Language Teacher Education Research Research Articles

The Scope of Second Language Teacher Education Research from 1980 to 2020: A Systematic Review

This paper presents a comprehensive and rigorous systematic review of the trajectories and challenges in Research Articles (RAs) of Second Language Teacher Education (SLTE) from 1980 to 2020. The RAs were carefully retrieved from two sources: (1) a pool of 100 top-tier journals based on SCImago Journal Ranking (SJR) in Linguistics and Language category and (2) seven well-known electronic databases. This study used thematic analysis. After conducting full-text screening and data extraction, each study was systematically coded for publication contents, themes, theories, and variable levels. Each study was further coded for methodological features, including research design, analyses, and sampling. The findings indicate a rapid and consistent growth in SLTE research with a notable emphasis on Teacher Professional Development Programs (TPDP), research in teacher education, psychology in teacher education, culture, knowledge-based teacher education, and CALL. In addition, analysis of the data revealed several trajectories, including fewer publications in teacher education journals compared to other journals, lack of adherence to a clear theoretical framework in 27% of the studies, limited use of software in qualitative studies, and underdeveloped themes that received little attention. This review sheds light on the most significant and emerging areas of research in the field, and the article concludes with implications for SLTE scholars, researchers, and practitioners.

Uma visão sistêmica sobre emoção e reflexão na pesquisa sobre formação de professores de línguas

ABSTRACT This article aims at looking into the inter-relationship among emotions and language in reflective processes fostered by qualitative research in language teacher education. My goal is to advance our understanding of this phenomenon with an assemblage of conceptual tools such as languaging, emotioning, conversation, reflection and orthogonal interactions. Based on Maturana and Davilla’s (2009) Matrix of Human Existence, I put together a conceptual model that may help researchers further understand and foster structured reflective spaces about emotions in language education. I discuss some challenges of our post-modern bio-cultural age and offer the practice of liberating conversation as a means to move forward. I then discuss some studies from the literature of emotions in language teacher education in light of the conceptual framework presented based on Maturana (2001, 2004) and Maturana and Davila (2009). Finally, I draw some implications and highlight the importance of this theme for the present moment.

Pre-service language teachers’ perceptions of professional learning and development resulting from Greek as a Foreign Language teaching placements

Language teacher education research has convincingly shown that teaching placements can function as an opportunity for pre-service teachers to connect the theoretical knowledge acquired at university with actual classroom practices. Despite the extensive body of empirical research that has been generated in different foreign language education contexts, the Greek context still remains under-investigated. The purpose of the current qualitative and longitudinal study—framed within Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA)—is to explore how seven pre-service language teachers of Greek as a Foreign Language (L2) reflect on their professional learning, development and growth as a result of their teaching placement at a language school in Barcelona, Spain. Their perceptions were gathered before and after their placements through questionnaires and interviews. Results showed that participants perceived their placement as crucial for their professional learning and development. They regarded reflective practices as having played a key role in their growth as teachers and professionals. The study concludes by discussing some implications for the design and development of L2 Greek teacher education programs.

Contradictions and Critical Praxis in Foreign Language Teachers’ Implementation of Reading to Learn

Interest in systemic functional linguistics (SFL) pedagogies has been increasing in language teacher-education research. Few studies, however, have investigated teachers’ resistance when learning SFL pedagogies such as Reading to Learn (R2L).Following cultural-historical activity theory, we conceptualize teachers' resistance as contradictions and describe how resolving those contradictions engages teachers in critical praxis. This praxis helps teachers appropriate R2L in context-sensitive ways, adopting new roles and privileging meaning before form. Implications for SFL-based professional development include acknowledging the cultural, historical, social, and institutional nature of teacher learning and the need for collaborative work that promotes teachers’ motives for action.

Critical Performative Pedagogy and Its Applications in English Teacher Education in Korea

In response to a call for more action research in language teacher education, this research aims to show how critical performative pedagogy (CPP) is applied to English teacher education in South Korea. CPP includes a series of multimodal activities for language teachers, such as narratives, storytelling, forum theatres, critical discourse analysis, and reflections. This research focuses on four teacher-researchers’ reflections on the process of CPP during a semester-long graduate course and the post-reflections after the end of the course. The participants’ reflections were collected and analyzed through a case study method. The findings show that their participation in CPP helped the participants critically reflect on and challenge the power issues in English teaching, such as the native speaker fallacy. Moreover, their CPP practices helped the participants transform their everyday practices. This research provides important implications for integrating critical pedagogy into English teacher education programs and its influence on future classroom settings in South Korea.

Research needs in foreign language teacher education: Insights from researchers in Poland, Portugal, and Turkey

Language teacher education (LTE) is a dynamic field which needs to keep abreast of the changes in other fields and the teacher-oriented developments. In the 21st century, teacher education is required to meet the expectations of the pre-/in-service teachers, the learners, the technology, and the changing qualifications. In this sense, it is fundamental to investigate how the research trends in LTE should be shaped with a bottom-up perspective. To this end, the current study aims to investigate the needs of academics and researchers in the field of LTE in a variety of contexts (i.e., Turkey, Portugal, and Poland). The study was conducted as a part of an Erasmus+ Project called ILTERG (International Language Teacher Education Research Group) co-funded by the Turkish National Agency and Erasmus+ Program. A total number of 139 participants from three countries participated in the study. The data were collected through a needs analysis survey and semi-structured interviews. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data revealed that all items in the survey might be guiding for the academics to conduct research on. The list of the research topics could guide novice and/or expert researchers to conduct further studies in LTE.

Language teacher agency for educational justice–oriented work: An ecological model

AbstractRecent global social unrest that stems from historical racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic inequality and inequity has elevated the need for language educators to challenge traditional understandings of and practices in the language classroom. Such a development warrants an examination of language teacher agency in contemporary society. To this end and building on recent work on teacher agency in general education and second language teacher education research, we propose an ecological model to investigate teacher agency. Our ecologically oriented model draws specifically on Pantić’s (2015) model for social justice and the Douglas Fir Group’s (2016) call for an examination of language teaching as impacted by macro‐, meso‐, and micro‐level forces. Through our proposed teacher agency model that represents the multilayered complexity of second language learning and teaching, we seek to advance an educational justice agenda. To illustrate the power and potential of our analytic ecological model to teacher agency for educational justice, we focus on a focal English as a foreign language teacher from Chile, Camila. The article ends with discussion of pedagogical possibilities that can be explored in conjunction with the research model we put forward.

Understanding L2 writing teacher expertise

This study attempts to address the “teacher expertise gap” in L2 writing research, using “adaptive expertise” as a specific tool for understanding the notion of writing teacher expertise. Drawing upon language teacher education research and L2 writing research, and using teacher interviews and classroom observation as data sources, the study explores the expertise of three writing teachers from different schools in Hong Kong, as well as the factors that may have contributed to their expertise. The findings of the study show six key components of teacher expertise as demonstrated in the participating teachers, comprising integrated knowledge base about writing and teaching writing; student-centred pedagogy focusing on learner motivation and confidence building; professional visions, self-agency, and reflectivity; leadership in writing innovations; passion as teachers of writing and as writers; and ongoing teacher learning and progressive problem solving as pivotal to writing teacher expertise. The study suggests the rich, dynamic, and contextual nature of writing teacher expertise, which is influenced by teachers’ cognitive engagements, social interactions, and affective experiences in their situated contexts. The paper concludes with implications for the teaching of writing and writing teacher education.

Joint Development of Teacher Cognition and Identity Through Learning to Teach L2 Pronunciation

The constructs of teacher cognition and teacher identity have recently gained considerable attention in second language teacher education research for their crucial roles in understanding teacher learning. While a number of current studies have examined the contributions of both constructs, the connections between cognition and identity are yet to be fully conceptualized. This article addresses this gap by drawing on the notion of identification to examine the identity construction and cognition development of 15 student teachers in the context of a postgraduate course on pronunciation pedagogy. Questionnaires, focus group interviews, observations, and semi‐structured interviews were triangulated to obtain an in‐depth understanding of the complex relations between identity formation and cognition growth. Findings revealed that identity construction—manifested through imagination of self and others, engagement and investment in the course, and alignment with course content—not only had a profound impact on participants’ cognition development, but that these two constructs were intertwined in a complex and reciprocal relationship, fostering the process of student teachers’ learning to teach pronunciation.

Re‐Envisioning the Roles, Tasks, and Contributions of Language Teachers in the Multilingual Era of Language Education Research and Practice

This article lays out the proposition that the rapid changes in 21st‐century society, in which multilingualism is the norm, have presented new challenges, questions, and resources with regard to the roles, tasks, and contributions of language teachers. In line with recent research developments and in keeping with tradition, we believe it helpful to think of language teachers’ broader identity role as that of moral agent. We examine implications that such a re‐envisioning has for the knowledge base of language teachers and for the purposes and practices of language teacher education and professional development. Drawing on research in language teacher education, language teacher cognition, second language acquisition, and applied linguistics more broadly, we highlight the need to go beyond traditional notions of teachers’ knowledge of language, language learning, and language learners. We also subject to critical scrutiny the notions of effective pedagogies and reflective practice as the desired outcomes of language teacher preparation and development. Instead, we introduce critical alternatives that offer creative possibilities for educating teachers able and willing to serve student populations with diverse language learning needs across interlinguistic, sociopolitical, and historical contexts of language teaching.

Centre for Applied Language Studies, University of Limerick, Ireland

The Centre for Applied Language Studies (CALS), founded in 1997, brings together researchers and postgraduate students from several disciplines in language studies, and is structured in three research clusters: New learning environments; Discourse, society and identity; and Plurilingualism and language policy. There is a certain amount of overlapping between the clusters, and several researchers are active in more than one cluster. Thus research in language teacher education is present both in the New learning environments cluster and in Discourse, society and identity. Corpus-based methodologies are also prominent in both these clusters. Furthermore, discourse analysis is present as a methodology in all three. The following sections provide information on current research and selected research outcomes within the three research clusters from 2011 to 2013.

‘Dealing with’ unexpected learner contributions in whole group activities: an examination of novice language teacher discursive practices

The current paper examines the discursive practices of one novice English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher ‘dealing with’ learners’ unexpected contributions in whole group classroom interactions during teacher- and learner-initiated sequences-of-talk. The study draws from two fields of research: classroom discourse studies investigating teachers addressing learner contributions in classroom interaction, and language teacher education research showing teacher expertise as a factor in the construction of classroom communication. Using conversation analytic methods, two initial practices emerged from the novice teacher’s video-recorded data: glossing over learner contributions and assuming the role of information provider. These practices are presented with a focus on the sequential environments in which they occur and the various interactional resources used to construct them. The paper concludes with a discussion of how these findings contribute to both the classroom discourse and language teacher education literatures.

General Academic Difficulties and Reading and Writing Difficulties among Asian ESL Postgraduate Students in TESOL at an Australian University

This article reports on an empirical study that examines general academic difficulties, and academic reading and writing difficulties among Asian ESL (English as a Second Language) international postgraduate students who are completing a Master’s Degree in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) at an Australian university. The data were collected through the use of a Likert-scale questionnaire from 51 students and a follow-up, semi-structured interview technique with 11 participants who took part in the questionnaire survey. It was found that: (1) students reported different types of academic difficulties including reading and writing such as synthesizing information and academic writing; (2) there were strong associations among general academic difficulties, academic reading and writing difficulties; and (3) factors such as academic English proficiency, self-regulation, motivation, self-efficacy, former learning experience and academic adjustment had an impact on their academic difficulties. This article will articulate the implications for second language teacher education research and future research.

A review on the recent Korean Language Teacher Education Research in Korea

A review on the recent Korean Language Teacher Education Research in Korea

Reflective practice in a pre-service teacher education program for high school English teachers in Taiwan, ROC

Although reflective practice has become a dominant paradigm in language teacher education research and programs worldwide, little of the inquiry into EFL teacher education has been documented in Taiwan, ROC. Critical reflection raises teachers' awareness about teaching, enables deeper understanding of variables related to teaching, and triggers positive changes in their practice. The study aims to provide a description of pre-service teachers' reflective practice by examining 20 student teachers' observation reports and 20 practice teaching reports over a six-week period while they were taking a practice teaching course. Topics, types — descriptive or critical, and development of their reflective practice as shown in the 40 reports were analyzed. Results show that student teachers talked about topics mainly related to practical teaching issues and evaluation of other teachers' or their own teaching among seven major topic categories, could do more critical reflection than descriptive reflection, but did not show substantial development of critical reflection within a six-week period. Providing a lower affective state may be helpful for teacher change, and interventions such as reflective training and teacher development group meetings may need to be incorporated into teacher education curriculum in order to trigger the development of reflectivity for teaching. Future directions regarding considerations of the factors in social contexts for teacher education programs and research on reflection-in-action are suggested.

Action research in language teacher education

Action research in language teacher education