Julian Edge

Cross-cultural Paradoxes in a Profession of Values.

This article addresses the theme of the 1995 TESOL Convention: Building Our Futures Together. It takes building to be an activity that, like effective communication, prefers common ground and solid foundations. The common ground proposed is a view of TESOL as an undertaking that provides, for its long-term practitioners, a professional vehicle for self-development. An interdependence of the personal and professional arises from the underlying values that inform our actions in the various cultures and subcultures in which we live. This is where foundations must be laid. We face paradoxes, or dilemmas, when clashes develop between different sets of values: for example, the professional values we espouse as people-who-teach, the political values that dominate the societies in which we work, and the cultural values that predominate in societies with which we interact. The article examines three such paradoxes from a perspective that emphasizes our daily need not only to act, but to act in ways consonant with the values we profess. Finally, in an avowedly personal statement, the article sketches a preferred vision of partnership in futures building for TESOL.

Be(com)ing a reflexive researcher: a developmental approach to research methodology

ABSTRACT Our purpose in this article is to achieve a shift of focus away from a view of research methods as objectified procedures to be learnt by researchers, and towards the development of researchers who craft procedures integral to the environments in which they operate – environments of which they are also a functioning constituent. A key element in such a perspective is the conceptualisation (and practice) of the relationship between development and reflexivity. Reflexivity involves a process of on-going mutual shaping between researcher and research. Development involves an increase in awareness of such processes of interaction between organism and context. Rather than see development only as a welcome side-effect of reflexive research, we treat development of the researcher as central, with reflexivity in an instrumental relationship to this on-going process. With regard to the pragmatic implementation of these concepts, we emphasise the importance of the researcher consciously stepping back from action in order to theorise what is taking place, and also stepping up to be an active part of that contextualised action. We exemplify the processes involved using research data taken from a doctoral study into the role of technology in the teaching of Arabic. The first section of this article explores the idea of a developmental approach. The second unpacks our sense of reflexivity. The third section exemplifies our discussion through the experiences of a researcher in the field. The concluding section summarises and restates our argument regarding the potential usefulness of adopting a developmental approach to the conduct of research.

Non-Judgemental Discourse in the Development of Critical Capacity for Language Teachers.

A major structural problem in the teaching of English worldwide is to be found in the arthritic power relationships that continue to limit the continuing professional development of its practitioners. The acceptance of the superior status of ‘theory’ and ‘theorists’, and the consequent subordination of teachers as the ‘appliers’ of such theory, in alliance with the continuing acceptance of the primacy of monolingually-derived approaches to the exploration of language learning and teaching, express the constraints of hegemony rather than the needs of the profession. Against this background, the disciplined use of non-judgemental discourse, here formalized in an approach called cooperative development, offers one way forward in the attempt to encourage the bottom-up theorization of experience that can reflexively encourage and be nourished by the growth of critical capacity.

The Somali oyster—Training the trainers in TEFL

Abstract In a situation where the need for in-service training is felt to be acute, the attempt is sometimes made to train a cadre of teacher-trainers who can go out and run their own training courses with serving schoolteachers. The procedure for training the trainers should be the same as that for training teachers and should, in turn, reflect the methodology that is being suggested for EFL teaching itself. Clear and practical classroom objectives should be set, but this must not obscure the need for room for personal development. Both language and methodological needs must be met in a positive way by building on what participants already do and know. This article outlines a procedure for the above aims.