Abstract
Professional reading is a core source of input in teacher professional development. This article describes 47 primary school teachers' reports of their professional reading both in their schools and during the first year of a university TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other languages) in-service qualification. One third of these teachers are bilingual. Both motivation and engagement are explored and vignettes of two bilingual teachers illustrate these factors. The findings show the frequency of participation in professional learning through professional readings is beneficial but low, however teacher professional reading attitudes are dynamic, the variables being relevancy and agency.
Highlights
Sustaining teacher learning through professional reading is key to the Ministry of Education’s strategy to improve student achievement (Ministry of Education, 1999)
As lecturers on a TESOL in-service qualification for practising primary and secondary teachers, we are naturally interested in professional reading as a core source of input in helping the teachers think about the role of language in teaching and learning
Reading is a core component of teaching and we were surprised that not all the primary school teachers participating in the research reported that there is an expectation for teachers to read professional material at their schools (36 out of 47)
Summary
Sustaining teacher learning through professional reading is key to the Ministry of Education’s strategy to improve student achievement (Ministry of Education, 1999). As lecturers on a TESOL in-service qualification for practising primary and secondary teachers, we (three lecturers) are naturally interested in professional reading as a core source of input in helping the teachers think about the role of language in teaching and learning. Course readings theorise the weekly lecture topics and some provide practical strategies that embed the theory. In 2014 we embarked on a two-year longitudinal study to explore teachers’ use of professional readings. This article describes 47 primary school teachers’ reports of their professional reading in two contexts: a) their school contexts when they began the TESOL course of study and b) during the first year of the TESOL course. We anticipated that the findings would enable us to refine the TESOL course
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