Volume 14 Issue 2
A Metaphor Analysis of Preservice EFL Teachers’ Beliefs regarding Professional Identity
This research investigated preservice EFL teachers’ beliefs about their roles as English teachers in Japan. Objectives were three-fold: (a) to elucidate preservice EFL teachers’ beliefs regarding professional identity through a metaphor analysis in three research phases (i.e., pre-, mid-, and post-practicum phases), (b) to explore preservice EFL teachers’ underlying beliefs hidden behind metaphors, particularly regarding professional identity in the three research phases, and thereby (c) to examine preservice EFL teachers’ professional identity formation observed during the term of the investigation.
Collaborative play making using ill-structured problems: Effect on pre-service language teachers’ beliefs
Much previous research has shown beliefs to be resistant to change. Furthermore, when exposed to conflicting information, studies have also shown that people are likely to use it selectively to reinforce existing beliefs, the so-called biased assimilation effect.
Towards a Globalized Notion of English Language Teaching in Saudi Arabia: A Case Study
This paper uses one case study at a Saudi Arabian university to illustrate the effects of competing Discourses on the identities of English language teachers in this context. Through an unpacking of their language teaching narratives, the notion of ‘global’ English language teaching emerges as a way of potentially resolving these conflicting identities/Discourses.
Revisiting Japanese English Teachers’ (JTEs) Perceptions of Communicative, Audio-lingual, and Grammar Translation (Yakudoku) Activities: Beliefs, Practices, and Rationales
Research has shown that teachers’ beliefs about language teaching are shaped by a myriad factors, among them, their own experiences as language learners, their pedagogical training, and the contexts in which they work (Borg, 2003; Fang, 1996; Freeman, 2002; Lortie, 1975). How their beliefs influence their practice has also been studied, and it has been found that whether teachers consistently put these beliefs into instructional practice varies considerably. For example, while some research on reading and literacy instruction has demonstrated a clear relationship between teachers’ theoretical orientations and what they do in their classes, other research has found this relationship to be weak, with teachers tending towards inconsistency; in other words, not doing what they believed was appropriate (Fang, 1996).
Moving towards the transition: Non-native EFL teachers’ perception of native-speaker norms and responses to varieties of English in the era of global spread of English
In Asia, the dominance of English as a foreign or second language has greatly contributed to the prevalence of Standard English and Native English Speaking Teachers (NESTs). Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan have been officially recruiting NESTs to introduce ‘authentic’ Standard English to their citizens. However, as globalisation continues throughout the world, the genres featuring native speaker norms have been challenged for failure to equip English learners with English as an International Language (EIL) or World Englishes (WEs) competence to communicate with other non-native English speakers from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds in international settings.
‘To act in a good way’ Constructions of EFL teacher-self
This article examines the notion of ‘good’ in the construction of the teacher-self. Brown (2005) challenges those of us involved in ESL teaching to resist complacency in the construction of ESL teacher identity as a force for good and remain aware of the potential to be much less than this (2005, p.18). This article addresses such a challenge drawing on data collected from a doctoral study into the lives of Nicaraguan Secondary School English language teachers ELTs (Fennell 2007).
Contextual influences on the Teaching Practice of a beginning TESOL teacher: A narrative inquiry
Traditionally, learning to teach was viewed as applying discrete amounts of teaching knowledge in one context and developing teaching skills in another context. However, in recent years, there has been a paradigm shift in teacher education focusing on the specific teaching context that shapes the reality of classroom practice. According to Freeman and Johnson (1998), the teaching context such as schools and classrooms are the sociocultural terrains in which the work of teaching is conceptualized, implemented and evaluated (Freeman & Johnson, 1998, p. 408)
