SECOND LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION Rationale

EDUA11284

This course aims to provide an introduction to new TESOL teachers as well as an updating for more experienced teachers of TESOL, wishing to be familiar with a range of available techniques and approaches for in-service teacher development and initial teacher training. Focus of the course units is primarily the study of practice, although consideration of theoretical approaches is also involved for an explicit awareness of beliefs and theories underpinning current teacher education practices in the field of TESOL. It is desirable, for easier uptake of both practical and theoretical concepts introduced this course, to have had some relevant experience of TESOL teacher education, although this is not a specific requirement of entry to the course. An immediate outcome of this course may be ideas and understanding, at the level of both theory and practice, for ways of managing innovation and change in teachers' professional classroom practice, ideas which students may wish to develop further as part of their dissertation. Objectives By the end of this course students will: be familiar with a number of techniques for conducting pre- and in-service teacher training and supervision for TESOL be able to make informed choices about such techniques for use in contexts with which they are familiar be aware of issues of process in teacher development and ways of approaching the role of a trainer and supervisor for TESOL be able to discuss critically possible effects of choosing training inputs for TESOL, and of adopting particular roles for managing related processes of teacher learning and supervision of teacher practice be aware of language implications and demands of various training techniques and processes, and of setting appropriate goals and objectives for enrichment of teachers' English language competence and proficiency within professional training programs be aware of distinctions between teaching ESOL on the one hand, and training and supporting teachers of ESOL on the other (the latter being a form of adult education and training), and of how to modify behaviour in the light of such awareness be aware of available methods of assessing initial teaching competence and techniques for teacher appraisal be able to follow and critically evaluate relevance of on-going research and development dialogue on teacher education and supervision techniques and processes for familiar contexts

Topics overview of types of provision and purposes of teacher education and supervision, typical components, inputs, processes and outcomes; identifying possible personal roles in such contexts lecturing in teacher education: effective techniques and appropriate applications, limitations tasks for teacher training, ways of promoting collaboration, reflection on theory and practice, and group discussion ; analysing objectives of typical tasks; designing appropriate tasks; evaluating effectiveness of tasks experiential learning in teacher training and reflection on practice: classroom observation; micro-teaching; practicum supervision processes and techniques: assessment of practical teaching; appraisal techniques; mentoring and counselling techniques individual and collaborative action research as a technique for teacher development; praxis at the heart of teacher learning and development observation of EFL adult teacher training course sessions ( where numbers of students, timing and access permit)

Assessment Part A: Students are required to write a critical reflection that incorporates their thoughts, views, ideas, and experiences as teacher learners in a 1100 word summary of a reflective journal that they are required to keep during the course. Students are required to use relevant literature related to the course as they critically reflect upon their thoughts, views, ideas, and experiences and integrate it into their weekly reflections. This is worth 40% of the total. Reflective Journal: Students are required to write a weekly reflective journal entry (students will be given a journal contract at the beginning of the course), discussing any topics or issues which interest them as a result of studying the Second Language Teacher Education course. They may wish to discuss topics that have reinforced, influenced or changed their ideas on teaching and the training of other teachers. They may also wish to write about their practical experiences in the classroom, or within teacher education contexts, and show how these relate to theory. These reflections must be supported with the relevant literature that is discussed on a weekly basis during the course; policy should also be considered at a school or national levels. Students are required to write their journal reflections on a facility set up by the course tutor on LEARN, or the system the university is using. The journal is a public document which can be seen by class members and tutors. This means that the content of the journal needs to be appropriate and follow professional standards. Class members are required to post weekly comments on the reflections of other class members in order to facilitate a critical reflective process. Tutors on the course will provide each class member with two responses to their reflections over the period of the course.

Part B: Micro context 1. Detailed and full plan for one training session, identifying objectives, materials, procedures, implementation and follow-up strategies. (30% of total = 1400 words) 2. Rationale including critical discussion of theory and practice issues for two or three aspects of training and supervision proposed in the plan. (30% of total = 1500 words). (e.g. what do you focus on in the micro-teaching). Assessment for the course consists of three assessment activities that are weighted in the following way: Part A = 40% of the total Part B.1 = 30% of the total Part B.2 = 30% of the total Students must gain an average pass mark of 40% in order to pass the course. Bibliography Burns, A., & Richards, J. C. (Eds.). (2009). The Cambridge Guide to second language teacher education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Borg, S. (2006) Teacher Cognition and Language Education. London: Continuum. Canagarajah, A. S. (2006). TESOL at forty: what are the issues? TESOL Quarterly, 40(1), 9-34. Farrell, T.S.C. (2007) Reflective Language Teaching. London: Continuum. James, P. 2001, Teachers in Action - tasks for in-service language teacher education and development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Johnson, K. E. (2009). Second language teacher education. A sociocultural perspective. London: Routledge. Kumaravadivelu, B. (2001). Towards a postmethod pedagogy. TESOL Quarterly, 35(537-560). Leung, C., & Teasdale, A. (1998). ESL teacher competence: professionalism in a social market. Prospect, 13(1), 4-23. Parrott, M. 1993, Tasks for Language Teachers - A Resource Book for Training and Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pennycook, A. (2010) Language as a Local Practice. Abingdon: Routledge. Randall, M. and B. Thornton, 2001, Advising and Supporting Teachers, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Richards, J. and D. Nunan (eds), 1990, Second Language Teacher Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Roberts, J. 1998, Language Teacher Education. Arnold,. Tanner, R. and C. Green, 1998, Tasks for Teacher Education: a reflective approach. Longman. Tedick, D.J. (2011) Second Language Teacher Education: International Perspectives. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers. Thornbury, S. 1997, About Language - Tasks for English Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wajnryb, R. 1993, Classroom Observation Tasks, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wallace, M. 1991, Training Foreign Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wallace, M. 1998, Action Research for Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Woodward, T. 1992, Ways of training - Recipes for Teacher Training. Longman.