Martin Wedell

Cultural contrasts and commonalities in inspiring language teaching

Inspiring teaching is the kind of pedagogy that motivates pupils to study autonomously, in their own time, of their own volition beyond the classroom, and may be particularly important for long-term endeavours such as learning a second language. This study aimed to find out the prevalence and nature of inspiring English language teaching in the state school systems in two Asian contexts, Guangzhou, China and Jakarta, Indonesia, using an open-item survey which asked learners to nominate and describe inspiring teachers they had had in school. Seven of these teachers were then visited in their schools, interviewed and observed teaching in class. The response to the survey (n = 279) indicated that inspiring teaching was probably not common but when it did occur, learners usually recalled that the teacher had a wide range of qualities, though some systematic differences were noted between Chinese and Indonesian respondents. Cultural differences were even more noticeable in the observed lessons, suggesting that the teachers worked hard to ensure their practice was contextually appropriate. All the teachers evinced an intrinsic motivation to teach, indicating that this factor might underlie inspiring pedagogy wherever it takes place. We argue for more research on inspiring teaching to complement that on motivational strategies.

Temporal Dissonance, Contextual Confusion and Risk: Learning from the Experiences of Teachers Living with Curriculum Change

This chapter considers the main messages emerging from the teachers’ stories and how these help to explain the very limited success of the English teaching curriculum initiatives in most of the countries included. We see evidence of temporal dissonance between the concepts of teaching and learning and recommended teaching approaches introduced by English curricula, and those prevailing more widely within the existing educational culture; . Such dissonance, and other commonly mentioned factors, contributes to the state of contextual confusion evident in most of the stories, which in turn makes curriculum implementation professionally and personally risky for teachers.

Living with Curriculum Change: An Overview

Here we situate the book in today’s global English Language Teaching context, and provide our rationale for exploring teachers ’ experiences of implementing complex English curriculum changes. We outline the structure of the book and explain the methodology used to gather the teachers stories that represent the core of each of the following chapters. The chapter ends with a series of questions that invite you to link important issues raised by the teachers’ stories that follow, to your own experiences of ‘living with curriculum change’.