Articles & Research
The Effectiveness of In-Service CPD for Digital EFL Teachers in Russia: The Case of Skyeng
Abstract
The present study analyzes the in-service system of continuing professional development (CPD) for teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) at a Russian EdTech company called Skyeng. A brief overview of the Russian context regarding CPD for teachers was provided. Then the issue of CPD effectiveness was addressed. A mixed methods approach was used to examine what kind of training is considered productive by teachers (i.e., evaluation based on perceived effectiveness). Results undergirded previous findings in the area and demonstrated high perceived effectiveness of the CPD predominantly due to its inquiry-based and collaborative nature. An experiment was conducted in order to investigate to what extent and in what part educational activities for EFL teachers impact on students’ learning experience in the case of digital learning at Skyeng. The findings show statistically significant impact of CPD on lesson quality and allow further research regarding the improvement of students’ experience.
Introduction
As the issue of education quality enters the foreground of public discussions worldwide, greater attention (and pressure) is placed on teachers. Teachers are expected to adapt to changing educational landscape and mitigate the challenges the societies face. The only way to do so it to provide better learning opportunities for those who educate others.
The study under consideration explores continuing professional development (CPD) for teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) at a data driven EdTech company in Russia.
The article focuses on the issue of CPD effectiveness and its impact on students’ learning experience.
Literature Review on CPD
The concept and role of CPD for teachers
«A teacher lives for as long as he learns. Had he ceased to learn, he would die as a teacher.» These words are attributed to Konstantin Ushinsky, a prominent Russian educator, the founder of scientific pedagogy in Russia. One hundred fifty years after Ushinsky, in the era of lifelong learning, it is widely recognized that CPD for teachers is an integral part of systematic advancement in the education sector (Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012) as «the quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers» (Barber & Mourshed, 2007, p. 16).
It is still debated among teachers, experts, policymakers, and other stakeholders as to what constitutes CPD, how to organize an effective professional training system for teachers, and who is entitled to decide what kind of CPD would satisfy the needs of a modern teacher. It is evident, however, that the one-size-fits-all approach will not suffice (Cirocki & Farrell,
2019) as teachers require personalized education no less than any other group of learners.
According to Borko et al. (2010), an effective CPD system is characterized as problembased, inquiry-based, collaborative, appropriate to teachers’ goals, ongoing and sustainable.
Unlike traditional top-down professional development (PD) activities, effective CPD is often based in the school environment, and the content is focused on students' learning which helps model new teaching practices (Vermunt et al., 2019).
While there is strong evidence of CPD impacting student outcomes, it has not been widely explored which aspects of teacher training most contribute to it effectiveness and how (Buczynski & Hansen, 2010). The present study aims to help fill this void.
The significance of the issue is based on the role that CPD plays in education and its advancement. Educational policies adopted in developed countries over the course of the last 20 years have emphasized the significance of teacher PD; for example, a report released by The US Teaching Commission in 2004, «Teaching at Risk: A Call to Action,» calls teachers’ professional success «an investment in human potential (Borko, 2004, p. 3).
CPD for teachers in Russia
In Russia, teacher training is regulated on the national level. All teachers are obliged to engage in professional skills enhancement programs (so-called “qualification upgrades») at least once every three years in order to retain their job positions in secondary and higher education (Russian Federation, 2012). Such training normally comprises a 72-hour-long program (with a minimum of 16 academic hours) which is generally provided through governmental entities (Institutes of Education Development) established in every region of the Russian Federation. Commercial companies are also allowed to arrange CPD programs if licensed to do so by the government. This opportunity is largely exercised by educational companies which results in a wide range of CPD options and a possibility for teachers to build personal educational trajectories.
However, the question of how to navigate effectively in such an environment still stands.
On the national level, the tendency is to introduce standardization in CPD in order to assure quality and equal access to educational opportunities. In compliance with the federal project «The Teacher of the Future,» a new CPD system, the National Teacher Growth System (NSUR) will be introduced nationwide by 2024 in order to reinvent teacher development in Russia (Russian Federation, 2019).
Despite the evident efforts in CPD development, standardization as a trend might be problematic as it imposes a top-down approach which is considered to be ineffective and undesirable by teachers (Cirocki & Farrell, 2019; Richter et al., 2019; Sprott, 2019; Yumrua, 2015). In this context, it is particularly interesting to explore CPD systems that provide inquiry-based and practice-oriented learning for teachers and combine theory and practice for effective teachers’ PD (Zouganeli et al., 2011). Skyeng is an online EFL school that provides in-service professional training for over 8,000 of its teachers. Being a data driven digital company, Skyeng is able to arrange inquiry-based CPD programs and examine their impact on students’ experience in a real time mode.
CPD for EFL teachers at Skyeng
Skyeng: An overview Skyeng (https://skyeng.ru/) is considered to be both the largest online English school in Europe and the biggest EdTech company in Russia, valued at $130 million. The company was established in 2012. Over the course of eight years, active monthly students at Skyeng have surpassed 100,000.
Skyeng’s core product is online, one-on-one EFL classes for both children and adults on a digital platform called Vimbox. The platform was developed by the Skyeng IT team; it was designed to provide best teaching/learning experience for both teachers and students of the English language. The unique features of the digital platform are as follows: ● There are over 20 types of interactive learning activities aimed to enhance self-regu — lated learning and boost student motivation; ● There are over 100,000 content units in forms of audio, video, text, pictures, tables, graphs, and interactive exercises for all levels of English to address a vast array of students’ needs and learning preferences; ● There is automatic and instant feedback to students’ responses via the platform; ● There is a learning analytics system. Vimbox tracks over 20 progress indicators, uses a neural network to analyse lesson data, and creates a digital profile for each student; ● Vimbox provides personal recommendations to help teachers build individual learn — ing trajectories for the students.
As Vimbox incorporates a video streaming system, all classroom activities are conducted through the platform online. As of spring 2020, the number of online classes has exceeded 15,000 daily and 10,000,000 in total over the course of 8 years.
Skyeng teacher profile
As of the spring 2020, Skyeng engages 8470 teachers. Teachers between 20 and 30 years old account for 60% with the average age of 29 years old. The vast majority of Skyeng teachers are female (84.15%).
Regarding their language profile (see Figure 1), more than half (53.3%) of all teachers have an intermediate level of English (B1 CEFR) while the other half (45.9%) have an upperintermediate level of English (B2 CEFR) or higher: 16.7% are advanced (C1 CEFR); 0.3% are proficient (C2 CEFR). 16.17% are native speakers.
Language proficiency of the teachers at Skyeng Teacher training at Skyeng: Approaches and strategies Despite the technological advancement, at Skyeng it is well recognized that students’ learning experience depends by and large on teachers’ personal qualities (e.g., positive attitude, friendliness) and professional skills (e.g., language proficiency). Therefore, the company adopted a multiple stage recruitment process in order to hire the most prominent candidates.
It is followed by a pre-service training aimed to help teachers adapt in a new environment.
On average, a teacher obtains a workload of 50-100 classes per month, and his or her performance is evaluated based on a range of criteria: ● lesson quality; ● students’ retention rate; ● class intensity over time for each student; ● the ratio of classes skipped to classes scheduled (discipline); ● number of lessons per month.
The hypothesis is that all the above-mentioned indicators interrelate and correspond to students’ outcomes (except for the total number of lessons per month which is used to identify teachers’ overall workload). This is one of the reasons why at Skyeng it is considered essential to invest in teachers’ ongoing training; by working with teachers, one may improve student results and the general teaching/learning experience.
A two-level teacher training system exists at Skyeng, namely pre-service (primary) training and in-service (ongoing, regular) training.
Pre-service training is organised as a self-study and is located on the same digital platform (Vimbox) where teachers subsequently conduct lessons with the students. All learning materials for teachers follow the shape of learning materials for students. The reason behind placing CPD courses on the platform is that during their training, teachers have a similar learning experience as their students do. Therefore, not only do they understand their students’ needs better, but they are also able to suggest changes for the courses or Vimbox functionality based on their first-hand insights.
As for the ongoing in-service training, its key characteristic is the diversity of educational tools and the inquiry-based approach regarding personal CPD track formation. The abundance of forms and formats of CPD at Skyeng is dictated by the size and diversity of the teacher audience. Teachers need different approaches and channels to stay motivated and feel supported (Lindvalla & Ryve, 2019); therefore, CPD formats have to be as diverse as possible.
Workshops and case lessons
Workshops and case lessons hold a predominant position in the Skyeng CPD programs whereas webinars or self-study courses do not. Despite the fact that the latter are relatively cheap, easily scaled, and can be used for hundreds of people at once, such formats lack a possibility of a face-to-face contact and therefore demonstrate low effectiveness in terms of course completion (Hew & Cheung, 2014).
Live seminars or workshops, on the contrary, seem to reconcile the main requirements for teacher training at Skyeng: ● a possibility to educate large numbers of teachers (learning opportunities have to be available for all 8,000+ teachers at the same time); ● a possibility of live communication and feedback; ● an inquiry-based approach; ● a practice-oriented approach.
The duration of a workshop is 50 minutes. Workshops are a group format; each workshop is attended by six teachers and conducted by an expert. Collaborative formats are used as they prove to enhance teacher autonomy and motivation towards learning (Xu, 2015; Alsaleha et al., 2017; Sato et al., 2019) and increase their sense of self-efficacy (Zonoubi et al., 2017).
The original student journey map (SJM) design for teachers is as follows:
1. A teacher receives a short questionnaire in order for the expert to collect inquiries
before the workshop;
2. The expert studies the questionnaire results, chooses the most frequent problems and
inquiries, and creates a presentation based on such cases;
3. During the workshop all the participants solve the presented cases and discuss them;
4. After the workshop the participants receive a final task: a survey in which the
participants are asked to evaluate the workshop and state a particular teaching practice, a particular student, and a particular class date when the teacher is going to implement the said teaching practice;
5. As a teacher implements the received practice, an assessment specialist evaluates the
class and gives the teacher personalised feedback.
A teacher receives a confirmation of workshop completion after the assessment which therefore finishes the educational cycle. The core of any training is the implementation stage and the following assessment. Thus, the effectiveness of the CPD is evaluated through the number of successful implementations.
Thematic areas for the workshops are chosen based on the concept of lesson quality on one hand and on teacher inquiries on the other. Every week teachers receive a schedule with over sixty workshops (Figure 2). Workshops are held on a daily basis; monthly attendance is over 2000. Teachers also have an opportunity to discuss a practical problem with an expert during a 15-minute live case lesson.
All CPD activities are designed to help teachers with their career track, organised in a «professional advancement map.» This interactive map aims to stimulate teachers’ motivation towards CPD as it is directly connected to career possibilities for teachers (e.g., hour rate growth or a possibility to create learning materials) (Topkayaa & Çelikb, 2016).
Figure 2.
A schedule of group CPD activities (workshops) at Skyeng provided to the teachers via a corporate chat bot.
Research methodology
Aims of the study
The aim of the study is to investigate the impact of Skyeng CPD training on students’ learning experience and lesson quality.
Therefore, the research questions for the study are:
1. What is the perceived effectiveness of the CPD training for teachers (workshops and
case lessons)?
2. Is it possible to cause change in teaching practices and therefore lesson quality
through the CPD instruments (case lessons)? To what extent?
Method and context
In order to address the above-mentioned questions, both qualitative and quantitative research instruments are used.
The first research question aims to identify the perceived effectiveness of the CPD activities.
To investigate this question, the study is conducted in two stages:
1. All teachers who have participated in at least one CPD activity (workshop) are asked
to evaluate the workshops in terms of usefulness in implementation. The total number of teachers who meet the criteria is 4970.
2. Ten teachers are asked to give a detailed report on perceived effectiveness. The
teachers are selected randomly from Skyeng teachers who have participated in at least three CPD activities (workshops) and have completed final tasks (implementation and a case lesson). This part of the study is conducted in the form of an in-depth interview.
The expected duration of an interview is 10-15 minutes; the same 10 questions are asked over the course of each interview.
The general information on the interviewees is as follows (see Table 1): ● nine teachers are female, and one teacher is a male; ● four teachers are new to Skyeng (four months or less of work experience), while six teachers have had at least 8 months of work experience at Skyeng; ● the number of active students per teacher varies from five to 22; ● all teachers have completed a final task (implementation and a case lesson) after a workshop at least once.
Teachers’ profiles for in-depth interviews
Teacher
participant Gender Number of students Number of workshops attended Number of final tasks completed Working with Skyeng (months)
Natalia B. female 14 4 2 26
Edgesha A. female 5 4 2 4
Vera A. female 10 3 3 14
Irina F. female 11 5 4 13
Victoria K. female 16 3 3 4
Oksana Sh. female 11 5 5 22
Rodion O. male 11 4 4 4
Emma A. female 22 5 5 8
Elena D. female 8 3 3 3
Natalia I. female 12 4 1 14
The second research question aims to identify whether it is possible to influence teaching practices and as a result, lesson quality and/or student outcomes. Out of 39 lesson quality indicators, 13 are chosen for the purposes of the study.
1. Working with instructions
2. Cool down activities (a set of activities aimed to finish a class productively)
3. Use of Russian (L1) in class
4. Preparation for the lesson
5. Correction of mistakes
6. V ocabulary production by students
7. Audio background (noise level, side sounds)
8. Grammar presentation
9. Visual background (what a student sees in the background)
10. Lesson structure
11. V ocabulary presentation
12. Interaction with the student
13. Lesson atmosphere
The design of the experiment is the following:
1. For each of the 13 indicators chosen for the experiment, a trend line is calculated
representing changes that happen to an indicator without external impact;
2. For each of the 13 indicators chosen for the experiment, it is calculated what
percentage of teachers improve and deteriorate;
3. During the experiment the ability to impact lesson indicators through teachers is
tested. Each teacher is impacted via a case lesson on more than 3 indicators;
4. For each of the 13 indicators chosen for the experiment, quality frequency shifts
before and after the case lesson impact are compared;
5. Minimal impact index is set at 20%. A less significant effect means that it is impossible
to claim lesson quality changes though the instruments in question.
Two groups (control and experimental) of 130 teachers each are involved in the testing.
Thus, 260 teachers are distributed in two groups based on blind sampling so that quality indicators and their trends are equally represented in each group.
The experiment was designed to last for 2 months and consist of 3 stages.
Stage 1: The initial assessment of classes was conducted. Methodology experts evaluated classes using a lesson quality checklist. (This is a part of a standard ongoing process of lesson quality control. Results are automatically sent to teachers, and teachers can appeal within 24 hours if they disagree with the results.) For the purposes of the study, lessons that failed to meet one or more of the indicators chosen were placed into the experiment database. As soon as the number of cases for an indicator was sufficient, lessons with such an indicator failure were not added to the experiment panel anymore.
Stage 2: The teachers participated in case lessons with teacher trainers (intervention). A case lesson is a 15-minute, problem-based discussion between a teacher and a CPD expert.
Stage 3: The final assessment of classes was conducted by the teachers who had participated in a case lesson a month later. The total number of samples was supposed to be 520 (260 at the initial assessment stage and 260 at the final assessment stage).
According to the Skyeng data, 48% of teachers improve lesson quality naturally over the course of their teaching while 27% deteriorate over time. Therefore, the impact through intervention (case lesson) was expected to increase the percentage of teacher improving lesson quality from 48% to 60% and decrease the percentage of teachers deteriorating lesson quality from 28% to 10%.
Findings
Presentation and discussion
There are multiple ways to approach CPD and its goals. At Skyeng, the primary goal of CPD is for teachers to conduct high quality classes by implementing certain teaching practices in their routine proactively and consciously. These teaching practices should be aimed to improve the quality of education and enhance students’ motivation towards studies. If a class is flawless methodology-wise, yet tedious, it cannot be considered of high quality.
A high-quality class reconciles instruments aimed to convey knowledge and develop skills with instruments aimed to attract students and boost their motivation. The rationale for highlighting student motivation in teacher training is that unlike formal education, supplementary adult education is deliberate and relies heavily on students’ incentives.
Research question 1. What is the perceived effectiveness of the CPD training for teachers?
Quantitative approach
All teachers who had participated in at least one CPD activity (workshop) were asked to evaluate workshops based on their usefulness in terms of implementation of new teaching practices. An internal survey was used, and a 1-5 scale was adopted for evaluation where grade 1 means absolutely useless and grade 5 means very useful. The total number of teachers who met the criteria was 4970; the total number of responses was 2057. (Teachers were able to leave more than one response in case they had participated in several workshops, so the number of teachers may be smaller, but the responses are 2057.) According to the survey, most teacher find most workshops useful or very useful as grades 4 and 5 account for over 95.9% of the responses. Grades 1 and 2 (useless or mostly useless) account for less than 1% of the feedback (see Figure 3).
The results of the survey on workshop effectiveness It is worth mentioning that the most positive evaluation was received on the following topics:
1. Developing students’ speaking skills (3 workshops, 289 participants, the average
portion of grade 5 — 91.8%);
2. Preparing for exams (2 workshops, 76 participants, the average portion of grade 5 —
95.25%).
3. Meanwhile the most frequent workshop at Skyeng is dedicated to discipline and
progress (593 participants, the average portion of grade 5 — 73.7%).
4. However, further research is required in order to identify whether the perceived
effectiveness of the workshops should be attributed to the topics, the experts that conduct workshops, the educational format, or other factors.
Qualitative approach
In order to gain insights from the teachers as to why they consider workshops useful, a series of interviews was conducted. The findings from the interviews confirm that perceived effectiveness of the CPD training among teachers is high. The following arguments in favour of the workshop and case lesson format were given by the teachers.
All the respondents claimed that workshops had an immediate impact on their teaching practices.
The teachers call the CPD system one of the strongest parts of the company. Among the benefits of the CPD are the following: workshops broaden their minds, empower them, help them feel professional advancement, and provide an opportunity to learn from colleagues, which supports previous findings (e.g., Alsaleha et al., 2017).
All teachers consider CPD and practice a sine qua non of a modern teacher. This undergirds the claim that CPD is well recognized by teachers to be instrumental in their career advancement (Topkayaa & Çelikb, 2016). Half of the respondents chose workshops based on their perceived weak spots and problems (through self-assessment). The other half claimed that they attended workshops randomly whenever they had time at their disposal. The new teachers stated that enhancement of general language skills was their primary motivation to attend workshops. All teachers highlighted practice-oriented and inquiry-based approach as major factors behind the decision to participate in workshops.
All teachers claimed that adopting practices from an expert in live communication is the best way to develop as a teacher. Eight out of 10 teachers mentioned that they return to workshops conducted by an experienced expert. At the same time, they suggested the CDP trainings be held as series as a typical 50-minute session is not sufficient to cover the topic in full detail. Furthermore, all teachers claimed that they complete final tasks (an actual implementation of a new teaching practice in a class) because they consider implementation the most effective way to adopt a new skill.
Moreover, seven out of 10 teachers noted that they complete final tasks because they want to receive personal feedback from the expert. Three teachers mentioned certificates as a powerful stimulus to finish the task and experience a sense of completion. It should be noted that for four out of 10 teachers, final tasks served as motivation to attend workshops in the first place. Among the reasons why teachers sometimes neglected final tasks were: ● the task is too complicated; ● the practice is already adopted (no need to do the task for that); ● teachers forget to complete tasks.
This part of the research confirms that inquiry-based, practice-oriented CPD formats are considered to be effective by EFL teachers. As these results correspond to findings from previous studies (e.g., Vermunt et al., 2019), it is possible to conclude that teachers generally perceive the CPD training system at Skyeng as effective and practical due to these very characteristics.
Research question 2. Is it possible to cause change in teaching practices and therefore lesson quality through the CPD instruments (case lessons)? To what extent?
Overall, 681 lessons eligible for the initial assessment were taken under consideration, which resulted in 529 subsequent case lessons and 650 precedents of final assessment. The difference between the numbers of teachers assessed at the initial stage and at the final stage is 31 out of an initial 681 (see Table 2).
The number of samples from the experiment
# Experiment stages Number of teachers Percentage
1 Initial assessment 681 100.0%
2 Case lessons invitations 681 100.0%
3 Case lessons conducted 529 77.70%
4 Final assessment 650 95.40%
In the experiment, 1298 samples were acquired and assessed which accounts for 109.35% of the expected number. However, for some of the indicators the number of samples gathered was lower than expected (see Table 3).
The results of the samples
Indicators Case studies
Working with instructions 102
Cool down 159
Using Russian (L1) in class 158
Preparation for the lesson 151
Correction of mistakes 156
V ocabulary production 134
Audio background 16
Grammar presentation 149
Visual background 56
Lesson structure 19
Interaction 159
Making contact with the student 36
Lesson atmosphere 3
Total 1298
The lesson quality indicator (Lesson atmosphere) failed to gather a sufficient number of samples in both teacher groups; thus, no eligible data was available to evaluate the impact of case lessons on the indicator in question. Hereinafter, the rest of the indicators (12) are considered.
Results of the experiment
Indicators Naturalincrease Increase expected afterintervention Actual increase afterintervention Naturaldecline Actual decline afterintervention
Working with
instructions 39.07% 59.07% 85.29% 24.50% 1.96%
Cool down 31.81% 51.81% 64.15% 28.70% 8.81%
Using Russian (L1) in
class 31.46% 51.46% 53.16% 21.50% 0.63%
Preparation for the
lesson 60.90% 80.90% 81.46% 38.13% 0.00% Correction of mistakes 36.34% 56.34% 71.15% 32.90% 2.56% V ocabulary production 33.58% 53.58% 70.90% 22.85% 5.97% Audio background 34.44% 54.44% 87.50% 9.44% 0.00% Grammar presentation 8.77% 28.77% 36.91% 6.09% 22.15% Visual background 23.89% 43.89% 78.57% 25.08% 0.00% Lesson structure 47.05% 67.05% 89.47% 12.58% 0.00% V ocabulary presentation 35.11% 55.11% 55.35% 28.67% 0.00%
Interaction with the
student 35.86% 55.86% 91.67% 28.90% 2.78%
Lesson atmosphere 36.98% 56.98% 16.90%
The following conclusions can be drawn from the findings (see Table 4). Statistically, for all 12 indicators a substantial impact (>20% more than the respective natural increase) on the CPD training (case lessons) is demonstrated (p=0.05). However, in case of the indicator «grammar presentation,» the increase and decline figures (36.91% and 22.15%, respectively) seem commensurable and at the same time show considerable difference with natural trends (8.77% and 6.09%, respectively). A possible explanation is that part of the teachers misunderstood the instructions given to them in case lessons in relation to grammar presentation. Therefore, the form and substance of such case lessons should be revised before further implementation.
Therefore, in the case of 11 indicators, the impact on teachers of problem-based case lessons can be considered productive in terms of lesson quality and students’ educational experience.
The findings of the experiment allow us to divide the above-mentioned indicators into five categories in relation to their lesson quality impact potential:
1. High potential indicators demonstrate increase in 80% of cases or more and are able
to gather samples quickly, such as «working with instructions» and «preparation for the lesson;»
2. Medium potential indicators demonstrate increase in 70-80% of cases and are able
to gather samples quickly. Such indicators are «correction of mistakes,» «vocabulary presentation,» and «visual background;»
3. Low potential indicators demonstrate increase in 50-70% of cases and are able to
gather samples quickly. These are «cool down activities,» «use of Russian (L1) in class,» and «vocabulary presentation;»
4. Residual indicators demonstrate increase in 80% of cases or more but are unable
to gather samples quickly. Such indicators are «making contact with the student,»
«audio background,» and «lesson structure;»
5. «Lesson atmosphere» and «grammar presentation» are not eligible for further
examination as the former lacks sufficient amount of data to evaluate while the latter requires alteration of case lesson instruction for a valid repetition of the experiment.
This classification gives ground to further research and improvement. It is recommended to build the CPD activities around high potential indicators in order to enhance lesson quality in the given online digital environment on a larger scale.
Practical implications and suggestions
The findings of the three-stage study demonstrate that firstly, teachers consider practiceoriented educational formats at Skyeng effective and are willing to participate in them further. Secondly, practice oriented CPD training such as case lessons has a significant positive impact on teaching practices and as a result, students’ experience and lesson quality.
In terms of implications several points should be made:
1. A more detailed study is required in order to identify whether the perceived
effectiveness of problem based CPD activities depends on the topics, the experts that conduct workshops, the educational format itself, or other factors.
2. The problem of correlation between CPD and students’ educational experience
deserves further research. The study in question examines the impact produced by an external intervention and not deliberate participation in CPD. Case lessons with experts are based on problems identified through quality control assessment and not teacher’s self-assessment. Therefore, it is yet to be discovered to what extent selfregulated CPD impacts teaching practices and students’ learning experience.
Conclusion
The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of CPD training (namely, problembased workshops and case lessons with experts) on students’ learning experience and lesson quality in an online environment. The research focused on the case of a Russian online English school, Skyeng. A mixed methods approach was used to evaluate the perceived effectiveness of the CPD training. An experiment was conducted to measure the impact of 13 quality indicators of an online EFL lesson.
The findings of the first part of the study demonstrate that EFL teachers consider practiceoriented, inquiry-based educational formats effective and are willing to participate in them (80% of all participants evaluated CPD as «very useful»). These results confirm findings from previous studies (e.g., Vermunt et al., 2019; Borko et al., 2010). Teachers tend to choose CPD activities based on self-assessment in order to enhance their professional skills in a collaborative learning environment (Xu, 2015; Alsaleha et al., 2017, Zonoubi et al.,
2017) as well as advance in their career (Topkayaa & Çelikb, 2017). As a recommendation
to Skyeng and other Russian companies that provide professional training for EFL teachers, it should be noted that problem-based workshops (50-minute, group work) and case lessons (15-minute, individual work) are considered to be both effective and desirable CPD activities for EFL teachers.
The second part of the study (the experiment) provides evidence that problem-based case lessons held as an intervention prove to be effective in impacting particular teaching practices. According to the findings, in the case of digital EFL learning at Skyeng, it is most efficient for students’ outcomes to develop teachers’ practices regarding preparation for a class and the ability to give instructions.
A more detailed study is required in order to identify whether the perceived effectiveness of CPD problem-based activities depends on the topics, the experts that conduct workshops, the educational format itself, or other factors. The problem of correlation between CPD and students’ educational experience also deserves further research.
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