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The Korean Association for the Study of English Language and Linguistics
[ Article ]
Korea Journal of English Language and Linguistics - Vol. 22, No. 0, pp.500-527
ISSN: 1598-1398 (Print) 2586-7474 (Online)
Print publication date 31 Jan 2022
Received 25 Apr 2022 Revised 10 Jun 2022 Accepted 30 Jun 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15738/kjell.22..202206.500

Characteristics and Substantial Outcomes of “Snowball”: A Long-Term English Teacher Professional Development Program in Seoul

Ahn S.-H. Gyemyong* ; Eun-kyoung Jang ; Mun Woo Lee
(first author) Professor, Department of English Education, Hanyang University, Tel: 02) 2220-1145 shahn@hanyang.ac.kr
(co-author) Master Teacher, Garak High School, Tel: 02) 416-4658 sagac98@hanmail.net
(corresponding author) Associate Professor, Department of English Education, Hanyang University, Tel: 02) 2220-1143 ppohi@hanyang.ac.kr

*The last name is written first at the request of the author, which is different from the format of the journal.

© 2022 KASELL All rights reserved
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

English language teacher education programs have been offered for in-service teachers producing rather successful results when evaluated immediately after the periods of their implementation. Their long-term results are, however, rarely tapped upon and academically reported. The purpose of this paper is to investigate long-lasting effects of a one-year-long such program, called “Snowball”, that was developed in 2015 and ever since implemented by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. To fulfill the purpose, the researchers recruited 12 Snowball graduates to understand how they characterize the program and what changes they have experienced back in their school life. A qualitative analysis of their in-depth interviews has shown that Snowball is characterized by its participants learning in special-interest groups, through action research, and with many sources of inspiration. It also showed that the Snowball graduates spread a culture of sharing, changed their pedagogical values and practices, and also multiply caused changes in social positioning. From these results, the researchers have concluded that Snowball has been a tremendous success with long-lasting impacts.

Keywords:

English teacher education program, Snowball, teacher competencies, special-interest group, action research, core values, culture of sharing, learner-centered English education, teacher identity

Acknowledgments

Our foremost gratitude goes to the 12 participant teachers, who have provided their recollections of the Program and the changes they have since experienced, and to two KJELL reviewers and Mr. Hyung Joo Kim and Dr. Seung-Ryul Lee, whose comments and suggestions significantly contributed to the improvement of this paper. Our big thanks also go to three assistant students at Hanyang University who helped us transcribing the interviews: Mss. Ah-Hyeon Cho, Jieun Kang, and Hyeona Lee. We declare, however, that all potential errors and mistakes are solely under our responsibility.

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