Becoming an English language teacher:ContinuitiesandDiscontinuities

• Authors: Dorota Werbińska
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The aim of the paper is to report a three-year phenomenographic study conducted on seven EFL Polish teachers with the focus on presenting how they experience different aspects of language teaching at three crucial stages: 1) the time of ELT theory studying, 2) the time of school placement, 3) the time of first-year working as professional teachers. Each stage of the study is presented from the perspective of affordances standing for the respondents’ expectations (continuities) as well as constraints (discontinuities). The article concludes that discontinuities, rather than continuities, can prove invaluable in language teacher identity development.

Keywords

EN

language teacher identity; phenomenography; continuities and discontinuities; Poland

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Journal of Language and Cultural Education
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 3
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 14-31

Dates

published

2015-01-01

online

2015-06-08

Contributors

author

Dorota Werbińska

• Pomeranian Academy in Słupsk, Poland

References

• Abednia, A. (2012). Teachers’ professional identity: Contributions of a critical EFL teacher education course in Iran. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28, 706-717.
• Alsup, J. (2006). Teacher identity discourses. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Andrews, S. (2003). ‘Just like instant noodles’: L2 teachers and their beliefs about grammar pedagogy. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 9(4), 351-375.
• Aronin, L. & Singleton, D. (2013). Affordances theory in multilingualism studies. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 2(3), 311-331.
• Barcelos, A. M. (2001). The interaction between students’ beliefs and knowledge about assessment and instruction. In Johnston, B. B. & Irujo, S. (Eds.), Research and practice in language teacher education: Voices from the field (pp. 69-88). Minneapolis, Minnesota: Center for advanced Research on language Acquisition.
• Bhabha, H. K. (1996). Culture’s in-between. In Hall, S. & du Guy, P. (Eds.), Questions of cultural identity (pp.18-36). London: Sage.
• Borg, S. (1999). Teachers’ theories in grammar teaching. ELT Journal, 53(3), 157-164.[Crossref]
• Burn, K. (2007). Professional knowledge and identity in a contested discipline: challenges for student teachers and teacher educators. Oxford Review of Education, 33(4), 445-467.[Crossref]
• Clarke, M. (2013). A tale of two teachers: teacher identity and the care of the self in an era of accountability. In Benson, P. & Cooker, L. (Eds.), The applied linguistic individual (pp. 164-177). London: Equinox.
• Crhova, J. & Gaona, D. R. D. (2014). Change in beliefs on language learning of BA students in language teaching. Journal of Language and Cultural Education, 2(2), 16-32.
• Da Silva, M. (2005). Constructing the teaching process from inside out: How pre-service teachers make sense of their perceptions of the teaching of the four skills. TESL-EJ, 9(2). Retrieved from . (accessed 5 May 2013)
• Deters, P. (2011). Identity, agency and the acquisition of professional language and culture. London: Bloomsbury.
• Elliot, J. (2005). Using narrative in social research: qualitative and quantitative approaches. London: Sage Publications.
• English, A. R. (2013). Discontinuity in learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Farrell, T. S. C. (2003). Learning to teach English language during the first year: personal influences and challenges. Teaching and Teacher Education, 19, 95-111.
• Farrell, T. S. C. (2012). Novice–service language teacher development: Bridging the gap between pre-service and in-service education and development. TESOL Quarterly, 46 (3), 435-449.[Crossref]
• Gabryś-Barker, D. (2014). Success: From failure to failure with enthusiasm. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 4(2), 301-325.
• Gibson, J. J. (1979). The ecological approach to visual perception. Hillsdale: Erlbaum.
• Gonzales, C. (2011). Extending research on ‘conceptions of teaching’: commonalities and differences in recent investigations. Teaching in Higher Education, 16(1), 65-80.
• Hayes, D. (2013). Narratives of experience: teaching English in Sri Lanka and Thailand. In Barkhuizen, G. (Ed.), Narrative research in applied linguistics (pp. 62-82). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Herbert, E. & Worthy, T. (2001). Does the first year of teaching have to be a bad one? A case study of success. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17, 897-911.
• Hismanoglu, M. & Hismanoglu, S. (2010). Language teachers’ preferences of pronunciation teaching techniques: traditional or modern? Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2, 983-989.
• Inozu, J. (2011). Beliefs about foreign language learning among students training to teach English as a foreign language. Social Behavior and Personality, 39(5), 645-654.[Crossref]
• Kalaja, P. & Barcelos, A. M. F. (2006). Beliefs about SLA. New research approaches. New York: Springer.
• Kamarul Kabilan, M. (2013). A phenomenological study of an international teaching practicum: Pre-service teachers’ experiences of professional development. Teaching and Teacher Education, 36, 198-209.
• Kang, D. M. (2013). EFL teachers’ language use for classroom discipline: A look at complex interplay of variables. System, 41, 149-163.
• Kanno, Y. & Norton, B. (2003). Imagined communities and educational possibilities: Introduction. Journal of Language, Identity and Education, 2(4), 241-249.
• Kramsch, C. (2009). The Multilingual subject. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Kyriacou, C. & Kunc, R. (2007). Beginning teachers’ expectations of teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23, 1246-1257.
• Larsen-Freeman, D. & Cameron, L. (2008). Complex systems and applied linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Le Cornu, R. (2009). Building resilience in pre-service teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 2, 717-723.
• Lightbown, P. M. & Spada, N. (2000). How languages are learned. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Lofstrom, E. & Poom-Valicks, K. (2013). Beliefs about teaching: Persistent or malleable? A longitudinal study of prospective student teachers’ beliefs. Teaching and Teacher Education, 35, 104-113.
• Macdonald, M., Badger, R. & White, G. (2001). Changing values: what use are theories of language learning and teaching? Teaching and Teacher Education, 17, 949-963.
• Macintyre, P. D. & Mercer, S. (2014). Introducing positive psychology to SLA. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 4(2), 153-172.
• Manchon, R. M. (2009). Individual differences in foreign language learning: The dynamics of beliefs about L2 writing. RESLA, 22, 245-268.
• Marton, F. & Booth, S. (1997). Learning and awareness. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Marton, F. & Tsui, A. (2004). Classroom discourse in the space of learning. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Mercer, S. (2011). Language learner self-concept: Complexity, continuity and change. System, 39, 335-346.
• Męczkowska, A. (2002). Od świadomości nauczyciela do konstrukcji świata społecznego. Kraków: Impuls.
• Michońska-Stadnik, A. (2013). Teoretyczne i praktyczne podstawy weryfikacji wybranych teorii subiektywnych w kształceniu nauczycieli języków obcych. Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego.
• Murray, G. (2013). Pedagogy of the possible: Imagination, autonomy and space. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 3(3), 377-396.
• Peacock, M. (2001). Pre-service ESL teachers’ beliefs about second language learning: a longitudinal study. System, 29, 177-195.
• Pillen, M. T., Den Brok, P. J. & Beijaard, D. (2013). Profiles and change in beginning teachers’ professional identity tensions. Teaching and Teacher Education, 34, 86-97.
• Pluskota, A. (2014). The application of positive psychology in the practice of education. SpringerPlus, 3, 147. doi: 10.1186/2193-1801-3-147 (accessed 3.8.2014).[PubMed][Crossref]
• Sade, L. A. (2011). Emerging selves, language learning and motivation through the lens of chaos. In Murray, G., Gao, X. & Lamb, T. (Eds.), Identity, motivation and autonomy in language learning. Bristol-Buffalo-Toronto: Multilingual Matters.
• Seligman, M. E. P. (1999). President’s address. American Psychologist, 54, 559-562.
• Smagorinsky, P., Cook, L. S., Moore, C., Jackson, A. Y., & Fry, P. G. (2004). Tensions in learning to teach. Accommodation and the development of a teaching identity. Journal of Teacher Education, 55(1), 8-24.[Crossref]
• Tan, K. H. K. (2013). Variation in teachers’ conceptions of alternative assessment in Singapore primary schools. Educational Research for Policy and Practice, 12, 21-41.
• Timostsuk, I. & Ugaste, A. (2010). Student teachers’ professional identity. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26, 1563-1570.
• Trent, J. (2010). “My two masters”: Conflict, contestation, and identity construction within a teaching practicum. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 35(7), 1-14.
• Trent, J., Gao, M. & Gu, M. (2014). Language teacher education in a multilingual context: Experiences from Hong Kong. Dordrecht-Heidelberg-New York-London: Springer.
• Tsui, A. B. M. (2007). Complexities of identity formation: A narrative inquiry of an EFL teacher. TESOL Quarterly, 41(4), 657-680.
• Walkington, J. (2005). Becoming a teacher: encouraging development of teacher identity through reflective practice. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 33(1), 53-64.
• Werbińska, D. (2009). Dylematy etyczne nauczycieli języków obcych. Warszawa: Fraszka Edukacyjna.
• Werbińska, D. (2014). Stability and variability in pre-service language teachers’ beliefs. In Pawlak, M. (Ed.), Classroom-oriented research (pp. 33-54). Dordrecht-Heidelberg-New York-London: Springer.
• Woods, D. & Cakir, H. (2011). Two dimensions of teacher knowledge: The case of communicative language teaching. System, 39, 381-390.
• Yuan, R. & Lee, I. (2014). Pre-service teachers’ changing beliefs in the teaching practicum: Three cases in an EFL context. System, 44, 1-12.

Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/jolace-2015-0002