regarding the contents and modes of my professional development, 4.4% increase in agreeing and strongly agreeing responses on five-point Likert scale (pre 35%, post 39.4%) was resulted. Similarly, in response to the TAQ questionnaire item 4: I am free to choose my professional learning pathways, 6.6% increase in agreeing and strongly agreeing responses on five-points Likert scale (pre 55.9%, post 62.5%) was resulted.

Insignificant change in the participants’ agency in following their own professional development as shown in the current study contradicts the findings of the existing literature (Dierking & Fox, 2013; Dusen et al., 2012; Lopes & Dambrosio, 2016; Mora et al., 2014). Dierking and Fox (2013) found that after the PD courses teachers were empowered to engage in their own professional learning by forming communities of practice wherein learning goals and procedures were devised by teachers rather than the administration or any external body. The only hindering factor was time constraint and not administrative control. Similarly, Dusen et al. (2012) explored the impact of a professional development course, which was designed by the university researchers and faculty members on teachers’ agency. It was found that the participants’ understanding about inquiry into their teaching appeared to evolve after the course and subsequently their reliance on researchers was diminished. The participants’ control over their PD initiatives indicates that meaningful expertise for professional development should reside within the teachers.

As reviewed in literature, the current PD regime in the Saudi EFL context is institutionally driven and highly structured encompassing institutional vision and requirements. Similarly, in line with the current study’s findings, Alsalahi (2015) acknowledges the fact that for identity legitimacy in professional development teachers should not be considered empty jars to be filled with professional learning; however, PD in the Saudi EFL context instead of merely relying on individuals’ needs should take on board institutions’ requirements as well.

Based on the findings of the current study, it can be stated that when teaching is based on following a specific curriculum and a tight institutional pacing guide, individual professional development needs should be reconciled with institutional requirements (Myers & Clark, 2002). In the current study, the participants’ displeasure over their lack of agency in their continuing PD is indicative of the fact that the Saudi universities intend to streamline teacher learning pathways and align them to the broader institutional framework. The proposition that knowledge is co-constructed and co-shared in communities of practice is challenged when teachers feel restricted to implement what they believe useful for their practice; however, the findings are in line with the notion of negotiability of identification (agency) in Wenger’s (1998) Communities of practice. The findings show that EFL teacher agency in the Saudi context is a harmonious blend of teachers’ freedom and institutional structure. Furthermore, identity development does not necessarily count on what we can do but also on what we cannot do, as Wenger (1998) states “we not only produce our identities through the practices we engage in, but we also define ourselves through the practices we do not engage in. Our identities are constituted not only by what we are but also by what we are not” (p. 164).

6.3. Teachers’ autonomy implementing teaching methods and techniques learnt in PD

The quantitative data indicate that teachers’ agency in implementing teaching methods and techniques that they learn during various PD channels and deem appropriate in their teaching context have changed. In response to the TAQ questionnaire item 5: I can implement the techniques and methods learnt during professional development sessions, only 7.5% increase in agreeing and strongly agreeing responses on five-points Likert scale (pre 70%, post 77.5%) was resulted.

The findings related to teacher agency in implementing methods and techniques learned in professional development corroborates the results of Dierking and Fox (2013) whose findings indicate that after the PD, the teachers’ teaching of writing skills became more communicative which was the prime aim of the PD course, and after behavioral changes teachers’ actions were more agentive in choosing methods that would render students learning more communicative. Also, this finding is in line with the findings of Lopes and Dambrosio (2016) who found out that as a result of gaining new knowledge and self-confidence, the course participants felt a sense of renewed freedom to use methods and techniques that they considered more appropriate in a given teaching situation. Moreover, Lopes and Dambrosio (2016) findings revealed that teachers realized that the existing testing regime failed to capture students’ knowledge; therefore, they devised innovative ways to test students’ competencies in various ways. This finding is also in line with those of Edwards (2019). Edwards (2019) investigated that an action research professional development program equipped ESL teachers with tools for the enactment of their teacher agency. The findings of the current study, however, do not indicate teachers’ displeasure towards prevalent testing system nor do they explicitly mention of weaknesses in assessment. The researchers speculate that this might be due to the presence of a robust testing and assessment units in Saudi universities, which are almost “teacher proof”.

This finding is in contradiction with those of Biesta et al. (2015) who found that teachers were unable to incorporate their learning from professional development in their actual practice due to ambiguous institutional goals. No such claims regarding institutional vague goals towards student learning outcomes were made by the participants in the current study. From this standpoint, it could be speculated that the CET was launched after a thorough needs analysis from the administration point of view. The researchers believe that teachers’ willingness to embrace techniques offered in CET may stem from the notion that institutional goals, curriculum demands, teachers’ teaching aims, and students’ learning goals seem to work in concert.

7. Conclusions, limitations, and future research

The current study has investigated the influence of the CET program on EFL teacher agency in various educational matters: designing curriculum and syllabus, implementing teaching methods learnt in PD, using teacher designed supplementary material, and pursuing their PD goals and pathways. Concerning teachers’ say in curriculum and syllabus, the data showed that the participants gained knowledge in these areas and to a certain degree the institutes sought their opinions in designing and selecting specific syllabi. However, a vast majority of the participants reported that they are unable to play an active role in the above-mentioned domains due to the administration’s lack of confidence in them. Teachers believed that their involvement in curriculum and syllabus design is crucial as they play a leading role in teaching.

However, the participants mentioned complete freedom to implement methods and techniques they learnt during the CET. The administration seemed more confident of teachers’ competence in using advanced teaching tools. This manifests that teachers’ newly acquired methods and techniques are in line with institutions’ goals and policies. In contrast, teachers were constrained to use supplementary materials to cover the deficiencies of existing textbooks, even though the CET expanded their skills in creating their own activities to augment students’ engagement and learning. The findings revealed that earlier teachers’ use of supplementary materials were detrimental to achieving teaching goals. The current study suggested a more cautious approach to using supplementary materials.

Besides the above-mentioned teacher agency factors, teacher agency in pursuing their own professional development goals as a result of taking part in the CET was also studied. The participants revealed that they became aware of their professional development needs, but the institutes still seem reluctant to involve them in needs analysis process and instead go for imposed PD. Nonetheless, the findings suggest that teachers being demotivated are unable to identify their PD goals; therefore, PD is designed based on the administrations’ needs analysis.

To investigate EFL teacher enactment as they participated in a professional development program, the researchers believe the current study was conducted in the best possible manner; however, several limitations must be acknowledged. Firstly, the scope of the research findings could have been enlarged by involving the female colleagues; however, due to gender segregation policy implemented in the KAU and other educational institutes the researcher was unable to approach our female colleagues who had undertaken the same course at the same time. This is to be admitted that a couple of studies conducted in this context have engaged both genders, but this largely depends on researchers’ social position and social relations. Secondly, this limitation deals with social desirability bias since the researchers are academic coordinators at the ELI and respondents could have answered the questions in a manner, which may be viewed favourable by the administration. Had the questionnaire been conducted by an instructor, the results might have been different. The final limitation in the current study is reliance on teachers’ self-report data. Although self-report generates rich information and captures participants’ experiences, ideas, beliefs, and feelings in the best possible manner (Pualhus & Vazire, 2007), sometimes concerns about truthfulness and completeness of data are raised. However, the researchers made all possible efforts to cultivate trust and rapport with the participants. Also, they were experienced EFL teachers who were motivated to express their thoughts and feelings about their professional learning experiences.

The findings of the current study have deepened understandings of the nature of teacher agency and its relation to professional learning experiences. The evidence obtained have offered valuable insights into EFL teachers’ teacher agency. The findings of this study warrant that more research is needed in the realm of EFL teacher agency in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, as it is unfortunate that teacher identity is ignored in one of the largest EFL contexts.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no direct funding for this research.

Notes on contributors

Sayyed Rashid Shah

To develop a strong professional identity in the Arabian Gulf is a challenging phenomenon for non-native English-speaking language teachers. Despite having a strong academic background with western qualifications, EFL teachers often struggle to shape a strong professional identity while teaching English language in the Arab world. Since the authors of the article have been involved in training EFL teachers in Saudi Arabia, they investigate various crucial issues related to teacher professional learning and development in the EFL context. The findings reported in this article illustrate the significance of teacher agency that is integral to teaching and learning outcomes. They further indicate how a Cambridge Teacher Development Program contributes to EFL teachers’ agency. The article is based on the continued research interest of the authors who have published several studies on language teacher identity, teacher leadership, and teacher professional development. Their current research activities include investigating reflective practices and identity development of EFL teacher leaders in the Arabian Gulf.