Reading about the complexity of L2 teacher education is one thing, but wrestling with the issue as part of my PhD has been an eye-opening experience. Having been involved in second language teacher education (SLTE) in a variety of contexts over the past few years, I have seen first-hand how student teachers learn, internalize and embrace course content. Others struggled, developed negative attitudes and seemed to learn little. However, analysing (this is an ongoing process) an enormous amount of data I collected last year has helped me better understand the magnitude educating and preparing L2 teachers entails. In a nutshell, my study examines how pronunciation teachers are prepared. This is an interesting area because little has been done in the context of pronunciation teacher preparation and because many (if not most) L2 teachers find pronunciation challenging to teach (Foote, Holtby, & Derwing, 2011; Macdonald, 2002). What’s intriguing is that many factors facilitate or restrict the development of student teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, perceptions, and thoughts (i.e. cognition). Yet, the fact that these components are almost impossible to be separated (Borg, 2006) complicates things. Additionally, the process of learning to teach L2 (or in my research context, learning to teach pronunciation) appears to be an individualistic, uneven and complicated process. In other words, what works for one student teachers, may not work for another one, and be downright wrong for a third teacher candidate. These challenges seem to be rather overwhelming and you may question why anyone would get involved in educating L2 teachers. My research, however, suggests that SLTE does work and can be effective. At same time, it holds enormous potential for educators to shape teacher candidates’ lives and send them off well-equipped to teach language in whatever context that might eventually be. So, although being involved in SLTE has its challenges, it is definitely an exciting enterprise which should not become boring anytime soon. Papers that I’m now working on will support this. Stay tuned! References: Borg, S. (2006). Teacher cognition and language education: Research and practice. London: Continuum. Foote, J. A., Holtby, A. K., & Derwing, T. M. (2011). Survey of the teaching pronunciation in adult ESL programs in Canada, 2010. TESL Canada Journal, 29(1), 1-22. Macdonald, S. (2002). Pronunciation – views and practices of reluctant teachers. Prospect, 17(3), 3-18.
3 Comments
Martin Perez
4/21/2016 12:50:34 pm
SLTE is definitely a very important field to explore; I will stay tuned to read your upcoming papers. I have taught English in Peru (I'm Peruvian) since 1991; I've never been a full-time teacher, but I would like to take the next step in this career... I read you studied at Trinity Western University; I contacted Louise Green there and provided me with the positive qualities of the MA TESOL program. Do you know what the program is like nowadays? Would you recommend studying there? Any comment will be highly appreciated. Kindest regards!
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Michael Burri
4/22/2016 10:48:11 am
Thanks, Martin, for your message. Good to hear that you're thinking about doing the MA TESOL at TWU. In my (slightly biased) opinion, the program there is absolutely world class. I've seen quite a few programs over the years, but that is definitely one of the best ones. It's quite rigorous but prepares graduates really well for future positions in teaching, administration, curriculum design etc. If you have any other questions, perhaps ask Louise for my email address. It'd be more than happy to chat some more.
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Martin Perez
4/22/2016 03:10:52 pm
I really appreciate your reply. Thank you. Leave a Reply. |
Author
I am a Senior Lecturer in TESOL at the University of Wollongong in Australia. This blog is a reflection of my journey as a researcher, L2 teacher educator, and language teacher. Archives
June 2021
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