Thomas S. C. Farrell

The Teacher Is an Octopus: Uncovering Preservice English Language Teachers' Prior Beliefs through Metaphor Analysis.

Preservice teachers come to any teacher education course with prior experiences, knowledge and beliefs about learning and teaching. Additionally, the belief systems of preservice teachers often serve as a lens through which they view the content of the teacher education program. Consequently, it is essential that teacher educators take these prior beliefs into account because any new material taught will have to compete with these existing beliefs and theories. However, these beliefs are usually held tacitly. One method of making this prior knowledge explicit is to examine the metaphors preservice teachers use during their practice teaching. This paper outlines a case study of the metaphors three preservice English teachers used before, during and after a six-week practice teaching experience in Singapore. Results showed that metaphors used can be classified within the following three-part typology: social order, cultural transmission and learner-centered growth.

Understanding and Implementtng the Clt (Communicative Language Teaching) Paradigm

The call to change seems to be a constant in education. In second language education, a constellation of changes have been proposed and, to some ex tent, implemented. This constellation of interconnected changes can perhaps best be termed a paradigm shift, with this paradigm fitting under the general umbrella of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). The concept of para digm shift usefully offers one means of making such connections between the changes linked to CLT. The article attempts to put the CLT paradigm shift into perspective as an element of larger shifts from positivism to post- positivism and from behaviorism to cognitivism. This article describes eight changes that fit with the CLT paradigm shift in second language education. These eight changes are: learner autonomy, the social nature of learning, curricular integration, focus on meaning, diversity, thinking skills, alternative assessment, and teachers as co-learners. The authors argue that in second language education, although the CLT paradigm shift was initiated many years ago, it still has been only partially implemented. Two reasons for this partial implementation are: (1) by trying to understand each change sepa rately, second language educators have weakened their understanding by missing the larger picture; and (2) by trying to implement each change separately, second language educators have made the difficult task of change even more challenging.

Exploring teacher beliefs and classroom practices through reflective practice: A case study:

This article presents a case study that explored and reflected on the relationship between the stated beliefs and observed classroom practices of one second language reading teacher. The findings of this study revealed that this particular teacher holds complex beliefs about teaching reading that were evident to some extent in many of his classroom practices. Additionally, this study found that by articulating and reflecting on his beliefs, the teacher became more aware of the meaning and impact of these beliefs on his classroom practices. Findings from this study correlate with findings from previous studies in first language (L1) reading research that examined the relationship between teacher beliefs and classroom practices. Implications for future research are also discussed.

Reflecting on ESL Teacher Beliefs and Classroom Practices: A Case Study.

This paper presents a case study that investigated and compared the stated beliefs and observed classroom practices relating to language teaching of one experienced and one novice English language teacher. Areas where observed practices converged with or diverged from stated beliefs are explored and discussed with reference to factors which might have influenced particular practices with respect to grammar teaching. Throughout this study, the novice and experienced teachers are compared with one another. The findings indicate that teachers indeed possess a set of complex beliefs that are not always realized in their classroom practices for a variety of potential reasons: some of these might be directly related to the context of teaching. Further, findings from this study show some similarities with previous studies that have compared experienced teachers with novice teachers.

Anniversary article: The practices of encouraging TESOL teachers to engage in reflective practice: An appraisal of recent research contributions

Within the field of education, reflective practice has become a very popular concept within teacher education and development programs. The general consensus is that teachers who are encouraged to engage in reflective practice can gain new insight of their practice. There have been similar developments in the field of teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL), where the allure of reflective practice seems to have also been embraced as an important educational paradigm that should be supported in teacher education and development programs. However, we really do not know what research has been conducted on the practices that encourage TESOL teachers to participate in reflective practice. This article presents a review of recent research that has been published in academic journals over the past five years (2009–2014) on the practices that encourage TESOL teachers to reflect.

‘Keeping SCORE’: Reflective Practice Through Classroom Observations

Reflective practice means that teachers must subject their own teaching beliefs and practices to critical examination. One way of facilitating reflective practice in ESL teachers is to encourage them to engage in classroom observations as part of their professional development. This paper reports on a case study of a short series of classroom observations in which this author, acting as a facilitator, aided a novice teacher as she negotiated her first year of teaching ESL. The classroom observation process included the use of a method of using seating chart observation record, or SCORE chart, to help a novice teacher not only to become more aware of her classroom practices, but also to improve her instruction.

Teacher self-awareness through journal writing

Reflective practice has now become the leading paradigm in second language teacher education and development programs worldwide. Teacher reflection refers to teachers subjecting their beliefs and practices of teaching and learning to a critical analysis. One way that has been suggested to promote reflective practice for experienced ESL teachers is through journal writing. This case study sought to investigate in what ways regular journal writing promoted reflective thinking in one experienced ESL college teacher in Canada over a two-year period of reflection. Results showed that the teacher wrote mostly about her self-awareness as a teacher and that writing regularly in a journal provided her with some constructive behavior changes both inside and outside the classroom.

It’s Not Who You Are! It’s How You Teach! Critical Competencies Associated with Effective Teaching

Recently a dichotomy has developed in the field of TESOL between native English speaker teachers (NESTs) and non-native English speaker teachers (NNESTs) with some in each camp promoting one over the other, but this only separates rather than unifies our profession. In this article I suggest that it is not in anybody’s interests to continue with this dichotomy if we are to be recognized as a profession within the wider academic community and that we should be debating critical competencies related to effective teaching instead, regardless of if one is a NEST or NNEST. In this paper, I point out that it is not who you are in terms of your ethnicity, culture or race as a TESOL teacher, but what you know in terms of your effectiveness as a teacher regardless of your background.

‘I feel like I’ve plateaued professionally … gone a little stale’: mid-career reflections in a teacher discussion group

This paper reports on a qualitative study of the reflections of three mid-career female ESL teachers in Canada through the lens of their participation in a two-year teacher discussion group. Not many studies exist about the mid-career reflections of experienced ESL teachers and their concerns (perceived or otherwise) with the phenomenon known as ‘plateauing’, and so the intent of this paper is to try to shed some light on this topic within the TESOL profession. The results indicate that some ESL teachers in mid-career may encounter some form of plateauing, but if they engage in collaborative group discussions with other teachers either within or outside their institutions, they can learn to better understand, and ultimately learn how to resist it and maintain their commitment and enthusiasm for their work as ESL teachers.

Exploring teacher questions through reflective practice

This paper presents a case study that explored and reflected on the relationship between the beliefs and classroom practices of four English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers in a university language school in Canada related to teacher questions. Data gathered consisted of interviews and classroom observations of all four teachers. The findings revealed that although for the most part the teachers implemented their classroom questioning practices in convergence with their stated beliefs, there were some instances of divergence observed for all teachers. Potential factors contributing to the patterns of convergence and divergence are further explored. In addition, this study found that through the reflective process whereby the teachers articulated and reflected on their beliefs about their use of questions, they became more aware of the meaning and impact of these beliefs on their classroom practices.