@inproceedings{8765371,
  abstract     = {{A growing body of empirical evidence backs up the principles and effectiveness of TBLT (Bryfonski & McKay, 2019). However, its implementation into real-world classrooms does not seem self-evident (East, 2017; Samuda et al., 2018). Professional development programs (PDPs) are instrumental in helping teachers and schools to make the shift, but success is not always guaranteed (Van den Branden, 2006). Studies in neighboring fields such as language policy and educational improvement have indicated that, for instance, school leadership (Ascenzi-Moreno et al., 2015) and school team dynamics (e.g., Van der Wildt et al., 2017), may increase the impact of PDPs.
In this within-subjects pretest-posttest design study, we investigate the effectiveness of a two-year PDP in primary schools in Flanders (Belgium) aiming to install a TBLT-like approach to reading comprehension instruction. TBLT tenets in the program and transferred to a reading instruction pedagogy are: focus on task rather than text, attention to motivation, interaction, focus on form (Ellis & Shintani, 2013). We also explore to what extent school characteristics such as leadership or psychological safety influence TBLT implementation. Data are collected from 508 educators in 38 primary schools that participated voluntarily in the PDP by means of an online questionnaire on reading practices and school factors at the start (October 2020) and end (June 2022) of the project. Analyses of the first measurements revealed positive attitudes towards reading instruction (m = 4.09, sd = 0.47, max. = 5), but moderate teacher self-efficacy (m = 3.22, sd = 0,62, max. = 5). Conducting multilevel analyses, we also found variance in the attitudes towards reading instruction and teacher collaboration, and  in school characteristics (e.g., school leadership or psychological safety) between schools (15-22%), suggesting that differences in implementation strength across schools are very likely.}},
  author       = {{Frijns, Carolien and Vanbuel, Marieke and Vandommele, Goedele}},
  booktitle    = {{TBLT : 9th International Conference on Task-Based Language Teaching, Abstracts}},
  keywords     = {{TBLT implementation,reading comprehension,primary education,professionalization initiative}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  location     = {{Innsbruck, Austria}},
  pages        = {{46--46}},
  title        = {{Towards TBLT : the impact of a professionalization program and the mediating role of school factors}},
  url          = {{https://www.uibk.ac.at/ifd/9th-international-conference-on-task-based-language-teaching/conference-program/tblt_aug_2022_innsbruck_conference_program_2022_08_26_2.pdf}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}