Document Type : Research Paper
Author
Department of English Language Teaching, Farhanganian University, P.O. Box 14665-889, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
This qualitative study investigates how novice English language teachers perceive and make sense of professional development (PD) during the earliest stages of their careers. Drawing on an integrative framework that brings together teacher cognition, sense-making, and professional identity perspectives, the study examines how teachers interpret and internalize both formal and informal learning experiences across pedagogical, relational, technological, and ethical dimensions. Twenty-four novice teachers working in public high schools in Kermanshah Province were purposefully selected through criterion-based sampling to ensure analytically rich and contextually grounded accounts. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis supported by MAXQDA 2022 software, which enabled a systematic and iterative identification of salient patterns, interpretive processes, and cross-participant convergences. Findings indicate that novice teachers conceptualize PD as a dynamic, evolving, and context-embedded process shaped more by experiential learning, reflective practice, and professional interactions than by formal workshops alone. Key dimensions of PD included maintaining up-to-date professional knowledge, strengthening instructional competence, fostering learner engagement, exercising ethical responsibility, and participating collaboratively in school and curriculum processes. Feedback from students and colleagues, involvement in professional networks, and navigating structural and technological constraints also played influential roles in shaping teachers’ developmental trajectories. Overall, the study contributes to a deeper understanding of early-career teacher learning by emphasizing the identity-oriented, reflective, and context-sensitive nature of PD, advocating for models that recognize teachers as active agents who co-construct their professional pathways.
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