SELF AND GROUP INITIATED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PURSUITS OF EFL TEACHERS

Teachers‟ quality plays a paramount role in the improvement of education quality. One of the ways to ensure high quality teachers is through effective continuous professional development for teachers. This present study is aimed to explore how EFL teachers develop their professionalism, particularly in terms of pedagogical and professional competencies. This research involved seven outstanding English teachers teaching at junior and senior high schools from two different areas covering one municipality and a district in Cirebon. The result showed that there are two main themes of professional development pursuits of the outstanding teachers comprising of self-initiated or individual and group professional development activities.


INTRODUCTION
Professional development (PD, hereafter) in an academic setting is believed to be a means to sustain and to enhance the quality of education effectively with continuing changes.Recently, there has been a great interest in the discussion of teachers and professional development by several researchers, educational practitioners, and teachers (Amin, 2013;Anugerahwati & Saukah, 2010;Hussein, 2012;Khan, 2011;Mustofa, 2010;Qing, 2010;Simegn, 2014).This may indicate that teacher professional developments along with the needs for ongoing renewal of professional skills and knowledge is seen as the cornerstone of teachers" professionalism and quality (Lee, 2011).Thus, in this sense, Johnson and Golombek (2011) concluded that teacher professional development is a key to improve the quality of student learning and the ultimate goal of any educational enterprises.
In the English Language Teaching (ELT) context, some scholars (Chan, 2011;Karimi, 2011;Kasi, 2011;Lee, 2011;Meng & Tajaroensuk, 2013;Wati, 2011) investigated various programs concerning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher professional development.They examined several effective approaches to teachers" involvement in PD programs such as seminars, pre-service teachers programs, teachers training programs, workshops and other similar activities.Their findings suggest that it is necessary for the teachers, as professionals, to keep updated and at least to maintain their professionalism in responding to new educational paradigms and trends.
In response to the current needs and trends on the ELT context, some researchers (Qing, 2009;Su, Yang, & Hsioa, 2010;Wati, 2011;Wichadee, 2011) tried to contribute by providing new insights, approaches, strategies and some practical ways concerning professional development for teachers to go along with the teachers" needs.According to Zuheer (2013), developing EFL teachers' performance dealing with many related fields and needs such as the abilities and skills becomes very important.
Therefore, professional development program held in fulfilling teachers" needs can be valuable for teachers to improve their quality.
Many effective strategies and activities such as reflective inquiry, individual and collaborative teacher professional development programs can be implemented to upgrade teachers" performance and competencies.With regard to the activities, Raza (2010) 2007) concepts pertaining to knowledge and skills of good English teachers including technical knowledge (subject matter), pedagogical skills, interpersonal skills and personal qualities.These knowledge, skills and competencies are necessary to shape qualified and professional teachers.Therefore, teachers are required to have a great recognition in developing their competencies due to it is part of their responsibilities as professionals.
Professional teachers in general must possess the required competencies to be qualified.Many teachers believe that good teachers are indicated with how much teaching experiences the teachers have.However, Rodríguez and McKay (2010) believed that experienced teachers are not always better than less experienced teachers yet experienced teachers frequently manage their classrooms more effectively than less experienced teachers.In this respect, both novice and experienced teachers are required to have standard competencies to be professional teachers.
According to Ramadhani, Ancok, Swasono, and Suryanto (2012), qualified teachers are those who show a high commitment to their profession as teachers.The teachers are required to have the ability to take the initiative and be innovative in utilizing media of learning, must have ability to communicate clearly and pleasantly, should be able to facilitate learning process which involves planning effectively, establishing rules that are reasonable and not excessive in number, and arranging the classroom so that learning instructions go smoothly.In the light of the previous studies concerning professional EFL teachers, Amin (2013) pointed out not only the factors influencing teachers, but also the trajectory of EFL teachers to become professional and unprofessional.In addition, some other studies (Anugerahwati, 2009;Husein, 2014;Kolo, 2006;Liando, 2010) showed specific features of outstanding EFL teachers such as the portraits of effective teachers, the best teacher characteristics, the ideal teachers or exemplary teachers of EFL.The notions of the journey, the portraits, the best characteristics, and the ideal professional English teachers have provided distinct quality of EFL teachers in the Indonesian context.However, their professional development pursuits have been less discussed, particularly in terms of the ways of teachers conduct their competencies both individual and collaborative activities.Therefore, it is necessary to look into how exemplary English teachers negotiate with their situations to sustain their current professionalism.

IJEE (Indonesian
Based on the elaboration of the problems, the research question is formulated into: "how do exemplary EFL teachers develop their pedagogical and professional (subject-matter) competencies in their professional development activities?"This study is aimed to investigate how exemplary teachers develop their competencies and to reveal problems and expectations in undertaking some professional development activities due to their responsibilities mandated in the law and regulation.In addition, it is believed that the exemplary EFL teachers could demonstrate their sturdy commitments for their professionalism to inspire novice or inexperienced teachers and be good models worth imitating.
The significance of this study is to provide new insights to the existing theories of exemplary teachers and contribute to a wider perspective on professional development for EFL teachers. of the researcher, as the key instrument, was very crucial.The data were collected through in-depth interviews, documentary sources and classroom observation checklists.The data also were collected from other sources such as subjects" colleagues, teachers" supervisors and the classroom observation.These various sources of data were necessary and useful in providing a measure of triangulation which is an essential component in all qualitative research studies as this adds to both the truthfulness and the reliability of the findings (Creswell, 2012).

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The findings showed that there are clear substantial patterns of PD activities conducted by the exemplary EFL teachers in terms of pedagogical and subject matter competencies.The categories were divided into two main themes, including institutional and non-institutional PD pursuits in the form of individual (self-initiated) and collaborative (group-initiated).From the data obtained, these collaborative activities have contributed to subjects" professionalism in improving their quality.Thus, they can be worthy recommendations for other teachers to apply some activities that have been empirically performed by all subjects.

Regarding
In terms of non-institutional PD activities, the subjects shared some activities, such as getting involved actively in English teacher forum (MGMP), attending seminars, workshops, teachers" trainings, having language proficiency test, teaching experiences at English courses, being a coach and an adjudicator of English debate, pursuing further study, having comparative study, and implementing lesson study.In this respect, these noninstitutional PD activities conducted by subjects collaboratively showed positive impacts for teachers.These activities, therefore, can be considerable for teachers" professional developments in terms of pedagogical and subject matter competencies.With regard to non-institutional collaborative PD activities, they were exposed to some similar PD activities.Academic and professional collaborative programs were the most common activities conducted by all participants.All participants had similar experiences relating to their involvement in English teachers forum and participation in seminars, workshops and trainings.They believed that those activities have provided spaces for teachers to keep informed about the latest issues of English teaching.In addition, teachers also could discuss and share problems and solutions with other teachers.As the consequence, teachers consider this activity could maintain and develop their quality.

IJEE (Indonesian
The involvement and the participation of teachers in professional forum and academic programs could offer some benefits for their quality improvement.For instance, a shortterm learning activity such a workshop provides an opportunity to acquire specific knowledge and skills (Richards & Farrells, 2005)  The PD activity that most teachers took part was in-service trainings in the form of seminars and workshops.These kinds of activities were frequently provided by the local authority as regular activities.With regard to workshops, Lay (2010) claimed that workshops could also help both trained and untrained teachers to be able to advance their knowledge in their teaching careers and become familiar with techniques and approaches and properly use them fruitfully.
With regard to another teacher development program such as seminars, the subject perceived that attending to seminars about the current issues also have become a popular issue among the subjects.Most of the subjects took participations on seminar held both local and provincial education department.However, more recent studies showed that teachers face difficulties in facilitating learning in classrooms because the in-service training courses they attend do not emphasize the importance and the effect of the techniques on language learning and teaching (Al-Wreikat & Abdullah, 2010).In line with that study, Kazemi and Ashrafi (2014) revealed that there are some inadequacies inservice teacher training programs and teachers" expectations for instance, the topics and content of programs were not relevant to teachers" need so that teachers" need was not taken into account in organizing the program.In short, in service training that are intended to keep practicing teachers up-to-date and/or to address the issues which occur in their practical teaching should be revisited and reevaluated regarding the implementation of programs to be more relevant for catering teachers" needs.
In terms of skills and knowledge extension programs, the majority showed similar activities such as having language proficiency test, teaching at English course, being a coach and an adjudicator of English debate and lesson study.The subject believed that teaching experiences at English course made them have richer of teaching techniques and having English proficiency test was intended to maintain teachers" language skill.In addition, coaching and an adjudicating in English debate has provided teachers with extra skills, particularly in critical thinking and oral communication skills.
In addition, participating in lesson study could be a meaningful part of the improvement of teaching skills.With regard to lesson study, Tasker (2011) pointed out that the goal of the exploration of student learning within the context of lesson study has the potential to promote greater teacher professional development by focusing teachers" collective attention on shared student learning issues, and pursue jointly constructed solutions.Therefore, these activities could assist teachers not only to be more proficient in language skills, but also to be more skillful in teaching in the classroom.As the result, teachers with the required language proficiency and a specialist in ELT teaching will have more chances of getting better results in the classroom (Wichadee, 2011).
In connection with a doing course (a formal study or a short course/comparative study) as the last collaborative PD activity, it is frequently considered the most prohibitive activity due to time and expense (Johnny, 2009).Based on the findings, more than half of the subjects could pursue their further studies, while the rests have not had the opportunity for continuing their study.The data obtained from analysis, taking a formal education or a short course have contributed to the improvement of their quality not only in terms of teaching skills such as classroom management, material developments but also language skills along with the cultures.Therefore, Johnny (2009) confirmed that doing a course is a great way to develop teachers" competencies since most of the time teachers focus on thinking and learning.
In conclusion, collaborative PD activities conducted outside the school context are distinct from the institutional ones.Non-institutional collaborative PD activities tend to be more complex since sometimes the target of the activities are general or less relevant to teachers" needs while institutional collaborative PD activities appear more applicable and focused on problems encountered by teachers.Another difference lies on the possibility and situation in which the institutional PD activities provide more conducive atmosphere to perform with other teachers at school.The starting point of teachers engaging in professional development in one place may not be relevant to other places.On the other hand, there is a similitude in the processes whereby teachers move from one stage to the next in different contexts that appears to be supported in the research reviewed, although with different manifestations.
In In addition to reading activities, staying online and joining online language and professional become the most frequent activity that subject did.The data show that all subjects shared the same activity regarding online activities.In addition, they emphasize that online communities provide opportunities for EFL teachers to be active contributors and participants, direct and construct the learning events for the group and create regular opportunities for enhancing the learning teaching context, and connect teachers to other professionals within and beyond their schools characterized by sustainability over time (Olofsson, 2010;Riding, 2001;Saleh & Pretorius, 2006).
In similar vein, regarding the other advantages of online community, according to Salazar, Muñoz, Fox, and Lucas ( 2010), online and distance professional learning communities provide teachers with increased access and flexibility as well as the combination of work and education.They stated that although online environments may present different experiences compared to the traditional professional development, they can be used to build knowledge and community and teachers who participate in the program were exposed to new ideas and issues their realm.
To conclude, a study conducted by Wu, Gao and Zhang (2014) suggested that heterogeneity of community members is crucial for the sustainable and healthy growth of an online professional development community in which participants can establish good relationships among members by sharing ideas, feelings and experiences with people with diverse voices, but have shared vision of professional pursuits.
Another self-directed/individual PD activity that only minority of the subjects conducted was about writing articles and modules.The findings showed two subjects wrote some articles and teaching modules.Johnny ( 2009) points out that writing ranges from short articles right through to books and keeping a diary and reflecting on teaching is a good way to start good writing.By writing some articles and modules, teachers can develop their language skills particularly such as writing skills.
The last self-directed PD activities are related to reflective teaching activities conducted by teachers.Mann (2005) defined implicitly that the notions of reflective practice is the view that teachers develop by studying their own practice, collecting data and using reflective processes as the basis for evaluation and change.Literature show the advantages of reflective teaching activities (Lundy, 2011;Qing, 2009) the need to implement reflective inquiry in classroom settings and ways to improve the teaching and learning of English through on-going reflection, it also points out that experience coupled with reflection can be a powerful impetus for IJEE (Indonesian Journal of English Education), 4 (1), 2017
In line with them, according to Harun and Al-Amin (2013), reflective teaching and action research are really helpful for promoting teachers" professionalism and make classroom practice effective and enjoyable.In relation to this research, the findings show that although merely few subjects conducted reflective teaching activities, they opined that reflective teaching activities can be helpful means to maintain their professionalism.Reflective teaching activities can be in the aspect of self-monitoring through videotaping and students" feedback and reflective writing journal.Those reflective activities had provided teachers to evaluate what has been done and not to be improved.To draw the conclusion, reflective teaching practice has contributed significantly to the improvement of teachers" quality since they have opportunities to reflect on their knowledge and instruction with the goal of improving both either alone or working with others.Therefore, reflective teaching activities are highly recommended to do for the better and higher professionalism of teachers.

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
The findings of this research can be considerably categorized into two key ideas of how the exemplary EFL teachers of two regions in Cirebon develop their competencies.It shows that PD activities undertaken by the exemplary EFL teachers comprise of self-directed/individual, institutional and non-institutional pursuits, either in formal or in informal situation.The first, self-directed or self-initiated pursuits, refers to individual endeavors that emerge from internal motivation, commitment and cognition of teachers.As a result, the importance of selfinitiated professional development activities appeared noticeable in many existing literatures.In addition, selfinitiated pursuits can be as comfort means to develop teachers" professionalism since the activities undertaken by teachers are based on their personal interests.
Here are some self-directed activities for teachers that show effective and helpful for maintaining and developing teachers" competencies.The activities are in the form of individual or independent reading, joining online professional communities, writing articles and some reflective activities such as selfmonitoring and reflective writing journal.In short, self-directed learning There is no recipe for professional development that works best for everyone.Frequently teachers find to be an effective tool for them may not offer similar results for other teachers.Techniques that teachers believe useful and meaningful today may not meet teachers" needs a year from now.But what is paramount is that teachers are required to discover many options for directing their own learning about teaching.Then, proper customization is necessary for the success of teacher learning or professional development programs.This situation is attributable to the different needs and fast changes in English teaching realms.Therefore, professional development is truly lifelong learning in which teachers are expected to keep up their enthusiasm and motivation to learn the latest issues of the field sustainably.
The first recommendation is addressed to English teachers.In this respect, the English teachers are strongly recommended to consider kinds of PD pursuits because they themselves fully understand the needs based on the real condition and situations.Thus, both self-directed and group-directed PD pursuits of the research findings are good models for other teachers to be worth conducting.First, teachers should be selective and critical in undertaking a wide range of PD activities since many PD activities offered are not suitable and relevant for their needs.Second, teachers should be knowledgeable in applying skills and knowledge that they acquire from PD activities in the classroom and their own practices.Third, teachers are required to be independent learners to develop their competencies and should be able to place themselves in collaboration with colleagues.

Since
the institution (the principal, teachers and administration staffs) plays important roles in maintaining and developing teachers" quality, there are some recommendations that needs to take in consideration from the result of this research.The recommendations are as follows; First, PD activities conducted at schools such as IHT trainings, peer observation/coaching, and discussion or sharing among teachers need to be evaluated more effectively and need to be extended to include the applicability and impact on teachers" performances and quality.Second, the following up activities of teachers training and development should be made available to schools in order to evaluate and to http://journal.uinjkt.ac.id/index.php/ijee| DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15408/ijee.v4i1.6597P-ISSN: 2356-1777, E-ISSN: 2443-0390 | This is an open access article under CC-BY-SA license measure the changes in teachers" skills and knowledge.Third, the institution should be cooperative in providing opportunities for all teachers to access a range of PD activities related to the needs of the individual, the school and the local policy such as providing the official permissions and supports.The last, the institution should create conducive and favorable atmosphere in order to maintain teachers" interests and enthusiasm in developing their professionalism and quality through the collegiality built at school.Literature suggests that the local authority (the local education department), schools and teachers need to be at the heart of teacher development.As the consequence, it also requires the building of "strong partnerships" among these parties to create good nuances in pursuits of PD for teachers.Based on the research findings, some important recommendations are required to be considered by local authority.
First, the local authority should be more opened and informed regarding PD activities for teachers and schools.Second, the local authority and the institution must have same visions along with clear guidance for teachers" development in order to teachers have distinct targets to achieve.Third, the local education department should occasionally invite qualified trainers and experts to make the programs more interesting and motivating other teachers.Fourth, the local authority should evaluate the existence of subject matters superintendent.Fifth, they should provide a greater opportunity to develop teachers" professionalism in form of the information about scholarships, short courses, and comparative studies and so on.Sixth, the local authority should facilitate sufficient funding and autonomy for teachers in choosing PD activities appropriate to their needs.The last, they should ease the bureaucratic procedures pertaining to PD activities for the local, provincial and national levels for teachers.