Second Language Teacher Education

Exploring language examiner training as professional learning in a Canadian teacher education program

Stephanie Arnott — 2023-01-18

This study examines the potential impact of training informed by the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) on future French as a second language (FSL) teachers’ language proficiency and developing pedagogical practice. Specifically, it examines the implementation of the Diplôme d’Études de Langue Française [DELF] Correcteur training in a Canadian preservice FSL teacher education program from 2018 to 2021. Findings from surveys (N = 42) and semi-structured interviews (n = 3) reveal key possibilities and limitations for this training to optimize language teacher preparation, eventual transition to the field, and overall retention in the Canadian FSL teaching context.

What have we learnt from the COVID experience? Lessons for the future

Carol Griffiths — 2022-07-15

This article reports on a study conducted at a university in North Cyprus which aimed to gather empirical evidence regarding both teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the advantages and disadvantages of online learning as experienced during the COVID pandemic. The study discovered that both teachers and students were aware of both advantages and disadvantages of the system which had been thrust upon them. Overall, most of the teachers favoured the development of some kind of blended/hybrid methodology, while a majority of the students favoured a return to in-class learning. Both teachers and students recognized a need to focus on physical and mental health, on assessment issues, and on issues of technology and connectivity. A major conclusion from the study is the urgent need for teacher education, both pre-service and in-service, to help teachers develop the digital knowledge and skills required for a successful blended/hybrid learning/teaching environment.

‘I think that I am fossilized’

Mostafa Nazari — 2023-01-18

In the process of becoming a teacher, novice teachers are likely to experience multiple tensions that shape their sense of professionalism. Despite their importance, novice teacher identity tensions have rarely been studied in second language pedagogy. The present study reports the role of tensions in a novice Iranian EFL teacher’s (Mina) identity development during her first year of teaching and three years later. Data were collected from three rounds of semi-structured interviews, online narratives, classroom observations, and post-observation conversations. Detailed analyses of the data indicated four major themes underlying Mina’s identity development vis-à-vis the tensions she experienced: (a) tensions between imagined and enacted identities, (b) tensions between claimed and assigned identities, (c) excessive emotion labor, and (d) resisted identities. Although tensions primarily functioned as negative mechanisms that created multiple identity conflicts for Mina, they partly made her renegotiate and restructure her identity in relation to various stakeholders in the long run. The findings are discussed in light of particularities of teaching and power relations that (re)define novices’ effective identity construction.

Acknowledging foreign language anxiety among student teachers of English

Maria Nilsson — 2022-07-15

Foreign language anxiety (FLA) has been found among language learners in all educational contexts investigated. There is strong consensus as to the negative effects of FLA on various aspects of language learning, but also on teaching, affecting language use and teaching approaches. In primary language teacher education, FLA must be counteracted both for the sake of student teachers but also their future learners, as striving to alleviate FLA will be a crucial aspect of their profession. The current study investigated FLA among 193 Swedish pre-service non-native generalist teachers or English, by use of a questionnaire about oral classroom interaction. Results revealed that a third of student teachers experienced recurrent FLA. Furthermore, the instrument had previously been used with primary learners of English in the same educational region, which allowed for a comparison of levels and triggers of FLA (Nilsson, 2019). Student teachers reported more negative affect than young learners, and also confirmed the same contextual triggers of FLA. In light of the results, challenges and opportunities in relation to generalist language teacher education are discussed. In sum, explicitly addressing FLA during their education is a way of better preparing all student teachers for their future professional practice in primary school.

A conceptual framework to understand language teacher identities

Bedrettin Yazan — 2023-01-18

Language teacher identity (LTI) has recently become a prominent theme in the second language teacher education (SLTE) research because teacher identities play a major role in teachers’ learning-to-teach processes and instructional practices. Teacher identity refers to teachers’ dynamic self-conception and imagination of themselves as teachers, which shifts as they participate in varying communities, interact with other individuals, and position themselves (and are positioned by others) in social contexts. Therefore, it casts an influence upon a wide array of matters, ranging from how language teachers learn to perform their profession, how they practice theory and theorize their practice, how they educate their students, and how they interact and collaborate with their colleagues in their social setting. This paper offers a conceptual framework for LTI that explicates the interrelationships between teacher identity and these core constructs: teacher learning, teacher cognition, teachers’ participation in communities of practice, contextual factors, teacher biographies, and teacher emotions.