ESP TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DURING THE COVID-19 ERA AT IGOR SIKORSKY KYIV POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE

This article analyses professional development, completed by 34 in-service ESP teachers of the Department of English for Engineering No. 1 at Igor Sikorsky KPI during March-December 2020. In total 3344.3 hours of professional teacher development were analysed. They were confirmed by certificates of attendance and completion. A significant rise in the number of hours ESP teachers of the Department of English for Engineering No. 1 at Igor Sikorsky KPI spend professionally developing was noticed compared to the years before the pandemic. Quantitative methods and statistical and mathematical processing were used to analyse the data. Nine main categories of professional development were outlined. ICT teacher skills (51.8 % hours), teaching approaches, methods and techniques (18.4 %), student and teacher assessment and evaluation (14.5 %) were distinguished as the three top categories of professional development during the COVID-19 era at the department. Together these categories embraced approximately 85 % of all time, spent on professional growth by ESP teachers of the Department of English for Engineering No. 1 at Igor Sikorsky KPI. Other six categories included: connections with other disciplines (6.6 %), academic publications and research issues (4.8 %), international teacher collaboration (2.1 %), student and teacher behavior problems (1.6 %), language issues (0.2 %), curriculum development (0.07 %). The results confirmed the high demand for learning new ICT tools, platforms, and Google services in March-December 2020, the high interest in teaching approaches, methods and techniques, which can be used during the COVID-19 era, and ways to assess and evaluate students’ and teacher’s performance. Webinars, online conferences and online courses turned out to be the most popular forms of professional development of ESP teachers at Igor Sikorsky KPI during March-December 2020. Another discovered trend was the variety of providers of trainings for ESP teachers during the COVID-19 era. The list of them included 37 different organisations, institutes and centers, such as Dinternal education, Training Center Linguist (Cambridge University Press), Educational project “Na urok”, The Ukrainian Institute of Information Technologies in Education, Oxford University Press, Macmillan Education and others


Introduction
The National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute" (Igor Sikorsky KPI) launched its distance form of full-time education in March 2020 in accordance with the Order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine No. 460 dated 16.03.2020 "On organisational measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus COVID-19". Since that time, there has been a dramatic shift in how ESP teachers develop professionally. First of all, all the activities and trainings of professional development occurred in an online mode.
There is a compulsory requirement for ESP teachers to do at least 180 hours of professional development training every five years. However, professional development isn"t only a requirement for teachers, but also an opportunity to succeed more in their career. It is an important part of continuing life-long education. For ESP teachers, it is also a chance to interact with language specialists, researchers, and representatives of international organisations in order to improve pedagogical practices, curriculum mining, and classroom research.
ESP teachers at Igor Sikorsky KPI can choose the place, topic, and time for professional development activ-ities. The events they attend during the COVID-19 era reflect their real professional interests and demands. Before the pandemic ESP teachers of Igor Sikorsky KPI took part in the English for universities project, organised by British Council Ukraine. It "changed ESP teachers" attitudes to innovation and made them more enthusiastic about their professional development" [1]. However, there is a lack of research on the events Ukrainian ESP teachers attend to develop professionally during the COVID-19 era.

Literary review
Professional development is broadly defined as activities that develop teacher skills, knowledge, and expertise [2]. All education and training activities ESP teachers take part in to improve their teaching skills, competence, effectiveness is considered as professional development.
Teacher professional development should be continuous and supported by practice and feedback [3,4]. 21-st century teacher skills and competences require quick responding to the educational changes, and therefore educators must constantly improve their skills throughout their lives [5]. Most scientists agree that appropriate profession-al development events lead to the transformation of beliefs and practices in a positive way [6,7]. In-service teachers should be introduced with various new techniques and methods through different models [8].
The English teachers in Ukraine can improve their qualification through formal and informal education [9]. Professional development of ESP teachers can occur in different forms: conferences, seminars, courses, workshops, webinars. In an informal context, ESP teachers usually have discussions among colleagues, independent reading of scientific articles and books, observations or other forms of peer learning.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant number of teacher development courses and webinars were delivered for free for teachers from different countries including Ukraine. The information about the events was quickly disseminated among ESP teachers through Telegram channels, social networks" pages or other lowcost media channels. Supporting educators" professional development has become a global task. A wide range of publications provided educators with professional help, for example, Aga Khan Foundation"s Tips, resources and recommendations during COVID-19 [10], a global initiative of supporting the continuation of teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic [11] and others. The studies related to language teacher professional development before COVID-19 such as completed by Buendia and Macías [12] and the effects the coronavirus crisis might have on foreign language teachers [13] are now of great importance as well as academic integrity issues [14].

The aim and objectives of the study
The aim of this study is to define the trends in ESP teachers" professional development during the COVID-19 era. This information can help to envisage ESP teachers" future demands and interests in the sphere of professional development.
To achieve the stated goal, we aim to fulfill the following objectives: 1. to analyse and categorize the main topics of professional development events, attended by 34 ESP teachers of the Department of English for Engineering No. 1 of Igor Sikorsky KPI during the COVID-19 era; 2. to define the main formats of ESP teachers" professional development events during the COVID-19 era; 3. to list the most popular providers of professional development events, attended by ESP teachers of the Department of English for Engineering No. 1.

Materials and methods
In this paper professional development of 34 ESP teachers of the Department of English for Engineering No. 1 of Igor Sikorsky KPI during the COVID-19 era was analysed. The attendance of the events analysed was approved by the certificates. All professional development events, studied in the article, were voluntarily visited by ESP teachers March-December 2020. Scholars could choose their topic of interest, time, and an organisation responsible for the event. 3344.3 hours of professional development was analysed with the help of quantitative and qualitative approaches. Descriptive statistics allowed us to summarise frequencies and focus on the central tendencies and variabilities. This method allowed us to present the most common topics of teacher professional development and list the most popular providers, responsible for the events. Inferential statistics was used to make generalizations, such as estimating average demand for professional developments events and predict topics, which will be popular in the nearest future. This method also allowed us to infer causality. The professional development of ESP teachers can embrace a wide variety of topics and formats. There are traditional forms of ESP teacher development and new ones, which became popular during the pandemic. The professional development of ESP teachers can embrace a wide variety of formats. Some of the traditional formats for ESP teachers include one-day conferences, seminars or courses, provided by institutes, funded by state money. The majority of the events were traditionally held offline through face-to-face interactions. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 era, the situation has dramatically changed, resulting in new formats and topics.

Research results and their discussion
Webinars, online conferences and preparation courses have been proved to be the most popular type of ESP teachers" professional development during the pandemic. Their video-based characteristics, free access allowed Ukrainian teachers to participate in professional development sessions with language specialists and experts from all over the world. Due to webinars, Ukrainian ESP teachers got a chance to interact with colleagues, share experience and remain professionally up to date during the pandemic. Noteworthy, that quarantine stimulated educators to explore more possibilities for online trainings and home-based education.
Professional development events highlighting teaching and learning during the COVID-19 era attracted the attention of a great number of ESP teachers. These events helped them to deal with the realities and challenges of the COVID era in education. A lot of events had time-specific words in titles, such as pandemic, remote, online, Covid-19, quarantine. Here are some examples: Using Zoom for remote lessons, Keeping energy levels up when teaching remotely, Teaching foreign languages remotely, Assessing in a Post-Pandemic World, Covid-19 and changes in learning and teaching, Projectbased learning during quarantine etc.
Another trend found was the increase of diversity among the providers of trainings for ESP teachers during the COVID-19 era. 37 different organisations, institutes, centers were estimated as providers of the events, attended by ESP teachers of Igor Sikorsky KPI during the Covid-19 in 2020 (Table 1). The list has a tendency to further increase as teachers continue spending time professionally developing online in 2021. In Table 1 you can see the organisers and number of events ESP teachers at Igor Sikorsky KPI, attended in March-December 2020. 242 professional development events were analysed (Table 1). These events include online teacher conferences and webinars. Dinternal education, Training Center Linguist (Cambridge University Press), Educational project "Na urok", The Ukrainian Institute of Information Technologies in Education, Oxford University Press, and Macmillan Education turned out to be the leaders in the number of professional development events, attended by ESP teachers at Igor Sikorsky KPI. As can be seen from Table 1., the range of organisers embrace different continents and countries. The list of organisations in Table 1 can be useful for pre-service and in-service teachers while searching for professional development events.
After careful analysis, all the events, visited by ESP teachers at Igor Sikorsky KPI, were divided into nine categories. Fig. 1 shows seven main categories ESP teachers spent the most significant number of professional development hours on. As can be seen in Fig. 1, the leading categories are ICT teacher skills (51.8 %), Teaching approaches, methods and techniques (18.4 %), Student and teacher assessment and evaluation (14.5 %). A special trend dur-ing the COVID-19 era was the focus on ICT teacher skills development (Table 2). Emerging technologies were mentioned in the list of language teachers" professional development interests before the pandemic, for example in Buendía & Macías research [12], but during the COVID-19 era ICT teacher skills became crucial. Speaking about ESP teachers of the Department of English for Engineering No. 1, this category turned out to be the leading one -51.8 %. The most popular trainings were about using Zoom, Moodle, and Google services.
Moreover, ESP scholars at Igor Sikorsky KPI also have drawn attention to teacher language proficiency, which can be confirmed by international certificates. Two teachers passed international tests online during the COVID-19 era. As a result, one teacher got her Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA). It included 200 hours of professional training. One more teacher had TKT preparation, module 2 (26 hours) and CAE preparation course, exam C1 (65 hours). In addition, ESP teachers spend much time learning about student exams and international tests. As a result, as can be seen from Table 2, the student and teacher assessment and evaluation category estimated 381.5 hours (14.5 %).
Since language teaching is a complex thing, knowledge and skills in various related spheres can be very helpful. ESP teachers of the Department of English for Engineering No. 1 were interested in professional development in English for Journalism, Business English, Neuroscience, Computing, Social Media, Psychology. The category connections with other disciplines was an estimated 6.6 % ( Table 2).  Table 3). How to teach a foreign language has always been a key question. Remote teaching during quarantine stimulated teachers to revise approaches, methods and techniques for teaching ESP online. . Table 3 The category of teaching approaches, methods and techniques Teaching approaches, methods and techniques -482.85 hours (18.4 %) Contextualized approach to teaching grammar -80 Beyond motivation: engaging students (online and offline) -1 Excellence in Online Teaching -9 Listening at C1 and C2 -1 Effective methods of teaching adults -1 10 techniques to facilitate student engagement -1 Online training in how to deliver an engaging online lesson to teenage learners -1 Lexical approach in ELT -1 Teaching grammar communicatively -30 Using tasks in language teaching -0,45 Teaching for success -1 Optimizing learner success through differentiation -0,45 Teaching lexically -1 Keeping energy levels up when teaching remotely -0,45 A step-by-step approach to leading our university-level students to a well-structured academic essay -6 Developing an effective approach to enhancing the receptive and productive language skills of C1 level student -4 Developing Critical Thinking Skills -9 Getting started with teaching English online -1 How to teach pronunciation creatively -1 A 5-star grammar lesson -1 Academic discussions: encouraging our students to speak with confidence and clarity -8 Effective exercises without preparation -2 Top ten activities for teaching stress and intonation -4 4 super powerful ideas to help your students start talking after summer holidays! -2 TESOL Methodology -15 Bringing Grammar to life -1 Project-based learning during quarantine -4 Balancing the workload during distance learning -1,5 Avoiding the plateau: developing an effective approach to teaching C1 and higher-level students -10 Top quality teaching -4,5 Learning to speak, speaking to learn -8 Personalisation with learners: challenges and tips -3 Teaching and learning kaleidoscope -2 How to organise integrated learners -4 Focus second edition: the best manual to pass exams -2 Why do we teach the way we do -3 Using a book High Note -2 Teaching Young Learners online Q&A -3 Meet Gold Experience: a unique course preparing teens and young adults for exams and the world beyond the classroom -8 Speaking activities: Words don"t come easy -2 Teaching grammar online to adult learners -4 Managing Interaction and Feedback in the Virtual Classroom -2 The Competency-Based Approach to teaching English -8 The Perks of Using Pearson English -2 Teaching generation Z students -1 Teaching English in a new context -30 Quarantine as a transition to a new professional level -2 Dealing with pronunciation -2 Filling the gaps: improving the lexical and grammatical competence of C1 and higher-level students -6 Teaching English Online -1 Personalized teaching of Z generation learners -1 Teaching Remotely: Practical Tips -2 Interactive components of teaching teens -1 Bringing the World to the Online Classroom Fall Webinar Series -6 Authentic space creation -1 Online Foreign Language Teaching -4 Integrating vocabulary and grammar with GoGetter (Pearson) -1 Teaching foreign languages remotely -2 Integration video in a lesson and project-based learning with GoGetter -1 Using online resources for remote teaching -30 Using authentic resources to develop speaking skills -1 Classroom activities that spark communication -1 Double Impact on Your Teaching -2. 5 Remote teacher training -10 Teaching Lexis: How to Bring Words to Life -2 Professional communication skills -2 The Questions We Ask: Transformative Teaching Practices -1 Roadmap to motivating student: an eight-step guide -6 Bringing pronunciation to life: Developing an effective approach to teaching stress and intonation -4 Motivate students with special course Next Move -2 Online lessons that are active and interactive -3 Developing professional competences of educators in the digital era -60 Engaging teens? It"s not all about technology... -1 Lexical part of the lesson -1 5 ways to bring vocabulary into the online classroom -1 Covid-19 and changes in learning and teaching -1 In some cases, professional development events combined both teaching ICT skills and instructional practices. For example, ISMA Business Incubator provided training on New Technologies and Innovation in Higher Education: Active Teaching and Learning (180 hours). A lot of ESP teachers attended online conferences. A conference is a traditional type of ESP teachers" professional development. During the COVID-19 era, most of the conferences were held online, which remained very popular. Here is the list of the international scientific and practical conferences, held in Ukraine and abroad and attended by ESP teachers who work at Igor Sikorsky  As Figure 1 shows, ESP teachers at Igor Sikorsky KPI are actively involved in doing pedagogical research and preparing academic articles that"s why the category Academic publications and research issues (4.8 % -125 hours) is widely presented by these events: Referencing: Microsoft word, End Note, Mendeley, Zotero -8 hours, Writing dissertations -108 hours, Profile of "Web of Science": creating, editing, using -1, Analytical tool "InCites" -1, International publications -1, New interface of "Web of Science" Core Collection -1, Criteria and journal selection for "Web of Science" Core Collection -1, How to find a right journal -2, An introduction to Scientometrics -1, Author's profilecreation, editing, opportunities -1. Academic publications and research issues embrace a wide range of topics for professional development, which can help educators to improve their skills for academic publishing and research.
The category International teacher collaboration estimated 2.1 % and consisted of these webinars: Reflecting an open engagement with English medium educators around the world -2; ELT Together 2020 -10 hours; Together we thrive: How to build supportive teacher learning communities -0.45; Key skills for Belarussian teachers: Improved Skills for Stronger Societies -44 hours. International online teacher collaboration is definitely an important trend during the COVID-19 era. It has a wide range of professional development benefits.
As can be seen from Figure 1., the category student and teacher behaviour problems included 1.6 % (42 hours) of professional development. These hours were distributed in the following way: Anti-bullying training -3 hours, Fighting against corruption -30, Academic honestyfrom theory to practice -8 hours, Rules of net etiquette and how to follow them in chats -1. Moreover, ESP teachers at Igor Sikorsky KPI completed surveys on compliance with the principles of academic integrity. It was a part of the Academic Integrity and Quality Initiative (Academic IQ) project, which will last until July 30, 2022 [14]. Thus, the topic of student and teacher behaviour problems will continue to be an important part of teachers" professional development The eighth category language issues and the ninth curriculum development were estimated at only 0.2 % and 0.07 % respectively. The category language issues were presented with topics such as Understanding functional language -3 hours, The power of context -1, 21st century English -Where are we at? -2 hours. The category curriculum development included the webinar Developing self-access materials for your hybrid classroom -2 hours. These results could be caused by the fact that teachers concentrated more on developing ICT skills during the COVID-19 era to quickly adapt the existing curriculum for the new requirements and effectively conduct remote lessons. Foreign language teachers in Ukraine and "across TALIS countries are more likely than other teachers to use technology in their classrooms and as part of their lessons" [13].
6. Conclusions 1. 34 ESP teachers of the Department of English for Engineering No. 1 at Igor Sikorsky KPI certified 3344.3 hours of online professional development. The unprecedented challenges during the COVID-19 era stimulated ESP teachers to spend more time professionally developing themselves online than before the pandemic. During the COVID-19 era, ESP teachers concentrated on professional development trainings, which would allow them to conduct effective online lessons. New demands raised the questions on digitizing, adapting content for online presentation, providing feedback remotely and managing online assignments. As a result, efficient usage of new technologies turned out to be a top priority of professional development during the COVID-19 era. To successfully cope with new challenges ESP teachers of the Department of English for Engineering No. 1 at Igor Sikorsky KPI focused their attention on trainings on ICT skills development (51.8 % hours). Learning new methods, approaches and techniques (18.4 %) were found to be another common focus of 34 ESP teachers at Igor Sikorsky KPI. The category of student and teacher assessment and evaluation (14.5 %) was distinguished as the third most popular category. Meanwhile, events on language issues (0.2 %) and curriculum development (0.07 %) were less popular during the pandemic at the university. Development of ICT skills, teaching ap-proaches, methods and techniques, and student and teacher assessment and evaluation were estimated at 84.7 % of all hours of professional development of ESP teachers at the Department of English for Engineering No. 1 of Igor Sikorsky KPI.
2. The additional trend was connected with new formats of professional development. Before the COVID-19 era educators commonly had their teacher development in the format of offline conferences or state/university provided courses. The analysis of the 34 teachers" professional development allowed us to confirm the rising trend in webinar trainings as an effective way of teacher development. The results of the study showed that during the pandemic webinars, online conferences and courses turned out to be the most popular forms at Igor Sikorsky KPI.
3. One more trend is the increasing number of organisations that provided the events of professional de-velopment for ESP teachers at Igor Sikorsky KPI. 37 different organisations, institutes, and centers were listed as teacher development providers. The results confirmed the desire of ESP teachers at the Department of English for Engineering No. 1 of Igor Sikorsky KPI to constantly improve professionally.
4. According to the results of the research, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a significant change in the formats and topics of the continuous professional development of language teachers at Igor Sikorsky KPI. It will definitely influence teaching languages and raise the value of formal and informal professional development in the pandemic and post-pandemic period, make teachers more flexible for new challenges and improve online teachers" collaboration worldwide.
As a prospect of future research, it is important to study how professional development influences student learning and the instructional practices of teachers.