Lessons from Good Language Teachers

Abstract

Every year, thousands of students get enrolled in teacher education programs with the hope of learning how to become good teachers. As language teachers work in various and diverse contexts around the world, the qualities and traits of good teachers differ according to the context, the program in which those teachers work, and the schools they are graduating from. Acquiring the necessary competencies to become good language teachers becomes more controversial as research has offered different definitions of what makes a good teacher (Zhu, Wang, Cai and Engels, 2013; Walker, 2008). However, teacher education programs have been criticized for their inability to equip teachers with the necessary competencies to survive as successful practitioners. Some of this criticism has to do with the lack of variety of educational settings in placing teachers, the inadequate practicum test that is used to evaluate student teachers, and the de-contextualized activities during coursework (Levine, 2006). This raises the question of what exactly are the qualities of good language teachers. However, acknowledging the diversity of the language education contexts entails acknowledging the local and diverse voices of teachers who view teaching and good teacher qualities from their perspective in their local context, which are the focus of the book under review.