The Voices of English Language Teachers Regarding Professional Development: A Third Space Activity for In-Service English Language Teachers.

Since faculties of education mainly serve in the field of pre-service teacher education, theirrole for in-service teacher education is questioned for a long time. In Turkey, a partnershipprotocol signed in 1997 between the Ministry of National Education (MoNE) and the Councilof Higher Education (CoHE) to enable pre-service teachers to adapt to the school process andto the act of teaching skills under the guidance of a mentor teacher. Yet, in-service teachereducation is widely neglected by universities creating a big gap in terms of providing teacherswith in-service teacher training activities by the Faculties of Education. Thus, this study set outto understand English language teachers' perceived needs in terms of in-service teachereducation and their expectations from faculty academics. For the study, a partnershipagreement was signed between the Directorate of National Education (DoNE) and theEducation Faculty and a two-day seminar and workshop was conducted organized as a \"ThirdSpace Activity\". At the end of the event, teachers' perceived needs for in-service teachereducation, their views about the Third Space activity, and their expectations and wants fromthe academics were investigated. The qualitative data were analysed on the basis of Hutchinsonand Waters' needs analysis. Based on findings, this study highlights the significance of a closecooperation between the universities and schools. This study also highlights and questions aneglected function of education faculties in terms of providing in-service teachers with thenecessary teacher training activities.