English Teacher Preparation Research Articles

The (mis)use of the Finnish teacher education model: ‘policy-based evidence-making’?

Background: International achievement studies such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) have an increasing influence on education policy worldwide. The use of such data can provide a basis for evidence-based policy-making to initiate educational reform. Finland, a high performer in PISA, is often cited as an example of both efficient and equitable education. Finland’s teachers and teacher education have not only garnered much attention for their role in the country’s PISA successes, but have also influenced education policy change in England.Main argument: This article argues that the Finnish model of teacher education has been borrowed uncritically by UK policy-makers. Finnish and English philosophies of teacher preparation differ greatly, and the borrowing of the Finnish teacher education model does not fit within the teacher training viewpoint of England. The borrowed policies, thus, were decontextualised from the wider values and underpinnings of Finnish education. This piecemeal, ‘pick “n” mix’ approach to education policy reform ignores the fact that educational policies and ‘practices exist in ecological relationships with one another and in whole ecosystems of interrelated practices’. Thus, these borrowed teacher preparation policies will not necessarily lead to the outcomes outlined by policy-makers in the reforms.Sources of evidence: Two teacher preparation reforms in England, the University Training Schools (outlined in the UK Government’s 2010 Schools White Paper, The Importance of Teaching) and the Master’s in Teaching and Learning (MTL), are used to illustrate the problematic nature of uncritical policy borrowing. This article juxtaposes these policies with the Finnish model of teacher education, a research-based programme where all candidates are required to complete a Master’s degree. The contradictions exposed from this analysis further highlight the divergent practices of teacher preparation in England and Finland, or the disparate ‘ecosystems’. Evidence of educational policy borrowing in other settings is also considered.Conclusions: Both the MTL and the White Paper reforms overlook the ‘ecosystem’ surrounding Finnish teacher education. The school-based MTL contrasts with the research-based Finnish teachers’ MA. Similarly, the University Training Schools scheme, based on Finnish university-affiliated, teaching practice schools, contrasts heavily with the rest of the White Paper reforms, which contradict the philosophies and ethos behind Finnish teacher education by proposing the move of English teacher preparation away from the universities. The analysis highlights the uncritical eye through which politicians may view international survey results, looking for ‘quick fix’ options instead of utilising academic evidence for investigation on education and education reform.

Transformation: A Model for Restructuring the Preparation of English Teachers in Ecuador

As English has become the language of business, the economy and social media around the world, it is more and more necessary to start teaching English in schools. Countries such as Ecuador have seen the immediate need to review how they prepare teachers of English to meet this new demand. This article shares a reflection on the process of moving from an autonomous university preparation program to a unified approach based on international standards for teachers of English in Ecuador. This transformation is discussed from four perspectives: the US Embassy in Quito that organized the effort; the facilitator who guided the process; the universities that train English teachers and whose programs were to be revised; and the language institutes that provide intensive English instruction to all university students. These last two points of view are provided by two academics that have been part of the group that collaborated in the creation of the proposal. The end result is a new curriculum based on international EFL/ESL teacher standards and, most importantly, created through collaboration among different entities that had not previously worked together.

The Difficulty of Teacher Dispositions: Considering Professional Dispositions for Preservice English Teachers

This article explores the place of teacher dispositions in English teacher preparation by contextualizing the issue of dispositions in English teacher preparation. This allows consideration for the importance of developing professional dispositions during English teacher preparation by recognizing that various stakeholders (teacher educators, university supervisors, mentor teachers, and preservice teachers) in teacher education often understand dispositions differently. The authors reflect and offer suggestions on how professional dispositions might be more effectively addressed in an English teacher education program through richer interactions among all stakeholders.

Contradictory and Missing Voices in English Education: An Invitation to English Faculty

This article offers both a rationale and a proposal for the meaningful contribution of English faculty to the preparation of English teachers. We draw on data from teacher licensure tests and interviews with English and English Education faculty to underscore contradictions among the various voices in English education and to identify ways of bringing English faculty more meaningfully into the conversation. While analysis of our quantitative data suggests correlations between Praxis II exams and other measures of candidates’ content knowledge and skills, analysis of interview transcripts and course documents reveals clear differences. We conclude with recommendations for involving English faculty in teacher preparation to balance out the contradictory and dominant voices in English education.

REFLECTIVE TEACHING AS ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT IN TEACHER EDUCATION: A CASE STUDY OF PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS

Critical reflective teaching has been a goal of English teacher preparation program. Although many English educators have promoted and carried out reflective teaching in their methodology courses, success of such practice has been limited, not sufficiently reflecting what has been desired. Questions have been raised whether reflective teaching within pre-service English teacher education is a realistic aim. One argument for this has been:reflective teaching can only be learned by beginning teachers working in schools with experienced teachers who value criticalreflection. This article examines 40 journals of teaching reflection produced by 40 pre-service English teachers after they completed teaching practicum in schools over a period of three months. The journals were analyzed using a theoretical model developed by Smith (2011) which encompasses different purposes with different forms of reflection: personal, interpersonal, contextual, and critical. The analysis shows that the teaching journals contained more reflection on the personal and contextual domains of teaching, indicating that the preservice teachers were more concerned with the contextual aspects of teaching which influenced their practices in the classroom. It is recommended that a more balanced reflection be created as an alternative form of assessment in English teacher education involving personal as well as social aspects of teaching.

Exploring the Reading-Writing Relationship in NES and EFL Students

A study investigated the relationship between reading and writing skills and their development in both native English-speakers (NES) and learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). Subjects were 150 NES students, English majors in American universities, and 150 EFL students enrolled in schools of education at four Egyptian universities. Data were gathered using standardized reading comprehension and writing tests designed for either native speakers or non-native speakers of English. Results indicate a statistically significant positive correlation between NES students' reading and writing scores, but no statistically significant correlation for EFL students. It is suggested that this difference between the two groups may be due to teaching methods of NES and EFL teachers, differences in language proficiency levels, or language use outside the classroom. Implications for instruction include the need for more integrated instruction of reading and writing, simultaneous teaching of reading and writing from the beginning of language instruction, better preparation of English teachers to read like writers and write like readers, and understanding of the gaps between receptive and productive skills.

A response to Duncan Hunter

Duncan Hunter’s (2013) representation of my position is not entirely accurate, as I shall show below. He has also, however, made some valid points, which I can certainly learn from and will think about further. At the end of the day, despite Hunter’s protestations, our positions are perhaps not so distant from one another as would appear at first glance! Much of his article is based on a rejection of the claim, attributed to me in his opening passage, that ‘teachers have, for too long, allowed their practice to be constrained by theory-driven “methods” (Hunter 2013: 475). I make no such claim: in my introductory section I say explicitly that it is the ‘English language teacher preparation courses and the literature on ELT’ which adopt such constraints; practitioners, on the whole, are too sensible to do so. My plea is not that teachers should stop teaching ‘methods’ (most of them do not do this anyway, a point made in my concluding section), but that methodologists and teacher educators should adopt and promote a more flexible model, which I have called ‘situated pedagogy’.

Community Teaching Practice for Greater Learning

Field experience has been considered a vital part of teacher education. Universities have to search for ways for student teachers to gain experience in an authentic teaching environment. Several successful models incorporating service learning have been reported across fields (Brooks & Schramm, 2007; Nandan, 2010; Salas, Safaradan, & Ugarte, 2008), but there is still insufficient research found that combined English teacher preparation and service learning (Hsieh, 2002). Consequently, this researcher incorporated service learning into an English methodology course in Taiwan to engage students in higher learning experiences that take them beyond traditional teacher training. This paper describes a four-stage process of community service teaching, presenting its benefits and challenges. This study which incorporated quantitative and qualitative methodologies proved that teaching practices in collaboration with community libraries created three-way benefits: advancing the quality of college education and bringing valuable learning opportunities to the student teachers as well as the children who participated; and creating memorable experiences for the students and the communities that participated.

Opening the Conversation: With Whom Might We Partner? For What Ends? In What Contexts? With What Reach?

In this editorial, we asked two experienced English teachers to provide responses to the two research articles in this issue. In this way, all of the pieces in the issue point to the importance of collaboration for different stakeholders in English teacher preparation.

Supporting Dialogically Organized Instruction in an English Teacher Preparation Program: A Video-Based, Web 2.0-Mediated Response and Revision Pedagogy

Background/ContextThis paper theorizes and describes a program-wide pedagogical design for teacher preparation that addresses central problems related to supporting beginning teacher candidates in designing engaging classroom interactions in and across diverse contexts.Focus of StudyIn particular, we aimed to support the development of dialogically-organized classroom interactions over time through a pedagogy informed by Multiliteracies. Our pedagogy involved a Web 2.0-mediated process of Video-Based Response and Revision (VBRR), developed and implemented over two years with secondary English teacher candidates at Michigan State University engaged in fifth-year internships in local secondary schools.Project DesignFour times over the course of their year-long internships, teacher candidates recorded video of their teaching, posted clips and other related materials to an online social network, commented on each others’ practices, and reflected on how they might implement the feedback they received from their peers and instructors. In addition, they created an end-of-year “digital reflection” drawing on all of these materials.Conclusions/ RecommendationsBased upon analysis of teacher candidates’ moves within the structure of the pedagogical design, we present pedagogical and programmatic considerations for teacher educators interested in designing learning environments that make beginning teacher practices visible in networked spaces, that invite collaborative responses to those practices, and that create opportunities for transformed practices.

Editorial: Opening the Conversation: Thoughts on English Teacher Preparation and Renewal with Patricia Lambert Stock, Ruth Vinz, and David Schaafsma, Past EE Editors

For the final installment of our co-written editorials with former English Education editors, and in honor of the centennial anniversary of the National Council of Teachers of English, we offer responses by Patricia Lambert Stock, Ruth Vinz, and David Schaafsma to the question, “How can the profession improve the preparation and renewal of all English educators?”

Service Learning and the Preparation of English Teachers

In this article, service learning is explored as a pedagogical third space from which preservice teachers learn to teach the New English education. We argue that such a space has the potential to foster preservice English teachers’ understanding of their role and identity as future teachers and how this identity is always relative to the students they teach. Drawing from a study of 19 preservice English teachers’ experiences with service learning, we discuss three themes relevant to service learning and the preparation of English teachers: (1) service learning as a pedagogical third space for English teachers, (2) service learning as fostering the disruption of a teaching mythology, and (3) service learning as promoting a recognition of the New English education. Further, we propose that service learning can encourage prospective English teachers to complicate notions of teacher/student, official/unofficial language, singular authority/pluralistic power, and server/served.

Successes in English Teacher Preparation: Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers—What Are the Best Practices?

It’s reported that one third to one half of new teachers leave the profession within five years. By focusing on innovative ways to support graduates even after they enter the teaching field, successful teacher ed programs may be able to combat this trend.

From Consuming to Producing: The Potential of Preservice Teacher Scholarship in English Teacher Preparation

From Consuming to Producing: The Potential of Preservice Teacher Scholarship in English Teacher Preparation

English Education Program Assessment: Creating Standards and Guidelines to Advance English Teacher Preparation

English Education Program Assessment: Creating Standards and Guidelines to Advance English Teacher Preparation

Repurposing My Professional Practice: Learning from my students over time and place

This article, written in narrative form, represents a data-based analysis of what I have learned about myself as a teacher of prospective teachers and as a teacher education researcher from Fall 2000 through Fall 2008 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The data for this analysis consist of three related data sets: notes on 13 people who graduated from an English teacher preparation program in Spring 2002, notes on the research team that collected data on the graduates and who participated in the early stages of analysis, and notes on my current teaching. I argue that it is impossible and undesirable to segment my professional practice into discrete components. I also argue that is simplistic and unrealistic to locate students' learning in one event or one factor. A longitudinal, qualitative design has provided me with insight into the development of my former students' practices and career paths and also into the challenges and complexities of maintaining connections through the medium of research.

The Role of Pragmatics in the Master's TESOL Curriculum: Findings From a Nationwide Survey

Recent years have seen an increase in the number of publications about pragmatics and second language learning and teaching. Yet the extent to which English language teacher preparation programs incorporate explicit instruction about pragmatics into their curricula remains unknown. A nationwide survey of master's‐level TESOL programs was conducted to determine where and how pragmatics is covered in the TESOL curriculum, what resources are used to teach graduate TESOL students about pragmatics, as well as to determine some of the prevalent attitudes, beliefs, and opinions about pragmatics held by TESOL graduate program directors and faculty. Individuals from 94 master's‐level TESOL programs in the United States participated in the study. Participating programs represent a variety of geographic regions, institution types, and departments. The findings of the study indicate that pragmatics is covered in a wide range of courses across programs (Sociolinguistics, Discourse Analysis, Introduction to Linguistics, Teaching Methods, SLA, etc.), and that the time spent covering pragmatics varies from no time at all, to more than 8 weeks, depending on the program. A great deal of variation was also found in graduate program directors' and faculty members' beliefs about the role of pragmatics in the TESOL curriculum.

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackboard: Nurturing Creativity and Developing Voice in the Preparation of English Teachers

In this article, the author argues that if we want teachers to help students develop voice and fluency as writers, we need to provide opportunities for teachers to engage in the same kind of work. In a course called Writing, Reading and Teaching Poetry that is part of the Master's Degree program in English Education at Lehman College/CUNY, teachers learn strategies for teaching and responding to writing in middle and high school. Accounts of teachers using these strategies in their own classrooms are included. The article also discusses the role of creative writing in helping teachers develop voice and identity.

The Preparation of Preservice Secondary English Teachers in Writing Instruction: A Case Study of Three California Colleges' Education Programs

This case study of three teacher education programs in California colleges aimed to answer two questions through informal interviews of methods course instructors and analysis of the associated course syllabi: First, what assumptions or theories of professional development appear to inform the various methods courses for preservice secondary English teachers? Second, how do these assumptions shape the way that preservice teachers in these methods courses are taught to teach writing? These assumptions and theories include little to no instruction in the teaching of writing to pedagogy firmly rooted in teaching writing. This study concludes with four major findings that reflect current writing pedagogy in three secondary English methods courses. This research is relevant to teacher educators because it suggests that “writing instruction”—depending on how the term is defined—is occurring in the methods course but that factors outside of the methods classroom should be included in further research of how preservice secondary English teachers are taught to teach writing.

Crossing Borders: Developing an Innovative Collaboration to Improve the Preparation of High School English Teachers

Broad (1999) observed that “troubled borders crisscross the geography of teacher preparation in English” (p. 373), calling for collaboration where preparation is a university responsibility (Gregorian, 2001). This research documents a three-year complex case study that addressed the question: What happens when English, education, and high school faculty cross borders to prepare secondary English teachers to teach in urban schools? This study looked at faculty mentors and preservice teacher mentees as they collaborated on multi-leveled projects to improve teacher preparation of secondary English teachers. Interventions included collaborative seminars, collaborative mentoring, and individual mentoring of preservice English teachers by English, education, and high school faculty. Results indicate that interventions challenged biases of stakeholders, enhanced the quality of teacher preparation, and revised instructional practices of university English and education faculty and preservice teachers. Results indicate that mentees incorporated suggestions made by mentors that reinforced pedagogical content knowledge. Most mentees regarded content mentors favorably, noting that their focus of observation was different from those of clinical supervisors and cooperating teachers. English and education mentors assimilated changes in personal pedagogy based on observations and discussions with urban high school teachers. Such discussions also challenged personal beliefs about urban students and schools. Content mentors also adjusted syllabi to include materials used in high school curricula. The implication of this study is that “crossing borders” improves and alters how university faculty can better prepare preservice teachers.