Abstract
This paper discusses teacher-room interaction in a community of practice (WENGER, 1998) of student teachers of English as an Additional Language, focusing on the dyad requests for help—offers of help, which often take place in the community. The community was affiliated with extinct Languages without Borders in a large university in south of Brazil. The research is affiliated with the paradigm of practice theory (YOUNG, 2009) and uses qualitative and interpretive methodology (ERICKSON, 1990; Mason, 2002). It is possible to conclude that the kind of teacher-room interaction presented in this paper greatly contribute to student teachers’ professional development throughout their trajectory in the community.
Highlights
When we think of teacher education, teacher training or teacher development2, what usually comes to our minds are somehow structured and formal practices, such as attending classes, lectures and workshops; participating in seminars, discussions, roundtables or brown bags; or, still, reading professional publications in journals, books and magazines
I discuss the role of teacher-room interaction in the development of teachers of English as an Additional Language (EAL), focusing on the requests for help that participants often direct at each other when they face difficulties in their teaching practices, as well as the offers of help that often stem from such requests3.The central persuasion here is that such interactions foster professional development for the student teachers who partake in the community
The data presented here offers evidence that professional development can emerge from situations that have not been planned, or would not be recognized as professional development under a more traditional light, but which have been claimed by important teacher educators and teacher education researchers as a necessary outlook on teacher development
Summary
When we think of teacher education, teacher training or teacher development, what usually comes to our minds are somehow structured and formal practices, such as attending classes, lectures and workshops; participating in seminars, discussions, roundtables or brown bags; or, still, reading professional publications in journals, books and magazines. A comprehensive notion of teacher development should encompass unstructured practices like talking shop in teachers’ rooms, telling classrooms stories and preparing lessons together. Teacher development research has often overlooked said informal and unstructured practices. We lack research work grounded on empiric fieldwork looking into such practices in their most likely environment – communities where teachers do their work. I discuss the role of teacher-room interaction in the development of teachers of English as an Additional Language (EAL), focusing on the requests for help that participants often direct at each other when they face difficulties in their teaching practices, as well as the offers of help that often stem from such requests.The central persuasion here is that such interactions foster professional development for the student teachers who partake in the community
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