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1 Literature Review

1.1 Professional Development of EFL Teachers
Professional development seeks to improve teachers‘ skills, thereby enhancingteacher quality. Richards (1998) defines teacher development as a continuous processwhich can lead to doing a better job and to professional growth. It is an expansion of skillsand understanding that all teachers should obtain the same way as students need forlearning a language. Professional development is seen as a way to maintain and enhancethe quality of teachers. The acquired knowledge does not only bring about improvement inthe teaching process, but also leads to career growth. Those who are engaged inprofessional development activities may share a common purpose of enhancing, enrichingand developing their ability to do their work effectively in the best possible manner.21st century has witnessed a significant growth in formal/online teacher development.It is more so because education is getting global and competitive day by day. In the broadsense, professional development refers to skills and knowledge attained for both personaldevelopment and career advancement. It encompasses all types of facilitated learningopportunities, ranging from college degrees to formal coursework, conferences andinformal learning opportunities situated in practice. There are a variety of approaches toprofessional development, including consultation, coaching, and communities of practice,lesson study, mentoring, reflective supervision and technical assistance. According to Wu(2008), the learning and growth EFL teachers is actually a recycle process of teacher‘sconfusing, reflecting, learning, changing and ultimately improving. It also should be aprocess of beginning teachers‘developing into the expert teachers or teacher educators.
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1.2 Personal Practical Knowledge of EFL Teachers

1.2.1 Definition of Personal Practical knowledge
Personal practical knowledge (PPK) is a term designed to capture the idea ofexperience in a way that allows us to talk about teachers as knowledgeable and knowingpersons (Connelly, Clandinin, & He, 1997), which is related to teacher‘s past experience,present mind and body, as well as future plans and actions. On the basis of Elbaz‘s (1981)research on teachers‘ practical knowledge, Clandinin and Connelly (1987) evolved theconcept of teachers‘ personal practical knowledge, indicating that knowledge is widelyrelied on teachers‘ practice in classrooms and schools and is guided towards the managingof challenges and difficulties that emerged in their work. While Elbaz‘s (1981) studyfocuses on the practical perspective of teacher knowledge, the work of Clandinin andConnelly (1987) extends to include the personal aspect of teacher knowledge, arguing that―this use of  personal‘ draws attention to the individual local factor which helps toconstitute the characters, the past, and the future of any individual (Clandinin, 1985).Personal practical knowledge is found in the teacher‘s experience. It is, for any one teacher,a particular way of reconstructing the past and the intentions of the future to deal with theexigencies of a present situation (Connelly & Clandinin, 1988).
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2 Methodology

2.1 Research Questions
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