scholarly journals Challenges and possibilities in educating EFL reading teachers

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Juliet Hilary Munden
Keyword(s):  
Student Teachers ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Reading Strategies ◽  
English Language ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Reading Teachers ◽  
Learning Sequence ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Core Practices

AbstractExperiencing literature is part of the English as a foreign language (EFL) subject in Norway. It is both challenging and possible to educate competent reading teachers who can foster this experience. The present article is a thematic exploration of some of these challenges and possibilities. The challenges are discussed under four headings: the profession of the teacher educator; the complaint that student teachers do not read enough; the role of national tests in forming how reading in English is taught in school; and the challenge of making sense of the concept of reading strategies. The second part of the article considers possibilities. These are grounded in the principle that teacher educators should not primarily lecture. Instead, they should alternate systematically between enactment and metacognition. The article describes scenarios in which students try out a sequence of pre-, during- and post-reading activities related to the short story “The Demon Lover” by Elizabeth Bowen. After engaging with each activity, the students take part in a reflection led by the teacher educator on their experience as readers, the learning potential of the activity, and questions related to its adaptation and organisation in a diverse school classroom. This operationalisation of a pedagogy of enactment (Grossman et al., 2009) allows student teachers to gain experience of and reflect on core practices. In the present case, the core practice is the planning and teaching of coherent and motivating learning sequences that promote increased reading motivation and proficiency in the English language classroom.Keywords: teacher education, subject English, reading strategies, learning sequence, metacognitionUtfordringer og muligheter i utdanningen av leselærere i engelskfagetSammendragLitteraturopplevelser hører til i engelskfaget i norsk skole. Det er både ut-fordrende og mulig å utdanne kompetente leselærere som kan fremme slike opplevelser. Denne artikkelen er en tematisk utforskning av noen av disse utfordringene og mulighetene. Utfordringene diskuteres under fire overskrifter: lærerutdanneren som profesjonsutøver; misnøyen med at studenter ikke leser nok; betydningen av nasjonale prøver for hvordan lesing i engelsk er undervist i skolen; og utfordringen med å forstå lesestrategier som konsept. Den andre delen av artikkelen tar for seg mulighetene som ligger i prinsippet om at lærer-utdannere ikke primært skal forelese. Isteden bør de veksle systematisk mellom utøvelse og metakognisjon. Artikkelen beskriver en sekvens hvor studenter prøver ut før-, under- og etter-lesningsaktiviteter tilknyttet Elizabeth Bowens novelle “The Demon Lover”. Etter å ha engasjert seg i hver aktivitet, deltar studentene i en refleksjon ledet av lærerutdanneren, hvor de drøfter sine opplevelser som lesere, aktivitetens læringspotensial, og spørsmål om tilpasning og organisering av aktiviteten i et mangfoldig klasserom. Denne operasjonaliseringen av en enactment-pedagogikk (Grossman et al., 2009) gir lærerstudenter anledning til å skaffe seg erfaring med og reflektere over kjerne-praksiser. I dette tilfellet er kjernepraksisen det å planlegge koherente og moti-verende læringssekvenser som fører til økt lesemotivasjon og kompetanse i det engelske klasserommet.Nøkkelord: lærerutdanning, engelskfaget, lesestrategier, læringsøkt, metakogni¬sjon

scholarly journals ELT Student Teacher Identity Construction: Exploring Teacher Roles and Domains of Expertise

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 113
Author(s):  
Nafiye Cigdem Aktekin ◽  
Hatice Celebi
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Teacher Identity ◽  
English Language ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Teacher Roles

In this study, we direct our focus to identity construction in an English language teaching (ELT) teacher education program. We explore the teacher roles in which student teachers are struggling to position themselves comfortably and the teacher expertise domains (subject matter, didactics, and pedagogy) that they are dedicating themselves to improving. To address our research focus, we have collected reflections and survey responses from 18 student teachers in an ELT education department. Our findings indicate that ELT student teachers find it difficult to position themselves as experts in and about the English language and that they feel a need to be equipped with expertise first and foremost in the subject matter, and then in didactics, followed by pedagogy. These results imply that in ELT teacher education, certain language ideologies are still prevalent and need to be dealt with by teacher educators for transformative outcomes in education.

scholarly journals Practice-Focused Research in Initial Teacher Education

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Abbiss ◽  
Eline Vanassche
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
Theoretical Contribution

A review of the field of practice-focused research in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) reveals four broad genres of qualitative research: case studies of teacher education programs and developments; research into student teacher experience and learning; inquiry into teacher educators’ own learning, identity, and beliefs; and conceptual or theory-building research. This is an eclectic field that is defined by variation in methodologies rather than by a few clearly identifiable research approaches. What practice-focused research in ITE has in common, though, is a desire on the behalf of teacher educator researchers to understand the complexity of teacher education and contribute to shifts in practice, for the benefit of student teachers and, ultimately, for learners in schools and early childhood education. In this endeavor, teacher educator researchers are presented with a challenge to achieve a balance between goals of local relevance and making a theoretical contribution to the broader field. This is a persistent tension. Notwithstanding the capacity for practice-focused research to achieve a stronger balance and greater relevance beyond the local, key contributions of practice-focused research in ITE include: highlighting the importance of context, questioning what might be understood by “improvement” in teacher education and schooling, and pushing back against research power structures that undervalue practice-focused research. Drawing on a painting metaphor, each genre represents a collection of sketches of practice-focused research in ITE that together provide the viewer with an overview of the field. However, these genres are not mutually exclusive categories as any particular research study (or sketch) might be placed within one or more groupings; for example, inquiry into teacher educators’ own learning often also includes attention to student teachers’ experiences and case studies of teacher education initiatives inevitably draw on theory to frame the research and make sense of findings. Also, overviewing the field and identifying relevant research is not as simple as it might first appear, given challenges in identifying research undertaken by teacher educators, differences in the positioning of teacher educators within different educational systems, and privileging of American (US) views of teacher education in published research, which was counteracted in a small way in this review by explicitly including voices located outside this dominant setting. Examples of different types of qualitative research projects illustrate issues in teacher education that matter to teacher educator researchers globally and locally and how they have sought to use a variety of methodologies to understand them. The examples also show how teacher educators themselves define what is important in teacher education research, often through small-scale studies of context-specific teacher education problems and practices, and how there is value in “smaller story” research that supports understanding of both universals and particularities along with the grand narratives of teacher education.

Formative Assessment in a Teacher Education Course

2020 ◽  
pp. 71-88
Author(s):  
Kerryn Dixon
Keyword(s):  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Formative Assessment ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Literacy Teachers ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Support Students

Although many teachers are sympathetic to critical literacy's social justice agenda, they are often unsure about how to implement it in their classrooms. This is particularly so in contexts where increased accountability requires standardized forms of assessment. The challenge for teacher educators is to find ways to support student teachers and teachers who are new to critical literacy. The chapter focuses on how postgraduate students new to critical literacy learn to use this approach with young children. The chapter explicates the ways in which formative assessment is practiced as part of a critical pedagogy to support students' understandings of critical literacy, it describes how low-risk opportunities to put critical literacy into practice are provided, furthermore it considers the ways in which dialogue works to support inexperienced critical literacy teachers and finally examines the benefits of formative assessment practices within a critical pedagogy from a teacher educator perspective.

scholarly journals TEACHER EDUCATOR PROFESSIONALISM AND STUDENT TEACHER LEARNING IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 143-159
Author(s):  
Saheed Rufai ◽  
Adeola Oyenike Adeosun ◽  
Akinola Saliu Jimoh ◽  
Bello Musa
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Teacher Learning ◽  
Student Teacher ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Main Theme ◽  
The Impact

Of the three components constituting teacher education curriculum, namely general education, specialized education and professional education, the professional education component is arguably accorded the highest consideration in the scholarship of teaching. However, there is an emerging concern over the involvement of non-education specialists in the teaching of this component. Yet, there is little evidence of sufficient engagement with this concern in the Nigerian context. As a sequel to a study on pedagogical misconceptions by student teachers, this paper examines the impact of teacher educators' professionalism on student teachers' learning in Nigerian universities. Through the analytic method, the study engaged with data collected through the instrumentality of official records like Faculty brochures, lecture notes developed by teacher educators, systematic observations by the researchers, and semi-structured interviews involving selected participants.  The qualitative study employs a constructivist paradigm that methodically situates data and analysis in the context of the experiences and perceptions of both the participants and researchers, and focusses on the main theme, namely teacher educator's knowledge as a predictor of student-teacher learning, which emerged from the data for the earlier study as collected in three universities where the present lead researcher assessed prospective teachers on teaching practice in their third and fourth years, in his capacity as teaching practice supervisor. In exposing the effect of teacher educator professionalism on prospective teacher learning, the present study revealed instances of miseducation by some of the teacher educators involved in teaching professional education courses, which substantially accounts for the student teachers' pedagogical misconceptions

scholarly journals Opening the “Can of Worms”: Preparing Teachers to Address Issues Relating to “Race”

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Davies
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Student Satisfaction ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
Critical Whiteness Studies ◽  
White Teacher

This paper reports the findings of a study which involved a critical examination of “race”-related provision on initial teacher education (ITE) programmes in England. It draws upon data collected as part of a national survey of ITE provision which included interviews with providers and students, and case studies of ITE providing institutions. The study utilized aspects of Critical Race Theory and Critical Whiteness Studies as a theoretical framework with which to analyse the data. The paper explores the nature of provision relating to “race,” suggesting that teacher educators and student teachers are often ill-equipped to address the complexities relating to this area and, as a result, they can fail to recognize the importance and potential impact of their professional practice, and their pedagogical decisions. It suggests that ITE practices are often underpinned by dysconscious racisms and manifestations of Whiteness, leading to a marginalization of “race” input, with opportunities for deeper interrogation missed, or actively avoided. The paper explores some of the constraints impacting on ITE namely a lack of time; a lack of confidence on the part of a predominantly White teacher educator workforce; a lack of recognition of the importance and significance of “race” on the part of White student teachers, and an emphasis of superficial measures of student satisfaction at the expense of deeper interrogation and deconstruction of hegemonic norms. It makes recommendations relating to how practice can be improved within the current challenging global contexts in relation to “race” equality. It calls for teacher education to aspire to produce novice teachers willing and prepared to embrace “race”-related challenges in their teaching careers, and to contribute to curricula which acknowledge and address inequality.

Addressing English teachers’ concerns about decentering Standard English

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Metz
Keyword(s):  
English Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Standard English ◽  
Content Type ◽  
English Classrooms ◽  
The Usa

Purpose This paper aims to address concerns of English teachers considering opening up their classrooms to multiple varieties of English. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the author’s experience as a teacher educator and professional developer in different regions of the USA, this narrative paper groups teachers’ concerns into general categories and offers responses to the most common questions. Findings Teachers want to know why they should make room in their classrooms for multiple Englishes; what they should teach differently; how they learn about English variation; how to balance Standardized English and other Englishes; and how these apply to English Learners and/or White speakers of Standardized English. Practical implications The study describes the author’s approach to teaching about language as a way to promote social justice and equality, the value of increasing students’ linguistic repertoires and why it is necessary to address listeners as well as speakers. As teachers attempt to adopt and adapt new approaches to teaching English language suggested in the research literature, they need to know their challenges and concerns are heard and addressed. Teacher educators working to support these teachers need ways to address teachers’ concerns. Social implications This paper emphasizes the importance of teaching mainstream, White, Standard English-speaking students about English language variation. By emphasizing the role of the listener and teaching students to hear language through an expanded language repertoire, English teachers can reduce the prejudice attached to historically stigmatized dialects of English. Originality/value This paper provides a needed perspective on how to work with teachers who express legitimate concerns about what it means to decenter Standardized English in English classrooms.

scholarly journals TEACHER EDUCATOR’S PERCEPTIONS OF THE ELT METHODOLOGY COURSE CONTENT SUFFICIENCY: ACTION RESEARCH

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-110
Author(s):  
Ігор РОМАНИШИН
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
English Language ◽  
Core Curriculum ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
School Teacher ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Teaching Methodology ◽  
Joint Project

In the article, the author describes the procedures and results of the implementation of the pedagogical technology – the design and delivery of the three-hour session ‘Introduction to Communicative Language Teaching and the History of Method’ to the second-year pre-service English teachers at Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, Ukraine aimed at enhancing students’ understanding of basic ELT concepts and becoming prepared for the new methodology content to be covered in the spring term of the academic year of 2019/2020. The study is based on the material of the experimental Core Curriculum “English Language  Teaching Methodology. Bachelor’s Level” implemented within the framework of the joint project of the British Council Ukraine and the Ministry of Science and Education of Ukraine “New Generation School Teacher”. The author applied the research methods of comparison, generalisation, synthesis, induction and deduction, as well as carried out the classroom action research using such instruments for qualitative and quantitative data collection as teacher classroom observations, student surveys, and student self-assessment checklists. The analysis of the obtained results demonstrates that the suggested pedagogical technology (materials, activities, methods/techniques, interaction of the subjects of educational process, etc.) helped the teacher educator and students to reach the objectives of the experimental study. The results of the study might be useful for the wider community of pre-service English language teacher educators in Ukraine and beyond.

scholarly journals Implementing Poetry in the Language Class: A Poetry-Teaching Framework for Prospective English Language Teachers

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Safiye İpek Kuru Gönen
Keyword(s):  
Student Teachers ◽  
Prospective Teachers ◽  
English Language ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Material Selection ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Teaching Methodology ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Language Class

Poetry has often been neglected as a favorable tool for language teaching. What is more, its role to expand human experience and create language awareness has not been fully realized. As a reaction to often-underestimated value of including literature in the language class, this article proposes a poetry-teaching (POT) framework for language practitioners to bridge the gap between literature and language teaching methodology. Step-by-step procedure followed in the framework aimed at helping prospective teachers incorporate poetry into language teaching, while at the same time offering various materials and activities to be used in their future teaching practices. The proposed framework was presented to 21 student teachers at an English Language Teaching (ELT) department of a state university in Turkey to help them integrate the ideas of using poetry in a micro-teaching context. Prospective teachers acted both as learners and teachers while following the steps of the suggested framework, and reflected on this experience through reflective diaries and stimulated recalls of their teaching performances. They also took part in semi-structured interviews at the end of the study. Qualitative analyses revealed that poetry can have a place in language teaching by using a systematic and guided framework tailored to the features of a language classroom. With the help of the proposed framework, implementing poetry in the language class helped to promote motivation, creativity and self-expression along with multi-skill development and interaction among learners. However, incorporating poetry into the language class was challenging in terms of time and effort required and difficulties in material selection and design. This study suggests that poetry can become part of language teacher education. In this regard, this article proposes implications for teachers and teacher educators for the implementation of poetry in language teaching practice.

scholarly journals Teacher-Researcher Development? Unpacking the Understandings and Approaches in Initial Teacher Education in Kosovo

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 53-76
Author(s):  
Fjolla Kaçaniku
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Qualitative Research Design ◽  
Researcher Development ◽  
Teacher Researcher ◽  
Research Curriculum ◽  
Programme Content

The teacher-researcher is a prevailing concept in the post-professionalism age of teacher education. The development of teacher-researchers is discussed alongside reforming initial teacher education programmes as research-based. At this time, there is no consensus regarding the understanding and methodologies of teacher-researcher development. The purpose of this study is to examine student teachers’ and teacher educators’ understandings of and approaches to teacher-researcher development in initial teacher education in Kosovo within the research-based education movement. The study used a qualitative research design. The data were collected through open questionnaires (n = 270 student teachers), interviews (n = 15 teacher educators), and programme content (n = 5) at two initial teacher education institutions in Kosovo. Using Healey and Jenkins’s research curriculum categories as a guiding framework, the study identified four clusters of contradictory understandings and approaches relating to teacher educator practice and programme values and goals, fragmenting the context of teacher-researcher development in Kosovo. In order to build consensus in teacher-researcher development, coordinated efforts are recommended to address the current isolated and differing understandings and practices within the broader context of initial teacher education.

The Influence of Teacher Education Programs on the Beliefs of Student Teachers: General Pedagogical Knowledge, Pedagogical Content Knowledge, and Teacher Education Course Work

1995 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim C. Graber
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Pedagogical Content Knowledge ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Content Knowledge ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Pedagogical Knowledge ◽  
Pedagogical Content ◽  
General Pedagogical Knowledge

The purpose of this study was to (a) examine how student teachers believed they incorporated general pedagogical knowledge into lessons, (b) examine how student teachers believed they incorporated pedagogical content knowledge into lessons, and (c) examine the beliefs held by student teachers regarding those elements of their teacher education program that most directly guided their practice. Twenty student teachers, 7 teacher educators, and 8 cooperating teachers were interviewed. Data were analyzed and grouped into themes. The results indicate that the degree to which students incorporated general pedagogical knowledge into teaching was contingent on the placement setting, support of the cooperating teacher, influence of pupils, and level the student teacher was teaching. Student teachers had greater difficulty incorporating pedagogical content knowledge. The student teachers from one university all believed they were primarily influenced by one particular teacher educator. A single powerful individual may be more important in shaping preservice student beliefs than an entire program of courses and experiences.

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