Defining the field: the use of discourse analysis as a reflective tool in the professional development of language learning advisers as practitioners and researchers

Abstract

This study examines existing research in the field of language learning advising (LLA) with the aim of establishing a professional validation framework which can inform the development of a systematic and structured preparation of language learning advisers with appropriate associated authority. The role of language learning advisers emerged about two decades ago as a result of the expansion of self-access centres in higher education and their pivotal position in the promotion of autonomous language learning. This resulted in a proliferation of studies focused on describing LLA activities and skills as clearly distinct from those of language teaching. Through the analysis of some extracts from LLA sessions, advisers' individual and peer reflective accounts, and a shared group debriefing, this study attempts to illustrate how the use of intentional dialogue as a pedagogic device and discourse analysis as a methodological approach, can positively trigger a transformative process in the professional development of advisers and can support them in becoming reflective practitioners and practitioner researchers. Although this is a preliminary, small-scale, localised study, it offers an insight into this emerging professional practice; it explains the need for advisers to develop their set of tools and discourses to describe and evaluate their practice; it contextualises the importance of grounding this emerging professional practice within specific theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches. Finally, it highlights the limited availability of LLA data and the need to create an accessible corpus to be used for continuing professional development (CPD) and to further pedagogic research in this emerging field.