English As a Foreign Language Teacher Education : Current Perspectives and Challenges [1 ed.] 9789401210485, 9789042038004

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English as a foreign language teacher education

Utrecht Studies in Language and Communication

27

Series Editors

Wolfgang Herrlitz Paul van den Hoven

English as a foreign language teacher education Current perspectives and challenges

Edited by Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo

Amsterdam - New York, NY 2014

Cover photo: www.dreamstime.com The paper on which this book is printed meets the requirements of “ISO 9706:1994, Information and documentation - Paper for documents Requirements for permanence”. ISBN: 978-90-420-3800-4 E-Book ISBN: 978-94-012-1048-5 ©Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam – New York, NY 2014 Printed in The Netherlands

Contents Foreword by Jack C. Richards

1

Preface

5

Section I. Theoretical perspectives and approaches to L2 teacher education Incorporating second language acquisition research into teacher education Juana Mª Liceras

11

Integrating the European Portfolio in a competency-based teacher education approach Daniel Madrid Fernández

35

Action research in English as a foreign language teacher training in Spain: Trainees’ perception of their development of competencies for effective teaching and a comparison with language teacher competency development in the UK Mª del Pilar Montijano Cabrera and Dawn Leggott

59

Language teacher education models: New issues and challenges Marie-Christine Deyrich and Kari Stunnel

83

Practicum experience in teacher education: Is experience the best teacher? Muriel Grosbois

107

Teaching pronunciation in the post-EFL area: Lessons from ELF and implications for teacher education Nicos C. Sifakis

127

The importance of developing multicultural awareness in EFL teacher education Sophia Papaefthymiou-Lytra

147

Section II. Teacher identity construction: Emotional and cognitive dimensions of teaching Teacher emotion, emotional labor and teacher identity Paul A. Schutz and Mikyoung Lee

169

NNS imagining a future self as teachers in bilingual education María E. Torres-Guzmán and Patricia Martínez Álvarez

187

Beliefs in learning to teach: EFL student teachers’ beliefs about corrective feedback Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo

209

Native or non-native? The nativeness factor from the student teachers’ perspective Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo and Ian Robinson

231

Section III. Lesson plans and classroom materials and resources Teaching and learning how to plan lessons for EFL classrooms: Implementation of classroom techniques and activities Mª Sagrario Salaberri Ramiro, Nazmi Abdul-Salam Al-Masri and Mª del Mar Sánchez Pérez

249

Textbook use training in EFL teacher education Mª del Pilar Montijano Cabrera

267

Human drive and humanistic technologies in ELT training Gabriele Azzaro

287

Section IV. Focus on CLIL and ESP teacher education CLIL pedagogy in Europe: CLIL teacher education in Germany Christina Brüning and Maja-Svea Purrmann

315

Challenges facing pre-service ESP teacher education: Legal and medical English Eduarda Melo Cabrita, Isabel Ferro Mealha and Rita Queiroz de Barros

339

Notes on contributors

359

Foreword Five issues strike me as central to an understanding the nature of second language teacher education or SLTE: context, content, learners, delivery, and impact. Readers of this collection of papers will find each of these issues addressed in different ways and to different degrees, and keeping them in mind will help readers better understand both the scope and nature of SLTE as it is reflected in this volume. Context refers to both the site where teacher education takes place as well as the settings where teacher-learners in the program carry out their teaching. The former may be a campus lecture room and the latter a school, private institute or other learning setting including both face-to-face as well as online learning contexts. The role of context for example, is reflected in Grosbois’ account of how an overseas practicum experience for student teachers facilitated not only improvements in language proficiency but also provided opportunities to link campus-based and classroom-based experiences and to lay the foundation for longer term professional development. Classroom-based action research as an opportunity to move the learning site from the lecture room to the language classroom is also the focus of the chapter by Montijano and Leggott. Content refers to the knowledge base and skills that constitute the curriculum of the SLTE program. In cases where teachers are not fluent speaker of the target language it may also include language proficiency. Content knowledge can be thought of as constituting the ‘theoretical foundations’ of language teaching, in comparison with the practical, teaching-skills aspects of teaching. Content knowledge, however, is of many different kinds. One important distinction is between disciplinary knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. Disciplinary knowledge refers to a circumscribed body of knowledge that is considered by the language-teaching profession to be essential to gaining membership in the profession, but which may not have practical application in the classroom. A course on the history of language teaching or on trends in linguistics would belong to the domain of disciplinary knowledge. Pedagogical content knowledge, on the other hand, refers to knowledge that provides a basis for language teaching. It is knowledge which is drawn from the study of language teaching and language learning itself and which can be applied in different ways to the resolution of practical issues in language teaching. However it should be noted that there is no consensus in the field of SLTE as to what the essential knowledge base of SLTE is, either in terms of disciplinary knowledge or pedagogical content knowledge.

2 Jack C. Richards Many of the papers in this book focus either on particular approaches to content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, or both, and the range of papers in this collection on content issues reflects both the changing state of understanding of content in SLTE, as well as the need for content to reflect the contexts in which SLTE programs take place. Thus the paper by Liceras makes a case for information derived from contrastive analysis and SLA as a component of the knowledge base for teacher learners. Sifakis questions the models of pronunciation taught in SLTE courses in the light of the emergence of English as an international language. Montijano emphasizes the need for language teachers to develop a critical understanding of the nature and role of textbooks. Bruning and Purman discuss the need in some contexts to prepare teachers for curricular innovations such as CLIL, while Cabrita et al. see the need to provide teachers with the knowledge they need to teach ESP. Papaefthymiou-Lystra introduces multicultural awareness and multicultural competence as component s of the SLTE curriculum. Familiarity with the role technology can play in language teaching is also a theme addressed by several contributors. The use of technology in teaching becomes more important in present times, because teachers also have to be able to keep up with the technological knowledge of their students. Learners refers to the recipients of SLTE, in this case teacher-learners, who may be both novice as well as experienced teachers. The field of SLTE has added much to our understanding of teacher-learners in recent years through a focus on teacher cognition and on the attributes, attitudes and identities teacher-learners bring to learning or develop through the teacher-learning process. A number of contributors to this book describe research in these areas. For example Schutz and Lee discuss the emotional demands of language teaching and remind us that SLTE programs generally do not adequately prepare teachers for the emotional demands often made on them in the classroom or teach them strategies for dealing with these issues. How bilingual teachers construct their identities as language teachers is the focus of Torres-Guzman and Martínez-Alvarez’ paper. Martínez Agudo examines student teachers’ beliefs about error correction, while Martínez and Robinson discuss student- teachers’ attitudes towards native versus non-native teachers. Delivery refers to the teaching/learning process the SLTE program employs, which may include lecture-based input, on-line or face to face teaching, workshops, teaching practice, discourse analysis, teaching portfolios and classroom research. The contributors to this volume generally draw on constructivist, experiential, and collaborative approaches to teaching within an SLTE program. Montijano and Leggott’s describe the use of action research as an alternative to transmission-oriented teaching methods. Experientially-based approaches are also described by Deyrich and Stunnel. Madrid’s paper covers both content and delivery, since the competency-based model it describes identifies the core skills that constitute the focus of the

Foreword 3 SLTE program as well as the use of student-teacher portfolios as a means of learner-directed management of learning. Impact generally refers to the changes in teachers’ beliefs, identities, understandings and practices that the program and its related activities is intended to bring about or that take place once the student teacher starts teaching. Impact however can be two ways in SLTE . One direction is to consider the impact of SLTE on teachers’ beliefs and practices, which are often very resistant to change. Research of this kind could explore the extent to which courses in such areas as pedagogical grammar, SLA, or methodology, serve to inform teachers’ understandings and practices after they have completed the SLTE course. Unfortunately there is not a substantial body of research in this area. Another aspect of impact is the extent to which research on language teaching itself serves to inform the content of SLTE programs, which can be considered as a form of needs analysis. In the present collection, impact receives less attention than the other issues referred to above. Taken together the papers in this useful volume emphasize that teacherdevelopment in language teaching involves mastering practical classroom skills, as well as acquiring the specialized knowledge that teachers make use of in their teaching. It also involves developing a deeper understanding of teaching, over time, through the experience of teaching. At the same time, teaching is, to some extent, an activity that draws on the teacher’s personal beliefs, values and individual teaching style. The language teaching profession has developed and continues to refine the professional knowledge base expected of language teachers, as reflected in the standards set for language teachers, and the professional and academic qualifications available for teachers. However, teacher development is also dependent upon the teacher’s individual initiatives and efforts, and participating in activities that involve reflection, monitoring and evaluation of one’s own professional growth. This book provides research-based accounts of how teachereducators in SLTE programs have explored issues of this kind, illustrates the scope of current research in teacher-learning in language teaching, and helps identify an agenda for further accounts of theory and practice in second language teacher education.

Jack C. Richards Honorary Professor, University of Sydney Visiting Distinguished Professor, City University of Hong Kong Adjunct Professor, Regional Language Centre, Singapore

Preface The field of Second Language Teacher Education (SLTE) is mainly concerned with the professional preparation of L2 teachers. Although the world of SLTE encompasses a wide range of instructional settings, the fact is that most publications focus exclusively on ESL/EFL contexts. Since the numerous influencing factors and the large number of contexts in which SLTE occurs, our understanding of what actually happens in SLTE calls for further exploration. SLTE has been mainly affected by external pressures such as the rapid expansion and/or status of English as the dominant language of worldwide communication as well as the impact of communicative language teaching on ELT. Since the external pressures resulting from the worldwide demand for more trained and competent language teachers, the overall mission of SLTE is to educate qualified and competent teachers so as to improve the quality of second language pedagogy. While SLTE is an essential contributing factor to quality in second language education, more effective SLTE approaches to professional preparation and development are needed. Up to now many attempts and efforts have been made to improve the quality of language instruction, however many issues and concerns still remain unresolved. The literature being written today is increasingly addressing and discussing an ever-widening range of substantive issues and concerns in the area of L2 teacher education and development. As views about language teaching and learning have changed during the past three decades, the process of L2 teacher education has also changed as a result of the new trends and influences. In this respect, the research focus in changing SLTE pedagogy has moved from teacher training towards teacher education, that is, we are witnessing a shift in orientation from searching for better ways to train teachers in the practical classroom teaching skills and techniques to trying to describe and understand the process of how teachers actually learn to teach through reflection and critical self-evaluation. Through exploration, teachers can actually learn and discover a lot about their own teaching by changing the way they teach, making small readjustments or changes, or trying new strategies or procedures, in order to investigate what might happen in changing classroom circumstances. Since the recent transition from traditional transmissive pedagogy to a more experiential and constructivist pedagogy which in turn has led to the widespread implementation of the reflective approach to teacher education in SLTE pedagogy, the fact is that there is much that we still do not know about how L2 teaching is actually learned in training rooms and how professional preparation programmes can contribute to this process. Likewise, the role of teacher educators who teach teaching is largely unexplored in research literature. In order to improve teaching in the multilingual and multicultural classroom of the 21st century,

6 Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo both pre- and in-service L2 teachers as well as L2 teacher educators must be prepared to meet the new challenges of education under the current circumstances, expanding their roles and responsibilities so as to face the new complex realities of language instruction. Maintaining the interest, creativity and enthusiasm of teachers for teaching would represent one of the main challenges faced by both teachers themselves and teacher educators (Richards, 2011). Educating 21st century learners actually constitutes a real challenge for 20th century teachers when faced with the tremendous diversity in their classrooms. Overview of the volume This volume explores a number of key dimensions of EFL teacher education. More precisely, the collection provides a detailed account of current perspectives and theoretical approaches to the constructivist experiential SLTE pedagogy. As corresponds to the broad scope of this field and its interdisciplinary nature, the selected contributions of this volume focus on a wide variety of issues related to second language pedagogy and SLTE. The book contains a total of 16 chapters organized into four thematic sections, each of them covering diverse aspects and perspectives on SLTE pedagogy. Section I examines overall theoretical perspectives and approaches to L2 teacher education such as the importance of second language acquisition (SLA) research, competency-based teacher education approach, action research in L2 teacher education, language teacher education models, teaching practicum, pronunciation teaching and multicultural awareness. Given the importance of SLA research for language pedagogy (Ellis, 2012, 2013), the introductory chapter mainly addresses how SLA research can be integrated into teacher education. With special reference to the European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL), Chapter 2 proposes, through a detailed example, the integration of the European portfolio in a competency-based teacher education approach. Chapter 3 precisely describes and evaluates the development of competencies in EFL teacher training through an action-research study conducted in the Spanish university context. This is then compared and contrasted with language teacher competency development in the United Kingdom. Chapter 4 provides an in-depth exploration of the different language teacher education models by examining the assumptions upon which they are based and discussing how these models are evolving and need to evolve so as to deal with the specific challenges of education in the 21st century. Since the practicum experience is viewed as an essential component in the professional preparation of prospective teachers and in line with the CEFR’s actionoriented approach, Chapter 5 discusses the value and role of practicum experience abroad in L2 teacher education, emphasizing the need for the combination of action and reflection in L2 teacher education. With the emphasis on intelligible pronunciation as an essential component for

Preface 7 effective communication, Chapter 6 argues for a transition from a ‘traditional EFL’ to a ‘post-EFL paradigm’, where an ELF (English as a Lingua Franca) pronunciation perspective should be integrated into teacher education programmes aimed at ensuring mutual intelligibility and comprehensibility in successful communication. Bearing in mind that language and culture are equally important, Chapter 7 highlights the importance of promoting multicultural awareness in ELT teacher education, by reporting empirical research on developing student teachers’ multicultural awareness carried out in the context of a pre-service teacher training programme in Greece. Section II covers the area of the impact of the emotional and cognitive dimensions of teaching on teachers’ professional identity construction. Since the recently increasing interest in teacher emotions in the classroom over the last decade, Chapter 8 is mainly concerned with the emotional dimension of teaching, examining how teachers’ emotional experiences and the emotional labor associated with those experiences influence their emerging and changing professional identities. In order to better understand this process of professional identity development, Chapter 9 closely examines, through a case study of 12 NNES teacher candidates engaged in bilingual/bicultural education programmes in USA, the variation of responses to assignments as a way of exploring identity construction by analysing how prospective teachers see themselves when teaching in bilingual classrooms. In the next two chapters the emphasis is on the role and impact of beliefs and attitudes in learning to teach which seem to affect and shape student teachers’ professional identities and classroom instructional practices. Given that the professional development of teachers in general and their classroom instructional practices in particular are greatly influenced by teachers’ cognitions or beliefs, Chapter 10 examines this unobservable cognitive dimension of teaching as a central research theme by focusing specifically on EFL student teachers’ beliefs about the controversial issue of corrective feedback. Since the debate comparing native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) and non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) has been widely discussed in ELT literature, Chapter 11 examines the nativeness factor from the standpoint of student teachers, a perspective largely ignored so far. Section III examines the importance of lesson planning as well as the potential of classroom materials and resources for EFL teacher education. Chapter 12 mainly focuses on the lesson planning process in the EFL classroom, discussing the reasons for planning lessons and its implementation process with special reference to teaching activities and materials related to internet-based resources. Since materials exist in order to support teachers in teaching, Chapter 13 argues that training in the effective use of the textbook should be included in EFL teacher education by discussing the most

8 Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo outstanding reasons both for and against the use of textbooks in L2 classes. In this respect, trainee teachers need to develop critical-evaluation skills regarding the suitability of textbooks as an integral part of their professional preparation. In today’s ever increasingly more globalized and digital world where advances in technology have provided us with new opportunities and learning settings, Chapter 14 examines the humanistic use of technology, and more particularly the Italian EFL student teachers’ engagement with and enjoyment of traditional and multimedia course materials. The chapters in the last section of the book cover other branches or variants of English language teaching (ELT) such as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and teaching English for specific purposes (ESP). Since CLIL pedagogy is (supposedly) unlike teaching ordinary EFL (English as a Foreign Language) or ESOL (English to speakers of other languages), Chapter 15 provides a short overview about the current situation of CLIL pedagogy in Europe as well as a closer look at CLIL teacher education with a special focus on Germany, suggesting possible solutions to the different existing problems and challenges. Since teacher education programmes in Europe have so far neglected the important area of ESP teacher education, the final Chapter is mainly concerned with the challenges related to preservice ESP teacher education in Portugal, with special reference to legal and medical English. In short, the volume aims to represent the views of EFL teacher educators and researchers from around the world, within the particular settings and circumstances of their daily work, bringing rich and illuminating perspectives. It is my hope that readers of this book will be enriched by the scope and depth of these contributions. The book’s audience This publication is mainly addressed to those pre-service and in-service teachers who teach in EFL classrooms anywhere in the world, under any circumstances, and who wish to know more about L2 pedagogy. The book is also intended for those practising and prospective L2 teacher educators around the world involved both in pre-service and in-service education of L2/FL teachers. Those educational researchers interested in how L2 teaching is actually learned in formal preparation programmes will also find it helpful. Acknowledgements Since an edited volume requires the commitment and cooperation of a number of professionals, I would like to thank all the contributors who took time from their busy schedules to make the current publication possible. Thanks also to my student teachers who inspire me every day since their insights and challenging questions help me grow as an L2 teacher educator. Professor Jack C. Richards’ kindness in writing the foreword is acknowledged with gratitude. - The Editor .

Section I Theoretical perspectives and approaches to L2 teacher education

Incorporating second language acquisition research into teacher education * Juana Mª Liceras (University of Ottawa, Canada) Research on language acquisition has undergone substantial changes in the 21st century. Some of these changes are related to the new fronts that have been opened when it comes to eliciting data intended to investigate how language is acquired and how language is represented in the monolingual or the bilingual mind. These new research areas and data elicitation techniques may be perceived by the applied linguist as being as far away from the type of activities that take place in the classroom as was perceived, thirty years ago, the research carried out within the so-called “universal grammar” framework. However, in the same way as morphosyntactic theories with a universal flavor have been a source of inspiration for carrying out experimental research inside the classroom, the work on contact linguistics or language processing that is being carried out nowadays may provide us with insights as to how we can train teachers, manipulate classroom input or prepare language teaching materials. In this chapter we draw pedagogical inferences from experimental research carried out on the relevance of the formal feature gender when accepting code-switched concord structures and from the processing preferences displayed by Spanish dominant and English dominant English-Spanish bilinguals when confronting the ambiguity of relative clauses with complex antecedents.

1 Introduction Among the linguistic issues that should play an important role in teacher education, we would like to focus on two: (i) how formal features realized in the target language are represented in the mind of the native speaker and (ii) how native speakers deal with ambiguity. While the first issue occupies a central place (directly or indirectly) in teacher training, even when grammar and formal instruction are not the focus of a given program, the second issue, to the best of our knowledge, is seldom if ever addressed. We have chosen to discuss these two somehow different linguistic issues because recent research provides us with information about the nature of the intuitions and

ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ *The experimental data that we discuss here are related to the joint research program on language

development and language contact housed at the Language Acquisition Research Laboratory of the University of Ottawa (Canada), at the Language Acquisition Laboratory of the University of Valladolid (Spain), as well as to our collaboration with the Universitat Pompeu Fabra of Barcelona. This research has been funded by the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ottawa, the Canada-Europe Award Program (CEA) and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education (FFI2012-35058). ȱ

ȱ

12 Juana Mª Licerasȱ representations that second language learners need to internalize for achieving native-like competence in the target language. As we state in Liceras (2010), formal features were already relevant for interlanguage descriptions carried out by the researchers who pioneered the adoption of the Extended Standard Theory (Chomsky, 1977) and the Government and Binding model (Chomsky, 1981) for the analysis of native and non-native systems (Flynn, 1983; Liceras, 1983; Mazurkevich, 1984; White, 1985, among others). However, it is within Chomsky’s Minimalist Program (Chomsky, 1995, 2000; Hornstein, Nunes and Grohmann 2005, among others) that formal syntactic features become the center of learnability theory, the reason being that they are conceptualized as the elementary building units of linguistic structure. That is to say, the realization of formal features such as gender or case in a given language determines the structure of that language. Furthermore, formal features constitute one of the most recalcitrant problems that adult language learners have to confront when acquiring a non-native grammar. In this chapter we show that Spanish dominant English-Spanish bilinguals not only classify Spanish Nouns according to the formal feature gender, but also English Nouns. We base this assertion on the code-switching preferences these bilinguals display when confronted with Determiner Phrases (DPs) such as those in (1) and (2). (1) la[fem.] house[casa-fem.] / el[masc.] book[libro-masc.] (2) el[masc.] house[casa-fem.] / la[fem.] book[libro-masc.] What experimental research using acceptability judgments has shown (Liceras et al., 2008; Valenzuela et al., 2012; Liceras et al., 2012, 2013) is that Spanish dominant English-Spanish bilinguals significantly prefer the matching options in (1) where the Spanish Determiner agrees with the Spanish translation equivalent of the English Noun or the English DP respectively, over the non-matching options in (1b) and (2b) where no such agreement holds. We would like to argue that making language teachers aware of this representation of gender may provide them with tools to manipulate classroom input and/or to prepare language teaching materials. While deciding on how to deal with agreement patterns poses important challenges for teacher education, the actual object of description or analysis is rather straightforward. However, dealing with processing preferences poses greater challenges not only in terms of whether or not we should incorporate this issue into teacher education but also in terms of the elusive nature of the preferences. In fact, and even though preferences can be defined structurally in a clear-cut way, they can be blurred by pragmatic factors and even sociological and cultural factors. For instance, it has been shown that in the case of native speakers of languages such as Spanish, the ambiguity in (3a) tends to be resolved by the so-called low attachment processing strategy.

Incorporating second language acquisition research 13ȱ (3a) Ayer nos encontramos con la hermana[NP1] del arquitecto[NP2] [que __ vive en Singapur] (3b) ¿Quién vive en Singapur la hermana del arquitecto o el arquitecto? Namely, when answering the question in (3b) there is a clear preference for choosing NP1, la hermana, the head of the relative clause antecedent, rather than NP2, el arquitecto. However, native speakers of languages such as English when answering the same question in a similar sentence such as (4a), display a significant preference for choosing NP2, the architect, when asked to answer (4b). (4a) Yesterday we ran into the sister[NP1] of the architect[NP2] [who __ lives in Singapore] (4b) Who lives in Singapore, the architect or the architect’s sister? Because there is a substantial body of research geared towards determining how languages differ in terms of displaying a preference for either high (NP1) or low (NP2) attachment, we are now in a position to discuss how the findings of this research could be incorporated in teacher education. In fact, we would like to propose that these constructions can be used to determine degrees of native-like competence at two different levels. First, we will propose that due to the elusive nature of the processing preferences which surround these constructions, teachers should be confronted with the need to make choices themselves. Second, we will show by the use of gender markers how to eliminate the ambiguity of sentences such as (3a) or (4a). This type of structures constitutes an excellent tool to determine to what extent native and non-native speakers are sensitive to the formal feature gender. Thus, in spite of the preference for low attachment that Spanish speakers or English speakers may have for the high (NP1) or the low attachment strategy (NP2) respectively, such a preference may be switched by using object pronouns as in (5) and (6). (5) a. Es la hermana[NP1] del arquitecto [NP2] [que no se si te acuerdas [que la conocimos en Singapur]] (5) b. Es la hermana[NP1] del arquitecto [NP2] [que no se si te acuerdas [que lo conocimos en Singapur]] (5) c. ¿A quién conocimos en Singapur? (6) a. It is the sister of the architect [that I do not know whether you remember [that we met her in Singapore]]. (6) b. It is the sister of the architect [that I do not know whether you remember that [we met him in Singapore]]. (6) c. Whom did we meet in Singapore? In these relative clauses the presence of the object pronoun is allowed or even needed as a repair strategy due to the distance between the potential antecedent and the subject of the last embedded clause. Thus, in (5) or (6), answering the questions in (5c) or (6c) has a straightforward answer: it is

14 Juana Mª Licerasȱ either the architect or his sister depending on the gender feature borne by the respective pronoun. We will first discuss how SLA research on code-switching preferences can be incorporated into teacher education and we will then proceed with how processing preferences of ambiguous sentences can be manipulated to enter the field of teacher education.

2 Research findings and discussion The realization of gender in Spanish Gender and gender agreement in Spanish determiner phrases and adjectival phrases While some languages have rather complex systems for the classification of Nouns (Arabic or Swahili) 1 , languages such as Spanish classify all Nouns as masculine or feminine. Besides classifying Nouns alongside this masculinefeminine dichotomy, Spanish requires agreement between the Noun and the Determiner in so-called concord structures in (7) and agreement between the Noun and the Adjective as in (8) or between the Noun and the participle as in (9). (7a) Estoy arreglando la[fem.] casa[fem.] de campo de mis padres I am fixing the house of country of my parents ‘I am fixing my parent’s country house’ (7b) Tengo que terminar de pintar el[masc.] tejado[masc.] (I) have to finish painting the roof (8a) Quiero un[masc.] tejado[masc.] rojo[masc.] para la casa (I) want a roof red for the house (8b) y una[fem.] puerta[fem.] roja[fem.] para el garaje and (I want) a door red for the garage (9) El tejado[masc.] no está pintado[masc.] pero la puerta[fem.] ya está terminada[fem.] The roof is not painted but the door already is finished

ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ

1 As Lardiere (2008) points out, when an adult second language learner (or the linguist for that matter) confronts the Arabic gender (or Noun classifying system), the task may look like an unsurmountable one, as per the suscint summary provided in (i). In cardinality DPs, (a) with numerals from 3 through 10, use the feminine [gender] for a masculine noun, and vice versa, and use the plural form of the noun; (b) with numerals from 11 through 19, use the singular accusative for the noun, and for the teen subpart of the numeral use masculine for a masculine noun and feminine for a feminine [noun], and for the unit part of the numeral use feminine for a masculine [noun] and vice versa. [(Modern Standard) Arabic] [Lardiere, 2008: 212] This is also the case when it comes to grasp the Noun classification system of Swahili which is depicted as an eighteen class system by traditional grammarians and as a gender system comprising nine categories by Carstens (2008). See Landa Buil’s tables 4 and 5 (pp. 76 and 77) for a description of the various Noun classes.

Incorporating second language acquisition research 15ȱ In addition, so-called intransitive Determiners (Radford 1997), namely clitic object pronouns, also carry grammatical gender because they have to agree with the referent, as in (10). (10) Pensaba que ya lo[fem.] habías pintado (I) thought that already it[fem.] (you) had painted ‘I thought you had already painted it’ In (10), la can only refer to the roof and not to the door because it is masculine. Here, we will only discuss acceptability judgments of EnglishSpanish code-switched DP concord structures provided by English or Spanish dominant English-Spanish bilinguals. In the second part of this chapter we will discuss experimental data where object clitic pronouns are used to force the choice of high or low attachment in ambiguous relative clauses as the ones in (5) and (6) above. The representation of gender in the mind of Spanish dominant EnglishSpanish bilinguals: The view from code-switching In the 20th century code-switching in child bilingual acquisition was given special attention for two reasons. In the first place, code-switching or codemixing was first taken as evidence to argue that in the early stages of bilingual acquisition the two languages were represented as a unitary system. The debate on whether in the initial stages of bilingualism there were two differentiated grammatical system or one unitary system was resolved in favor of the latter approach (Genesee, 1989). However, how to characterize language dominance continues to be a debatable issue. One of the linguistic venues used to determine dominance has been code-switching, since it has been argued (Petersen, 1988) that in a functional-lexical mixing the dominant language would contribute the functional category. According to this, if the majority of code-mixed utterances produced by an English-Spanish bilingual child were like la house, the researcher would conclude that the child’s dominant language was Spanish. Alternatively, if the child produced concord mixings such as the casa, it would be concluded that his/her dominant language was English. A large body of research has shown that in the spontaneous production of child and adult English-Spanish bilinguals there is a systematic production of code-mixed concord structures where Spanish contributes the determiner (la house) while constructions where English contributes the determiner (the casa) are almost non-existent. This has led us to argue (Liceras et al., 2005; 2008) that native Spanish and Spanish dominant English-Spanish bilinguals abide by the Grammatical Features Spell-out Hypothesis when they codeswitch between a functional and a grammatical category. This implies that they will always choose the functional category that is made up of highly grammatisized features. Thus, in an English-Spanish switch, there will be a clear-cut preference for the switch where Spanish contributes the determiner

16 Juana Mª Licerasȱ because it is the functional category that is marked with the feature gender. 2 This hypothesis also led us to investigate whether a similar preference would be displayed in experimental research and whether the degree of competence in Spanish would also determine the preferences shown by L2 Spanish speakers. We elicited written experimental data (Liceras et al., 2008) from Spanish dominant and English dominant adult English-Spanish bilinguals and oral experimental data from Spanish dominant child English-Spanish bilinguals living in Spain and in Canada (Liceras et al., 2012, 2013). The participants had to complete the acceptability judgment tasks described in (11) and (12). (11) Sample of experimental items used Liceras et al.’s (2008) acceptability judgments task • [2] What Amanda likes best about Mexico is the comida. • [90] Ese perro siempre duerme en la house. • [44] La semana que viene tenemos que ajustar la clock. 1 2 3 4 5 Suena muy mal Suena mal Suena raro No suena mal Suena bien Sounds verybad Sounds bad Sounds odd Sounds o.k. Sounds good (12) Sample of experimental items used in Liceras et al.’s (2012, 2013) acceptability judgments task

ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ 2

This hypothesis predicts that in the case of language mixes where the determiners of the two languages carry a highly grammatisized feature, both switches would be produced indistinctly, and this is what the available literature on code-switching in Italian and German has shown (Liceras et al., 2005, 2008; Cantone and Müller, 2008; Jorschick et al., 2011).

Incorporating second language acquisition research 17ȱ Unlike what has been observed in the case of spontaneous production, all speakers, showed a high acceptance of the code-mixed concord structures where English provides the Determiner (the comida), as shown in Figures 1, 2, 4 and 6. However, the Spanish dominant bilinguals gave significantly higher scores to the items where the Spanish Determiner agreed with the Spanish translation of the English Noun (la[fem.] house[fem.]) —gender matching switches— and they gave significantly lower scores to the items where the Spanish Determiner did not agree with the Spanish translation of the English Noun (la[fem.] clock[masc.]) —gender non-matching switches— as shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4.

Figure 1. Determiner Phrase. English vs. Spanish Determiner switches (Liceras et al., 2008).

Figure 2. Determiner Phrase. Gender matching vs. non-matching switches (Liceras et al., 2008). The difference between the preference for the matching option is statistically significant in the case of the Spanish dominant bilinguals but it is nonsignificant in the case of the English dominant L2 learners of Spanish. In Liceras (2013) we showed (Figure 3) that the Spanish dominant adult English-Spanish bilinguals living in Canada (Group A) and those living in Spain (group B) who completed the acceptability judgments task described in

18 Juana Mª Licerasȱ (12) followed the exact same pattern as the adults who, several years before, completed the task described in (11).

Figure 3. Gender neutral, matching and non-matching preferences. Spanish dominant English-Spanish adult bilinguals (Liceras, 2013). In Figure 4 it is shown that the exact same pattern was also followed by the simultaneous bilingual children and the L2 English children (2L1) who were administered the oral version of the task described in (12).

Figure 4. Gender neutral, matching and non-matching preferences. Spanish dominant English-Spanish child simultaneous (2L1) and consecutive (L2) bilinguals (Liceras et al., 2012) 3 We interpreted this as evidence that linear processing of the English Determiner + Spanish Noun constructions proceeds at ease because the

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3 MM = matching masculine (el book); FF = matching feminine (la house); MF = non-matching masculine (la book); FM = non matching feminine (el house).

Incorporating second language acquisition research 19ȱ neuter nature of ‘the’ with respect to gender does not clash with the gender value (masculine or feminine) of the Spanish Noun. More important, the fact that in spontaneous production these switchings seldom occur, but are accepted, is very important for teacher training purposes. Since this dichotomy between production and acceptability is systematically found in SLA, the implication is that teachers cannot determine competence only on the basis of production but should consider how to lead learners to determine whether a given construction is possible or frequent in the target language. Even more relevant is the fact that only Spanish dominant bilinguals attribute gender to the English Nouns, as shown by the fact that gender agreement is significantly preferred. This is a clear reflection of the way in which the formal feature gender is represented in the mind of native Spanish speakers and we would like to suggest that language teachers may take these matching and non-matching code-switched DPs as examples of how to achieve nativelike competence in a second language (in this case, Spanish). We do not suggest that code-switching should play a significant role in language teaching but we do think that using ‘games’ that incorporate code-switching or exposing learners to actual speech used in bilingual communities where code-switching is a normal way of communication should not be discarded. Choosing between high and low adjunction in ambiguous and nonambiguous relative clauses High and low attachment in ambiguous relative clauses: Language preferences As we have said above, languages display different preferences for selecting an antecedent in the case of ambiguous sentences such as (3) and (4) above or (13). (13) a. [Ana me presentó a [NP [DP1 la hijaj] de [DP2 el pianistak]] [que [e]j/k vive en Ottawa]]] (13) b. [Ana introduced me to [DP1 the daughterj] of [DP2 the pianistk]] [that [e]j/k lives in Ottawa]]] In (13) the indexes show that he subject of the relative clause which is depicted as an empty category ([e]) can be attached (or coindexed) to DP1, la hija (the so-called high attachment strategy) or to DP2, el pianista (the socalled low attachment strategy). Thus, there are two posible answers to the question Who lives in Ottawa?, one is la hija and the other one is el pianista. It has been argued that in languages such as Dutch, French, German, Russian or Spanish there is a clear preference for high attachment while in languages such as Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, English, Norwegian, Romanian or Swedish, low attachment is preferred. 4 The preference for high attachment

ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ

4 See, for example, Cuetos and Mitchell (1988), Abdelghany and Fodor (1999), Carreiras and Clifton (1999), Gibson, Pearlmutter and Torrens (1999), Guillelmon and Grosjean (2001)

20 Juana Mª Licerasȱ has been related to Gibson, Pearlmutter et al.’s (1996) Predicate Proximity Principle. This principle accounts for the tendency shown by the parser to attach the relative to the structure that is closest to the predicate in the hierarchical structure. Namely, it is attached to the head DP (la hija) of the compound NP (la hija del pianista). The Predicate Proximity Princple is favored by languages with a relativly free word order, such as Spanish. Languages such as English are said to follow Gibson and Pearlmutter’s (1998) Recency Principle which leads the parser to choose the constituent that is closest to the relative boundary, the DP2 (el pianista or the pianista in (13a) and (13b) respectively), which implies that these languages follow the low attachment strategy. In Senn and Liceras (2007) and in Senn (2008) we showed that in direct object relatives such as (14), which display the same type of ambiguity shown in (3)-(4) and (13), when the gender and/or number feature of the two DPs is different, the resumptive pronoun may resolve the ambiguity forcing low or high attachment, as shown in (15) or (16). (14) Pintaron los techosDP1 de las casitasDP2 [que [cuando nos fuimos a vivir al campo] estaban remodelando]. (15) Pintaron los techos de las casitasi [que [cuando nos fuimos a vivir al campo] lasi estaban remodelando]. (16) Pintaron los techosi de las casitas [que [cuando nos fuimos a vivir al campo] losi estaban remodelando] Because Spanish seems to favor the high attachment strategy, the preferred interpretation in (14) would be los techos. However, due to the presence of the clitic pronoun, chosing high attachment would only be possible in the case of (16), while low attachment is the only possible choice in (15). Also, in these specific examples, the presence of the resumptive is welcome due to the distance between the antecedent and the relativized position. This is one of the relativized contexts where Spanish is said to allow and even prefer the presence of a resumptive pronoun. Before we proceed with the discussion of the experimental research pertaining to ambiguous restrictive relatives, we will provide a description of direct (also called gap) relatives and indirect (also called resumptive pronoun) relatives. As instances of so-called “long distance dependencies”, relative clauses contain phrases that have been ‘displaced’ (Chomsky 1995) from their canonical position. In (17), the object of necesitamos has been displaced from the position after the verb, as represented by the t which appears in the corresponding gap. (17) a. Ha llegado la cartai que necesitábamos ti

ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ Papadopoulou and Clahsen, (2003), Fernández (2003), Dussias and Sagarra (2007), among others.

Incorporating second language acquisition research 21ȱ (17) b. The letteri that we needed ti has already arrived. In (18), the resumptive pronoun version of (17), which is grammatical in languages such as Arabic but ungrammatical in English or Spanish, the gap is filled with a resumptive pronoun. (18) a.*Ha llegado la cartai que lai necesitábamos __ (18) b. *The letteri that we needed iti has already arrived. However, so-called “intrusive” or “last resort” resumptive pronoun relatives such as the las in (19) are found in most natural languages. (19) a. No puedo encontrar las gafasi que siempre dejo donde lasi puedo ver (19) b. ?I cannot find the glassesi that I always leave where I can see themi It has also been argued that, in Spanish, when the antecedent is [-definite], the resumptive pronoun appears more frequently and is more accepted than in cases when it is [+definite] (Suñer 1998; Brucart 1999), as in (20a) versus (20b). (20) a. *Creo que es la pianista que la conocimos en el Festival de Jazz del año pasado * I think that she is the pianista that we met her at the Jazz Festival last year (20) b. ? Creo que es una pianista que la conocimos en el Festival de Jazz * I think that she is a pianist that we met her at the Jazz Festival last year Based on the above, we would like to argue that, besides incorporating resumptive pronouns in teacher education, it is also important to be aware of how traditional grammar and syntacticians approach these constructions. Traditional grammar (RAE 1973), on the one hand, restricts resumptive pronoun relatives to ‘vulgar’ or ‘colloquial’ speech even though they admit that these constructions are also sanctioned by literary usage. On the other hand, linguists such as Brucart (1999) or Suñer (1998), among others, argue that resumptive pronoun relatives are optionally used by native speakers when the antecedent is [-definite] or it is distant from the relativized position. The distance factor is related to the universal tendency to use resumptive pronouns, in other words, to the so-called ‘repair’ resumptive pronoun relative strategy examplified in (19). Therefore, it is possible that while the grammar may reject resumptive pronouns, the parser may make use of them. We think that the relevance for teacher education of the processing and syntactic facts discussed so far is threefold: (i) language teachers have to be made aware of the reported processing preferences between high and low attachment; (ii) language teachers have to be made aware of the different status of ‘true’ resumptive pronouns versus ‘long distance’ resumptive pronouns both in terms of how grammarians and syntacticians discuss these constructions and in terms of whether or not they are accepted by native speakers; (iii) teacher trainers and language teachers are to be given the choice of incorporating some of these structures in their training/teaching materials.

22 Juana Mª Licerasȱ Preference for high and low attachment in the grammar of EnglishSpanish bilinguals Experimental data elicited from native speakers of Spanish has systematically shown that they abide by the Predicate Proximity Principle when resolving the ambiguity of sentences such as (11a), that we repeat here for convenience. Namely, they choose the DP1 (high attachment), la hija (Cuetos and Mitchell, 1988; Guillelmon and Grosjean, 2001; Papadopoulou and Clahsen, 2003; Fernández, 2003; Dussias and Sagarra, 2007; Gibson, Pearlmutter and Torrens, 1999, among others). (11) a.[Ana me presentó a [NP [DP1 la hijaj] de [DP2 el pianistak]] [que [e]j/k vive en Ottawa]]] (11) b. [Ana introduced me to [DP1 the daughterj] of [DP2 the pianistk]] [that [e]j/k lives in Ottawa]]] On the other hand, experimental data elicited from native speakers of English have shown that they abide by the Regency Principle when resolving the ambiguity of (11b), which means that they choose the DP2 (low attachment), the pianist (Frazier and Clifton 1986; Cuetos and Mitchell 1988; Carreiras and Clifton 1999, among others). With respect to bilinguals, Spanish dominant and English dominant bilinguals follow the respective strategy favored by monolingual speakers for each language. However, many studies show that the preferences displayed by L2 learners are inconclusive. For instance, Frenck-Mestre (2002) argues that when it comes to the non-dominant language, the degree of competence determines the speaker’s preferences: the more proficiency in the nondominant (or second language) the more the tendency to follow the native speaker’s preferences. Other studies report that L2 learners abide by the L1 strategy and do not adopt the L2 strategy (Fernández, 2003) or that L2 learners do not show a preference for any of the two possible strategies (Papadopoulou and Clahsen, 2003). In fact, according to Clahsen and Fesler’s (2006) Shallow Processing Hypothesis, non-native speakers syntactic processing is fundamentally different from that of native speakers in that they do not parse syntactic structures with the same precision. As for so-called heritage and immigrant speakers, Senn (2008) has shown that even though their overall competence as measured by a standardized proficiency test was different from that of a control group of native Spanish speakers living in Spanish speaking countries, they had the same preferences when choosing high and low attachment, since none of the groups had a preference for either strategy, as shown in Figure 5. These results do not provide evidence for the said preference for high attachment which characterizes Spanish speakers, and this is the case for the three groups, the clear-cut Spanish dominant group, the immigrant group that may have undergone attrition due to their long-standing contact with English or the heritage group which happens to be English dominant.

Incorporating second language acquisition research 23ȱ

Figure 5. Native, inmigrant and heritage Spanish speakers. High and low attachment preferences (Senn, 2008: figure 6, p. 139). It is possible that the specific populations or the task may explain the results. If it is the actual task, since it was a preference task rather than the type of on-line tasks used by other researchers, it may have accessed the representational rather than the processing grammar of the speakers. If this is the case, the implications for teacher education are extremely relevant. Namely, when incorporating SLA in teacher education we not only have to take into consideration what type of experimental task has been used to elicit native and non-native data but we have to pay special attention to the status of a given construction in the representational grammar and in the processing grammar. Gap relatives and resumptive pronoun relatives in the grammar of English-Spanish bilinguals When discussing the acceptability of resumptive pronoun relatives with indefinite or long-distance antecedents, traditional grammarians and syntacticians agree that they are produced and accepted in Modern Standard Spanish, albeit the former restrict their usage to colloquial registers. What Senn (2008) and Liceras and Senn (2009) show is that the presence of these two factors does not make resumptive pronoun relatives more acceptable to native, immigrant or heritage Spanish speakers: there are no significant differences among the groups with respect to the various resumptive pronoun conditions, as shown in Figure 6.

24 Juana Mª Licerasȱ

Figure 6. Native, immigrant and heritage Spanish speakers. Gap and [+/definite] [+/-distance] resumptive pronoun relatives preferences (Liceras and Senn, 2009: Graphic 3). The results indicate that all three groups have the same intuitions about the resumptive pronouns relatives. However, it is not the high acceptance of this type of relative clauses that unifies them but its rejection. In other words, it seems to be the case that the three groups of speakers reject both the ungrammatical resumptive pronoun relatives and the resumptive pronoun relatives with indefinite or long-distance antecedents that, according to traditional grammarians and syntacticians are both produced and accepted in Modern Standard Spanish. We can then conclude that it is not obvious that the presence of these two factors make resumptive pronoun relatives more acceptable to native, immigrant or heritage Spanish speakers. The fact that they performed a written task may have been instrumental in leading to rejection, be it because of the formal register associated to the task or because it was not an on-line task that would force the parser to rely on a resumptive pronoun to process very distant dependencies. However, we would like to argue that the fact that the three groups coincide may not necessarily be a reflection of a similar competence but could well be the case that the heritage speakers’ rejection is linked to their being English dominant, since the resumptive pronoun relatives are seldom found in Modern Standard English. These results lead us to make two different kinds of inferences for incorporating SLA research in teacher education. The first one is that teachers have to be very much aware of the differences between grammatical competence and usage that characterize some constructions. The second is

Incorporating second language acquisition research 25ȱ that similar production or acceptability judgments with respect to a given construction may not be a reflection of similar competence. An indirect way of testing sensibility to the grammatical gender feature of Spanish In (14) to (16) we have shown that regardless of the said language preferences for either high or low attachment, a clitic distinctively marked for gender can force one or the other. We have used this as a test (Senn, 2008; Liceras and Senn, 2009) to determine whether Spanish dominant bilinguals (the native and the immigrant groups) differ from the English dominant bilinguals (the heritage group) in their sensibility to the gender feature which forced the choice of either high or low attachment. These three groups of speakers had to choose the disambiguating antecedent in a series of otherwise ambiguous restrictive relatives such as (14), which is desambiguated by forcing low attachment in (15) and high attachment in (16), that we repeat here for convenience, (14) Pintaron los techosDP1 de las casitasDP2 [que [cuando nos fuimos a vivir al campo] estaban remodelando]. (15) Pintaron los techos de las casitasi [que [cuando nos fuimos a vivir al campo] lasi estaban remodelando]. (16) Pintaron los techosi de las casitas [que [cuando nos fuimos a vivir al campo] losi estaban remodelando]

Figure 7. Native, immigrant and heritage Spanish speakers. High attachment triggered by the gender feature of the relative pronoun (Liceras and Senn, 2009: Graphic 4).

26 Juana Mª Licerasȱ Figure 7 contains a summary of the results for the high attachment condition. It shows to what extent the native Spanish group (SC), the immigrant group (LC) and the heritage group (EC) chose the DP1 antecedent required in sentences such as (15) 5 . It can be observed that the overall pattern is the same for all three groups in that all participants had the most problems with the [+definite] [+distance] condition (the one which combines the two conditions that make the resumptive pronouns clearly ungrammatical in Spanish). However, the statistical analysis indicates that the heritage group differs significantly from the native Spanish group (p = < 0.001) and also from the immigrant group (p = 0.005). The immigrant group does not differ from the native group in terms of their sensitivity to the triggering effect of the resumptive pronouns. In the case of the low attachment condition (Figure 8), the statistical analysis indicates that there are no significant differences between the native and the immigrant group (p = 0.109), nor between the native and the heritage group (p = 0.430).

Figure 8. Native, immigrant and heritage Spanish speakers. Low attachment triggered by the gender feature of the relative pronoun (Liceras and Senn 2009: Graphic 5). With respect to the four different conditions, and even though there were no statistically significant differences among them, the native group produced

ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ 5

SC = Spanish control group (native Spanish speakers living in Spanish speaking countries); LC = late contact with English group (immigrant Spanish speakers who are Spanish dominant English-Spanish bilinguals); EC = early contact with English group (heritage Spanish speakers who are English dominant English-Spanish bilinguals).

Incorporating second language acquisition research 27ȱ the largest number of errors with the [+definite] [-distance] condition, which was expected because neither of the two factors facilitates the presence of resumptive pronouns. This was also the case for the immigrant and the heritage group but to a lesser degree. In terms of the outcomes of this research that could play a relevant role in teacher education, we should like to add two relevant pieces of information (Senn, 2008; Liceras and Senn, 2009). First, we found that the immigrant and the heritage group significantly differed from the native group in their global competence as measured by a proficiency test. Second, in a self-evaluation task, the heritage group showed a higher degree of insecurity with respect to their knowledge of Spanish than the immigrant group. This higher degree of insecurity correlates with the heritage group’s reduced sensibility to the grammatical gender depicted by the resumptive pronouns and to the [definite] [+distance] factors which improve the acceptability of these type of pronouns. What we have seen is that while in terms of global competence the immigrant and the heritage group are significantly different from the native group and not from each other, in the subjective task and in the task which tests, rather indirectly, the speakers’ sensibility to the gender feature, the heritage group is rather different from the immigrant group and the native groups both in terms of confidence and in terms of homogeneity. Therefore, we can conclude that late contact with a second language (the case of the immigrant group) may have an effect in the L1 overall competence of speakers but doesn’t seem to have an effect on their confidence when selfassessing their command of the language as being native nor on their sensibility to the formal features which make up the functional categories as the elementary building units of the structure of the language. However, heritage speakers do not seem to achieve native-like sensitivity to the gender feature.

3 Conclusions We have shown that experimental research intended to investigate, in an indirect way, how formal features, specifically gender, are represented in the mind of Spanish dominant and English dominant English-Spanish bilinguals, can be incorporated into teacher education. We have argued that the experimental research on code-switched DP and ambiguous relative clauses disambiguated via resumptive pronouns provides teachers with clear-cut information about native Spanish speakers’ intuitions on the role of gender to classify Nouns, to the point that they classify English Nouns in parallel to their Spanish translation equivalents. This provides teachers with relevant information about native speakers’ intuitions and usage and it also makes teachers aware of the fact that they can think of creative ways of using these resources to lead learners to acquire native-like knowledge of the language

28 Juana Mª Licerasȱ both in terms of how to use it and in terms of how to determine grammaticality and acceptability. We have also discussed experimental research that investigated how bilingual speakers use processing strategies to deal with ambiguous restrictive relative clauses. On the one hand, it is inconclusive as to whether high attachment or low attachment is the preferred choice for dealing with ambiguity in Spanish, specially in the case of English-Spanish bilinguals. On the other hand, this research shows a clear-cut preference for gap relatives versus resumptive pronoun relatives for both Spanish dominant and English dominant EnglishSpanish bilinguals and also shows a clear-cut difference between Spanish dominant bilinguals who live in Spanish speaking countries and their immigrant and heritage counterparts when it comes to rejecting resumptive pronoun relatives that have the features [+definite] [-distance]. In other words the Spanish dominant speakers living in Spanish speaking countries abide by the descriptions and analyses of Modern Standard Spanish provided by traditional grammarians and syntacticians. We have argued that these results inform teacher trainers of the need to differentiate between processing and representational competence. We have also argued that teacher trainers should be aware of the fact that similar performance on spontaneous production or experimental tasks may not be a reflection of similar competence.

4 References Abdelghany, H., and J. D. Fodor. (1999) Low attachment of relative clauses in Arabic. Poster presented at AMLaP (Architectures and Mechanisms of Language Processing) ’99, Edinburgh, UK. Brucart, J. M. (1999) La estructura del sintagma nominal: las oraciones de relativo. In Bosque. I., and V. Demonte (eds) Gramática Descriptiva de la Lengua Española, 1, Madrid: Espasa Calpe: 395-522. Cantone, K. F., and N. Müller (2008) Un Nase or una Nase? What gender marking within switched DPs reveals about the architecture of the bilingual language faculty, Lingua 118 (6): 810-826. Carreiras, M., and C. Clifton (1999) Another word on parsing relative clauses: Eyetracking evidence from Spanish and English, Memory and Cognition, 27(5): 826–833. Carstens (2008) DP in Bantu and Romance. In De Cat, C., and K. Demuth (eds) The Bantu –Romance Connection, Amsterdam: John Benjamins: 131-167. Chomsky, N. (1977) On wh-movement. In Culicover, P., T. Wasow and A. Akmajian (eds) Formal Syntax, New York: Academic Press: 71-132. Chomsky, N. (1981) Lectures on Government and Binding, Dordrecht, Netherlands: Foris.

Incorporating second language acquisition research 29ȱ Chomsky, N. (1995) The Minimalist Program, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Chomsky, N. (2000) Minimalist inquiries: The framework. In Martin, R., D. Michaels and J. Uriagereka (eds) Step by Step: Essays on Minimalist Syntax in Honour of Howard Lasnik, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press: 89155. Clahsen, H., and C. Felser (2006) How native-like is non-native language processing?, Trends in Cognitive Sciences 10: 564-570. Cuetos, F., and D. C. Mitchell (1988) Cross-linguistic differences in parsing: restrictions on the use of the Late Closure strategy in Spanish, Cognition 30: 73-103. Dussias, P. E., and N. Sagarra (2007) The effect of exposure on syntactic parsing in Spanish- English bilinguals, Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 10: 101-116. Fernández, E. M. (2003) Bilingual Sentence Processing: Relative Clause Attachment in English and Spanish, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Flynn, S. (1983) A study of the effects of principal branching direction in second language acquisition: The generalization of a parameter of universal grammar from first to second language acquisition. PhD dissertation, Ithaca, New York. Frazier, L., and C. Clifton (1996) Construal, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Frenck-Mestre, C. (2002) An on-line look at sentence processing in a second language. In Herrida, R., and J. Altarriba (eds) Bilingual sentence processing, North-Holland: Elsevier Science Publisher: 217-236. Genesee, F. (1989) Early bilingual development: one language or two?, Journal of Child Language 6: 161-179. Gibson, E., N. Pearlmutter, and V. Torrens (1999) Recency and lexical preferences in Spanish, Memory and Cognition 27: 603-611. Guillelmon, D., and F. Grosjean (2001) The gender marking effect in spoken word recognition: The case of bilinguals, Memory and Cognition 29 (3): 505-511. Hornstein, N., J. Nunes, and K. H. Grohmann (2005) Understanding Minimalism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Jorschick, L., A. E. Quick, D. Glässer, E. Lieven, and M. Tomasello (2011) German–English-speaking children’s mixed NPs with ‘correct’ agreement, Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 14(2): 173-183. Landa, M. (2010) El Sintagma Determinante en la Interlengua Española de Hablantes de Swahili, PhD dissertation, Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Lardiere, D. (2008) Feature assembly in second language acquisition. In Liceras, J. M., H. Zobl and H. Goodluck (eds) The Role of Formal Features in Second Language Acquisition, New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: 106-140.

30 Juana Mª Licerasȱ Liceras, J. M. (1983) Markedness, Contrastive Analysis and the Acquisition of Spanish as a Second Language, PhD dissertation, University of Toronto, Canada. Liceras J. M. (2013) Gender agreement patterns in mixed concord and agreement structures: does 'code-switching' matter? International Conference Code-switching in the bilingual child: within and across the clause. Bergische Universität Wuppertal (North RhineWestphalia, Germany). Liceras, J. M., R. Fernández, S. Perales, R. Pérez-Tattam, and K. T. Spradlin (2008) Gender and Gender Agreement in the bilingual native and the non-native grammar: a view from child and adult functional-lexical mixings, Lingua 118 (6): 827-851. Liceras, J. M., R. Fernández, A. Bel, and C. Martínez (2012) The mental representation of gender and agreement features in child 2L1 and child L2 grammars: insights from code-switching, UIC Bilingualism Forum, University of Chicago. Liceras, J. M., and C. Senn (2009) Linguistic theory and the analysis of minority languages: native, immigrant and heritage Spanish, Lengua y Migración 1: 39-74. Mazurkevich, I. (1984) The acquisition of the dative alternation by second language learners and linguistic theory, Language Learning 34: 91– 109. Papadopoulou, D., and H. Clahsen (2003) Parsing strategies in L1 and L2 sentence processing: A study of relative clause attachment in Greek, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 25: 501-528. Petersen, J. (1988) Word-internal code-switching constraints in a bilingual child’s grammar, Linguistics 26: 479-493. RAE (1973) Esbozo de una Nueva Gramática de la Lengua Española, Madrid: Espasa-Calpe. Senn, C. (2008) Reasuntivos y Doblado del Clítico: En torno a la Caracterización del Término ‘casi nativo’, PhD dissertation, University of Ottawa, Canada. Shlonsky, U. (1992) Resumptive pronouns as a last resort, Linguistic Inquiry 25: 443-468. Suñer, M. (1998) Resumptive restrictive relatives: a cross-linguistic perspective, Language 74(2): 335-363. White, L. (1985) The “pro-drop” parameter in adult second language acquisition, Language Learning 35 (1): 47-61.

Incorporating second language acquisition research 31ȱ

5 Recommended reading Jorschick, L., A. E. Quick, D. Glässer, E. Lieven, and M. Tomasello (2011) German–English-speaking children’s mixed NPs with ‘correct’ agreement, Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 14(2): 173-183. The authors build up on previous research reporting that bilingual children sometimes produce mixed Determiner Phrases (DPs) with ‘correct’ (matching) gender agreement (der dog[hund-masc.] but not die[fem.] dog[hundmasc.] ) meaning that the determiner agrees with the gender of the German translation (hund) of the English Noun (dog). In order to determine whether these gender matching DPs were due to chance or to the indiscriminate use of a default determiner, in the present study the authors analyzed mixed DPs produced by three German-English bilingual children of 2–4 years of age. They established with high statistical reliability that each of three German– English bilingual children, produced such mixed DPs with ‘correct’ agreement at significantly greater than chance levels. They also found that all three children produced such DPs with German determiners and English nouns much more frequently than the reverse, as predicted by Liceras et al.’s Grammatical Features Spell-out Hypotheses. Liceras, J., and C. Senn (2009) Linguistic theory and the analysis of minority languages: native, immigrant and heritage Spanish, Lengua y Migración 1: 39-74. The authors investigate whether Spanish heritage speakers in Canada, namely the second or subsequent generation of Spanish speakers who grew up as English-Spanish bilinguals, differ from native Spanish speakers (those who have always lived in a Spanish-speaking country) and from immigrant Spanish speakers (those who immigrated to Canada as adults) with respect to the grammatical competence and to the processing strategies they display when judging direct and indirect restrictive relative clauses. They discuss to what extent language attrition, influence from English (in the case of both immigrant and heritage speakers), or incomplete acquisition (in the case of heritage speakers) may be behind the linguistic behaviour which differenciates the immigrant and the heritage speakers from the native Spanish speakers. Liceras, J. M., R. Fernández, S. Perales, R. Pérez-Tattam, and K. T. Spradlin (2008) Gender and gender agreement in bilingual native and non-native grammars: a view from child and adult functional-lexical mixings, Lingua 118: 827-851.

32 Juana Mª Licerasȱ The authors show that there is a dissociation between the spontaneous data and the experimental data elicited from English-Spanish bilinguals with respect to the production and acceptability of code-switching concord structures where either English or Spanish provide the Determiner and the Noun. They argue that the preference for the Spanish Determiner (la house versus the casa) and for gender matching (la house versus el house) may be interpreted as evidence that the bilingual’s, the L1 speaker’s (the Spanish speakers) and the non-native speakers’ (English and French L2/L3 speakers of Spanish) representations of Gender are different. In terms of how the two different types of data reflect actual competence, the authors argue that the grammaticality judgments task provides strong evidence for the status of ‘grammatisized’ functional categories in the L1 grammar. Ong, K. K. W., and L. J. Zhang (2009) Metalinguistic filters within the bilingual language faculty: A study of young English-Chinese bilinguals, Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 39(3): 243-272. Taking as a point of departure the premise that bilingual language processing is an efficient and transparent process, this study examines whether metalinguistic filters exist as part of an executive mechanism within the bilingual language faculty. To investigate the issue, the authors collected code-paired naturalistic and elicited data with a focus on code-switched determiner phrases from 140 Mandarin-English simultaneous bilinguals who were post-secondary students in Singapore. The results showed that the semantico-syntactic and morpho-syntactic dissimilarities between Mandarin and English activated both filters. Since most Mandarin determiners are more economical than their English counterparts, their lemmas were selected frequently while English lemmas were largely inhibited. It was also found that our participants preferred English Nouns in filling the lexical category for their interpretable feature of number, a feature that is normally absent in Mandarin nouns.

6 Questions for reflection and discussion - If you are to design a teacher training course to make language teachers aware of the different varieties of Spanish, would you consider using codeswitching sentences or phrases from contact varieties (i.e. Gibraltar bilingual English-Spanish; New York bilingual English-Spanish) where this type of mixing is not only acceptable but evidences a native-like command of the two languages involved? - Do you agree with the assertion that native Spanish speakers show a clearcut preference for choosing high attachment to disambiguate sentences such

Incorporating second language acquisition research 33ȱ as (i) while native speakers of English show a clear preference for choosing low attachment as in (ii)? (i) El granizo nos destrozó la ventana del cuarto que habíamos dejado impecable antes de salir de viaje (ii) The hail destroyed the window of the room that we had left impeccable before going on a trip Do you think that more research using different types of elicitation techniques would allow you to provide a more definite answer to this question? Provide reasons for your answers. - Would you consider comparing gap and acceptable resumptive relative clauses such as those in (ii) and (iii) in a teacher training course? Provide a rationale for your answer. (ii) Me gustaría quedarme con la casa que heredé de mis padres I would like to keep the house that I inherited from my parents (iii) Me gustaría quedarme con la casa que creo haber mencionado hace tiempo que la heredé de mis padres I would like to keep the house that I have probably mentioned a while ago that I inherited it from my parents - Considering the way in which constructions (1) to (iii) provide evidence for native speakers’ intuitions about the realization of the formal feature gender in Spanish, what type of construction, if any, would you consider using in a teacher training course to raise teachers awareness of the different ways in which native speakers’ intuitions about the gender feature may be made explicit in an indirect way? Provide the reasons for your choice. (i) ¿Has visto ya el tejado de la casa que Aldo quiere que lo pintemos de verde? (ii) Tienes que decirme dónde está ese book (you) have to tell me where is that book (iii) I do not want to discard that box because es muy bonita

ȱ ȱ

Integrating the European portfolio in a competency-based teacher education approach Daniel Madrid Fernández (University of Granada, Spain) This chapter proposes the integration of the European language portfolio (ELP) in pre-service competency-based teacher education programs. The first part deals with the main principles underlying teacher education based on the development of the professional competences that student teachers will need for teaching languages in schools. In this section, the competences needed for second language teaching in primary and secondary education will be discussed. The second part focuses on the use of the portfolio in several areas with special reference to the European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL). A brief introduction to the ELP, its scope, reasons for its use and main potential benefits for teachers, learners and student teachers will be outlined. Then, the characteristics, aims and sections of the EPOSTL will be presented and a detailed example will illustrate how it can be integrated in a competency-based pre-service teacher education program.

1 Introduction We believe that the success or failure of classes depends very much on the teacher. We might manage without books or technological resources but not without competent teachers who know how to offer challenging tasks, motivating activities and encouraging learning situations. They often foster the desire to learn and do their best to satisfy students’ expectations, needs and interests as well as to develop the skills, procedures, strategies and values that contribute to an integral education. But teachers’ competence depends greatly on their preparation and personal characteristics. FL teachers’ own learning experiences, the teaching models they experienced during their initial training, together with their personality usually have an important influence on their classroom performance and, consequently, on their students’ results. The teaching models and techniques that teachers have studied and practised during their pre-service education have varied throughout the history of teacher education (see Madrid, 1996; McLaren and Madrid, 2005; Ortega and Madrid, 2006). At the present time the competency-based approach has been adopted in most education systems.

2 New competency-based education

foreign

language

teacher

The competency-based movement has a long tradition. It became predominant in the seventies, and in the nineties, it was still being used in the

36 Daniel Madrid Fernández British national vocational education qualification system which was concerned with the definition of adequate standards of competence and professional profiles for a world global economy. And from 2000 to 2003, the Organisation for Cooperation and Economic Development (OECD) developed its DeSeCo project (Definition and Selection of Competencies), and used the concept of competence in a more comprehensive way and with different connotations (Rychen and Salganik, 2001, 2003; Madrid and Hughes, 2013; Madrid, 2013). This project provided a new conceptual framework and identified some key competencies, core skills or basic capacities which helped to define the desirable goals of education systems and lifelong learning. Later on, the European Union and Spain in particular reformulated the school curricula around the concept of competence (although some authors have drawn a distinction between “competency” and “competence”, in this paper the two terms are used interchangeably). At present, competence is defined as the capacity to respond to complex demands and carry out a variety of tasks in an adequate manner. It entails a combination of practical skills, knowledge, motivation, ethical values, attitudes, emotions, social and behavioural operations that are activated in order to attain the successful outcome of an enterprise (see Pérez, 2007: 10). For the technological and behaviourist competence-based teacher education movement (CBTE), the idea of teacher education based on competencies is more reductionist, atomized and lineal. The three basic and predominant elements of training were knowledge, performance and outcome (Arends, Masla and Weber, 1971) and the behavioural interpretation of training considers competencies as operational and observable actions that have little connection with underlying mental processes. It gives little importance to the interactive and complex nature of tasks and ignores the mental operations that underlie behaviour, intentions, and actions. In addition, it does not take into account the significance of contextual factors, and the effects of interpersonal aspects. Behavioural objectives are set up, developed in the classroom and assessed from a perspective which is external to the individual concerned. Teachers mainly check to what extent operational and instructional objectives have been achieved by learners (Madrid and Hughes, 2013; Madrid, 2013). However, the present view is that competencies must be developed and evaluated from an internal perspective and from the subjects’ points of view. Their description emphasizes subjective aspects, as we try to understand the subjects’ internal attitudes, behaviour, values and motivations. In this sense competencies are conceived of as a set of socio-affective, sensorial, psychomotor aspects and cognitive abilities that allow people to carry out a role, function, activity or task adequately. Being competent depends on people’s potential to recognize, analyse and solve current daily life situations as well as more innovative and complex ones. In order to do that, all the

Integrating the European Portfolio 37 abilities, skills, knowledge, strategies, attitudes and values at our disposal must be activated. Authors who have dealt with the new competency-based paradigm (Rychen and Salganik, 2001, 2003; Pérez, 2007; Gimeno et al., 2008; Pérez, 2009; Hipkins, 2006; Blanco, 2007, Argudin, 2007; Goñi, 2007) agree that competencies are formed by:  The integration of knowledge, directed to information processing and application.  Skills and abilities (knowing how), and strategies (ways of achieving things and solving problems).  Attitudes and values, which generate the moods people experience when dealing with personal conflicts arising from their current situations, and which explain the importance given to events in daily life. So, as we have pointed out elsewhere (Madrid and Hughes, 2013; Madrid, 2013), this new concept of competence-based teacher education goes beyond the behaviourist orientation, taking into consideration the complexity of the inner structure of a person’s actions, the set of mental attributes that maintain people’s voluntary actions and capacities in different contexts and situations.

2.1

General and specific competencies for teachers

A broad range of competencies is considered useful for all occupations. This implies the integration of several aptitudes, personality traits, knowledge and acquired values. In the university context, these are intended to increase the connection between academic institutions and the job market by establishing a closer relation between what academic life offers and professional work demands. The Spanish Agency for Quality in Education (ANECA, 2005) has established three groups of general competencies that include a) instrumental competencies, which act as a tool to attain specific aims (e.g. the ability to analyse and synthesize, capacity to organize and plan, oral and written communication in the mother tongue, knowledge of relevant ICT to the area of study, ability to manage information, problem-solving skills, decisionmaking skills, etc.); b) personal competencies, which help people establish social interaction with others (e.g. interdisciplinary teamwork, working in an international context, interpersonal skills, recognition of diversity and multiculturalism, critical reasoning, ethical commitment, etc.) and c) systemic competencies, which are related to the understanding of the whole system and require a combination of imagination, sensitivity and an ability to relate parts to the whole (e.g. autonomous learning, adaptation to new situations, creativity, leadership, knowledge of other cultures and customs, initiative and entrepreneurship, motivation for quality, sensitivity towards environmental issues, etc.)

38 Daniel Madrid Fernández In addition, Foreign Language (FL) teachers need to develop specific competencies and specific skills such as the ability to select adequate content and learning activities, present, exploit and evaluate them in class, to activate interaction between the students, establish an overall balance between linguistic components and communicative skills, deal with errors, promote autonomous work, while paying attention to diversity, etc. Within the competency-based teacher education paradigm, the ANECA (2005: 83) has also provided a list of specific professional competencies that student teachers must develop in order to achieve the objectives proposed by the L2 school curricula (see also Madrid and McLaren, 2004a; Bueno, McLaren and Madrid, 2005; Vez, 2007; Madrid and Hughes, 2009; Madrid and Hughes, 2013; Madrid, 2013): Competencies related to disciplinary knowledge (Knowing) 1. To achieve mastery in communicative competence as well as possessing good linguistic knowledge and socio-cultural knowledge of the target language. 2. To know the main pedagogical trends and methods in foreign language teaching for children as well as the application of these in the FL classroom at the different levels established in the curriculum. 3. To know the cognitive and linguistic bases for the acquisition of first and additional languages. 4. To have sufficient communicative competence in at least one other EU language (English, French, German, Italian, etc.) or language from other countries (Arabic, Russian, Chinese, etc.). Professional competences (knowing how) 5. To be able to plan what is to be taught and assessed, as well as to create and develop teaching strategies, types of activities and class materials. 6. To take into consideration previous knowledge and needs and introduce different learning strategies for students according to their individual characteristics and their educational context. 7. To design or select activities that promote sufficient oral and written communication by students in the new language, establishing individual plans for those students who need them. 8. To develop students’ linguistic, communicative and affective competencies, through the integrated practice of concepts, procedures and attitudes in the FL class. 9. To develop specific skills to motivate and interest the learner in the English classroom and to be able to generate positive attitudes towards the language being learned. 10. To be able to work independently and co-operatively in groups and to promote skills and strategies which will allow the students to

Integrating the European Portfolio 39 learn by discovering. 11. To encourage the development of oral and written language, paying special attention to new technological resources and e-learning. 12. To be able to encourage the development of metalingustic/metacognitive skills for the acquisition of the new language, through relevant tasks which are meaningful and appropriate for students. 13. To be able to develop attitudes and positive, open representations towards linguistic and cultural diversity in the classroom. 14. To be receptive towards pupils’ errors in production/understanding, guiding work through analysis. 15. To select and design educational materials and resources in the target language and to develop these from written, audiovisual media and new technologies. 16. To apply diverse ways of assessing student learning: planning objectives to be assessed, the degree of success attained, assessment criteria and instruments, and establishing the points at which assessment will take place. 17. To undertake research in teaching processes (classroom research), so that teachers can not only use acquired knowledge but create their own. Trans-national competencies 18. To have sufficient knowledge of the culture(s) and language being taught along with their principal manifestations. 19. To collaborate in, design and, where appropriate guide activities involving cultural exchange with residents from other countries, showing management skills in these processes, including local, regional, national and international student and teacher exchange programmes.

2.2

Critique of the competency-based teacher education approach

The competency-based teacher education movement has been criticized from various viewpoints, especially by authors identified with the progressive movement in education (see Consejo Educativo de Castilla y León, 2007a and 2007b; Vez, 2007; Gimeno et al., 2008). Some of the weak points found in this approach were the following (Moreno and Soto, 2005; Madrid, 2013; Madrid and Hughes, 2013): - Abstract and unclear definition of terms. The concepts used are not defined in a clear way. It is very difficult to distinguish the difference between competence (or competency) and capacity, ability, skill, aptitude and objective. - A lack of coherence between theory and its practical application to

40 Daniel Madrid Fernández

-

-

-

professional ambits. The holistic and integrative character of concepts, procedures and attitudes in competences, is not reflected in their use, which is often reduced to one or two words, such as: Creativity, Leadership, etc. Business model of education. Some authors have complained that an educational model cannot be based on competencies and values which have been derived from social, economic, employment and business demands (Vez, 2007; Consejo Educativo de Castilla y León, 2007a; Gimeno et al., 2008; Torres, 2008; Angulo, 2008). Reductionist approach. For some authors, the fact of dividing teacher education into a set of competencies is considered too reductionist, partial and unilateral. Behavioural orientation. Some authors have seen in the competency-based teacher education model too much influence of conduct and behaviour as against the capacities related to thinking and social transformation (Chappell, 1996). Evaluation criteria are not clear-cut. Many competences need to be more clearly expressed, the expected behaviour needs to be more operational and observable so that it can be evaluated.

3 The European Language Portfolio (ELP) The European Language Portfolio (ELP) was piloted from 1998 to 2000, and launched in 2001, by the Council of Europe. It is a personal document that contains three parts: - A language passport, where the language learner can summarize his/her linguistic and cultural identity, language qualifications, experience in the use of different languages and contacts with different cultures. - A language biography, which helps learners to set learning targets, reflect on language learning and intercultural experiences, and assess their progress. - A dossier, where learners can keep samples of their work in the language(s) they have learnt or are learning. It was introduced to help learners to control their language learning process, their achievements and experience with languages and cultures at school and outside school. Many teachers have used the portfolio in order to: - Support their learners’ thinking about their language learning. - Help their learners to understand the central aim of language learning. - Teach their students how to assess themselves and explore different ways of evaluating their progress. - Increase their students’ motivation. - Help their learners to take their own initiatives. - Set achievable short-term learning targets.

Integrating the European Portfolio 41 - Use European standards of proficiency (the Council of Europe’s common reference levels). - Help their students to understand what they can do, decide for themselves what they want to achieve and display evidence of what they have learnt. - Help the students to overcome their fear of speaking in a foreign language. - Show their learners how they can collect and support the development of their learners’ autonomy. It is believed that learning becomes more effective and motivating with the portfolio, since the students take over ownership of their learning process, develop strategies to plan, monitor and evaluate their learning. So the language learning process becomes more transparent when the learners are involved in the decision making, the goal-setting and the evaluation of their learning achievements. Future students’ mobility and lifelong learning of languages can also be encouraged. The portfolio also entails some benefits for the teacher. It promotes autonomous learning and autonomous learners are often motivated and reflective learners. It often makes the language learning process more transparent and it assigns a central role to reflection and self-assessment. With the ELP, learners often increase their responsibility for the learning process, and think more critically when they plan, monitor and evaluate their learning. The Council of Europe has stated that the ELP is a useful tool to support all stakeholders with an interest in good quality education. It is a powerful instrument for the students to develop their linguistic and cultural competences for the benefit of the whole society and a useful resource for promoting democratic citizenship in Europe. The portfolio has been used in different fields with a variety of purposes. For example, Canga (2011) has used it in Secondary Education to promote selfreflection and self-assessment in students with learning difficulties. Kohonen (2000) has considered that the portfolio increases visibility in learning. For him, it can make language learning more visible to students, teachers and stakeholders of school, since students become more aware of the goals and learning outcomes. It promotes the objectives of learner-centered curricula and develops a critical awareness of language learning. In this sense it includes a pedagogic function by enhancing language learning and a reporting function, when students reflect on their learning outcomes. Soyoz (2010) has used the e-portfolio for the students to store their work, record their achievements and cooperate with other learners on line for learning. In the author’s opinion, electronic portfolios provide a means to improve learners’ digital skills and helps teachers know more about their learners’ knowledge and needs. But this resource may have some pedagogical and technical drawbacks if education strategies are not designed to adapt technology to the needs of learners and teaching staff.

42 Daniel Madrid Fernández Barberá et al. (2006) have also used the electronic portfolio for students in the context of a virtual university placing a considerable emphasis on the formative assessment of learning in connection with the development of professional competencies during a course in Educational Psychology. Trujillo (2006) has used the portfolio to explore the students’ pluricultural competence and concludes that learning languages and growing up with people from other cultures are aims that can never be given up. For this objective, the ELP offers valuable help. Tierney et al. (1991) also provide teachers with some ideas about how they can implement portfolios in their classrooms and provide reproductions of actual materials used by teachers in classrooms as well as examples of students’ portfolios across subjects and grades. They emphasize that there is no right way to implement portfolios since each classroom reflects a unique approach to authentic assessment, and each collection of documents is different. Detailed information about the use of the portfolio in the reading and writing classrooms and for the students self-assessment is the central focus of their work. Little (2002) has also described the structure, functions and origins of the ELP and its pedagogical challenge by suggesting various possibilities and their potential for the classroom. Zollman and Jones (1994) report the use of portfolios at the university level with pre-service students and their field-based experiences. They focus their attention on the use of the portfolio in mathematics, and point out benefits in areas such as problem-solving, and helping students to become reflective. Ohlhausen and Ford (1990) examined the ways that the use of portfolio assessment in graduate literacy learning classes altered the teaching and assessment practices of these teachers in their own classrooms and the ways portfolio assessment in such classes provide evidence of growth in learning and thinking. Their results indicated that: (1) portfolio assessment was an effective way to document growth and provide a record of change, (2) most of the teachers continued to seek out other opportunities to explore the use of portfolios; (3) by the end of the semester, almost all teachers stated that they had plans to initiate the use of portfolios in their classrooms. They indicated that constructing their own portfolios was helpful in the process of selfassessment. Their findings suggest that successful implementation of portfolio assessment in schools will depend upon providing time and encouragement to teachers. Farr and Tone (1994) have used the portfolio to help students evaluate their progress as readers and writers. They emphasize the idea that portfolios must first be useful and successful as part of instruction before they can be used effectively for assessment.

Integrating the European Portfolio 43 Wiener and Cohen, (1997) propose the use of literacy portfolios as part of authentic assessment strategies and provide guidelines for creating and using literacy portfolios successfully in classrooms. Schneider and Lenz (2001) have written a guide for ELP developers in order to help teachers in the creation of useful and acceptable ELPs. They discuss fundamental issues and options involved in developing an ELP, provide background information on the Portfolio, present and illustrating some relevant provisions, and discuss and recommend examples from existing language portfolios. Of special interest in this chapter is the use of the portfolio in teacher education. Here we should mention Abdullah-Al-Mamun (2008), who has described the characteristics of the teaching portfolio and has indicated that it may serve three main purposes: to address evaluation requirements, to advance professional growth and to aid in employment searches. He considers that it should include a statement of philosophy or teaching goals, samples of teacher work, such as lesson plans and student assessments, captions that briefly explain the work samples and commentaries that reflect on the teaching and learning documents in the portfolio. Ford and Ohlhausen (1991) surveyed teacher education students’ attitudes, beliefs, and habits concerning portfolio assessment. Their findings suggest that graduate coursework has the potential of playing a critical role in positively influencing teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and classroom practices related to alternative forms of assessment. In this sense, portfolios create the opportunity to involve learners in directing, documenting, and evaluating their own learning; and teacher educators have the potential to actually touch the lives of teachers as literate beings. Little et al. (2007) also explain the pedagogical potential of the ELP and discuss the implications of the CEFR and the ELP for language teacher education, reporting on experience in Switzerland and Finland. Miliander (2008) has also used the portfolio in initial teacher education and recommends it to help student teachers to become aware of approaches to autonomy. On the other hand, Tanner et al. (2000) have used portfolios as an instrument for professional development and they point out that portfolios can demonstrate trainees` learning process over time, illustrate their individual development, show the complexity of student teachers life, and stimulate reflection. Johnson (1996) has used the portfolio to assess how teachers apply their teaching knowledge. examine their cognitive development and attitudes, and to demonstrate their competencies. Zeichner and Wray (2001) also propose the use of teaching portfolios in preservice teacher education programs and analyze the various ways in which portfolios have been conceptualized and implemented. They also provide a

44 Daniel Madrid Fernández conceptual framework to enable researchers to describe the conditions of portfolio use. Finally, Olson (1991) considers the rationale for and some of the uses of portfolios in an educational context, discusses assessment and teacher education uses for portfolios, and offers portfolio development guidelines.

4 The European Portfolio Languages (EPOSTL)

for

Student

Teachers

of

The ELP may also have benefits for teacher trainers and trainees. In teacher education and development programmes (pre-service and in-service) it can be used to promote awareness of the common levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and to encourage reflective, learnercentered approaches to language teaching. It has also been designed to promote plurilingualism and intercultural learning. In the specific field of pre-service (or in-service) teacher education Newby et al. (2007) and Newby et al. (2011) have developed the European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL). It encourages a systematic reflection on the students’ didactic knowledge and skills needed to teach languages. In addition to helping the students assess their own didactic competences it enables them to monitor their progress and keep record of their teaching experiences along their teacher preparation period.

4.1

Aims of the EPOSTL

In short, this document has been developed with five purposes in mind. These are (Newby et al., 2007: 5; Newby et al., 2011: 7): - To make didactic competences explicit and transparent. - To encourage student teachers to reflect on the professional competences they need to attain and on the underlying knowledge implied in them. - To promote discussion among all the agents involved in teacher education: trainees, teacher educators and mentors. - To facilitate self-assessment of student teachers competence. - To provide an instrument which helps chart progress.

4.2

Stages of the EPOSTL

For these authors, the EPOSTL is structured in several sections:  A personal statement section, which asks the student teacher at the beginning of the course to reflect on general questions and ideas related to teaching. These include the previous concepts and ideas that student

Integrating the European Portfolio 45





 

teachers have formed themselves based on their experience as L2 learners. A self-assessment stage, including “I can-do” or “I think I can do” descriptors, which enable reflection and self-assessment along the teacher education period. A dossier, which encourages the student teachers to provide evidence of the progress they have made and provide examples of work that illustrates what they have indicated they can do in the self-assessment stage. A glossary of the most important terms learned and used in the EPOSTL in connection with language learning and teaching. A users’ guide which provides information about the EPOSTL.

5 Integrating the European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL) in a competency-based teacher education approach The EPOSTL can be integrating in a new competency-based teacher education approach in different ways, but we propose the integration of the EPOSTL stages suggested by Newby et al. (2007) with the main components of foreign language teacher education (FLTE) in six stages: 1. Exploring the students’ previous ideas, interests and expectations about FLTE ( personal statement). 2. Imparting the FL syllabus through lectures, seminars, student presentations, etc. and by using a variety of resources and materials. 3. Relating theory and practice with a variety of activities, workshops, school visits, etc. and providing school experience 4. Reflection and self-assessment about the development of professional competences (the “I can-do” or “I think I can do” stage by using specific descriptors). 5. Providing documental evidence (learning experiences, activities, etc.) of the competences acquired (the dossier). 6. Professional terms (glossary) learned and used in connection with language learning and teaching. 1. Exploring the students previous ideas, interests and expectations The first stage would include an exploitation of the student teachers’ previous ideas and concepts about each topic of the FLTE syllabus through open questions. In the case of the topic about “the FL curriculum” -which has been selected as an example- these questions could be similar to these:

46 Daniel Madrid Fernández

-

-

2.

How important is the FL school curriculum for potential future teachers? How would you define the school curriculum? What should FL teachers learn about the curriculum? How do you think that FL teachers should proceed? What importance do you give to process and product curricular approaches? How relevant do you consider grammar and pragmatics for FL teaching? What importance do you give to the development of attitudes and learning to learn for FLTE? Have you heard of the Common European Framework? What do you know about it? Do you know anything about the Spanish Curriculum Design for foreign languages? What are your needs as a potential FL teacher in relation to this topic? What do you expectations from this course/topic? Imparting the FL syllabus

This stage would include the study of the following contents (see Madrid and McLaren, 2004b: 144-176): curriculum and syllabus, factors affecting the FL curriculum, curricular stages, product-oriented and process-oriented syllabuses, general principles for the foreign language curriculum, analyzing needs and establishing goals, applying the multidimensional syllabus, lesson planning: examples of teaching and learning activities, guidelines for the classroom, etc. 3.

Relating theory and practice with a variety of activities and providing school experience

Tasks to reflect on: relating theory and practice on the topic “the FL Curriculum” While the students are taking their FLTE course, they will complete the following g tasks about the topic “The foreign language curriculum” by using a variety of bibliography, materials and resources (Madrid, 2004: 37-47): 1. What is the difference between curriculum and syllabus? 2. Give examples of factors (linguistic, cultural & historical, geographical, educational framework) that affect the present FL curricular design in Andalusia, Catalonia and Great Britain. 3. What are the main characteristics of the following curricular stages (see Johnson, 1989): curricular design, definition of aims, programme planning, classroom implementation, evaluation. 4. What are product-oriented and process-oriented syllabuses? What are their main characteristics? Give some examples (see Nunan, 1988).

Integrating the European Portfolio 47 5. 6.

7. 8. 9.

10. 11.

12.

13.

14. 15.

Use English textbooks for Primary/Secondary Education and give examples of notions, functions and their linguistic exponents. What are the main differences between a) the audiolingual method and the application of the structural syllabus that it proposes and b) the communicative approach and its concomitant syllabus? (see also McLaren and Madrid, 1996: 174) Give some weak points and disadvantages of process-oriented and product-oriented syllabuses. Write a definition and the fundamental characteristics of processoriented syllabuses such as the procedural syllabus and task-based approach) (see Nunan, 1988): Define the following items according to the Common European Framework (2001) http://www.culture2.coe.int/portfolio/documents_intro/common_fra mework.html) General competences: Knowledge, Skills, Attitudes and values, Ability to learn. Communicative language competences: Linguistic competences, Sociolinguistic competences, Pragmatic competences. Language activities: reception, production, interaction, mediation. The context of language use. Domains. Language tasks . Strategies. Situations What levels of proficiency are determined by the CEFR? What are the subcompetences included in Canale’s (1983) communicative competence construct? What does each competence cover (see Richards and Schmidt, 1983: 22-25)? What differences can you see between this framework and that proposed by the CEFR? Define and describe briefly the following principles/terms in the context of the communicative approach (see Madrid and McLaren, 1995: 18-20): Language, Communicative competence, Role of L1, Contextualization, Discourse paradigm, Learner-centred curriculum, Constructivism, Autonomous learning, Cooperative learning, Concepts and principles, Procedures and skills, Attitudes and values, Cross-curricular aspects Imagine that you are appointed to teach English to a group of lowability children in a compensatory education school. What special needs may these children have in relation to the following factors? (see Munby, 1978): participants, purpose domain, setting, skills needed, (procedures), resources, methodology What skills and language components are implied in the objectives proposed by your Autonomous Community curricular design? Find one activity or task in an English textbook (or write it for

48 Daniel Madrid Fernández yourself) which contributes to the development of the following procedures and skills. - Speaking about pictures and illustrated situations. - Taking part in guided simulations or role-plays. - Showing respect and consideration for aspects of the foreign culture. - Telling stories with visual support. - Completing incomplete texts choosing the missing elements. - Identifying some linguistic and pragmatic elements involved in descriptions and dialogues. 16. Write an appropriate lesson plan. You can see the design proposed by some publishers. Use the following points for your unit of work: School grade: ... Age: ... Unit: …Topic: … Duration (teaching sessions):… 1. The school social context 2. The students’ individual characteristics 3. Curricular design 3.1. The Common European Framework and the Spanish Curriculum 3.2.1.Contribution to the development of the basic competences 3.2.2. Stage and unit FL objectives 3.2.3. FL contents - Block 1: listening, speaking and oral interaction - Block 2: reading and writing - Block 3: language knowledge -Block 4: sociocultural aspects and intercultural awareness 3.2.4. Attention to diversity 3.2.5. Materials and resources 3.2.4. Methodology 3.2.5. Evaluation criteria 17. Select six activities from textbooks and say what concepts, procedures and attitudes are involved in them? Some points to reflect on and report about regarding the students’ school experience period When the students’ teachers have completed their practicum, they will report about the following points (Madrid and Ortega, 2009: 22-27; 83106): How are units of work planned and implemented at school? 1. What type of syllabus is currently applied in class? And what kind of syllabus do you base your lesson planning on? Why?

Integrating the European Portfolio 49 2. What general objectives do teaching units aim to achieve? See the National or Local Education Authorities Curricular Design and use those objectives. 3. Prepare a brief lesson plan. You can follow the points indicated in section 3, activity 16, in this chapter. 4. Revise your lesson plan and compare what you have planned and the interactive delivery of your classes. Do you find any differences? Why? 5. Can you suggest any training techniques that can help you to overcome all those differences. 4.

Reflection and self-assessment about the development of professional competences.

In this section, the students’ teachers reflect on the competences they think they have developed after stage three has taken place. In connection with the competences mentioned in section 1.1, the following descriptors proposed by the EPOSTL allow the students to reflect whether they have been acquired (Newby et al., 2007: 34-37): 4.1. Identification of Learning Objectives - I can identify curriculum requirements and set learning aims and objectives suited to the learners’ needs and interests. - I can plan specific learning objectives for individual lessons and/or for a period of teaching. - I can set objectives which challenge learners to reach their full potential and which take into account the differing levels of ability and special educational needs of the learners. 4.2. Lesson Content - I can sequence contents appropriately according to the students’ level. - I can plan activities which … - involve a variety of skills and competences. - ensure the interdependence of listening, reading, writing and speaking. - keep the interdependence of language and culture. - link grammar and vocabulary with communication. - teach elements of other subjects using the target language (cross- curricular teaching, CLIL etc.). - make the learners aware and build on their existing knowledge. - enhance and sustain the learners’ motivation and interest.

50 Daniel Madrid Fernández - respond to individuals learners’ learning styles. 4.3. Lesson Organisation  I can adopt a variety of grouping techniques (frontal, individual, pair, group work, etc. ).  I can plan for learner interaction.  I can plan lessons with other teachers (team teaching, with other subject teachers etc.).  When the students have completed their practicum period, they can selfevaluate the competences they have developed by following these descriptors (Newby et al., 2007: 39-43): 4.4. Using Lesson Plans 1. I can start a lesson in an engaging way. 2. I can be flexible when working from a lesson plan and respond to learner interests as the lesson progresses. 3. I can ensure smooth transitions between activities and tasks for individuals, groups and the whole class. 4. I can adjust my time schedule when unforeseen situations occur. 5. I can time classroom activities to reflect individual learners’ attention spans. 6. I can finish off a lesson in a focused way. 4.5. Content 7. I can present language content (new and previously encountered items of language, topics etc.) in ways which are appropriate for individuals and specific groups of learners. 8. I can relate what I teach to learners’ knowledge and previous language learning experiences. 9. I can relate what I teach to current events in local and international contexts. 10. I can relate the language I am teaching to the culture of those who speak it. 4.6. Interaction with Learners 11. I can settle a group of learners into a room and gain their attention at the beginning of a lesson. 12. I can keep and maximize the attention of learners during a lesson. 13. I can be responsive and react supportively to learner initiative and interaction. 14. I can encourage learner participation whenever possible. 15. I can cater for a range of learning styles. 16. I can make explicit and help learners to develop appropriate learning strategies.

Integrating the European Portfolio 51 4.7. Classroom Management 17. I can take on different roles according to the needs of the learners and requirements of the activity (resource person, mediator, supervisor etc.). 18. I can create opportunities for and manage individual, partner, group and whole class work. 19. I can make and use resources efficiently (flashcards, charts etc.). 20. I can manage and use instructional media efficiently (OHP, ICT, video etc.). 21. I can supervise and assist learners’ use of different forms of ICT both in and outside the classroom. 4.8. Classroom Language 22. I can conduct a lesson in the target language. 23. I can decide when it is appropriate to use the target language and when not to. 24. I can use the target language as metalanguage. 25. I can use various strategies when learners do not understand the target language. 26. I can encourage learners to use the target language in their activities. 27. I can encourage learners to relate the target language to other languages they speak or have learned where and when this is helpful. 5.

Providing documental evidence of the developed competences (the dossier).

At this stage, the students will show they have acquired the previous competences by providing a dossier of documents, activities, materials and written (or digital) proofs of the skills they have developed. A selection of the materials they have produced after completing the seventeen tasks suggested in point 3 may be enough for their dossier. 6.

Technical vocabulary (glossary) learned and used in connection with the topic “lesson planning”.

Finally, the students will select the new terms they have learnt and will provide a definition of each one. Some of these terms may include: procedural syllabus, task-based approach, natural approach, linguistic/sociolinguistic/pragmatic competence, receptive/productive/interactive activity, domains, strategies, situations, communicative competence, contextualization, discourse paradigm, learner-centred curriculum, constructivism, autonomous and cooperative learning, concepts and principles, procedures and skills, attitudes and values, cross-curricular aspects, etc.

52 Daniel Madrid Fernández

6 Conclusions As we have shown in the previous pages, the portfolio has been widely used in various areas and it has received special attention in the field of teacher education. Most teachers who have used it consider that there are important reasons for its use and advantages in continuing to use it. As Anderson and DeMeulle (1998) have pointed out, the teacher’s primary purpose of using portfolios has been to promote student learning and development, encourage student self-assessment and reflection. There is evidence that it is a useful device to promote self- assessment and accountability. It has also contributed to making the teacher education process more student-centered and reflective. Nevertheless, some tensions have also arisen among teachers since many of them perceive that applying the portfolio stages and assessing what the students produce needs a lot of time and too much dedication. Despite that, it seems to be a valuable tool to promote constructivism in education.

7 References Abdullah-Al-Mamun Patwary (2008) Portfolios In Teacher Education, available at http://re-searchengines.com/abdullah1208.html (16-102012). Anderson, R. S., and L. DeMeulle (1998) Portfolio Use in Twenty-Four teacher Education programs, Teacher Education Quarterly (25) 1: 2331. ANECA (2005) Libro blanco. Título de Grado en Magisterio, vol. I and II. Madrid: Agencia Nacional de Evaluación de la Calidad y Acreditación. Angulo, J. F. (2008) La voluntad de distracción: las competencias en la universidad”. In Gimeno, J. (ed) Educar por competencias, ¿Qué hay de nuevo, Madrid: Morata: 176-205. Arends, R. L., J. A. Masla, and W. A. Weber (1971) Handbook for the Development of Instructional Modules in Competency-Based Teacher Education Programmes, Syracuse, New York: Center for the Study of Teaching. Argudín, V. Y. (2007) Educación basada en competencias. Nociones y antecedentes, Sevilla: Editorial MAD. Barberá, E., G. Bautista, A. Espasa, and T. Guasch (2006) Portfolio electrónico: desarrollo de competencias profesionales en la red. Revista de Universidad y Sociedad del Conocimiento (3) 2: 55-66. Blanco, A. (2007) Formación universitaria basada en competencias. In Prieto, L. (Coord) La enseñanza universitaria centrada en el aprendizaje. Estrategias útiles para el profesorado, Barcelona: Octaedro / ICE-UB: 31-59.

Integrating the European Portfolio 53 Bueno, A., N. McLaren and D. Madrid (2005) Introduction: Second FL Teacher Education in the European Context. In McLaren, N., D. Madrid, & A. Bueno (eds) TEFL in Secondary Education, Granada: Editorial Universidad de Granada: 23-41. Canale, M (1983) From communicative competence to communicative language pedagogy. In Richards, J. C., and R. W. Schmidt (eds) Language and Communication, London: Longman: 2-27. Canga, A. (2011). El Portafolio como recurso para la reflexión y la autoevaluación en alumnos con dificultades de aprendizaje, Porta Linguarum 16: 137-153. CEFR (2001) Common European Framework of Reference for Language: Learning, Teaching, Assessment, Strasbourg: Council of Europe. Chappell, C. (1996) Quality and competence based education and training, The Literacy Equation, 7: 71-79. Consejo Educativo de Castilla y León (2007a) Las competencias básicas en el currículo oficial: ¿interés, peligro... o irrelevancia?, León: Concejo Educativo de Castilla-León. Consejo Educativo de Castilla y León (2007b) Aprendizaje por competencias: un modelo a debatir. In http://www.concejoeducativo.org/article.php?id_article =164, (April 15, 2010) Farr, R., and B. Tone (1994) Portfolio and Performance Assessment: Helping Students Evaluate Their Progress as Readers and Writers, Orlando: Harcourt Brace and Company. Ford, M. P., and M. M. Ohlhausen (1991) Portfolio Assessment in Teacher Education Courses: Impact on Students’ Beliefs, Attitudes and Habits. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Reading Conference (41st, Palm Springs, CA, December 3-7. Gimeno, J., A. Pérez, J. B. Martínez, J. Torres, F. Angulo, and J. M. Álvarez (2008) Educar Por Competencias ¿Qué Hay De Nuevo?, Madrid: Morata. Goñi, J. M. (2007) El espacio europeo de educación superior, un reto para la universidad. Competencias, tareas y evaluación, los ejes del currículo universitario, Barcelona: Octaedro / ICE-UB. Hipkins, R. (2006) The nature of the key competencies. A Background Paper, New Zealand Council for Educational Research, New Zealand: Wellington. Johnson, K. E. (1996) Portfolio Assessment in Second Language Teacher Education, TESOL Journal 6 (2): 11-14. Johnson, R. K. (1989) The Second Language Curriculum, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kohonen, V. (2000) Student reflection in portfolio assessment: making language learning more visible, Babylonia 2000: 1-6.

54 Daniel Madrid Fernández Little, D. (2002) The European Language Portfolio: structure, origins, implementation and challenges, Language Teaching 3: 182-189. Little, D., H. P. Hodel, V. Kohonen, D. Meijer, and R. Perclova (2007) Preparing Teachers To Use The European Language Portfolio: Arguments, Materials and Resources, Graz: Council of Europe. European Centre for Modern Languages. Madrid, D. (1996) The FL Teacher. In N. McLaren and D. Madrid (eds) A Handbook for TEFL, Alcoy: Marfil: 107-128. Madrid, D. (2004) The Foreign Language Curriculum. In D. Madrid and N. McLaren (eds) TEFL in Primary Education, Granada: Editorial Universidad de Granada: 37-47. Madrid, D. (2013) The new competency-based foreign language teacher education in the European context. In M. L. Pérez and J. Ráez (eds) Digital Competence Development in Higher Education: An International Perspective, Frankfurt-am-Main: Peter Lang. Madrid, D., and J. L. Ortega (2009) Teaching Practice Workbook for Language Teachers, Granada: Grupo Editorial Universitario. Madrid, D., and S. Hughes (2009) The Implementation of the European Credit Transfer System in Initial Foreign Language Teacher Training. In M. L. Pérez (ed) English Language in the European Credit Transfer System: Facing the Challenge, Bern: Peter Lang: 227-244. Madrid, D., and S. Hughes (2013) Competence and foreign language teacher education in Spain. In Pérez, M. L. (ed) (2013) Competency-based Language Teaching in Higher Education, Amsterdam: Springer: 6375. Madrid, D., and N. McLaren (1995) Didactic procedures for TEFL, Valladolid: La Calesa. Madrid, D., and N. McLaren (2004a) Introduction to FL Teacher Education in the European context. In Madrid, D., and N. McLaren (eds) EFL in Primary Education, Granada: Editorial Universidad de Granada: 2136. Madrid, D., and N. McLaren (eds) (2004b) TEFL in Primary Education, Granada: Editorial Universidad de Granada. McLaren, N., and D. Madrid (2005) The FL Teacher and Class Management. In McLaren, N., D. Madrid, and A. Bueno (eds) TEFL in Secondary Education, Granada: Universidad de Granada: 212-240. McLaren, N., and D. Madrid (eds) (1996) A Handbook for TEFL, Alcoy: Marfil. Miliander, J. (2008) The use of portfolios in initial teacher training. Independence 43 (IATEFL Learner Autonomy SIG): 26-27. Moreno, P., and G. Soto (2005) Una mirada reflexiva y crítica al enfoque por competencias. Educar, Octubre-Diciembre 2005: 73-80. Munby, J. (1978) Communicative Syllabus Design: a Sociolinguistic Model for

Integrating the European Portfolio 55 Defining the Content of Purpose-Specific Language Programs, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Newby, D., R. Allan, A. Fenner, B. Jones, H. Komorowska, and K. Soghikyan (2007) European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages: A reflection tool for language teacher education, Graz: Council of Europe. European Centre for Modern Languages. Newby, D., A. Fenner, and B. Jones (2011) Using the European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages, Graz: Council of Europe. European Centre for Modern Languages. Nunan, D. (1988) The Learner-Centred Curriculum, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ohlhausen, M. M., and M. P. Ford (1990) Portfolio Assessment in Teacher Education: A Tale of Two Cities. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Reading Conference (40th, Miami, FL, November 27-December 1). Olson, M. W. (1991) Portfolios: Education Tools (Research into Practice). Reading Psychology 12 (1): 73-80. Ortega, J. L., and D. Madrid (2006) Teorías curriculares y práctica docente en la clase de inglés, Granada: Grupo Editorial Universitario. Pérez, A. I. (2007) Las Competencias Básicas: su naturaleza e implicaciones pedagógicas (Cuaderno de Educación nº 1), Santander: Consejería de Educación de Cantabria. Pérez, J. (2009) Competencies in Language Teaching: From their Conceptualisation to their Concretion in the Curriculum. In M. L. Pérez (ed) English Language Teaching in the European Credit Transfer system. Facing the Challenge, Bern: Peter Lang: 93-108. Richards, J. C., and R. Schmidt (eds) (1983) Language and communication, Harlow, Essex: Longman. Rychen, D. S., and L. H. Salganik (eds) (2001) Defining and Selecting Key Competences, Gottingen: Hogrefe and Huber. Rychen, D. S., and L. H. Salganik (eds) (2003) Key Competencies for a successful life and a well-functioning society, Gottingen: Hogrefe and Huber. Schneider, G., and P. Lenz (2001) European Language Portfolio. Guide for Developers. Strasbourg: Council of Europe. Online: www.coe.int/portfolio > Documentation Soyoz, S. (2010) The Pros and Cons of E-portfolios in Pre-service Teacher Training. eLearning Papers, www.elearningpapers.eu, 1 Nº 22, December 2010. Tanner, R., D. Longayroux, D. Beijaard, and N. Verloop (2000) Piloting portfolios: using portfolios in pre-service teacher education. ELT Journal, 54 (1): 20-30.

56 Daniel Madrid Fernández Tierney, R. J., M. A. Carter, and L. E. Desai (1991) Portfolio Assessment in the Reading-Writing Classroom, Norwood: Christopher-Gordon Publishers, Inc. Torres, J. (2008) Obviando el debate sobre la cultura en el sistema educativo: cómo ser competentes sin conocimientos. In Gimeno, J. (comp) Educar por competencias, ¿Qué hay de nuevo?, Madrid: Morata: 143-175. Trujillo, F. (2006) La cultura y el portfolio europeo de las lenguas. In Cassany, D. (ed) El portfolio europeo de las lenguas y sus aplicaciones en el aula, Madrid: Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia: 109-128. Vez, J. M. (2007) De políticas (y politiquillas) del EEES y competencias idiomáticas en el Grado de Maestro, Lenguaje y Textos 25: 13-42. Wiener, R. B., and J. H. Cohen (1997) Literacy Portfolios: Using Assessment to Guide Instruction, Des Moines: Merrill Prentice Hall. Zeichner, K. (2001) The teaching portfolio in US teacher education programs: what we know and what we need to know, Teaching and Teacher Education 17 (5): 613-621. Zollman, A., and D. L. Jones (1994) Accommodating Assessment and Learning: Utilizing Portfolios in Teacher Education with Preservice Teachers. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Research Council on Diagnostic and Prescriptive Mathematics (21st, Fort Worth, TX, February 10-12, 1994).

8 Recommended reading Newby, D., R. Allan, A. Fenner, B. Jones, H. Komorowska, and K. Soghikyan (2007) European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages: A reflection tool for language teacher education, Graz: Council of Europe. European Centre for Modern Languages. This publication, known by the acronym EPOSTL, is a tool for reflection and self-assessment of the didactics knowledge and skills necessary to teach languages. It builds on insights from the CEFR and the ELP together with the European profile for language teacher education. It presents examples, discussion and research findings of how the EPOSTL is used in initial teacher education programs and in teaching practice. It describes the EPOSTL, the challenges of integrating it in the early phase of pre-service EFL teacher education, its potential as a tool for reflection and its main phases and constituents: the personal statement, the self-assessment section, the dossier, the glossary and the user’s guide. It also deals with the EPOSTL in Iceland, as an evaluation and development of teacher education programs in Croatia and in a bilateral teacher education programme.

Integrating the European Portfolio 57 Little, D. (2011) The European Language Portfolio. A Guide to the Planning, Implementation and Evaluation of Whole-school Projects, Graz: Council of Europe. European Centre for Modern Languages. This publication explains how to use the European Language Portfolio to support the learning and teaching of all foreign languages at all levels in a school. It introduces the language education policy that underpins the ELP, explores the key concepts that it embodies, and explains how to plan, implement and evaluate whole-school ELP projects. The ten case studies published on the project website illustrate various dimensions of ELP use and include practical suggestions and activities for teachers and learners. Case studies carried out in ten countries illustrate different approaches to ELP use. Carter, M. A., and L. E. Desai (1991) Portfolio Assessment in the Reading-Writing Classroom, Norwood: Christopher-Gordon Publishers, Inc. Intended to give teachers some ideas about how they can implement portfolios in their classrooms, this book contains reproductions of actual materials used by teachers in classrooms as well as examples of students’ portfolios across subjects and grades. It also provides research-based information to help teachers explain portfolio concepts to parents, the community, administrators, and other interested parties. The book emphasizes that there is no right way to implement portfolios, that each classroom will reflect a unique approach to authentic assessment, and that each child’s collection of documents will differ. The book is divided into three parts. Part 1, Assessment in the Classroom, contains the following chapters: (1) Questions and Answers about Portfolios and (2) Toward a Theory of Assessment. Part 2, Using Portfolios, contains the following chapters: (3) An Introduction to Portfolios, (4) Features of Reading and Writing Classrooms, (5) Getting Started with Portfolios, (6) Sustaining Portfolios, (7) Portfolios and Self-Assessment by Students, and (8) Portfolio Analysis and Record Keeping. Part 3, Portfolios in Context, contains the ninth and last chapter). A Survey of Portfolio Proposals: Accountability, Grades and Report Cards. An 82-item annotated bibliography is attached. Little, D., H. P. Hodel, V. Kohonen, D. Meijer, and R. Perclova (2007) Preparing Teachers To Use The European Language Portfolio: Arguments, Materials and Resources, Graz: Council of Europe. European Centre for Modern Languages. This publication is aimed at language teacher educators and language teachers who are preparing to use the ELP with their learners. The booklet

58 Daniel Madrid Fernández provides a summary description of the ECML project; introduces the ELP and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR); explains the pedagogical potential of the ELP; and discusses the implications of the CEFR and the ELP for language teacher education, reporting on experience in Switzerland and Finland. The accompanying CD-ROM contains PowerPoint presentations, group work activities and discussion tasks to be used in training events for teachers; additional materials and activities developed by members of the project team for particular national contexts; reports on a series of training events that took place in ECML member states in the framework of the project; and key Council of Europe documents and a number of research studies related to the ELP.

9 Questions for reflection and discussion  What do you think about the teaching models, methods and techniques that your previous teachers have used in class? Which ones were most efficient? Why?  What are the main personal and didactic characteristics of good FL language teachers?  What are the most important professional competences that FL language teachers must employ in class?  Which elements do you consider most important: the teaching of concepts and principles, skills and abilities or attitudes and values? Why?  Describe briefly the three parts of the European Language Portfolio (ELP).  What are the EPOSTL stages? Describe them.  How would you integrate the portfolio in a competence-based teacher education approach? What stages would you follow? (see section 5)  What do you think about the tasks proposed to reflect on and relate theory and practice in FLTE (see section 5, point 3)?  Which of the ten descriptors proposed by the EPOSTL and summarized in point 4.1-4.3 are most relevant for you?  Which ten descriptors related to teaching practice do you consider most relevant among the 27 given in 4.4-4.8?

Action research in English as a foreign language teacher training in Spain: Trainees’ perception of their development of competencies for effective teaching and a comparison with language teacher competency development in the UK Mª del Pilar Montijano Cabrera (University of Málaga, Spain) Dawn Leggott (Leeds Metropolitan University, United Kingdom) Aware that effective English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching rests basically on the extent to which practitioners deploy competencies critical for the smooth, principled and effective implementation of their lessons, as educators in Language Teaching Methodology we aim to instill such competencies in our trainee teachers. Unlike “content knowledge”, competencies cannot merely be passed from instructors to trainees; they must be developed individually by every pre-service teacher. The key question is: how? Our model of EFL teacher training goes a step beyond providing pre-service teachers with just a theoretical framework that may give shape to certain teaching procedures. We want it to entail essential values and competencies that should emerge and continue to grow throughout one’s whole professional life as the basic scaffolding of good teaching practice. In our view, these can seldom be learned just by reading or memorizing theories. Through engaging in Action Research in Spain we have implemented a new model of trainees’ active involvement in their own professional development process. This is then compared and contrasted with the development of competencies in (English) language teacher training in the United Kingdom. From questionnaire data we now know that our pre-service teachers consider themselves competent enough to start conducting good, communicative EFL classes.

1 Introduction The field of second/foreign language teacher preparation has received welldeserved attention for some time now (Bernhardt and Hammadou, 1987; Fanselow and Light, 1977; Freeman, 1989; Mulkeen and Tetenbaum, 1987; Paquette, 1966; Peck and Tucker, 1973; Richards and Nunan, 1990) and an account of the good practice most widely implemented these days would become a major enterprise given the quantity and range of activity types that currently make up the area of teacher education. Notwithstanding this, whereas aspects of teacher performance related to mechanical class routines seem to have been studied in depth —in fact virtually all prospective teachers can easily learn them through training— it seems that in the Initial Teacher Training (ITT) of English language teachers in Spain we have fallen short in terms of addressing the way in which other equally essential, but less mechanical teaching components should ideally be

60 Mª del Pilar Montijano Cabrera and Dawn Leggott dealt with, in order to enhance their birth and growth. As Lange (1990) explains, it is the movement away from “training” as the paradigm of reference —a framework characterized by viewing teacher preparation simply as acquainting trainees with skills and techniques for the class— towards “education” as a more ambitious model, that has revealed the extent to which the less mechanical areas of teacher preparation appear to be somewhat underexplored. The “education” perspective in teacher preparation entails a more active engagement on the part of the prospective teachers in order, for example, for them to develop a deeper insight into teaching, understand the nature of their own decision-making processes and develop strategies for reflection and self-evaluation. It is generally recognized nowadays that effective teaching involves higher-level cognitive processes which will not necessarily result from the straightforward impact of the transfer of knowledge from the trainer to the trainee but rather which will emerge if instructors devise experiences which demand from student teachers a high degree of involvement in an on-going process of critical analysis. In this way the student teachers should undergo a process of personal exploration which will hopefully lead to heightened awareness and the development of their own (personal) approach to teaching. Consequently, educators who aim to offer prospective teachers a sound, indepth, valid and reliable education should not see their role as that of mere trainer, but they should provide pre-service teachers with opportunities to generate hypotheses and test them, and to use the knowledge accumulated as the triggering factor for further development. The aim is to help them to find out what effective teaching involves and thus, through this awareness-raising, they will have a better chance of acquiring the skills and competencies needed for successful professional performance. The term “competency” may seem straightforward to understand as it immediately evokes a cohort of terms with a positive connotation, such as “ability”, “capability”, “skill”, “qualification”, or “quality”. Those who are competent are simply those who “can”. In general, competent professionals are “high-quality” ones in that they have the ability to comply with the expectations. Accordingly, competent teachers can be said, for example, to possess an on-going desire to grow professionally, keep up-to-date with techniques and principles, to have a positive attitude, motivation, patience, empathy and good communication skills, plus the technological skills to keep abreast with the new requirements of our era, fully aware of their strengths and weaknesses (Mañú and Goyarrola, 2011). However, if we aim to delve further below the surface and dissect the notion of “competency” we may then find out that what being competent implies might not be so straightforward for those decision-makers, who for example, (1) are in charge of determining the nature of different competencies in order to decide how to promote them successfully or (2) have to compile the list of

Action research in English as a foreign language teacher training 61 the different competencies that would determine a certain professional profile. In this sense, several authors have scrutinized the concept of “competency” (Delors, 1996; Dearing, 1997; Harvey et al., 1997; Blanco, 2009) and what it comprises, and have shed light on how to foster them in students. With this background information in mind, we will now briefly describe the general university context within which English as a Foreign Language teacher training is carried out in Spain and identify a key problem in the development of teacher competencies on one particular initial teacher training degree. This will then be contrasted with language teacher competency development in the United Kingdom.

2

Teaching and learning in the Spanish university system: Detecting the problem

University education in Spain Spanish universities are well known for having a long tradition of relying on a teacher-centered lecture format for the vast majority of the classes. The large class sizes are not conducive to student-centered teaching and learning patterns or interactive class dynamics. In fact, even if overtly invited, the students, unaccustomed to active participation, tend to show reluctance to play a more active role in their learning in the classroom. This which in itself can be considered a damaging habit (with harmful consequences as regards meaningful learning) may become twice as detrimental when the undergraduate students in question are prospective foreign language teachers. This is because if this model of passivism gets tacitly inherited step by step and regarded by them as a perfectly valid one, there is a high potential risk that they may replicate it as language teachers themselves in the future. And thus while silence prevails and there is no other voice to be heard in the classroom but that of the teacher, those language classrooms will become anything but appropriate arenas for promoting communicative encounters among learners. In addition to the passive, teacher-centered lecture format of the day to day classes, the module assessment in Spanish universities almost always takes the form of a final formal exam with little or no room for any kind of critical analysis or deeper thinking or learning. The English Philology degree at the University of Málaga in Spain The four-year undergraduate degree in “English Philology” or “English Language Studies” is offered at many universities in Spain and is aimed mainly at students wishing to become English language teachers. It focuses on the theoretical aspects of language teaching, such as second language acquisition and language systems as well as including subjects such as

62 Mª del Pilar Montijano Cabrera and Dawn Leggott literature studies. No teaching practice is included in the course and graduates wishing to pursue a career in language teaching are required to progress onto a Masters in Education. This postgraduate qualification does incorporate some teaching practice and this is the qualification required to gain Qualified Teacher Status to teach within the Spanish school system. Our subject “EFL Didactics and Methodology” forms part of the curriculum of the English Philology degree. So as to comply with the unwritten, generally assumed maxim of lecturing as the usual means of delivering content at tertiary level, for years we have used a lecture format to deliver the theoretical aspects of the subject as well as to sensitize our students to the main features of the most commonly-used EFL textbook and reference materials. Despite this coverage of both theoretical principles and more practical aspects, as educators of future foreign language teachers, we reflected upon our didactic practice and sensed that we were falling short at covering our students’ future professional needs in several ways: - First, we realized that possessing (even an all-encompassing) knowledge about foreign language teaching does not necessarily mean that the students will become good teachers. In other words, those individuals acquainted with a wide range of methodological options (procedures, techniques or strategies) are not necessarily the best and most effective EFL teachers. Prospective teachers should be helped to transfer all their knowledge into successful classroom practice. - Second, the ability to create optimal class conditions for language learning depends also on other variables such as beliefs, attitudes, motivation or values that should be instilled during the training period and ideally keep growing endlessly during the teacher’s entire professional life. - Third, because the trainee teachers’ attitude was mainly passive and not critical, in line with their usual performance in other classes, they showed a preference for passive learning experiences which did not demand from them that they explore or question the subject matter of the module in a critical way. Given the changes to learning and teaching methodologies resulting from the implementation of the Bologna Process and the researched relationship between teachers’ personal prior learning experiences and their actions as teachers in the classroom (Borg, 2003), those students currently planning to become foreign language teachers in the future arguably need to be exposed to interactive and studentcentered learning and teaching methods, in order to be able to transfer these experiences to their own teaching in due course. Only in this way will they be able to demonstrate the flexibility and adaptability required of teachers both now and in the future.

Action research in English as a foreign language teacher training 63 In view of all these considerations, we came to the conclusion that for our discipline (Foreign Language Didactics), rote learning was not enough. We needed a more practical, interactive approach to trigger our students’ procedural knowledge. We could never be satisfied with simply familiarizing our students with the theoretical knowledge of the field. We needed them to become able to manage their own teaching successfully and to cope with the multiple interwoven factors that define each class. And we were more than aware that this would by no means be the straightforward consequence of accruing theoretical knowledge. Something had to be done. Our thinking had already led us to the conviction that we could not keep repeating that unfruitful model for our class; a change was urgently needed. By pursuing our students’ engagement through more experiential learning (Kolb, 1984) we believed that they would be able to examine and modify their beliefs and habits thus leading to more effective learning. Though in principle students could be expected to welcome any detour from the more usual passive, teacher-centered lesson format that generally takes place at the University —particularly upon realizing its inefficiency in terms of learning pay-off— consideration must be given (1) to the way in which the content is delivered and (2) to what learning is to be expected from students, given that there might easily be a mismatch between the “innovative” university lecturer’s expectations and the actual outcomes on the part of learners. However, if students who are accustomed to a more teachercentered lesson format based on rote learning and verbatim reproduction are suddenly expected to become actively involved in new, more cognitivelydemanding tasks (such as literature searches, reflection or deeper critical analysis), without previous “training” of some sort, they could easily become disillusioned and the innovation could backfire. For the successful introduction of changes into any teaching context, it is critical to make students aware of the improvements that the new steps taken may bring about. It is equally important to help them to value them. In short, rather than imposing new methodologies, one key to introducing innovation is to begin with an awareness-raising exercise that will eventually lead to a more effective, meaningful and comprehensive kind of holistic learning. That precisely became our aim. In our case, conveying to our student teachers the message that learning should encompass more than mere “reciting” was vital. Thus, aware that effective EFL teaching rests basically on the extent to which practitioners deploy competencies critical for the smooth, principled and effective implementation of their lessons, as Didactics instructors we wanted to encourage such competencies in our students. We departed from the belief that, unlike content knowledge competencies cannot merely be passed from instructors to students —they cannot “inherit” them; competencies must be developed individually by every prospective teacher. We decided that one

64 Mª del Pilar Montijano Cabrera and Dawn Leggott means of fostering our students’ development of teacher competencies would be to engage in Action Research.

3 Action research in action: Why? We departed from the premise that the mere implementation of models for teacher preparation designed somewhere else for another kind of student profile might not bring about the degree of success we were hoping for from our classes. Our aim was to find the best solution to our problem. We wanted our students to take more responsibility for their own preparation to become language teachers and thus to feel more enriched from their class experience. We wanted them to stop being passive individuals who only take notes in class and then learn those notes by heart for their final exam. We were aiming for a more active involvement from them. We decided to engage in Action Research because of its potential to uncover our students’ real learning needs and to respond appropriately to them (Cohen and Manion, 1985; Nunan, 1992; Burns, 1999; Taylor, 2002; Montijano, 2004). As already suggested, we believed that a higher level of engagement on the part of our students would improve the quality of their learning experience. However, we wanted the transformation to take place naturally as a result of their self-awareness of their dissatisfaction with their current and previous learning experience and not as a direct effect of us imposing new demands on them, as the latter could backfire. We were conscious of the degree to which context determines practice, so given the specific circumstances of our individual situation, we wanted to figure out how to reshape our lessons so that they would firmly fit into our students’ real learning needs and expectations. Through Action Research our aim was to enlarge the scope of our role as foreign language teacher educators and to broaden our students’ horizons by expanding the repertoire of the techniques they were aware of and might employ as language teachers.

3.1

Implementing action research: A three-stage process

Stage 1 – initial questionnaire Process We decided to use an initial questionnaire to get to know our students’ selfperception concerning the learning potential of different activities. The students surveyed were the 21 students of our “EFL Didactics and Methodology” module, which is taken in the fourth year of their English Philology degree. In this initial questionnaire we asked the students to label on a scale of 1 (no impact at all) to 5 (very high impact) their perceived degree of impact of several classroom activities on their own process of preparation to become a language teacher.

Action research in English as a foreign language teacher training 65

Results Item

The memorization of the principles that make up different methodologies and approaches on the basis of class notes. Reading of different papers and articles plus the subsequent personal reflection upon the different points they make. Watching videos and other classmates’ teaching presentations in class followed by discussion and teacher’s feedback. Class debates on different issues of interest.

5 very high impact

4 high impact

0%

0%

43%

Ranking 3 some impact

2 low impact

1 very low impac t

38%

33%

29%

33%

24%

0%

0%

47%

43%

10%

0%

0%

62%

19%

19%

0%

0%

Table 1. The students’ perceived degree of impact of specific activities on their preparation to become an English language teacher. The results obtained make it clear that our students found the least beneficial activity to be the bare memorization of their class notes, despite their vast experience of doing this during their current university studies and former schooling. Other tasks which demanded a more active engagement in the learning process on their part were perceived as more relevant. For them,

66 Mª del Pilar Montijano Cabrera and Dawn Leggott watching others’ teaching performance was the most beneficial and they also very much considered that the debates held in class and the reading texts for reflection prepared them well to become effective teachers. Stage 2 – the awareness-raising process Whenever a relevant theoretical topic from the syllabus was covered in class, the students were encouraged to relate it to the practice of English language teaching, so as to enhance their awareness of the potential teaching competencies required for effective teaching. All ideas were welcome as long as when suggesting them, the students could justify why they thought that those competencies they were suggesting were relevant. At this stage our main aim was to sensitize our students towards the importance of on-going analysis, professional commitment, self-efficacy and handling the multiple interwoven factors that define each teaching situation. We wanted to avoid at all costs a view of teaching as an activity that can be implemented by following certain procedures in a mechanical, standardized, almost “automatic” way. We felt that inculcating in them the habit of reflecting systematically and justifying their views would be, in itself, an invaluable experience. Although as teacher educators we could have developed our own list of competencies from a detailed analysis of the characteristics of the effective foreign language teacher and passed it to the students to tell them in advance what was to be expected from them in their future career, we decided not to proceed in that way, as that would merely have continued to promote passive, superficial and non-interactive learning. Instead, we elicited from our students their own ideas about the nature of effective foreign language teaching. We were aiming to foster a high degree of engagement on the part of the students who were asked to study in depth everything effective teachers do in their day to day teaching and teaching preparation —before class, in class and after class— in order to come up with the list of competencies needed to be successful in the teaching profession. Thus, a comprehensive list of competencies (the students’ one) was compiled as the course progressed. Stage 3 – second questionnaire Process Once we had assembled such a list, a new questionnaire was passed to our students to find out both (1) their perceived degree of importance of each of the different competencies they had listed and then (2) their self-perception regarding the development of each of the competencies. Results The table below summarizes the students’ perceived degree of importance of each of the different competencies they had listed.

Action research in English as a foreign language teacher training 67 Teacher Competency

Sound knowledge of the field Comprehensive knowledge of pedagogical strategies and techniques Knowledge of how to maximize students’ learning Ability to influence students Ability to give clear instructions Creativity Ability to successfully implement different group dynamics Ability to exploit ICT effectively. Ability to use the textbook wisely (by adapting it, rather than blinding adopting it) Ability to accept and adapt to changes and to introduce improvements Ability to convey trust and safety in class Ability to instill

Ranking* 5 - very 4– 3 - quite 2 - not 1 - not at all important important important important important

48%

43%

10%

0%

0%

48%

33%

19%

5%

0%

48%

29%

24%

0%

0%

33%

52%

10%

5%

0%

43%

29%

14%

14%

0%

52%

29%

10%

5%

5%

48%

33%

14%

5%

0%

14%

48%

24%

10%

5%

52%

29%

19%

0%

0%

52%

48%

0%

0%

0%

57%

19%

19%

5%

0%

48%

29%

19%

5%

0%

68 Mª del Pilar Montijano Cabrera and Dawn Leggott motivation on a regular basis. Maturity and ability to keep calm, even in 38% 43% 19% 0% 0% unpredictable situations Conflict-solving 38% 52% 5% 5% 0% skills Resourcefulness 33% 14% 0% 0% when decision- 52% making Ability to help and 62% 29% 10% 0% 0% support learners Ability to actively involve learners in 62% 24% 14% 0% 0% their own learning process Respectful, positive attitude 85% 5% 5% 5% 0% towards multiculturalism Ability to reflect upon one’s own 67% 33% 0% 0% 0% teaching practice Readiness to 43% 33% 19% 5% 0% experiment Interest in keeping 71% 10% 19% 0% 0% up-to-date professionally Ability to create an emotional and affective climate that enhances 71% 14% 14% 0% 0% learning in an anxiety-free atmosphere * The percentages are rounded so may not add up to exactly 100% Table 2. The students’ perceived degree of importance of each of the different teacher competencies they had listed. From Table 2 “ability to reflect upon one’s own teaching practice” and “ability to adapt to changes and to introduce improvements” are perceived to

Action research in English as a foreign language teacher training 69 be the most important competencies with 100% of the students classifying these as very important or important. This focus on reflection may be surprising given the lack of emphasis on this skill within their current and prior learning experiences. Apart from “sound knowledge of the field”, others which score highly are those competencies which relate to the creation of an inspiring, motivating atmosphere which is conducive to learning. For example, 90% of the students classified “ability to help and support learners” and “showing a respectful, positive attitude towards multiculturalism” as important or very important. The latter may be due to the cultural make-up of many secondary school classrooms in Spain nowadays, as a result of recent increases in immigration into the country. Interestingly although 81% of the students classified “interest in keeping up-to-date professionally” as important or very important, one of the lowest scoring competencies was “ability to exploit ICT effectively”. This may be a result of the students’ lack of confidence in using ICT effectively in the classroom as well as their lack of experience of using ICT themselves as language learners. As stated above, apart from sensitizing our students towards the pre-eminent role of competencies in successful teaching implementation, we were also interested in finding out their self-perception regarding their own development of those competencies that had been extensively discussed, analyzed and considered throughout the classes. The table below shows the percentage of students who see themselves as competent in the different competencies identified in class: TEACHING COMPETENCIES

Number of students

Percentage

Sound knowledge of the field Comprehensive knowledge of pedagogical strategies and techniques Knowledge of how to maximize students’ learning Ability to influence students Ability to give clear instructions Creativity Ability to successfully implement different group dynamics Ability to exploit ICT effectively. Ability to use the textbook wisely (by adapting it, rather than blinding adopting it) Ability to accept and adapt to changes and to introduce improvements

21

100%

19

90%

17

81%

15 15 14

71% 71% 67%

18

86%

11

52%

19

90%

19

90%

70 Mª del Pilar Montijano Cabrera and Dawn Leggott Ability to convey trust and safety in class Ability to instill motivation on a regular basis. Maturity and ability to keep calm, even in unpredictable situations Conflict-solving skills Resourcefulness when decision-making Ability to help and support learners Ability to actively involve learners in their own learning process Respectful, positive attitude towards multiculturalism Ability to reflect upon one’s own teaching practice Readiness to experiment Interest in keeping up-to-date professionally Ability to create an emotional and affective climate that enhances learning in an anxiety-free atmosphere

16

76%

17

81%

18

85%

14 15 20

67% 71% 95%

18

85%

20

95%

18

85%

17

81%

18

85%

16

76%

Table 3. The students’ self-perception regarding the development of each of the competencies they had identified. The above table shows that our students report having developed, at least to a certain extent, all those skills and competencies that they had previously suggested as necessary. No category is perceived as still pending, which may indicate that becoming sensitized towards a competency can be a perfectly valid first step towards starting to develop it. This confirms our premise that student-centered teaching and interactive dynamics are likely to bring about more positive outcomes when making decisions regarding effective foreign language teacher education. It is also worth highlighting the correlation that seems to exist between the students’ reported perceived importance of certain competencies and skills and their degree of confidence in their own development of them. Given the emphasis on theoretical knowledge on the course, it is perhaps unsurprising that this is the aspect that the students feel the most confident with. Apart from the low degree of importance given to ICT and their lack of confidence in it as mentioned above, there also seems to be a clear correlation between their perceived importance of having a positive attitude to multi-culturalism and their confidence in this competence.

Action research in English as a foreign language teacher training 71

3.2

Discussion of the action research results

The results have given us the following insights: a. Despite the many years of experience of memorizing theoretical subject knowledge without many opportunities for deeper learning, our students value meaningful learning, report preferring a more active involvement and appreciate the learning potential of activities of reflection and pooling their ideas. They overtly show a tendency towards experiential, procedural knowledge. b. Our trainee teachers value interactive teacher development and studentcentered, communicative language learning above the training that they have received in the past. In their rating of the importance of the different competencies they have mainly highlighted (1) those that have to do with maintaining a positive, flexible, respectful attitude plus (2) certain classroom management skills. The stage 2 “awareness raising process” led to class discussions which strongly demonstrated our students’ heightened awareness of the characteristics of effective foreign language teachers. For example, they clearly appreciated those language teachers who possessed the skills and competencies to conduct classes in a more student-centered way, provoking discussion and inviting learners to play a more active role in their learning, rather than those teachers who treated language learning as if it were just another content subject and in whose classrooms communication was not only non-existent but frequently inconceivable. Therefore, the competencies they most value are those that do not derive directly from memorizing class notes but from aspects of teaching that may require awareness-raising prior to the practical development of them. By engaging in this Action Research process, they feel that they have developed an awareness of competencies that will “empower” them to become effective language teachers, better able to foster successful language learning in their students than the teachers who taught them language in the past using more traditional, non communicative teaching methodologies. c. When having a look at the trainee teachers’ perception of the competencies they think they have developed, several issues are worth highlighting: - They think they have a sound knowledge of the theoretical framework, so the teaching and learning strategy of the classes seems to have been fruitful in helping them to gain professional selfconfidence. - They have learned that a good teacher is the person responsible for creating optimal conditions for learning, by supporting learners,

72 Mª del Pilar Montijano Cabrera and Dawn Leggott helping them, showing a respectful attitude or being able to adapt to the constantly changing circumstances. In this light, they also note the importance of adapting —not adopting— textbooks. As a result of the Action Research process they see themselves as more competent in all of these aspects —they are now better able to visualize themselves as effective foreign language teachers and this awareness-raising exercise has increased their confidence as prospective foreign language teachers. - They have become much more aware of the importance of on-going, lifelong learning as the backbone of successful and effective teaching as can be seen from their positive responses to the competences relating to continuous professional development, such as “ability to accept and adapt to changes and to introduce improvements”, “ability to reflect upon one’s own teaching practice” and “interest in keeping up-to-date professionally”. All in all, by engaging in Action Research we have learned that the introduction of innovative approaches does not necessarily bring about unforeseeable results. In our case, this strategy has empowered us to shape lessons more effectively in relation to the goals we pursued: making our trainee teachers more sensitive towards the need for teaching practitioners to be prepared to undergo a process of never-ending learning and develop the competencies required to support learners in the demanding process of language learning.

4 The training of (English) language teachers in the United Kingdom The Action Research described and evaluated in this study takes place within a very different university context to that which is prevalent in the UK. British universities are usually considered to be a bridge between school and the world of work and the development in all students of “employability skills” —those skills which make individuals more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations— is a key feature of undergraduate curriculum design (Knight and Yorke, 2003). A climate of rapid change has made the graduate labour market more unpredictable and difficult to navigate, so it is now considered to be more critical than ever that all students work towards enhancing their own employability and that they understand the nature and importance of continuing professional development. Academic knowledge alone is no longer considered to be sufficient to satisfy today’s employers (Leggott and Stapleford, 2007) and indeed, in a context of annual undergraduate tuition fees of up to £9000 (approximately €10,500) in 2012-2013, it is to be expected that students will increasingly consider the potential returns on such an investment, prior to

Action research in English as a foreign language teacher training 73 deciding whether to study a university degree. Within this economic environment, undergraduate teacher training degrees which lead to Qualified Teacher Status are likely to represent, for students, a more positive return on their investment of time and money, as these courses will permit the graduates to move directly into gainful employment as teachers. In contrast, traditionally exam and knowledge-based, the Spanish Higher Education system could be viewed as too far removed from the twenty-first century labour market. It has been argued that it is vital that Spanish university students develop skills which facilitate their transition between education and employment (Mora et al., 2000) and this has been one of the aims in the implementation of the Bologna Process. The undergraduate degree of English Philology studied by the participants of the Action Research study described and evaluated in this chapter is one example of a theoretical, knowledge-based Spanish degree programme, in that the course is aimed at students wishing to become English language teachers, yet no practical, authentic element of teaching practice is included in this four-year programme. Within this context, the Action Research carried out is innovative and is a key step in starting to link theory to practice for these trainee teachers. This section focuses on two contexts relating to language teacher training in the UK 1 – preparation for the teaching of Modern Foreign Languages in secondary schools and preparation for the teaching of English as a Foreign Language to international students, either in the UK or abroad. Each of these contexts will now be outlined in turn and discussed in relation to teacher competencies.

4.1

Preparation for the teaching of modern foreign languages (MFL) in secondary schools

Pre-service student teachers wishing to become secondary school teachers of MFL would traditionally study a 3 or 4-year undergraduate languages degree (usually including a year abroad) followed by a one-year Postgraduate Certificate in Secondary Education (PGCE). They would typically take a more general undergraduate degree focusing on the study of one or more MFLs or combining the study of MFLs with another subject such as International Business. This type of degree programme, which in not available in Spain, opens up a wide range of employment options, as the language and employability skills developed can be transferred to many employment situations. 1 It should be noted that the secondary school and university systems vary across the different countries of the UK.

74 Mª del Pilar Montijano Cabrera and Dawn Leggott Upon successful completion of their undergraduate degree, those wishing to pursue a career in MFL teaching would develop the knowledge and skills required to become a qualified teacher through the study of the one-year PGCE. The course involves academic study of education and language teaching theory and assessed written assignments. However, it also involves a significant period of assessed teaching practice in schools, some of which is formally assessed. A PGCE confers Qualified Teacher Status, the minimum requirement to teach in a state school. In recent years, however, Initial Teacher Training (ITT) has become increasingly school-led and employer-led through on-the-job training schemes such as Teach First and School Direct (Department for Education, 2012a). Indeed, in a speech in which he outlined his vision for the education system in 2011, the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, emphasized the relevance of school-based ITT to the raising of standards of school education (HM Government, 2011) and the current UK government has opened the doors for schools and private providers to carry out ITT. Such moves have been somewhat controversial, as what had traditionally been the terrain of universities will increasingly take place as “partnerships” between universities and schools or groups of schools. ITT in the UK is therefore becoming increasingly practice-led with the government keen for trainee teachers to base their training in schools, rather than in universities.

4.2

Preparation for the teaching of English as a foreign language to international students

The most widely recognized initial qualifications to become a teacher of English as a Foreign Language are the Cambridge Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (Celta) and the Trinity Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CertTESOL). Neither of these courses requires previous experience or a languages degree. These courses are typically very short and intensive, typically one month in the case of the Celta. Both of them include the basic principles of effective teaching and hands-on teaching practice and are benchmarked at Level 5 of the National Qualifications Framework (equivalent to modules of the second year of an undergraduate degree). Those who successfully complete one of these courses are not considered to be fully qualified teachers of English as a Foreign Language (TEFLQ) but TEFL-initiated (TEFLi) as defined by the British Council (British Council, 2012). Typically students who take the Celta or CertTESOL will work for a private language school abroad as a first job, as neither qualification confers TEFLQ status for the state system. In order to gain TEFLQ status, and therefore become fully qualified, English language teachers are required to take a recognized English Language Teaching qualification which includes teaching practice, at Level 7 (Masters

Action research in English as a foreign language teacher training 75 level) of the National Qualifications Framework. Teachers with initial experience of English Language Teaching (ELT), typically 2 years, can go on to the Cambridge Delta or Trinity Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (DipTESOL). Either of these qualifications leads to fully qualified status (TEFLQ) and is, for example, a requirement in the ELT department of Leeds Metropolitan University. These courses can be done intensively (8 weeks) or part-time over a longer period. Teaching practice is an important element in both courses and there is some theoretical input, although it is always clearly related to practice. There are many Masters level courses related to ELT in the UK, such as those named MA ELT, MA TESOL, MA Applied Linguistics, for example. A first degree is a requirement, but there are MA courses for students with no previous ELT experience and courses which require previous experience. Some institutions offer both options. These are academic qualifications but they do not lead to TEFLQ status, unless they include an element of teaching practice which is externally validated by a reputable examination body. A few Masters courses include the Delta (Leeds Metropolitan University, 2012) but most are purely theoretical.

4.3

The development of competencies in MFL/ELT teacher training

The training of (English) language teachers in both of these UK contexts differs significantly from that described in the Action Research study with English Philology students in Spain. In both of the UK initial teacher training contexts assessed teaching practice is a key element of the programme. Even initial English as a Foreign Language teaching training courses include essential assessed teaching practice. The 4-week Celta, for example, includes 6 hours of teaching practice linked to theory via classroom-related written assignments. Trainees are, therefore, constantly required to apply theory to practice, as well as to critically analyse and reflect on their own and others’ teaching, almost from the start of the course. For more experienced EFL teachers, the Cambridge Delta consists of three modules (Cambridge ESOL, 2010a). Module 1 (Understanding Language, Methodology and Resources for Teaching) focuses on the theoretical perspectives of language acquisition and language teaching, approaches and methodologies, resources and knowledge of language systems. It is assessed via two written exams comprising a total of 9 tasks which require the trainee teachers to relate theory to practice, such as evaluating materials for use by language learners. Module 2 (Developing Professional Practice) is the teaching practice module. As well as delivering a series of assessed lessons, students are required to reflect upon their own and others’ teaching. In Module 3 (Extending Practice and ELT Specialism), the students research a chosen specialism e.g.

76 Mª del Pilar Montijano Cabrera and Dawn Leggott Teaching English to Young Learners or English for Academic Purposes, and are required to demonstrate an understanding of and an ability to apply key principles underpinning syllabus design and course planning to a specific teaching context. Within all modules, therefore, the students are constantly required to relate theory to practice, as well as to reflect on and critically evaluate their own and others’ practice through the classroom learning and teaching activities and assessment tasks. The ability to demonstrate the development of competencies features highly in the assessment of the teaching practice in both MFL and EFL teacher training. For MFLs there are 35 competencies (called Teachers’ Standards), subdivided under 8 broad headings (Department for Education, 2012b) and in Delta Module 2 there are 31 criteria under 6 headings. These are determined by the awarding bodies and focus on the teaching behaviours and professional competencies required. Unlike in the case of the Spanish Action Research context described in this chapter, in the UK initial training for the teaching of MFLs and EFL is already very practice-led and competency-oriented and regular critical evaluation and reflection are key. An attitude of critical evaluation and regular, automatic reflection are arguably essential for teacher education and the Continuous Professional Development (CPD) of teachers. Indeed, as mentioned above, within the British university education system generic competencies (sometimes referred to as employability skills or transferable skills), such as critical analysis and reflection are developed across many undergraduate courses and modules and typically assessed through non exam based assessment methods, such as presentations, essays and reflective journals, as they are considered to be essential for any graduate-level job. As is the case in industry and other employment sectors as outlined above, in the rapidly changing twenty-first century labour market, academically gained subject knowledge alone is not sufficient to ensure that newly qualified teachers remain flexible and adaptable enough to respond to changing demands made upon them. To remain up-to-date with unpredictable changes (changes in technology and their potential effect on language teaching is but one example), lifelong learning and Continuous Professional Development are key, and competencies such as critical evaluation and reflection are essential to the effectiveness of each individual teacher’s professional development. The Teacher Competency Frameworks used to assess teaching practice in the (English) language teacher training courses outlined above all refer to the importance of continual improvement through reflection and CPD. The Teachers’ Standards used in the initial teacher training of MFL teachers state that teachers must “keep their knowledge and skills as teachers up-to-date” and “take responsibility for improving teaching through appropriate professional development, responding to advice and feedback from

Action research in English as a foreign language teacher training 77 colleagues”. (Department for Education, 2012b:9). In the assessment of teaching practice the Cambridge Celta and Delta both emphasize the need to reflect on and evaluate teaching and, in the case of the Delta, to “explain how they [the trainee] will consolidate/follow on from the learning achieved in the lesson” (Cambridge ESOL, 2010a; Cambridge ESOL, 2010b). For those EFL teachers who specialize in the teaching of English for Academic Purposes, the Competency Framework for Teachers of Academic Purposes (BALEAP, 2008) includes the need to “demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the importance of CPD” and show an “ability to engage with academic research and literature to inform own practice and communicate these ideas to colleagues”. It may be argued, however, that the focus on observation and behaviour inherent in practice-led (English) language teacher training does not provide the trainee with a deep enough understanding of theoretical or pedagogical principles and that a better balance of theory and competency-based practice is required. It remains to be seen, for example, whether the new school-led initiatives in MFL teacher training will lead to a more principled and effective implementation of teachers’ lessons than the more university-led system.

5 Conclusion In the UK (English) language teacher training has been competency and practice-led for many years and in the case of modern foreign language teacher training the trend is for this to become even more the case nowadays, as initial teacher training increasingly takes place in schools rather than in universities. In our view, however, it is important to strike the right balance between the more theoretically oriented system described in the context of the Action Research and the more practice-led systems described in the UK contexts. While academic knowledge and the theoretical consideration of teaching competencies alone can only contribute to a certain degree to the preparation of teachers for the world of work, a focus on teaching practice that is not sufficiently underpinned with theoretical principles will not lead to the creation of effective teachers either, as the teachers’ ability to reflect and evaluate their own and others’ behaviours in the classroom will be severely limited by their lack of deeper understanding and theoretical knowledge. It is only by striking the right balance between these points of theory and practice, aided by a focus on Continuous Professional Development throughout the teachers’ careers, that newly qualified (English) language teachers in both Spain and the UK will develop the knowledge, competencies and employability skills required for successful (English) language teaching into the next decade and beyond.

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6 References BALEAP (2008) Competency Framework for Teachers of English for Academic Purposes, www.baleap.org.uk/media/uploads/pdfs/teapcompetency-framework.pdf . Bernhardt, E. B., and J. Hammadou (1987) A decade of research in foreign language teacher education, Modern Language Teaching Journal 71: 289-299. Blanco, A. (coord.) (2009) Desarrollo y Evaluación de Competencias en educación Superior, Madrid: Narcea. Borg, S. (2003) Teacher cognition in language teaching: A review of research on what language teachers think, know, believe and do, Language Teaching, 36 (2):81-109. British Council (2012) Accreditation UK Handbook 2012-2013, London: British Council. Burns, A. (1999) Collaborative Action Research for English Language Teachers, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Cambridge ESOL (2010a) Delta Handbook for Tutors and Candidates, Cambridge: University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations. Cambridge ESOL (2010b) Celta Syllabus and Assessment Guidelines, Cambridge: University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations Cohen, L., and L. Manion (1985) Research Methods in Education, London: Croom Helm. Dearing, R. (1997) Higher education in the learning society, http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/ncihe/. Delors, J. (1996) La educación encierra un tesoro, Madrid: Santillana Department for Education (2012a) “School-based Training”, www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching/teacher-trainingoptions/school-based-training.aspx . Department for Education (2012b) Teachers’ Standards, London: Department for Education. Fanselow, J., and R. L. Light (1977) Bilingual, ESOL, and Foreign Language Teacher Preparation:Models, Practices, Issues, Washington, D.C.: TESOL. Freeman, D. (1989) Teacher training, development and decision-making, TESOL Quarterly 23(1): 27-45. Harvey, L., S. Moon, and V. Geall (1997) Graduates Work: Organisational Change and Students’ Attributes. Brirmingham: The University of Central England, Centre for Research into Quality. HM Government (2011) Prime Minister’s Speech on Education, http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/pms-speech-on-education2/?tencent-mtt-http

Action research in English as a foreign language teacher training 79 Knight, P.T., and M. Yorke (2003) Assessment, Learning and Employability, Maidenhead: Open University Press. Kolb, D. A. (1984) Experiential Learning, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. Leeds Metropolitan University (2012) MA English Language Teaching, http://courses.leedsmet.ac.uk/elt_ma Leggott, D., and J. Stapleford (2007) Internationalisation and Employability. In Jones, E., and S. Brown (eds) Internationalising Higher Education, London: Routledge: 120-134. Mañú, J. M., and I. Goyarrola (2011) Docentes Competentes. Por una educación de calidad, Madrid: Narcea ediciones. Medley, D. M. (1979) The effectiveness of teachers. In Peterson, P.L., and H. J. Walberg (eds) Research on Teaching: Concepts, Findings and Implications, Berkeley, Cal.: McCutchan. Mohlman, G., J. Kierstead, and M. Gundlach (1982) A research-based inservice model for secondary teachers, Educational Leadership, 40: 16-19. Montijano, Mª P. (2004) Classroom-Based Research: Useful Ideas and Proposals for Teaching Practitioners in search of Effectiveness. In Andrewes, S., Mª M. García, G. Mª Manzano, and S. S. Ruiz (eds) ELT 2003: Teachers Do It in the Classroom, Granada: Adhara: 115125. Mora, J. G., J. García, and A. García (2000) Higher Education and Graduate Employment in Spain, European Journal of Education, 35 (2):229237. Mulkeen, T.A., and T. J. Tetenbaum (1987) An integrative model of teacher education and professional development, Educational Horizons (Winter): 85-87. Nunan, D. (1989) Second-language teacher education: Present trends and future prospects. In Candlin, C. N., and T. F. McNamara (eds) Language, Learning and Community, Sydney: NCELTR: 143-154. Nunan, D. (1992) Research methods in Language Learning, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Paquette, F. A. (1966) Guidelines for teacher education programs in modern foreign languages: an exposition, Modern Language Journal 50: 323425. Peck, R. F., and J. A. Tucker (1973) Research on Teacher Education. In Travers, R.M.W. (ed) Second Handbook on Research on Teaching, New York: Macmillan. Richards, J. C., and D. Nunan (eds) (1990) Second Language Teacher Education, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Taylor, E. (2002) Research in your own classroom. In Richards, J., and W. A. Renandya (eds) Methodology in Language Teaching. An Anthology of Current Practice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 397-403.

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7 Recommended reading Burns, A. (1999) Collaborative Action Research for English Language Teachers, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Action Research is aimed at self-improvement and can therefore be useful to virtually all teaching practitioners. Its main richness lies in its potential to bridge the gap between research and practice in teaching. Because the findings of classroom research are relevant to any teacher and can be used to improve his/her practice, all teachers should engage with them at a certain point. This book offers ideas on how groups of teachers can work collaboratively to undertake collective reflective enquiries and thus enhance their teaching situations. Head, K., and P. Taylor (1997) Readings in Teacher Development, Oxford: Heinemann. Teachers should become competent in many areas and the preparation that they receive before starting teaching does not always provide them with the necessary tools to perform competently. This book presents a series of extracts, plus activities and commentaries to support teachers in raising awareness and developing more positive, empowering attitudes to improve their own performance. Areas covered include professional growth throughout one’s career, plus the skills to make choices appropriately depending on the circumstances, to attain new goals and objectives and to develop tolerance towards a variety of perspectives on teaching. The focus tends to be on the quality of the relationships established in class rather than on techniques to be implemented more or less automatically. Richards, J. C., and D. Nunan (eds) (1990) Second Language Teacher Education, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. This book examines major practices currently appreciated in second language teacher education and provides ideas on how to achieve successful results. Because today the concept of “teacher education” implies involving teachers in discovering their own theories of teaching and in re-examining assumptions underlying the most widespread theoretical guidelines conducting to successful teaching practice, the volume offers techniques, strategies and data both for self-reflection and examination and also useful for the educators themselves. Teachers are invited to become more and more actively involved in comprehending their own decision-making processes, in developing strategies for critical analysis and in improving their performance by finding out what works best in each specific context.

Action research in English as a foreign language teacher training 81 Ur, P. (2002) The English Teacher as Professional. In Richards, J., and W. A. Renandya (eds) Methodology in Language Teaching. An Anthology of Current Practice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 388-396. The last few years have witnessed a remarkable change in the relative importance attributed to the teacher, who is regarded as the key element in improving educational processes. With such a belief, it becomes clear that the concept of professionalism has to be revisited and that is what Ur does in this paper. After a discussion of what this concept implies, Ur delves into the issue of whether EFL teachers can rightly be considered professionals. She analyses the steps already taken and states her view of aspects which are still pending.

8 Questions for reflection and discussion -

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To what extent do you agree with the teacher competencies identified by the students on the Spanish English Philology degree? Within your context what would be the ideal balance between theory and practice in initial teacher education for pre-service foreign language teachers? Does the education system in your country already strike the right balance? Teachers play a key role in the class. They not only implement the curriculum, they also define and redefine it, interpret or reshape it so as to make it fit into the learners’ true learning needs and styles. Can everybody become a good teacher or does teaching require innate skills and abilities? Are some teacher competencies more easily learnable than others? Define in your own words “Action Research”. In your view, to what extent does it help teachers to develop their own understanding of teaching? Do you think that “Action Research” in one’s own classroom always helps teaching? Why/why not? Think of an issue of practical interest to you and develop a research plan to carry out Action Research. What reasons would you find to decide to engage in it? How useful do you think it can realistically become for you, in your situation? What stages would it involve? What difficulties do you think you could (in principle) encounter? How would you sort them out? What kind of useful insights could you gain from it?

Language teacher education models: New issues and challenges Marie-Christine Deyrich (University of Bordeaux, France) Kari Stunnel (University of Bordeaux, France) The chapter provides an in-depth exploration of language teacher education models. It opens with an overview of the various contexts within which language teachers work. It looks at the challenges these contexts present and at the specific knowledge, skills and professional development needed in order to teach effectively in the 21st century. In section 2 a number of existing language teacher education models are introduced and discussed. Sections 3, 4 and 5 look more deeply into the question of language teacher education models exploring the fundamental assumptions, epistemological positions and organizational principles on which the models are based. We explain how the different models have evolved and open up debate on where language teacher education models need to go in the future. The focus is on national language teacher education programmes with examples predominantly taken from France and the UK. However, many of the issues discussed such as the nature of teacher learning, the relative importance of theory and practice and the relationship between them, and the impact which the choice of evaluative method can have on course content are relevant to language teacher education within any context.

1 Introduction Language teacher education is a broad and ever-broadening subject. Globalisation and the increasing mobility of the world population have led to a surge in demand for language educators. At the same time the increasing linguistic and cultural heterogeneity of Western society, the growth of English as a lingua franca and the evolution of new digital systems of knowledge creation and diffusion highlight the need for a rethink of language teacher education. Existing models need to be adapted and new models developed in order to deal with the new teaching and learning situations and new forms of access to knowledge which now exist. In this chapter we look in detail at language teacher education models. First of all we look at language teachers themselves; we briefly discuss the specificities of language teaching and the nature of the subject taught. We move on to look at existing language teacher education models and then to explore the assumptions upon which they are based. Finally we discuss how these models are evolving and need to evolve in order to deal with the specific challenges of education in the 21st century.

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2 Language teachers as a professional body 2.1

Language teaching in the 21st century

- The contexts 21st century language teachers work in a wide variety of contexts. Within public school systems language educators are involved both in teaching foreign languages and in providing second language assistance to students whose home language is not the official language of the national education system. Universities worldwide employ specialists in English for academic purposes and scientific writing and there is a growing call for professionals qualified to teach specific subjects such as law or medicine through the medium of a foreign language. A huge variety of private language institutes around the world provide courses for individuals or groups of all ages and levels, whilst many international businesses employ language specialists to give direct training to their employees. - The knowledge The knowledge which the language teacher needs to communicate to his or her students will clearly differ according to the situation within which she/he teaches. In certain very specific circumstances students may only need to learn very particular lists of vocabulary or expressions, or may only need to learn to read. However, most learners will need to use their new language within a communicative context. It is the acquisition of communicative competence which makes learning and teaching languages different from learning and teaching other subjects. - The specific skills A language teacher needs to have a somewhat holistic approach. Whilst the building blocks of language can be learnt from a book, the acquisition of communicative competence requires participation in communicative contexts. It requires dealing with the language as a whole even when the language is not yet successfully mastered. Language learning implies risk taking and making mistakes, it is learning by doing. The language classroom therefore needs to be a non-judgemental space where students feel free to try to express themselves without fear of losing face. It is rarely a silent place. The language teacher is responsible for creating this kind of learning environment and needs to feel comfortable managing interactive activities and encouraging the experimental expression of ideas. A successful language teacher has to relinquish the focal position within the classroom and take on the role of guide and facilitator. This requires a particular kind of teacher education model.

Language teacher education models 85

2.2

Language teacher education programmes

It should be no surprise that the world of language teacher education is almost as varied as that of the language teachers themselves. Teacher education opportunities range from short intensive courses, through university programs, at either undergraduate or masters level, to in-school apprenticeships and cover almost everything in between as well. In the sections which follow, we predominantly talk about language teacher education within national education systems. Although, from a general standpoint, many aspects of teacher development are relevant to all language teachers, the majority of our illustrating examples relate to the situation found in the public education systems of France and the UK (our two countries of origin). Thus the focus is on the kind of education programmes which professionals within these systems are commonly required to follow. Many of the fundamental questions and issues which underlie the choice to promote one or another language teacher education model are as relevant to the organisation of short intensive teacher training courses as they are in the conceptualization and implementation of nationalized training programs. However, national teacher education programmes do have certain specificities, not least of which is the increasingly pluri-cultural nature of many classrooms and the increasing call for school teachers to act as cultural mediators. Intercultural competence has become an essential life skill for both teachers and students. As stated on the opening page of the CECRL: “In an intercultural approach, it is a central objective of language education to promote the favourable development of the learner’s whole personality and sense of identity in response to the enriching experience of otherness in language and culture”. However, despite the importance accorded to foreign language learning and intercultural communication and exchanges found in current political discourse, this essential skill is often overlooked in national school curricula and is rarely a focus of teacher education either. In such a complex and evolving setting, it is interesting to reflect on the models on which much current language teacher education is based

3 Overview of language teacher education models As a starting point it is important to try and establish our conception of what is meant by a teacher education model. Essentially a model provides a way of presenting a way of thinking, a way of rationalising about a complex process or of presenting it schematically. Models can thus be considered as mediators (Morgan and Morrison, 1999: 8) They are instruments of exploration which provide a foundation for informed decision making whilst remaining open to adaptation and evolution in line with theoretical advances and changing ideas concerning the educational needs of language teachers. Before further

86 Marie-Christine Deyrich and Kari Stunnel exploration of the dynamics of modelling, we begin with a brief overview of the models most commonly employed in existing programmes. A number of different language teacher education models are identified in the literature. Without going into too much detail here, it is nonetheless helpful to remind readers of the most influential of these traditional models (See Stern 1983 for a detailed review of traditionally identified language teacher training models and their origins). The behavioural model In the US a behavioural model of language teacher education, based on knowledge and task-oriented guidance has tended to be influential (Wallace, 1991). However, in the UK, the three most influential basic models of teacher education are the craftwork or apprenticeship model, the applied theorist model and the reflective practitioner model. (See Alexander et al., 1984; Elliott, 1993, Stuart 1999 for further discussion). The craftwork model The craftwork model emphasizes observation and imitation. From this perspective, teaching is a craft which is best learnt ‘on the job’. Unsurprisingly training programs based on the craftwork model tend to include extended periods of in-school teaching practice. Time spent learning about theories of education in universities, or higher education establishments, is less valued. The accent is on the acquisition of skills rather than on the acquisition of knowledge. The applied teacher model The applied teacher model takes an opposing point of view. Here student teachers are given information about educational theories which it is assumed they will be able to put into practice once they get a job. Courses based on this model tend to give more weight to time spend attending courses in higher education institutions. The accent is on the acquisition of knowledge rather than on the acquisition of skills. The reflexive practitioner model The reflective practitioner model is centred on development of the student teacher’s capacities for self-perception and critical awareness. The reflexive practitioner model has been highly influential in the UK. Clearly explained in Schon (1983), this model encourages teachers to become active decision makers. Their decisions, informed by theory and guided by learner-centred values, should lead to action which is in its turn evaluated, reflected upon, and if necessary, further adapted within a cyclical process. Furlong et al (2008) report that promoting reflexive practice had become an important

Language teacher education models 87 element in around 70% of teacher education programmes in England. The reflexive practitioner model is closely associated with action-research. However, the model has been criticized, especially in the US. Informed decision making involves a relevant theoretical input at the appropriate stage of the process and this input may sometimes be lacking. Teachers reflecting on their own practice and adapting it according to their own intuitions may be implicated in experimental practice, but the extent to which their actions are ‘informed’ could be questioned. The experiential model This model extends the reflective teacher approach beyond the observational paradigm by broadening and increasing the level of external input. Within this model, at the moment of reinvesting in the cycle of investigation, the practitioner searches for theoretical information from outside, even if it is from another domain. This model reflects the increasing importance given to research modules within teacher training models. This change stems from the realisation that practicing teachers benefit from understanding how research works. Learning academic observation and analysis techniques and learning how to use theoretical information is likely to enrich teacher understanding of the processes of teaching and learning and the contexts within which these processes can be expected to take place effectively. The enquiring teacher model is also centred on the importance of a research-informed approach to teaching. The evolution of the experiential model also reflects the growing acceptance within research into language teaching, and within educational research in general, that full understanding of teaching and learning situations will involve integrating input from a wide range of seemingly diverse academic disciplines. Since here we are considering models as mediators between our theories and the world, the next step is to go a little deeper and investigate the theories and assumptions upon which the models themselves are built.

4 Language teacher education models revisited: Underlying assumptions and new debates In the following sections we identify the basic organizing principles and different epistemological positions which underlie the language teacher education models discussed above (in section 2). We examine a series of fundamental dichotomies, concerning the nature of knowledge, the nature of education and the relative importance of theory and practice in teacher education, and explain the influence that each has had on the evolution of language teacher education models.

88 Marie-Christine Deyrich and Kari Stunnel

4.1

At the crossroads: Political v epistemological debate

The origins of these different models can be traced back to different schools of thought concerning the nature of knowledge, and to what Stuart and Tatto (2000) label opposing political views concerning the role of the teacher. Stuart and Tatto represent the situation schematically as below (2000: 499).

The reflective practitioner model can be situated in quadrant 4, where knowledge is seen as being constructed over time and the teacher is viewed as a mediator. This epistemological view lends itself to more collaborative teaching techniques. The craftwork model and the applied theorist model can be situated in the 1st quadrant. Here, knowledge exists as an external object and can be parcelled up and transmitted from expert to student. The difference between the two models lies in the type of knowledge which student teachers need – practical knowledge as far as the craftwork model is concerned and knowledge of educational theory in the applied theorist model. Drawing on this framework, in the following sections we look more deeply into the different conceptualisations of knowledge and opposing ideas concerning the role of the teacher and the nature of education, and consider the impact of these ideas on teacher education models. We underline the complexity of the relationship between theory and practice for both learner teachers and teacher educators and draw attention to the challenges that this presents for teacher education.

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4.2

The nature of knowledge: Transmission v collaborative models

From a philosophical standpoint knowledge can be viewed in different ways. Since the communication of knowledge is at the heart of the teaching process, these different conceptualisations of knowledge have given birth to different modes of teaching. At the heart of much current debate about teacher education is the division between transmission based models and collaborative models. - Transmission models Transmission models and collaborative models stem from fundamentally different views about the nature of knowledge and how it is acquired. According to the first model, language teacher education aims to equip 1 student teachers with the knowledge and skills necessary for their future career. Knowledge is viewed as atomized and as existing externally to the knower. Sfard (1998) uses the concept knowledge-as-acquisition. Within a transmission model it is assumed that at the start of a training program knowledge belongs to the teacher educator who will ‘transmit’ it to the student teachers as the course progresses. As stated by Leung and Teasdale (1999: 63), “competent teachers in this conception are users of a ready-made corpus of knowledge and know-how”. The transmission model has its origins in the objectification of knowledge found in many schools of philosophy going back as far as Plato. Platonic philosophy views ideas as eternal, immutable and existing external to the human mind. Viewed from this perspective knowledge is transferable; using language, human thoughts and ideas can be passed from one individual to another just as physical objects such as cups and glasses can be passed from one person to another (See Reddy, 1979 for an interesting discussion of these ideas). The transmission model dominated education in the Western world for many years and in many contexts its influence is still strongly felt today. - Collaborative models Collaborative models view language teacher education as an enabling process. Collaboration can be defined as “the mutual engagement of participants in a coordinated effort to solve the problem together” (Roschelle and Teasley, 1995:70). Collaborative learning can therefore be described as “a situation in which two or more people learn or attempt to learn something together,” (Dillenbourg, 1999: 1). At a fundamental level the idea is that the cognitive system of each of the participants involved in the interaction feeds 1 See Prabhu, N. (1987). Equipping and enabling. Paper presented at RELC Conference, Singapore for a more detailed explication of the notions ‘equipping’ and ‘enabling’.

90 Marie-Christine Deyrich and Kari Stunnel off, and evolves as a consequence of, its contact with the others. Knowledge is therefore viewed as a constructed phenomenon. Sfard (1998) uses the concept knowledge-as-participation. Teacher education which takes place from a collaborative perspective aims to provide student teachers with “the opportunity and support necessary to realize their own potential” (Woodward 1991, 141). The underlying idea, originating in socio-constructivist approaches to learning 2 is that “it is above all through interacting with others, coordinating his/her approach to reality with those of others, that the individual masters new approaches” (Doise, 1990: 46). In other words, interaction is a catalyst for individual development, the social and the individual are inseparable and effective educational models create a supportive social context for the learners.

4.3

The nature of education: Training v development

These two educational models can be seen as epitomising another important distinction which is often heard in debate on teacher education; the distinction between training and development. In the literature, teacher training is often presented as imposing established patterns of thought and behaviour from the outside, whilst teacher development aims to encourage personal growth to come from the inside (See Bowen 2004 for explanation of the concepts ‘from the outside’ and ‘from the inside’. See Mann 2005 for an extended discussion of the distinction between training and development). To a certain extent then the transmission model can be associated with the notion of training. The transmission model assumes that knowledge about teaching, the skills used in teaching and acceptable patterns of behaviour for teachers can be defined, explained and passed intact from trainer to student teacher. Teacher education trains teachers to behave in a certain predefined manner. Collaborative models, however, can be associated with teacher development. From this perspective knowledge cannot be passed intact from one person to another because the situation of communication, the relationship and interactions of the participants in the act of communication, and the cognitive and affective state of the participants will have a profound effect on how knowledge is interpreted and assimilated. Within this paradigm, teacher education provides student teachers with tools they can use to enhance their own personal development. At this point, it is important to clarify that what has been presented is a purposefully dichotomized view of language teacher education models. 2

The term is being used in a broad sense here and can be taken to include elements of the cognition theories of Piaget, the socio-constructivism of Vygotsky and theories of shared cognition – Suchman (1987), Lave (1988).

Language teacher education models 91 However, although the transmission and collaborative models have been presented as being in opposition to each other, they can also be viewed as complementary. Indeed in many teacher education programs student teachers are provided with a mixture of lectures (organized according to the transmission model) and seminars involving more collaborative work.

5 Teacher education programs: theory-oriented v practiceoriented models Central to much debate concerning language teacher education models are differing views on the place of theory and practice in teacher education and on the relationship between them.

5.1

Theory v practice in TE programs - The impact of reforms in the UK and France

In many countries received opinion seems to swing between support for the need for theoretical knowledge and support for increased practical experience in teacher education programs. This is clearly highlighted by teacher education reforms in France and the UK. In the UK, initial teacher education underwent radical reform during the latter part of the 20th Century. In 1992 (for high schools) and 1993 (for primary schools) the amount of time spent training in universities was severely reduced in favour of more prolonged periods of teaching practice. At the same time, from the late 80s alternative routes to Qualified Teacher Status were strongly promoted by the government and by 2010, 15% of newly qualified teachers had followed a school-based route into teaching. Educational reforms from 2010 have further promoted the apprenticeship approach to teacher education. In the middle of this seemingly smooth progression towards increasing support for the practical element of teacher education, 2009 saw the introduction of a master’s degree in Teaching and Learning and students in initial teacher education programmes were given strong incentives to pursue this course of study. However, it would be a simplification to see this innovation as a resurgence of support for the theoretical elements of teacher education. Although the MA in Teaching and Learning introduced a research element into initial teacher education, the aim of the MA was to support the student teacher in the evolution of her/his professional identity within a school context. The focus of the research undertaken was to be the exploration of daily pedagogical practice rather than the examination of theoretical innovations or discoveries 3 . 3

It must be borne in mind that these education reforms should not be viewed as based on purely research-based criteria. Political ideologies and financial constraints also play a major role. In the

92 Marie-Christine Deyrich and Kari Stunnel In France, until the early 1990s, primary teachers were educated in teacher education institutes whilst secondary school teachers received no specific pedagogical training; only mentoring once they took up their first job. In the early 1990s, teacher education in teacher education establishments was extended to include all future teachers. Further reform in the early 20th century saw the teacher training institutes integrated into the universities. At this time the programmes offered both theoretical input and supported teaching practice. However, the French situation is unusual in that it is based on a consecutive model. According to this model teachers need two kinds of knowledge: knowledge of their discipline and pedagogical knowledge concerning the teaching of that discipline. However, these different kinds of knowledge are not to be learned concurrently. First future teachers need to study the discipline to be taught in order to become experts, and then they need to learn how to be teachers. The expert knowledge is tested in a competitive exam and only those that pass go on to become student teachers. Through the 1990s this pedagogical training period involved a year working as a student teacher with ongoing support from the teacher training institution. Reforms in 2010 saw a radical change in the content of teacher education without any change in the underlying model. As in the UK a master’s degree in teaching was introduced and in France it became an obligatory requirement for all newly qualified teachers. This introduced a welcome element of reflection into the theoretical programme which it could be hoped would equip new teachers with a certain level of informed critical reflection regarding their own practice. However, at the same time the year of supported teaching practice was removed. Since the underlying model remained the consecutive model – disciplinary knowledge input followed by pedagogical knowledge input – this meant that newly qualified teachers, despite holding a master’s degree in teaching, had had very little pedagogical training. New reforms underway at the time of writing (2013) aim to rectify this situation to some extent. The year of guided teaching practice has been reintroduced and official discourse suggests support for increased integration of theory and practice.

UK, the major education reforms from 1980-1997 were introduced by a neo-liberal/neoconservative dominated government, those instigated from 1997-2010 by a new, nominally more left-leaning government and those post 2010 by a coalition once more dominated by neoliberal/neo-conservative opinion in a period of deep economic crisis.

Language teacher education models 93

5.2

Key concepts in teacher learning

Our discussion so far has led us to identify a number of key concepts in teacher learning which are represented schematically in the diagram below. Differing views concerning the nature of knowledge (both theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge) lead to the employment of different methods of knowledge communication. At the same time, differing views concerning the nature of education itself (education in both the theories and the educational process – the acquisition of skills or the evolution of developmental tools.

As object - replication - application

Transmission training

knowledge

Teacher learning

In construction - participation - interaction

Collaboration development tools - for personal development

skills - predefined behaviors

education Figure 2. Key concepts in teacher learning. However, successful language teacher education models needs to take into account not only the existence of these different elements, but also their relative utility at different stages of the learning process.

5.3

The issue of teacher learning

Recent research into the nature of language teacher learning goes some way towards explaining why neither a highly theoretical nor an apprenticeshipbased model is completely satisfying. A number of recent studies have found that teachers do not seem to make much use of theory in their work (Hoekstra 2007; Nicolas et al., 2011). It could therefore be concluded that theoreticallyoriented teacher education models are less likely to be effective than practice-

94 Marie-Christine Deyrich and Kari Stunnel oriented models. However, at the same time research suggests that the quality, quantity and type of theoretical knowledge presented within teacher education programmes is not necessarily at fault. The problem seems to be linked to the way in which the knowledge is presented. This may well be due to a misunderstanding of the way in which teachers learn. Evidence seems to suggest that teacher learning is a bottom-up rather than a top-down process. Any classroom situation is highly complex and, however well-planned the lesson is in advance, in order to guide the class through the plan, teachers have to react to events as they happen, often without much time for reflection. According to Epstein (1990) these reactions are holistic or ‘gestalt’ reactions; involving cognitive, emotional, motivational and behavioural factors. Korthagen (2009) sees these holistic reactions as the first stage in a three-tier process of teacher learning. During the second stage, involving reflection on the action and behaviour found in similar situations, the actor “may develop a conscious network of concepts, characteristics, principles, and so on, helpful in describing practice. Such a network is called a schema” (2009: 102). Although based around reflection on actual reaction to concrete situations, during the transition to the schema phase this knowledge becomes “desituated” (Hatano and Inagaki, 1991; Simons et al., 2003). During the third phase the schema are linked into a coherent theory on the conceptual level. Over time, this knowledge is employed without conscious effort.

5.4

Challenges for teacher educators

It is clear that external theoretical input is not going to be easily integrated at all stages of this learning process. As Korthagen remarks, “theory can only become useful if students themselves develop the wish for a more profound understanding” (2009: 104). This clearly has important implications for teacher education, suggesting that teacher educators need to put practice at the heart of their work. If we reflect for a moment on teacher education from the students’ perspective we could surmise that for student teachers involved in ITE the practical element of their course is often the most challenging. Whatever they have learnt before going into the classroom, once they are there, classroom management takes up a lot of their mental time and energy. In their minds the teaching practice may well be the central learning experience of their training programme. This is particularly true if they are involved in a school-based training programme. To some extent experienced teachers undergoing professional development present a different case. Basic classroom management is probably not so much of an issue anymore; however, classroom practice remains at the heart of their experience. Those who chose to follow a professional development course often do so because of the impact that they hope it will have on their

Language teacher education models 95 classroom practice. What happens in the classroom, and how they react to it, is therefore central to teacher learning for both student teachers and experienced teachers, even when learning is taking place within the context of a formal education programme. Teacher educators need to take this into account. It does not mean that practical elements should be allowed to dominate training programmes; rather it means that engaging in practice has to be the first step in the teacher learning process. Theory could be said to be the foundation of practice on one level, but on the level of teacher learning, theoretical input needs to come after immediate holistic reactions to real life situations have been experienced and assimilated. Guskey (2002) and Kazemi and Hubbard (2008) also argue in this direction. For them classroom practice is a key element in teacher learning and must be fully integrated into professional development programmes. Timperley et al. (2007) identify “active engagement of the teacher learner in the learning process with understandings discussed and negotiated” as a key element of effective teacher learning. - Challenges for student teachers However, care needs to be taken. As Yaklef puts it, “we do not learn from our narrowly defined practices and activities, from our immediate concerns and experiences, but also through reflecting upon our experiences” (2008: 41). Increasing the quantity of teaching practice within teacher education models will not be effective unless in-depth reflection on this practical experience is fully integrated into the model. Apprenticeship involves a subtle form of enculturation by which the apprentice absorbs and eventually replicates the language and behaviour norms of her/his environment (Lave and Kvale, 1995). According to this logic, student teachers learning through an apprenticeship model are more likely to take on the values of their mentors and their workplace than they are to hold onto new values or ideas about learning which originate in non-school contexts. Teacher education models which vastly reduce the quantity of theoretical input and increase teaching practice are not necessarily the answer. Student teachers need to be encouraged to make the links between theory and practice. They need to be led towards an appreciation of the importance of grounding their practice in clear understanding of theoretical concepts, and ultimately towards integration of theory and practice. Beyond acquiring technical professional skills and knowledge language teachers need to know why certain teaching techniques work in certain situations and why the different groups of learners they encounter respond in the ways that they do. They need to know about cognitive accounts of learning and theories of knowledge construction. However, language teachers don’t just need to know these things; they need to know how to apply them in practice. The application of abstract principles

96 Marie-Christine Deyrich and Kari Stunnel in practical contexts does not necessarily come naturally and emerging teacher education models need to help teachers to develop the capacity to be enquiring, to reflect critically on personal practice and on the practice of others. Learning to teach is a lifelong process and for much of the time, most teachers will be in charge of their own professional development. The benefits of an inquiry-oriented approach to teaching have been around since the 1970s and in recent years have been endorsed by the widespread adoption of elements of the reflective practitioner model, and the incorporation of research modules into many language teacher training programmes.

6 The evaluation of teacher education models: Objectives v process models Finally, it is also important to reflect on the manner in which teacher education programmes are evaluated as this has a big impact on their content. All kinds of people and organisations are interested in the outcomes of language teacher education programs; governments, employing institutions, course designers - not to mention the teacher educators and the student teachers themselves. In order to satisfy their needs evaluation needs to be carried out. Since the 1970s two principle models of evaluation have been identified: the objectives model and the process model. Each model reflects a particular conceptualisation of teachers and of the teaching process (See Stenhouse, 1975; Romiszowski, 1981 for detailed accounts; or Woodward, 1991 for a summary account. The following is a summary of their work). - The objectives model: the ‘good’ teacher According to the objectives model, teaching is viewed in behavioural terms and can be broken down into a series of component skills. A ‘good’ teacher can therefore be defined as someone who has acquired all of the designated component skills, or competences. Each competence is established as a course objective which can be measured at the end of the training program. This view has a number of advantages, not least of which is its clear-cut nature; student teachers, educators, and syllabus designers all know what is expected of them and the success, or otherwise, of any given program can be statistically analysed. However, as Woodward (1991: 212) points out, the model makes a number of serious, and difficult to prove, assumptions about teaching. The first of these is the assumption that a complex activity such as teaching can be analysed into a list of separable competences. This view is perhaps somewhat simplistic. As Woodward remarks, many would prefer to view ‘good’ teaching as involving a complex “mixture of values, beliefs, knowledge and affective responses”; a mix which needs to be constantly adapted to suit different teaching environments, class profiles and learner styles. The ability to carry out each of the component skills individually, even

Language teacher education models 97 if each of these could realistically be identified, is not a guarantee that the student teacher will be a ‘good’ teacher. The different skills need to be used in combination. Broadly speaking, this model of evaluation is founded on the same philosophical principles as were discussed in relation to the transmission model of teaching (see section 1.2.1). - The process model: ongoing development The process model takes a different approach. Here learners are viewed more holistically, teacher education is seen as a collaborative activity which involves enabling student teachers to develop knowledge, insights, attitudes, values, understanding and the analytical skills necessary to combine these in accordance with the teaching situation within which they are working. According to this model, any given teacher education program is only a single element in a teacher’s ongoing development. It is therefore tacitly accepted that training programs help student teachers to develop life skills, the benefits of which may not be immediately apparent. The advantage of this model is that it takes the complexity of teaching into account and views the teacher, and the teacher’s career, holistically. The disadvantage is the difficulty of assessing the non-behavioural elements on which the course is focussed. - Objectives v process in the UK and France Generally speaking, evaluation of the various components of national education systems – the schools, the students and the teachers - in the early 21st century has tended to opt for the objectives model. For example, since the 1980s, in the UK, a number of government initiatives have encouraged the ‘marketisation’ of education. Within this perspective, education becomes a “production-consumption system” (Leung and Teasdale, 1991: 62) and teacher education, as Elliot (1993: 17) puts it, “can be clearly pre-specified in tangible and concrete form ... learning outcomes are conceived as behavioural, with an emphasis placed on atomistic specification or discrete practical skills (competences)”. Indeed, in the UK, 1997 saw the introduction of a list of 100 standards to satisfy in order to complete initial teacher education and become a qualified teacher. In France, newly qualified teachers must have completed a master’s degree (preferably in education) and passed a competitive national exam. This exam, which comprises a written and an oral component, results in all candidates being ranked from the best to the worst – a ranking which has strong implications for their future employment opportunities. Under these highly competitive conditions, knowledge of subject matter is everything and there is little scope for evaluating more holistic skills. However, despite the advantage of seeming to make teacher education easier to monitor on a national level, the objectives model has some serious

98 Marie-Christine Deyrich and Kari Stunnel limitations. Whilst it may be possible to assess some aspects of teacher knowledge and certain teaching skills as separable units, this is not always the case. The lack of prominence given to the teaching of intercultural competence provides a good example of where the problem lies. Intercultural competence is widely recognized as being an essential 21St century skill for both student teachers and their future students. Yet it is rarely given a central place in teacher education programmes. The Common European Framework (104-105) provides a summary list of essential intercultural skills and know-how which includes: - the ability to bring the culture of origin and the foreign culture into relation with each other; - cultural sensitivity and the ability to identify and use a variety of strategies for contact with those from other cultures; - the capacity to fulfil the role of cultural intermediary between one’s own culture and the foreign culture and to deal effectively with intercultural misunderstanding and conflict situations; - the ability to overcome stereotyped relationships. The qualitative nature of the four intercultural skills listed above, and the subsequent difficulties which measuring them effectively in an exam context would no doubt involve, is undeniable. As Woodward (1991: 212) notes, objective evaluation models often end up giving “more weight to measurable skills than less measurable ones”. Therefore, it is perhaps not unsurprising that the teaching of intercultural competence is often overlooked in objectives-oriented teacher education programmes.

7 Conclusions We have seen that language teacher education models need to take into account, the interdependent nature of theory and practice, using practical experience as a stepping stone for the introduction of theoretical knowledge and using teaching practice as a means of experimenting with the application of theory. In the diagram below this interrelationship is represented by the two-headed arrows. An effective model also invites reflection on the nature of education and knowledge and on the different ways in which knowledge can be communicated or constructed. A 21st century language teacher education model should draw attention to the overarching aims of the teacher education process. Although certain objectives may have been reached, professional development is not complete at the end of the initial teacher education period. Teacher learning should be a lifelong process; as is represented by the underlying arrow form of the diagram below. Teacher education should enable teachers to develop a critical perspective, providing them with the necessary tools to nourish their ongoing practice through the incorporation of theoretical innovations.

Language teacher education models 99 During the course of their careers teachers move through a number of stages of professional development: novice, advanced beginner, competent worker, proficient, expert professional (Dreyfus and Dreyfus, 1986). At each stage the teacher is ready to take on different new knowledge and skills – and needs access to different kinds of training opportunities. As noted in the Scottish literature review: “provision for professional learning across the career span is an important component in most systems where educational outcomes have been improving” (2010: 2).

THEORYļPRACTICE

knowledge construction

transmission training

skills

Teacher learning

collaboration

education

development

PROCESS

OBJECTIVES

object

tools

PRACTICEļTHEORY Figure 3: Teacher learning. Future challenges In the light of the unique challenges of the 21st century, in many contexts, teacher education needs a rethink. The status of English as a lingua franca, the increasing need for intercultural competence in many walks of life, the evolution of digital learning contexts which transcend time and space, the growing possibilities for auto-formation, and new research into learning processes all point to a need to reassess teacher education models.

100 Marie-Christine Deyrich and Kari Stunnel Furthermore, no teacher education model can be truly successful unless it is accompanied by reflection on how to educate the teacher educators. In many countries, such as France (in 2013) university lecturers are not required to have any formal teaching qualification. New teacher educator models are needed. If teacher educators are to successfully negotiate the rapid expansion in the provision of online teacher education courses, and the possibilities of creating collaborative workspaces that new technologies provide, they are going to need new skills and a new kind of creativity. Furthermore, the proliferation of school-based and fast-track teacher education models is opening up the possibility for many school teachers to become teacher educators and they need to be guided through this transformation. A lot of questions remain to be answered and new research is needed. What do new emerging models look like in terms of structure? And content? What are the characteristics of the 21st century teacher? And what should the characteristics of teacher education programs be in that case? The gap between real-life teaching experiences and the methods used on teacher education courses needs to be examined. For example the collaborative model is rare in France even though teaching in a school is often a collaborative experience. How can teacher education models be adapted to foster collaborative learning? Why has the teacher educator community been slow to adopt this approach? Research into online teacher education models is also called for; there needs to be reflection on the role of the human teacher. What does the human side of teaching bring to learners and to the context of learning? Is this contribution replaceable or transmissible in a virtual context? What kind of new skills do teachers need in order to design and implement effective online programmes which make optimum use of the potential of resources? Increasingly, national governments need to take the directives of international organisms into account when taking policy decisions and it is becoming more and more likely that professionals trained in one country will eventually seek work in another. How is this effecting language teacher training models? Do national models need to be adapted to take on a more international perspective? Finally, the development of an effective model for teaching intercultural competence needs to be explored. How can existing models be adapted to allow intercultural competence a more central place in both teacher education and school curricula?

8 References Alexander, R. J., M. Craft, and J. Lynch (1984) Change in teacher education: context and provision since Robbins, London: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Bowen, T. (2004) Continuous professional development, The Onestop

Language teacher education models 101 Magazine,http://www.onestopenglish.com/News/Magazine/Archive/co ntinuous.htm consulted 12 April 2013 Dillenbourg, P., M. Baker, A. Blaye, and C. O’Malley (1996). The evolution of research on collaborative learning. In Spada, E., and P. Reiman (eds) Learning in humans and machine: towards an interdisciplinary learning science, Oxford: Elsevier: 189-211. Dillebourg, P. (1999) Collaborative learning: cognitive and computational approaches, Oxford: Elsevier Science & Technology Books. Doise, W. (1990) The development of individual competencies through social Interaction. In Foot, H. C., M. J. Morgan, and R.H. Shute (eds) Children helping children, Chichester: J. Wiley & Sons: 43-64. Dreyfus, H. L., and S. E. Dreyfus (1986) Mind Over Machine: The Power of Human Intuition and Expertise in the Era of the Computer, Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Elliott, J. (1993) Three perspectives on coherence and continuity. In Elliot, J. (ed) Reconstructing Teacher Education: Teacher Development, London: Routledge: 15-19. Epstein, S. (1990) Cognitive-experiential self-theory. In Pervin, L. (ed) Handbook of personality: Theory and research, New York: Guilford: 165-192. Furlong, J., O. McNamara, A. Campbell, J. Howson, and S. Lewis (2008) Partnership, policy and politics: initial teacher education in England under New Labour, Teachers and Teaching 14 (4): 307-318. Guskey T. R. (2002) Professional Development and Teacher Change, Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 8 (3-4): 381-391. Hatana, K., and H. Inagaki (1991) Sharing cognition through selective comprehension activity. In Resnick, L. B., J. M. Levine, and S. D. Teasley (eds) Perspectives on socially shared cognition. American Psychological Association. Hoekstra, A., D. Beijaard, M. Brekelmans, and F. Korthagen, F. (2007) Experienced teachers’ informal learning from classroom teaching, Teachers and Teaching, 13 (2): 191-208. John, O. P., R. W. Robinson, and L. A. Pervin (2010) Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research, New York: Guilford Press. Kazemi, E., and A. Hubbard (2008) New Directions for the Design and Study of Professional Development Attending to the Coevolution of Teachers’ Participation Across Contexts, Journal of Teacher Education, 59 (5): 428-441. Korthagen, F. A. J. (2009) Professional Learning from within, Studying Teacher Education, 5 (2): 195-199. Lave, J. (1988) Cognition in Practice: Mind, Mathematics and Culture in Everyday Life, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lave, J., and S. Kvale (1995) What is anthropological research? An interview

102 Marie-Christine Deyrich and Kari Stunnel with Jean Lave by Steinar Kvale, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 8 (3): 219-228. Leung, C., and A. Teasdale (1999) ESL Teacher Competence:Professional education and the Nature of Professional Knowledge. In TrappesLomax, H., and I. McGrath (eds) Theory in Language Teacher Education, London: Longman Group: 57-69. Lomax, H. T., and I. McGrath (1999) Theory in Language Teacher Education, London: Longman Group. Mann, S. (2005) The language teacher’s development, Language Teaching 38 (03): 103-118. Morgan, M. S., and M. Morrison (1999) Models as Mediators: Perspectives on Natural and Social Science, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Nicholas, H., D. Starks, and S. MacDonald (2011) Relating « knowing » and « doing » in language teacher professional learning: An in-service teacher workshop for language teachers, TESOL in Context, 21(1): 2339. Prabhu, N. S. (1987) Language education: Equipping or enabling?. In Das, B. K. (ed) Language education in human resource development, Singapore: Seameo Regional Language Centre: 190-201. Reddy, M. J. (1979) The conduit metaphor -- a case of frame conflict in our language about language. In Ortony, A. (ed) Metaphor and Thought, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 284-297. Romiszowski, A. J. (1981) Designing instructional systems: decision making in course planning and curriculum design, London-New York: Kogan Page-Nichols Pub. Roschelle, J., and S. D. Teasley (1995) The construction of shared knowledge in collaborative problem-solving. In O'Malley, C. E. (ed) Computersupported collaborative learning, Berlin: Springer-Verlag: 69-97. Schön, D. A. (1983) The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action, New York: Basic Books. Sfard, A. (1998) On Two Metaphors for Learning and the Dangers of Choosing Just One, Educational Researcher, 27 (2): 4-13. Simons, H., S. Kushner, K. Jones, and D. James (2003) From evidence-based practice to practice-based evidence: the idea of situated generalization, Research Papers in Education, 18 (4): 347-364. Stenhouse, L. (1975) An introduction to curriculum research and development, Oxford: Heinemann. Stern, H. H. (1983) Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching: Historical and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Applied Linguistic Research, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Stuart, J. S. (1999) How research into programs for the initial preparation of teachers can help improve the quality of life in teachers' colleges and

Language teacher education models 103 schools. In Otaala, B. (ed) Issues in education. Faculty of Education, University of Namibia and the National Institute for Educational Development. Stuart, J. S., and M. T. Tatto (2000) Designs for initial teacher preparation programs: an international view, International Journal of Educational Research, 33 (5): 493-514. Suchman, L. A. (1987) Plans and Situated Actions: The Problem of Humanmachine Communication, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Timperley, H., A. Barrar, and I. Fung (2007) The Teacher Professional Learning and Development BES Best Evidence Synthesis. Ministry of Education - Education Counts. Consulted 12 april 2013, at http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/series/2515/15341 Wallace, M. J. (1991) Training Foreign Language Teachers: A Reflective Approach, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Woodward, T. (1991) Models and Metaphors in Language Teacher Training: Loop Input and Other Strategies, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Yakhlef, A. (2010) The three facets of knowledge: A critique of the practicebased learning theory, Research Policy, 39 (1): 39-46. Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (2001) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Literature Review on Teacher Education in the 21st Century (2010, octobre 1). Research Publications. Consulted 12 April 2013, at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/09/24144019/0

9 Recommended reading Darling-Hammond, L., and J. Bransford (eds) (2007) Preparing teachers for a changing world: What teachers should learn and be able to do, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. This book discusses key issues in the design of teacher education programmes. Catroux, M., and M.C. Deyrich (2009) Investigating Gaps and Transfers in Initial EFL Teacher Education for Primary Schools. Proceedings of the International Conference ‘Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice, University of Vienna, Department of English, 26-28 February, Schiftner, B. (dir.). View[z],Vienna English Working Papers, published online.

104 Marie-Christine Deyrich and Kari Stunnel This paper deals with the links between professional development, the didactic processing of knowledge and skills in initial teacher education for primary school teachers. The focus is on gaps and transfers between theory and practice. Schoenfeld, A. H. (2009) Instructional Research and the Improvement of Practice. In Bransford, J. D., D. J. Stipek, N. J. Vye, L. M. Gomez, and D. Lam (eds) The Role of Research in Educational Improvement, Harvard: Harvard Education Press: 161-188. This book deals with questions related to the inclusion of research modules in teacher education programmes. It considers the impacts and long terms benefits for classroom practice that involvement in research projects can bring. Page, R. N. (2001) Reshaping Graduate Preparation in Educational Research Methods: One School’s Experience, Educational Researcher (30) 5: 19–25. This paper deals with the changing needs of the 21st century teacher. These needs include the knowledge and skills to instruct diverse students; an increasing emphasis on standards and an integrated curriculum model. Coolahan, J. (2002) Teacher education and the teaching career in an era of lifelong learning (No. 2). OECD Publishing. This paper considers the notion of lifelong learning for teachers. It explores the challenges that the fundamental social and economic changes re-shaping contemporary society pose for those involved in developing lifelong learning policies.

10 Questions for reflection and discussion -

Which of the models discussed are relevant to the context within which you study/work? To what extent can recent reforms to language teacher education in the context within which you work/study be viewed as being a response to changes in the value given to different theoretical models? In some ways the evaluation of teacher education programmes is made easier if the teaching process is broken down into measurable component skills. How far should ‘measurability’ be a guiding principal when planning the form and content of teacher education programmes?

Language teacher education models 105 -

-

-

Is it possible to get the right balance between theoretical and practical elements in a language teacher training course? What is the relative weight given to each of these components in your own country? Do you think this balance is right? To what extent is a high level of expertise in the language a prerequisite for being an effective language teacher? In order to be effective practitioners, language teachers need to maintain competence in the language taught and knowledge of the countries and cultures where the language is the L1 throughout their careers. How can teacher education programmes take this into account ? What kind of help do language teachers need in order for their professional development to keep up with ongoing changes in teaching contexts and methodologies? What kind of ongoing professional development is available for practicing language teachers in your country? Do you think practicing language teachers in your country receive the right kind of/enough ongoing professional development?

Practicum experience in teacher education: Is experience the best teacher? Muriel Grosbois (Université Paris-Sorbonne IUFM, France) This chapter considers the role of practice abroad in second language (L2) teacher education. More precisely, it examines the potential as well as the limits of practicum experience abroad for the linguistic and professional development of L2 trainee teachers. It is grounded in a study involving French Master students (trainee teachers) who were placed in primary schools or universities in various countries: England, Germany, India, Scotland, the United States and Spain. Not only did they get teaching experience there, but they were also asked to collaborate on creating some professionally-oriented digital resources based on teaching practice abroad. However, the data gathered for this study stress the importance of adding two levels of reflection to experience. Linguistically, it appears that authentic input alone is not sufficient to reduce the impact of the trainee teachers’ native language on their L2 oral output. Secondly, the results also highlight the role played by reflection, not just experience, to develop intercultural awareness. This chapter thus emphasizes the interest of combining action and reflection sustained by theory. In other words, hands on, yes, but minds on too!

1 Introduction This chapter sets out to examine practicum experience in teacher education, and more specifically the role played by practice abroad in second language (L2) teacher education. It raises the following question: given that L2 trainee teachers need to develop their mastery of the L2 as well as their pedagogical expertise, could professional experience abroad be considered the best teacher for them? Learning by doing has long been advocated (e.g. Dewey, 1899). A pragmatic view of learning is also well grounded in the field of L2 acquisition: L2 learning (and teaching) through tasks carried out with peers in the target language has been supported for some time by numerous researchers including Breen (1987), Ellis (2003), Nunan (2004), O’Dowd and Ware (2009), to name a few. In line with this well-established theoretical perspective of the importance of socio-cultural contexts for L2 development, the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Conseil de l’Europe, 2001) promotes an action-oriented approach in which L2 acquisition is rooted in social interaction. Such social interaction sometimes takes place online and, in today’s ever increasingly more globalized and digital world, may include communication with native speakers (NS) as well as with non-native speakers (NNS), especially with the growing development of social networks.

108 Muriel Grosbois In this mainstream action-based approach, however, little research has been done on the interest of combining action (teaching practice in this case) and reflection that is underpinned by theory, so as to reduce the effect of nativisation (that is to say the impact of the languages and cultures a learner already knows) in teacher education. These are precisely the topics which will be explored in this chapter. Based on the experience of trainee teachers engaged in academic mobility, it thus analyses the importance of action and reflection for the benefit of their linguistic and professional development. After introducing the research context and the theoretical rationale which sustains it, the results of a project carried out with French trainee teachers who went on placement abroad will be examined, in order to consider whether it may lay the foundation for future teacher training programmes.

2 General framework 2.1

Research context

The study involved students enrolled in a two-year Master’s degree in the teacher training institute of Paris-Sorbonne University in France. As most of these Master’s students plan on becoming primary school teachers in France, one of the courses they can take is aimed at enhancing their professional development as well as their L2 skills in English. This is in keeping with the fact that L2 teaching is required in primary schools in France and that English is the most commonly L2 taught. Considering that most of the trainee teachers are not English specialists, they are particularly interested in improving their mastery of English with a focus on the oral skills needed for teaching. Gaining confidence in spoken English is thus of the utmost importance to them. To meet this demand, international exchanges were set up, so that the Master’s students could do their teaching practicum abroad. In the second year of their Master’s degree, they can thus go to England, Scotland, the United States, India, Germany or Spain, to teach for a time period ranging from four weeks up to nine months. Professional experience abroad is therefore at the heart of the programme. Moreover, one of the requirements is that the trainee teachers should create digital resources that meet the following criteria: they must be professionally-oriented and include interviews carried out in English with foreign professionals no matter where the placement takes place so that they can be analysed by all the participants. Since this programme is informed by research, it is worth considering its underlying theoretical rationale.

Practicum experience in teacher education 109

2.2

Theoretical rationale

A review of the relevant literature on this topic emphasizes the importance of pragmatism.

2.2.1 Hands-on! The task-based approach has gained popularity in the field of language learning and teaching over the last decade. Chapelle reminds us that “across definitions it is generally agreed that tasks must have goals, and that they are carried out through participants’ engagement in goal-oriented behavior that relies at least in part on language” (2003: 129). Within that paradigm, language learning amounts to “performing activities that satisfy the key criteria of a task, i.e., that language is used pragmatically to achieve some non-linguistic outcome” (Ellis, 2003: 16). The teacher training programme which is examined here can be considered as meeting such criteria given that it is centered on teaching practice in the host country, completed by the creation of digital resources with professional foreign partners. In that respect, it is also in keeping with the concept of situated learning as defined by Collins, Brown and Newman: Situated learning. A critical element in fostering learning is to have students carry out meaningful tasks and solve meaningful problems in an environment that reflects their own personal interests as well as the multiple purposes to which their knowledge will be put in the future (1989: 487).

Partly based on apprenticeship, the programme is thus likely to “promote learning within the nexus of activity, tool, and culture” as Brown, Collins and Duguid put it (1989: 40). It also relies on “the social construction of knowledge”, in line with Vygotsky (1934), since it is hoped that the students will gradually learn how to teach and develop their L2 skills by way of interacting with others. It is in fact rooted in collaborative social interaction. For instance, creating the digital resources falls into the “collaborative tasks” category defined by O’Dowd and Ware (2009), and more precisely into type 9 of their typology named “Collaborating on product creation”. As the authors explain, such tasks “bring about substantial amounts of negotiation of meaning both on linguistic and cultural levels as learners strive to reach agreement on their final product” (2009: 178). They add that the intended outcome is “greater awareness of target culture /one’s own culture”. Within this general framework, (L2) learning is sustained by action and interaction with others. This now needs to be considered in light of today’s global context.

110 Muriel Grosbois

2.2.2 Languages and cultures in today’s global context The 21st century has turned global, partly due to the rapid development of technology. As a consequence, mobility (be it real or virtual) now allows access to a variety of foreign languages and cultures. First of all, it is interesting to note that today, people are likely to be exposed to a variety of Englishes. In that respect, given that L2 oral production is the competency many learners need to improve the most, in France at least, it is worth considering the fact that “NNS-NNS different-Language 1 dyads appear as the most beneficial for pronunciation development – both in achievement and instances of modified output - followed by NNS-NS dyads and NNS-NNS same-L1 dyads” as Bueno noted (2010: 15). This explains the interest for students in collaborating on tasks with NS or NNS of English. Research also indicates that experiencing other cultures through an actionbased approach can help develop intercultural awareness and thus better understand the target culture while avoiding clichés (Byram, 1992). O’Dowd (2011) also analyses how virtual mobility by means of interactions between learners in geographically distant locations, can enrich intercultural experience. This may apply to the professional domain as well, when trainee teachers opt for academic mobility. Yet, although exposure to languages and cultures has tremendously increased in our technology-mediated society, cross-cultural contact alone is not necessarily synonymous with greater openness and engagement with those who differ from us, as Heyward (2002) underscores. In fact, the effectiveness of co-action and interaction is likely to be reduced by nativisation, unless reflection is introduced.

2.2.3 Minds on for denativisation Andersen defines the concept of nativisation as follows: In all the settings where the learner already has a language when he begins to acquire another, the linguistic features of his earlier-acquired language(s) are relevant to the outcome of his acquisition of the additional language. [...] The input in all these settings is perceived and processed to a large extent in terms of the existing (or simultaneously acquired) languages the learner knows and uses (1983: 20).

Other researchers, such as Jordan (2004: 168-172), Corder (1992: 27), Pallier et al. (2003: 160) also refer to the influence of one’s prior knowledge and practice of other languages on the one being acquired. Neuroscientists Dupoux and Peperkamp (2002: 169) explain: Early exposure to a language has a lasting impact on speech processing routines in adults. That is, listeners use a processing apparatus specifically tuned to their maternal

Practicum experience in teacher education 111 language. Consequently, they have a lot of difficulty in dealing with sound structures that are alien to the language they heard as infants.

As Narcy-Combes observes (2010: 86), nativisation is “still often overlooked although it has long been known (Troubetskoy, 1939) and may be detrimental to adequate uptake of the input”. One of its consequences is that it is likely to lead to misunderstanding and thus turn out to be an obstacle when participants (inter)act to accomplish a task. This is particularly the case as nativisation applies not only to language but also to culture, as Demaizière and Narcy-Combes point out (2005). The reverse process called “denativization” by Andersen (1983: 12) is thus necessitated. Yet, getting away from the influence of one’s prior knowledge and practice of other languages and cultures requires mediation. Indeed, according to Channouf (2004), this can only be achieved thanks to a mediator (be it a trainer or peer) whose role it is precisely to help the learner pay conscious attention to the input (whether linguistic or cultural) and reflect on it. This theoretical background explains why the training programme that was set up combines professional experience abroad and reflection, with a view to helping the French trainee teachers enhance their L2 oral skills in English as well as their cultural awareness (including professional culture).

3 Action and reflection for linguistic development purposes Given the students’ needs to focus on spoken English for their future teaching practice, the Master’s progamme gave them the opportunity to practise their L2 oral skills when on placement in English-speaking countries. Yet, recent research conducted by Grosbois (2011) indicates that although having access to authentic oral input helps to reduce phonological nativisation, developing metalinguistic awareness may also prove necessary. In that respect, French linguists specializing in English phonetics and phonology, namely Deschamps (1994), Duchet (1994), Groussier and Rivière (1996), Ginésy (2000) and Huart (2002) identify three major categories: vowels, consonants and word stress, in which phonological nativisation particularly affects French learners of English. Halff (1995: 171) underlines the fact that it affects reception as well as production and may lead to misunderstanding. In line with the theoretical framework previously developed, it was therefore hypothesized that phonological nativisation is likely to be reduced by reflection on language, not just by being exposed to authentic input. In order to test this hypothesis, an experiment was set up.

112 Muriel Grosbois

3.1

Experiment

The study of phonological nativisation was limited to one of the three major difficulty types listed by Huart: word stress. The procedure to test the hypothesis was as follows. 100 words containing at least two syllables were extracted from a wiki-based school 1 designed by British partners. The latter, PGCE 2 students from the University of East London, interacted online in their virtual school on subjects linked to their professional activity, for example around topics such as “Teaching, learning and assessment policy”. The 100-word list was thus made up of authentic professionally-oriented vocabulary. The 100-word list was then handed out to a group of 15 trainee teachers (those enrolled in the Master’s programme during the 2011-2012 academic school year). The French Master’s students were asked to mark the stressed syllable for each of these English words on the list. More precisely, the pre-test consisted of having the trainee teachers mark the stressed syllable for each word of the list, before engaging in metalinguistic awareness tasks; and the post-test consisted of having the same trainee teachers mark the stressed syllable for each word of the same list, after having carried out metalinguistic awareness tasks. It should be noted that the metalinguistic awareness tasks were devised in light of previous research work (Grosbois, 2006) and were based on an inductive approach which consisted of analyzing contextualized oral exchanges which were all related to teacher education, so as to be situated and thus meaningful for the trainee teachers. Some of those tasks were for example carried out using the digital resources the trainee teachers developed with the material they gathered during their placement abroad (as in Figure 1 below).

1 2

http://uelvirtualschools.pbworks.com Post Graduate Certificate in Education

Practicum experience in teacher education 113

Figure 1. Example of an ebook created by a trainee teacher. In this ebook for instance, the interview with a professional native speaker 3 (bottom right of the page) was used to reflect on language. In fact, the resources created in English when on placement in a non English speaking country could also prove helpful, since “linguistic objectivation is the multilingual’s most characteristic cognitive ability” as Jessner states (2006: 42). The metalinguistic awareness tasks could thus be carried out using the variety of Englishes integrated in all the digital resources. The results of the experiment read as follows.

3.2

Results

The first set of results (Table 1) gives some global information on the impact of the metalinguistic awareness tasks.

Students

3

Number of words correctly stressed Before After Number metalinguistic metalinguistic of words awareness tasks awareness tasks

The faces have been blurred to preserve anonymity.

Difference

114 Muriel Grosbois Student 1

100

46

63

+17

Student 2

100

75

89

+14

Student 3

100

55

72

+17

Student 4

100

90

92

+2

Student 5

100

31

53

+22

Student 6

100

30

35

+5

Student 7

100

58

73

+15

Student 8

100

92

88

-4

Student 9

100

73

57

-16

Student 10

100

72

77

+5

Student 11

100

50

79

+29

Student 12

100

69

83

+14

Student 13

100

80

74

-6

Student 14

100

74

92

+18

Student 15

100

62

72

+10

Total

1500

957

1099

+142 +9.47%

Mean Std. Deviation

64.00

73.30

10.00

19.00

15.94

11.36

Table 1. Global results (The difference is statistically significant: t = 2.92, p = 0.011.) The data show that the number of words correctly stressed has increased by 9.47 % after the trainee teachers had performed the metalinguistic awareness tasks. Further results now need to be explored in order to test the hypothesis more in depth. Among the 15 students, only the first six did their teaching practice in Great Britain. For them, the post-test was carried out in two consecutive phases: 1) after their placement in Great Britain, 2) after the metalinguistic awareness tasks. This procedure enabled to first test the effect of authentic input on phonological nativisation. The following results were obtained after phase 1.

Practicum experience in teacher education 115

Students

Number of words correctly stressed Post-test Number Pre-test (after placement in Great of words Britain)

Difference

Student 1

100

46

52

+6

Student 2

100

75

79

+4

Student 3

100

55

58

+3

Student 4

100

90

90

0

Student 5

100

31

31

0

Student 6

100

30

30

0

54.50

56.67

2.17

(24.11)

(24.50)

(2.56)

Mean Std. Deviation

Table 2. Results after teaching practice in Great Britain (The difference is not statistically significant here.) The following results were obtained after phase 2. Number of words correctly stressed Post-test Number Students Pre-test (after metalinguistic of words awareness tasks)

Difference

Student 1

100

46

63

+17

Student 2

100

75

89

+14

Student 3

100

55

72

+17

Student 4

100

90

92

+2

Student 5

100

31

53

+22

Student 6

100

30

35

+5

54.50

67.33

12.83

24.11

21.77

7.73

Mean Std. Deviation

Table 3. Results after metalinguistic awareness tasks (The difference is statistically significant: t = 4.07, p = 0.010.)

116 Muriel Grosbois The data show that the number of words the six trainee teachers stressed correctly increased after their placement in Great Britain, but that the rise is significantly higher after their performing the metalinguistic awareness tasks.

3.3

Analysis and discussion

Given the limited size of the group sample and the fact that the effect on the trainee teachers’ oral output has not yet been evaluated, further research is needed. However, one of the preliminary conclusions that can be drawn is that reflection helps to reduce the effect of phonological nativisation. More precisely, the data in Tables 2 and 3 tend to show that teaching practice in British schools and/or universities (in other words, getting authentic input through practice) is not enough to reduce the effect of phonological nativisation: metalinguistic awareness tasks are necessary too. In fact, it may be worth having the French trainee teachers carry out metalinguistic awareness tasks before going on placement abroad. Indeed, making them aware of the importance of word stress in English before their going to Great Britain may help them pay attention to word stress in English during their teaching practice there, and thus may help them gradually part from the influence of their native language (in French, either each syllable is stressed equally or the last syllable is stressed). This may be regarded as useful information for setting up future Master’s programmes meant for trainee teachers who will have to teach English to primary school children. Both action and reflection can therefore be regarded as complementary linguistically, as far as phonological nativisation is concerned. Theoretically, action and reflection may also contribute to the trainee teachers’ cultural development.

4 Action and reflection for cultural development purposes When on placement in schools or universities abroad, the trainee teachers’ cultural experiences included everyday life in the foreign country as well as professional practice there. The analysis of two blogs they set up to share their experiences reveals the emergence of a community of practice.

4.1

Sharing one’s experience within a community of practice

In his definition of a community of practice, Wenger (2006) points out three constitutive elements:

Practicum experience in teacher education 117

A community of practice […] has an identity defined by a shared domain of interest. […] In pursuing their interest in their domain, members engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share information. […] Members of a community of practice are practitioners. They develop a shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems - in short a shared practice. […] It is the combination of these three elements that constitutes a community of practice.

These three fundamental elements appear in the blogs the trainee teachers developed. Indeed, beyond the fact that they were all interested in education (in their home country and abroad), it first appears that they chose to create one of the blogs, which they entitled “BreakingTheIceTeam”, in order to communicate with their peers on a long-stay placement in India or in the United States. As the name of one entry indicates: “À propos de vous, dites-nous tout” 4 , they were highly motivated by the prospect of learning about their peers’ experiences in those far-away places. In another entry: “À propos de nous” 5 , they phrase their objective as follows: Nous avons choisi d'échanger avec vous pour que les expériences des uns et des autres se complètent. […]. Le premier [objectif] serait d'atténuer le choc culturel des futurs étudiants qui choisiront de s'expatrier en Inde mais aussi d'apporter aux étudiants déjà en poste en Inde un soutien par rapport aux besoins pédagogiques rencontrés sur le terrain. 6

This objective is mentioned in less academic and formal terms in the very first messages they posted (Figure 2 below), through key words such as: - “échanger avec vous” 7 ; - “partager des ressources pédagogiques avec nous” 8 - “nous pouvons également t’aider en cas de besoin : tu pourras nous demander des ressources en FLE pour tes cours” 9

4

“About you: tell us everything! ” “About us” 6 “We have chosen to communicate with you so that we can learn from our respective experiences. […] The first [objective] would be to reduce the culture shock of the trainee teachers who will choose to go to India in the future, but also to support those who are already on placement there, by providing answers to their practical pedagogical needs.” 7 “communicate with you” 8 “share pedagogical resources with us” 9 “we can also help you if necessary: you can ask us to provide you with resources for your EFL classes” 5

118 Muriel Grosbois

Figure 2. Breaking The Ice Team. Clearly, the trainee teachers who created this blog are not only eager to learn about their peers’ experiences, they are also willing to help them. This intention to provide support became reality when they actually developed some video resources which could be used as authentic material for teaching French in India and the United States: Nous avons eu une idée! Nous vous avons préparé des petites vidéos mettant en scène des dialogues entre étudiants!! Nous avons pensé que cela pourrait vous être utile pour vos cours. 10

They then posted the resources on YouTube for the trainee teachers abroad to access them easily. Interestingly, there were also some instances of reciprocity, such as: 10 “We came up with an idea! We shot some short videos showing some dialogues among students!! We thought it could be useful for your classes.”

Practicum experience in teacher education 119

Voici l'adresse du site de l'université du Texas (Austin) qui pourrait vous être utile sur le plan méthodologique. Il est recommandé dans la formation des enseignants à l'université d'Arizona. […]. 11

Moreover, it is worth noting that the tone of the messages posted on the blog is very personal, and that the students even personalized the frame with a photo sent by one of the trainee teachers in India (Figure 2). They also expressed their wish to get further information, but not just from a professional point of view: “Tu pourras partager tes expériences professionnelles et culturelles…” 12 ; “On veut des vidéos, des photos, des témoignages, bref, on veut tout savoir ! ” 13 ; “Tu n’es pas obligée de mettre des ressources que pédagogiques, tu peux mettre des choses un peu plus fun et plus personnelles” 14 . This last remark actually echoes a previous allusion to some exchanges on Facebook: “Nous t’avons envoyé une invitation à rejoindre ce blog parce que […] les photos de Bombay sur facebook, faut en faire profiter tout le monde” 15 . Obviously, some of them had already used social media to communicate with each other. This shows how tenuous the link between formal and informal learning is, which is also in keeping with the notion of community of practice. The other blog (Figure 3) was developed by the trainee teachers on placement in Great Britain (London and Dundee). They chose to entitle it “My Franco-British Teachers Space”, which is somewhat reminiscent of “My Space”, where pieces of music are shared with others on the Web. This blog is a means for the trainee teachers to relate their professional experiences and thus share it with the other members of the group, as the following entries indicate: Displays:-); Assembly; Numeracy; English School – French lessons; the Glasgow Boys; A lesson in P2…

11 “Here’s the address of the website of the University of Texas (Austin) which might be useful for you as a methodological guide. It is recommended for teacher training at the University of Arizona.” 12 “You can share your professional and cultural experiences” 13 “We want videos, photos, testimonies, in short, we want to know everything!” 14 “Don’t feel obliged to post only pedagogical resources, you can also post some more fun and personal things”. 15 “We’ve sent you an invitation to join this blog because […] the photos of Mumbay on facebook should be shared with everyone”.

120 Muriel Grosbois

Figure 3. My Franco-British Teachers’ Space. Unlike the previous blog in which the trainee teachers chose to communicate in French as if they did not want the foreign language to interfere with the content of their exchanges, just like in the Cultura project (Furstenberg et al., 2001), in this one, everything is written in English. But beyond this difference, the key issue raised by these digital resources remains the same. How can one’s own cultural background not act as a bias? How can clichés be avoided? In other words, how can cultural denativisation occur? If the objective is to go beyond the filter of one’s own professional culture, then the exchanges should not remain limited to the narration of one’s teaching experience abroad. According to the theoretical framework that was previously set, reflection upon one’s practice and mediation are also required.

4.2

Action, mediation, reflection

In the context of the project, mediation was provided by several members of the community. Indeed, reflection was mediated by the French trainee teachers themselves: the comparison of their various experiences (given that they all went on placement in different countries) contributed to help each one of them analyse practicum experience with hindsight.

Practicum experience in teacher education 121 Foreign partners and peers took part in the process too in so far as they gave the French trainee teachers the possibility to question their understanding of teaching practice in the host country (as well as in their own country, by way of comparison). Finally, reflection was also mediated by the French professor (in charge of the teaching placement) who encouraged reflexive practice. It is worth noting that, just like the approach chosen to help the trainee teachers think abstractly about language (with the metacognitive tasks on pronunciation), the approach favoured to raise their intercultural awareness was an inductive one too: reflection was based on the analysis of concrete examples, which were situated and thus meaningful to them. Several supports were used for that purpose. Some were developed and analysed collectively, for example: - the professionally-oriented digital resources which the trainee teachers created in order to compare their respective experiences (as in Figure 1); - the blogs (as in Figures 2 and 3); - the glossary created on a platform (Moodle), which the trainee teachers started before their placement abroad and which they revised after it (Figure 4 below);

Figure 4. Excerpt from glossary.

122 Muriel Grosbois

-

the digital resources meant to teach English to pupils in France, which the trainee teachers developed using authentic material gathered during their placement (as in Figure 5 below).

Figure 5. Example of a digital resource for French pupils. On the individual level, the trainee teachers were also expected to analyse their professional experience abroad in a piece of writing. Although only an initiation to research, they learnt to rely on theoretical knowledge to reflect on their practice. In this project, the cultural development of the trainee teachers (just like the linguistic one) was thus action- and reflection-based.

5 Conclusion This chapter clearly advocates for combining practice and reflection in teacher education. In light of the concept of nativisation, the experience of a group of trainee teachers engaged in academic mobility has been analysed in terms of linguistic and cultural development purposes. The data tends to stress the importance of action and reflection for denativisation to happen. Indeed, from a linguistic point of view, the results show how both exposure

Practicum experience in teacher education 123 to authentic input (during placement abroad) and metalinguistic reflection tasks are complementary. Similarly, intercultural awareness is raised by teaching experience abroad as well as by the reflection that accompanies it, in various forms. The project also suggests that having trainee teachers benefit from practice abroad and reflection, as outlined in this chapter, can be regarded as oriented towards 21st century needs, considering that mobility, adaptability to change, use of technology, cross-cultural experience and linguistic ability are valued assets. More precisely, it may help teachers foster an open-minded approach to their future teaching practice, and thus turn them into agents of change in today’s ever-changing world. Finally, it is hoped that having had such an experience may be an incentive for them to engage in an international community of practice in a perspective of lifelong learning.

6 References Andersen, R. (1983) Pidginization and Creolization as Language Acquisition, Rowley, MA: Newbury House. Breen, M. (1987) Learner contributions to task design. In Candlin, C., and D. Murphy (eds) Language Learning Tasks, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall: 23-46. Brown, J. S., A. Collins, and P. Duguid (1989) Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning, Educational Researcher (18) 1: 32-42. Bueno, M. C. (2010) Synchronous-Voice Computer-Mediated Communication: Effects on Pronunciation, CALICO Journal (28) 1: 1-20. Byram, M. (1992) Culture et éducation en langue étrangère, Paris: Didier / Hatier. Channouf, A. (2004) Les influences inconscientes - De l’effet des émotions et des croyances sur le jugement, Paris: Armand Colin. Chapelle, C. (2003) English Language Learning and Technology, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Collins, A., J. S. Brown, and S. E. Newman (1989) Cognitive Apprenticeship: Teaching the Crafts of Reading, Writing, and Mathematics. In Resnick, L. B. (ed) Knowing, learning, and instruction, Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum: 453-494. Conseil de l’Europe (2001) Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.http://www.coe.int/t/DG4/Portfolio/?L=E&M=/documents _intro/common_framework.html. Corder, P. (1992) A Role for the Mother Tongue. In Gass, S., and L. Selinker (eds) Language Transfer in Language Learning, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company: 1831.

124 Muriel Grosbois Demaizière, F., and J. P. Narcy-Combes (2005) Méthodologie de la recherche didactique: nativisation, tâches et TIC, Alsic (Apprentissage des langues et systèmes d’information et de communication) (8) 1: 4564. http://alsic.revues.org/326. Deschamps, A. (1994) De l’écrit à l’oral et de l’oral à l’écrit, Paris: Ophrys. Dewey, J. (1899) The school and society, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Duchet, J. L. (1994) Code de l’anglais oral, Paris: Ophrys. Dupoux, E., and S. Peperkamp (2002) Fossil Markers of Language Development: Phonological ‘Deafnesses’ in Adult Speech Processing. In Durand, J., and B. Laks (eds) Phonetics, Phonology, and Cognition, Oxford: Oxford University Press: 168-190. Ellis, R. (2003) Task-based Language Learning and Teaching, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Furstenberg, G., S. Levet, K. English, and K. Maillet (2001) Giving a virtual voice to the silent language of culture. The CULTURA project, Language Learning and Technology Journal (5) 1: 55-102. Ginésy, M. (2000) Phonétique et phonologie de l’anglais, Paris: Ellipses. Grosbois, M. (2006) Projet collectif de création d’une ressource numérique comme levier d’apprentissage de l’anglais. PhD Thesis: Université Sorbonne nouvelle - Paris 3. Grosbois, M. (2011) CMC-based projects and L2 Learning: confirming the importance of nativisation, ReCALL (23) 3: 294-310. Groussier, M. L., and C. Rivière (1996) Les mots de la linguistique - Lexique de linguistique énonciative, Paris: Ophrys. Halff, W. (1995) Approches du système oral de l’anglais, Cahiers Charles V 19: 167-178. Heyward, M. (2002) From international to intercultural: Redefining the international school for a globalised world, Journal of Research in International Education (1) 1: 9-32. Huart, R. (2002) Grammaire orale de l’anglais, Paris: Ophrys. Jessner, U. (2006) Linguistic Awareness in Multilinguals. English as a Third Language, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Jordan, G. (2004) Theory Construction in Second Language Acquisition, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Narcy-Combes, J. P. (2010) L2 Learning Processes. In Bertin, J. C., J. P. Narcy-Combes, and P. Gravé (eds) Second Language Distance Learning and Teaching, Hershey: IGI Global: 78-104. Nunan, D. (2004) Task-Based Language Teaching, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. O’Dowd, R. (2011) Virtual academic mobility: online preparation and support for the intercultural experience. In Dervin, F. (ed) Analysing

Practicum experience in teacher education 125 the Consequences of Academic Mobility and Migration, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing: 97-112. O’Dowd, R., and P. Ware (2009) Critical issues in telecollaborative task design, CALL (22) 2: 173-188. Pallier, C., S. Dehaene, J. B. Ploine, D. LeBihan, A. M. Argenti, E. Dupoux and J. Mehler (2003) Brain Imaging of Language Plasticity in Adopted Adults: Can a Second Language Replace the First, Cerebral Cortex (13) 2: 155-161. Vygotsky, L. S. (1934) Pensée et langage, Paris: Messidor/Editions Sociales. Wenger, E. (2006) Communities of practice – A brief introduction, www.ewenger.com/theory/index.htm.

7 Recommended reading Allen, H. W., and B. Dupuy (2013) Study abroad, second language use, and the Communities goal area, Foreign Language Annals 45: 468-493. It is often assumed that studying abroad will automatically improve one’s foreign language skills. However, L2 development depends on many factors. The authors of this well-documented paper challenge the widespread idea of sustained interactions by study abroad participants within the host community. They call for changes in the foreign language curriculum and advocate for providing students with appropriate support before, during and after their stay abroad. At least two of the suggestions that are made to help learners develop their language abilites and intercultural identities are of particular interest for this book chapter: participation in an online digital community of practice; internships and service learning. Reflection on experiences abroad is also referred to as a means to go beyond one’s own context and norms. Crandall, J. J. (2000) Language teacher education, Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 20: 34–55. In this paper, the author points out the fact that as “a microcosm of teacher education”, language teacher education has been influenced by general education theory and practice. Crandall thus interestingly highlights key factors such as the shift to a constructivist-oriented approach, the development of linkages between theory and practice, the importance of one’s prior learning experience and the necessity to develop conscious reflection on teacher-education practice, as well as the need for life-long learning.

126 Muriel Grosbois Richards, J. C., and G. Crookes (1988) The practicum in TESOL, TESOL Quarterly (22) 1: 9-27. Based on a survey of practicum courses in MA TESOL programmes, the authors reflect on the objectives of a practicum, as well as on the context or setting, the logistics, the curriculum and supervised classroom teaching. Such issues are still worth being looked into for the design of the practicum in language teacher education today. Tomaš, Z., R. Farrelly and M. Haslam (2008) Designing and implementing the TESOL teaching practicum abroad: Focus on interaction, TESOL Quarterly (42) 4: 660-664. This paper illustrates the superiority of a teaching practicum abroad over one done locally, for future language teachers. The argument put forward is that a teaching practicum in an EFL context enhances interaction between different practicum participants, which is the main shortcoming the authors observed in campus-based practica (despite the fact that interaction is at the heart of the language learning and teaching experience).

8 Questions for reflection and discussion -

This chapter highlights the role played by reflection, not just experience, in L2 teacher education. Discuss the arguments put forward. This chapter emphasizes the importance of combining theory and practice in light of the concept of nativisation. What would you consider relevant linkages between theory and practice in teacher education? This chapter advocates for a teaching practicum abroad in teacher education. Could you contrast a teaching practicum abroad and a local one? Beyond the reasons mentioned in this chapter, can you think of advantages and disadvantages of a teaching practicum abroad for students in applied linguistics? To what extent could a teaching practicum abroad help pre-service and in-service teachers become agents of change in today’s society?

Teaching pronunciation in the post-EFL era: Lessons from ELF and implications for teacher education Nicos C. Sifakis (Hellenique Open University, Greece) The development of English as a lingua franca (ELF) has raised pressing challenges for language policy, curriculum design, teaching methodology and teacher education. Communication between non-native users of English on a global scale is more widespread than, and therefore at least of equal importance with, communication between non-native and native users of the same language. This has had serious repercussions on the understanding of the role and, by consequence, the teaching of pronunciation. In this chapter, I argue that such demands can best be accommodated within a “post-EFL” paradigm. I begin by describing the ways in which the “postEFL” paradigm can be distinguished from the “traditional EFL” paradigm and go on to discuss the following questions: In what ways does learner pronunciation play a unique role in oral communication? What is intelligibility and comprehensibility in oral communication and how does “accommodation” work? How are issues like speaker identity, ownership of English and intercultural communication relevant in this debate? I review the literature on the pronunciation teaching since Jenkins’ seminal Phonology of English as an International Language (2000) and consider implications for pronunciation instruction and in-service/pre-service teacher education programmes.

1 Introduction The rise of English as an international lingua franca has placed a series of demands on teachers of English to speakers of other languages around the world. Today, more and more teaching contexts around the globe are impacted by two important developments: on the one hand, the increasingly complex global English language phenomenon (Crystal, 2003); on the other hand, the increasing cultural diversity of many societal contexts and the implications this may have for the use of English in those contexts (Canagarajah, 2007). Both perspectives give rise to an awareness of the function of English beyond that which is “controlled” by its native speakers. Such functions can refer to international-intercultural interactions, which emphasize communication between non-native speakers of the language, and intranational-multicultural interactions, which emphasize younger non-native people’s familiarization with English (through the Internet, gaming, the social media, etc.) and the use of it as a neutral means of communication even within the same society (Fay et al., 2010; Sifakis, 2009). In this chapter, we focus on how these developments have impacted the teaching of pronunciation. Our focus is going to be teaching contexts that have traditionally been labeled “EFL” (English as a foreign language)

128 Nicos C. Sifakis contexts. The reason for doing so is because (a) these contexts are typically populated by “non-native” speakers of English who had to learn the language through some form of formal schooling and (b) it is in these contexts where English is used as a lingua franca by speakers of other languages. Pronunciation teaching offers many opportunities for studying the global spread of English, for the following reasons: (a) pronunciation can be seen as a way of identifying learners’ proficiency and communicational effectiveness; (b) it is tightly linked to speakers’ identity and can shed light on their perceptions about the “ideal speaker”; (c) it inhabits spoken communication, which has been the main habitat of most of ELF (English as a lingua franca) research. Our interest is the teaching of pronunciation and, in particular, the knowledge, skills and attitudes teachers need to have in order to teach ELF pronunciation. In what follows, we begin with suggesting a distinction between a “traditional EFL” and a “post-EFL” paradigm. We will briefly offer a description of the different characteristics of these paradigms with regard to teachers’ required knowledge, skills and attitudes about English language teaching. In the following section, we will focus on pronunciation and its role within the EFL and post-EFL paradigm, in terms of both language use and learning. In the final section, we will draw implications for teacher education programmes wanting to incorporate an ELF pronunciation component in the post-EFL paradigm.

2 EFL and teaching

“post-EFL”

contexts

and

pronunciation

EFL contexts are typically described as environments in which English is taught as a foreign language to speakers for whom it has no immediate function within their society. The English varieties favoured in these environments, which are also known as Expanding Circle contexts (Kachru, 1985), very much ‘depend’ on Inner-Circle norms, in the sense that the uses of English and the various competences of native speakers are a measure against which correct, appropriate and effective language communication of EFL users is generally gauged (Zhiming, 2003). The relations between language-based and cultural phenomena in the learners’ home society and in the target society are crosscultural (Fay et al., 2010). EFL environments are also typically characterized as high-stakes examination contexts, where learners expect to be specifically trained to sit and pass certain, purposedriven, proficiency exams (such certification is usually demanded for entrance into tertiary education courses). Post-EFL contexts can be described as environments in which English is seen as a medium of both inter-national and intra-national interactions. In this paradigm, people learn to use English in order to communicate with members

Teaching pronunciation in the post-EFL area 129 of other societies (international and intersocietal focus). The English varieties they use are based on specific Inner Circle varieties (e.g., British English), but they can also draw from locally emerging features, where available, and ELF usage. Post-EFL learners live in societal and school settings that are increasingly multicultural and therefore learn English as an intercultural language (Sifakis, 2004), i.e., as a fitting vehicle of interaction between members of the same culturally diverse society (multicultural/intrasocietal focus, cf. Fay et al., 2010). In such settings, learners’ L1s, and even other languages they may know and share become useful tools of communication and learning: Previously learned languages can be acknowledged and used within the classroom context by students and teachers alike as bridge languages. The explicit acknowledgement of the existence of previous languages, plus recognition of their status as useful pedagogical tools will naturally ease the new language learning process. (Hufeisen and Jessner, 2009: 126)

The end result, of course, is a context where English is culturally authenticated with reference to learners’ ethnic cultures as they emerge at the level of the classroom culture (McKay and Bokhorst-Heng, 2008). One of the problems of traditional EFL contexts is that often what is taught in such contexts is “foreign” and detached from learners’ sociocultural realities (Lobato, 2006). To that, post-EFL teaching and learning contexts respond with the acknowledgment that learners are active users of English in their own sociocultural setting (Lave and Wenger, 1991) and are to be treated as members of the broader community of non-native users of English, with a say in the language that they are taught (Seidlhofer, 2007). This perspective is in agreement with Gibson’s (1979/1986) thesis for ecological psychology, in that knowledge is seen as an epiphenomenon of an agent interacting with an environment, in that knowledgeable behavior is codetermined by properties of the learner interacting on-the-fly with properties of the tools, information, and other learners available at the time (Young et al., 1997: 133-134)

3 Pronunciation teaching and learning: A brief overview Speech production has always been a site of vibrant research for English language teaching. It is possible to identify two opposing orientations, one focusing on the acquisition of native-like accuracy, the other on international intelligibility. In the former case, the model of pronunciation teaching is one or more native-English varieties (and therefore more related to the “EFL orientation”), while, in the latter case, the objective is mutually successful communication between non-native speakers of English (and therefore more akin to the “ELF orientation”). In this section, we will review some of the

130 Nicos C. Sifakis literature in both camps and refer to implications for teacher education and training.

3.1

The EFL orientation

The importance of the social roles and functions of accent in native speaker contexts is well documented (for a comprehensive overview, see Mugglestone, 2003). In EFL contexts, speaking with a “non-native accent” can have significant psychological, social and communicational consequences (Derwing and Munro, 2009). Which factors contribute to pronunciation teaching and learning? What research has conclusively shown is that exposure to the L2 is more important than focused instruction on certain aspects of pronunciation (e.g., Flege, 1995; Trofimovich and Baker, 2006; for an account of the cognitive processes that may be involved, see Nygaard and Pisoni, 1998); this is true even for adults (Munro and Derwing, 2008; but see Saito, 2013). What is more, the input that learners receive is often not equal to their ultimate attainment (Ellis, 2006b). Difficulties in acquiring L2 segmental and prosodic patterns have been attributed to learners’ L1 interference (e.g., Lado, 1957; Weinreich, 1953; Iverson and Evans, 2007). Language specificity becomes fixed early in life (Werker and Tees, 2002) and is responsible for learners’ subsequent ability to discriminate and reproduce L2 contrasts (Eckman and Iverson, 2013; Best and Tyler, 2007; DeKeyser, 2012). These observations have informed recent second language acquisition (SLA) models, which perceive frequency of L2 input as a crucial factor in shaping cognitive representations of the foreign language (cf. Ellis, 2006a). To that end, with regard to improvements to pronunciation, computer-assisted pronunciation training has been found to have results that are comparable to those achieved through traditional, teacher-led tuition (Levis, 2007; Neri et al., 2008). Further research has focused on examining learners’ attitudes to the L2, as a significant factor in stereotyping native speaker pronunciation models and further influencing learners’ motivation and language attainment (McKenzie, 2008). Research has repeatedly shown that EFL learners show a strong preference for native-speaker accents, which they perceive as models to which they should aim when speaking (Timmis, 2002). These attitudes seem to be shared by many non-native ELT teachers (Sifakis and Sougari, 2005), despite either party’s (learners’ or teachers’) apparent inadequacy in identifying these native accents (Rivers, 2011). What roles do teachers play in this orientation of pronunciation teaching? It has often been claimed that the communicative language teaching model of the 1980s shifted the emphasis away from form-focused teaching, and pronunciation was largely perceived as a feature that learners would acquire merely as a result of their exposure to native speaker input, something that

Teaching pronunciation in the post-EFL area 131 was soon considered an unrealistic goal for EFL contexts (Pica, 1994). Nevertheless, suggestions for teaching pronunciation in the CLT paradigm were few and between (e.g., Brown, 1991; Celce-Murcia et al., 1996; Gilbert, 1984; Morley, 1987), but some of them made it into courseware. On the whole, this was not followed by specialized training of ELT practitioners in teaching Standard English pronunciation, which resulted in teachers refraining from teaching pronunciation (Derwing and Munro, 2009: 483; also see Burgess and Spencer, 2000). Evidently, there is need for more targeted teacher preparation programmes focusing on pronunciation teaching—at this stage, this does not seem to be the case (Murphy, 1997), the reason probably being that such programmes prioritize differently teachers’ needs (for a case in point, see Sifakis, 2010).

3.2

The ELF orientation

More recently, the impact of English as an international language has shifted the focus in pronunciation teaching from producing an accurate native-like accent to enhancing intelligibility in the communication among non-native speakers. Mutual intelligibility among non-native speakers is the focus of the ELF orientation (e.g., Firth, 1996; Jenkins, 2006; Reed, 2012; Seidlhofer, 2004). Successful communication is achieved through various accommodation strategies or repairs (“practices for dealing with problems or troubles in speaking, hearing, and understanding the talk”, Schegloff, 2000: 207), whose aim is to signal correction, register receipt, manage turn-taking, manage the topic, etc. (Gramkow, 2001). Such strategies may involve repetition, confirmation checks, clarification requests, restatements, and understanding checks (Cogo and Dewey, 2006, 2012). With particular regard to pronunciation, it is possible to break down successful communication in terms of comprehensibility (an interlocutor’s understanding of the degree of difficulty in understanding the meaning of a particular utterance in its context, often measured in terms of time and effort needed to process utterances, cf. Derwing and Munro, 2009: 478; Jenkins, 2002) and intelligibility (the degree of actual comprehension of the actual speech sample, usually established through transcriptions of that sample— Jenkins, 2000). Another feature of non-native speech, accentedness, namely, the extent to which patterns of speech sounds deviate from a native speaker (standardized) variety, plays a much less crucial role, simply because what is important is not how native speakers evaluate instances of non-native pronunciation (about which there is a lot of research, e.g., Kang, 2010; Kang et al., 2010) but how non-native speakers tailor their pronunciation to their perceptions of the needs of their interlocutors (Matsumoto, 2011). In other words, the focus here is not the elimination of accent, but the pursuit of intelligibility (Levis, 2005).

132 Nicos C. Sifakis With particular regard to pronunciation teaching, Jenkins’ empirical investigation of non-native speaker communication led her to propose a Lingua Franca Core, where she posited that certain segmental and suprasegmental sounds and clusters (e.g., rhotic ‘r’, British English /t/ between vowels in words such as ‘water’, rather than American English flapped [r], aspiration following word-initial voiceless stops /p/, /t/, and /k/, contrast between long and short vowels, appropriate use of contrastive stress to signal meaning, and so on) are important in intelligible communication and must therefore be taught. On the other hand, other speech sounds (e.g., vowel quality, provided it is used consistently, the substitution of the schwa instead of the vowel sound in certain contexts, the feature of assimilation in connected speech, stress-timed rhythm, etc.), albeit deviant from the Standard English pronunciation, do not impede communication and are therefore noncore (Jenkins, 2000, 2002). Jenkins’ LFC has met with a lot of support and critique alike. For example, it helped highlight the centrality of intelligibility in rendering pronunciation teaching a means to the end of effective communication between non-native speakers. It also showed that countless hours of pronunciation teaching that focused on aspects of speech that would not eventually be acquired by certain non-native learners (mainly due to “obstacles” posed by their L1 phonology and the lack of continuous exposure to native-speaker English) could be dedicated to other concerns. On the other hand, Trudgill (2005) argued that non-native learners’ lack of exposure to a native-English environment renders top-down processing demanding, which results in their substantial dependence on bottom-up processing of the speech signal—he concluded that this makes their exposure to native-speaker varieties all the more important. Guides for teaching ELF or EIL pronunciation have recently appeared (e.g., Walker, 2010). Walker’s guide is comprehensive in that it provides a clear case for the use of ELF pronunciation in the EFL classroom, aiming to make teachers and learners aware of the advantages of understanding the intelligibility potential of their non-native accents. In this regard, as learners’ perceptions of native speaker models is a crucial matter, it may also be important to take into consideration non-native learners’ attitudes to their L1accented English. For example, in their examination of the attitudes of Asian learners, Tokumoto and Shibata (2011) found that, while Japanese and Korean learners had negative views about their own varieties of English, this was not the case with Malaysian learners, who highly regarded their accented English.

4 Implications for teacher education programmes What should be the focus of teacher education programmes in typical EFL contexts (as described above) with regard to ELF pronunciation? First and

Teaching pronunciation in the post-EFL area 133 foremost, it is important that designers of such programmes understand that becoming aware of ELF pronunciation can be a demanding transformative process in that it necessitates referring to teachers’ deeper convictions about standard language, as well as of their own role as custodians of “proper English” for their learners and other stakeholders (Sifakis, 2009—see below). With that proviso, in what follows I offer a series of issues that teacher education programmes can focus on (also see Keys and Walker, 2002; Setter and Jenkins, 2005; Tomlinson, 2006; Sifakis, 2007). One such issue concerns the changing role and status of the “native speaker” of English as a model for competent non-native speakers of English. If a foreign language should be taught as communication (Widdowson, 1978, 1983), then teachers should (a) look at instances of successful communication around the world where English is used and (b) develop teaching and learning contexts where such instances can be replicated in the FL classroom. This, in turn, implies that teachers should (a) become aware of their learners’ growing familiarity with English (due to the Internet, gaming, social networks, etc.), which further implies that English is not necessarily treated by them as “just another foreign language” anymore (“the expression ‘foreign’ indicates ‘distance’”, Ehlich, 2009: 27); and (b) be asked to reconsider their perceptions of error (Lee and Ridley, 1999), as well as their ways of assessing and providing feedback to their learners. Another area that should be considered with regard to EFL teachers’ training in understanding and preparing to integrate ELF pronunciation in their contexts is the role of intelligibility in (a) producing comprehensible and therefore successful communication among non-native speakers and (b) the evaluation of accentedness with regard to speakers’ identity and attitude. With regard to (a), teachers should become tangibly aware of the communicational salience of intelligibility (Nelson, 2011; Deterding, 2012; Moyer, 2013). This can be done with reference to studies showing the great importance intelligibility plays in other aspects of foreign language learning (e.g., vocabulary expansion, cf. Bundgaard-Nielsen et al., 2012). It is also important that teachers are exposed to successful NNS-NNS discourse and become aware of the underlying social, psychological and cognitive accommodation mechanisms at play. They should then be directed towards finding ways to integrate aspects of the Lingua Franca Core in their teaching, taking into consideration which aspects of Standard English and the LFC their learners can (or want to) acquire. With regard to (b), they should come to terms with their own perceptions about native vs. non-native accent and the impact of the latter in different communicative settings. To that end, they can be directed to research that testifies to the fact that the LFC often promotes intelligibility among non-native speakers more than many nativespeaker varieties (Smith and Rafiqzad, 1979; Tauroza and Luk, 1997; Smith and Nelson, 2006).

134 Nicos C. Sifakis In more tangible terms, teacher training programmes can use methods with which most teachers are familiar and may feel comfortable implementing with their learners. There have been some critiques of established approaches, such as the communicative language teaching approach (e.g., Illés, 2011), which is based on “idealized typifications of what native speakers may say and do in specified contexts” (Leung, 2005: 126) and would therefore be inappropriate for the central role of non-native speaker contexts. However, other approaches may prove useful, if with some necessary tweaking. For example, if the PPP approach (presentation, practice, production) is used, the presentation phase can involve teachers (and then their learners) becoming aware of their own English accent and coming to terms with their natural capability in fine-tuning it in interactions with different interlocutors. To that end, teachers should learn to use extensive recordings of learner communication in relaxed settings, as well as successful examples of LFC usage from other non-native speakers. This can lead to discussions about the notions of intelligibility and comprehensibility in interactions with other non-native speakers and the role of accentedness in shaping peoples’ attitudes towards their own and others’ pronunciation patterns. In the practice phase, teachers (and then their learners) can be exposed to “playing with” the LFC (Jenkins, 2000), but with an emphasis on curricular specifications and learners’ target needs. Finally, in the production phase, teachers (and then their learners) can engage in communicative spoken interactions, which can prompt them to realize not just what they do with their pronunciation in real time but also, more extensively, how English can be used as a neutral vehicle of communication between different social, cultural and ethnic groups of people (Sifakis, 2009; Fay et al., 2010). In essence, pronunciation teaching becomes more a process of awarenessraising and less of actual teaching of pre-specified speech sound patterns. It is important that EFL teachers also become aware of ways in which their current courseware can be adapted to integrate an ELF pronunciation perspective. For example, teachers can keep the themes presented in their course book—after all, replacing existing courseware can be a difficult process, often beyond their responsibility (Rubdi, 2003). Instead, they can incorporate more active listening activities and engage the rich cultural potential of the English language as a neutral vehicle of communication—this can be especially useful in settings with learners belonging to ethnic minority groups (Fay et al., 2010; Sifakis and Fay, 2011). Another area that teachers can look into is the link between pronunciation teaching and communication anxiety (Cheng et al., 1999; Zhang, in print): by incorporating the ELF pronunciation component as an integral part of the teaching of listening, either in terms of non-native input or in terms of post-listening activities, learners can be trained to engage more with various listening inputs and tasks

Teaching pronunciation in the post-EFL area 135 and, as a result, remove the situation-specific nature of FL listening anxiety (Vogely, 1998; Gregersen, 2005). It is true that many teacher training programmes are tailored to the specifications of internationally recognized and respected teacher qualification awards, such as Cambridge ESOL’s Delta. While the Delta syllabus has recently been revised to incorporate an awareness of ELF-related concerns, these concerns do not appear to have influenced core curricular specifications about language accuracy, correctness, context, or even the autonomy of the teacher in reflecting on the suitability of different varieties of English for different communicative contexts (Dewey, 2012). This only goes to show that the integration of ELF-related matters in the syllabus of teacher qualification awards, like the Delta, and, by consequence, teacher education programmes, is a demanding and challenging process which requires a transitioning from the traditional EFL to the post-EFL paradigm. What may some of these requirements be? Teacher education programmes can see pronunciation teaching as a way of going beyond the traditional EFL orientation of English as a language that “pre-exists” or exists beyond the reach of non-native learners, is divorced from social practices (Austin, 1962) and is shaped and owned by its native speakers, to a form of communication that takes different shapes and forms depending on the interlocutors. In this way, teachers can become empowered to perceive pronunciation not merely as a cognitively-oriented element but as a byproduct of particular social practices. For this to happen, of course, the very subject-matter of traditional EFL pronunciation teaching (i.e. both its “content knowledge”, namely what is taught, and its “pedagogical content knowledge, namely how it should be taught—cf. Shulman, 1986, 1987; also see Deng, 2007; Segall, 2004) need to be adapted, challenged and, perhaps, ultimately changed, so that it can become academically, situationally and psychologically appropriate for the particular teaching situation (Maclellan, 2012). Teachers interested in learning about and then teaching ELF pronunciation would therefore have to perceive it as a “local practice” (Canagarajah, 2007; Pennycook, 2010): they should become interested in the “other stuff” language is fully attached to: “social relations, cultural models, power and politics, perspectives on experience, values and attitudes, as well as things and places in the world” (Gee, 2008: 1). The end result of teacher education programmes laid out this way would be learners who are trained to become owners of the linguistic tools offered them, and grow as confident users of English in any encounters they may have with native and non-native interlocutors alike. It follows from the above that one of the aspects that teacher education programmes interested in preparing teachers for the post-EFL paradigm should focus on is an understanding of the importance of transferability of what is taught. Transferability implies that:

136 Nicos C. Sifakis what students learn at one time and one place is available for them to use at another time and another place. In other words, students should be able to transfer what they have learned. […] The research has sought to answer the question why students often fail to transfer their learning, a failure termed the inert knowledge problem […]; students appear to have learned something at one time, but cannot activate it at another.” (Larsen-Freeman, 2013: 107; italics in the original)

Larsen-Freeman goes on to argue that what is important in language learning is not the transferring of intact knowledge from the classroom to the “real world”, but the fact that learners become owners of that knowledge and are capable of molding, transforming and reusing it (Larsen-Freeman, 2012) in authentic communicative settings. What is more important than knowing the rules of language is understanding the reasons behind them (Larsen-Freeman, 2000). This reflects John Dewey’s classical remark that subject-matter cannot be imposed on learners, without their cognitive engagement (1902). Learners’ understanding of the content of what is taught becomes a dynamic and evolving part of the relationship between teaching and learning and is, essentially, psychological (Ausubel, 2000). The message for pronunciation teaching in the post-EFL world is obvious. Why teach excessive amounts of native-speaker pronunciation patterns that learners living in Expanding Circle contexts are likely to “forget” (simply because these contexts are not typically populated by native speakers of English and English does not play a statutory role)? Teachers should appreciate the realistic potential of the knowledge and skills they impart to their learners and focus on ways to make them capable of transforming their pronunciation to the perceptual demands of their non-native (and native) interlocutors alike. In essence, what teacher education programmes should aim for is not simply to inform teachers about ELF pronunciation, but to make them actively aware of the cognitive, social and cultural constraints that generate it every time non-native speakers interact. It could be argued that the post-EFL teacher goes beyond “being informed” (i.e., passively receiving information about which speech patterns to teach, which would be more suitable to EFL teacher education programmes), to “becoming aware” about those pronunciation patterns that render communication successful (better suited to a post-EFL paradigm). The transformative nature of post-EFL teacher education programmes is reinforced when we consider that such programmes essentially challenge teachers’ perceptions about their own role as custodians of the English language in the eyes of learners, parents, sponsors and other stakeholders (Sifakis, 2009). These roles are even more important in typical EFL settings, where English is not linked with any formal part of people’s lives (as is the case with Outer Circle contexts), and therefore teachers’, learners’, parents’ and sponsors’/stakeholders’ perceptions are more EFL- than post-EFL oriented. Our research show that this can result in paradoxes in teachers’

Teaching pronunciation in the post-EFL area 137 perceptions: they realize the current state of global English and, in certain cases, begin to see the consequences, but fail to act in ways that will change their current teaching approach (cf. Sifakis and Sougari, 2005). This calls for extensive awareness-raising reflective activities that prompt teachers to come to terms with these perceptions and, eventually, transform into post-EFL teachers.

5 Conclusions In this chapter we have claimed that the rapidly changing world of English language communication demands that the pronunciation component in ELF teacher education programmes focuses on seeing the non-native speaker as a whole person engaging in interaction with other non-native and native speakers alike. In this way, the emphasis on achieving accurate native-like pronunciation gives way to the importance of ensuring mutual intelligibility. This means that teachers must understand that native speaker models may not always be appropriate for all non-native learners. Instead, they should appreciate that pronunciation serves just one of a series of means that can ensure intelligibility and should always be taught with the comprehensibility capabilities of other interlocutors in mind. We have also argued for a transition from a traditional EFL to a post-EFL paradigm, where English is not treated as a necessarily foreign language for international usage (i.e., between learners and speakers of other languages from other countries) but as a neutral means for communication intranationally (i.e., among members of the same social community inside and outside the classroom) as well. We have shown that such a perspective links well with ELF pronunciation communication and teaching. The underlying assumption in this chapter has been that the role of teacher education programmes today is rapidly changing. The communicative use of English today is markedly different from 20 years ago. English is still used very widely between native and non-native users, but today it is even more widely used among non-native users. This means that the norms and standards of communication that have permeated the teaching curricula of the past 2-3 decades should be supplemented with (or, better, transformed to incorporate) a tangible awareness of this changing scene. In other words, learners of English as a foreign language today must be trained into communicating with both native and non native users around the world. For that to happen, it is paramount that the training of teachers must evolve as well to help educate autonomous teachers who understand the world today and are able, in their turn, to train autonomous learners/international users of English.

138 Nicos C. Sifakis

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140 Nicos C. Sifakis Language Communication and Learning. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton: 109-138. Illés, É. (2011) Communicative language teaching and English as a lingua franca, Vienna English Working Papers (20) 1: 3-16. Iverson, P., and G. E. Evans (2007) Learning English vowels with different first-language vowel systems: Perception of formant targets, formant movement, and duration, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 122: 2842-2854. Jenkins, J. (2000) The Phonology of English as an International Language: New Models, New Norms, New Goals, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Jenkins, J. (2002) A sociolinguistically based, empirically researched pronunciation syllabus for English as an international language, Applied Linguistics 23: 83-103. Jenkins, J. (2006) Current perspectives on teaching World Englishes and English as a Lingua Franca, TESOL Quarterly (40) 1: 157-181. Kachru, B. B. (1985) Standards, codifications, and sociolinguistic realism: The English language in the outer circle. In Quirk, R., and H. Widdowson (eds) English in the world: teaching and learning the language and literatures, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 11-30. Kang, O. (2010) Relative salience of suprasegmental features on judgments of L2 comprehensibility and accentedness, System 38: 301-315. Kang, O., D. Rubin and L. Pickering (2010) Suprasegmental measures of accentedness and judgments of language learner proficiency in oral English, Modern Language Journal 94: 554-566. Keys, K., and R. Walker (2002) Ten questions on the phonology of English as an international language, ELT Journal 56: 298-302. Lado, R. (1957) Linguistics across cultures, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Larsen-Freeman, D. (2000) Rules and reasons in grammar teaching, ESL Magazine, January/February: 10-12. Larsen-Freeman, D. (2012) Complex systems and technemes. In Arnold, J., and T. Murphey (eds) Meaningful action: Earl Stevick’s influence on language teaching, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Larsen-Freeman, D. (2013) Transfer of learning transformed, Language Learning (63) 1: 107-129. Lave, J., and F. Wenger (1991) Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lee, W., and A. Ridley (1999) What Implications does English globalization have for treatment of students’ spoken errors?, RELC Journal 30:1837.

Teaching pronunciation in the post-EFL area 141 Leung, C. (2005) Convivial communication: recontextualizing communicative competence, International Journal of Applied Linguistics (15) 2: 119-144. Levis, J. M. (2005) Changing contexts and shifting paradigms in pronunciation teaching, TESOL Quarterly 39: 369-377. Levis, J. M. (2007) Computer technology in teaching and researching pronunciation, Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 27: 184-202. Lobato, J. (2006) Alternative perspectives on the transfer of learning: History, issues, and challenges for future research, Journal of the Learning Sciences 15: 431-449. Matsumoto, Y. (2011) Successful ELF communications and implications for ELT: sequential analysis of ELF pronunciation negotiation strategies, The Modern Language Journal 95: 97-114. McKay, S. L., and W. D. Bokhorst-Heng (2008) International English in its Sociolinguistic Contexts: Towards a Socially Sensitive EIL Pedagogy, London: Routledge. McKenzie, R. (2008) Social factors and non-native attitudes towards varieties of spoken English: a Japanese case study, International Journal of Applied Linguistics 18: 63-88. Maclellan, E. (2012) The psychological dimension of transformation in teacher learning, Teaching Education 23: 411-428. Morley, J. (ed) (1987) Current perspectives on pronunciation: Practices anchored in theory, Alexandria, VA: TESOL. Moyer, A. (2013) Foreign Accent: The Phenomenon of Non-native Speech, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Mugglestone, L. (2003) ‘Talking proper’: the rise of accent as social symbol, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Munro, M. J., and T. M. Derwing (2008) Segmental acquisition in adult ESL learners: a longitudinal study of vowel production, Language Learning (58) 3: 479-502. Murphy, J. M. (1997) Phonology courses offered by MATESOL programs in the US, TESOL Quarterly 31: 741-761. Nelson, C. L. (2011) Intelligibility in World Englishes: Theory and Application, New York and London: Routledge. Neri, A., O. Mich, M. Gerosa, and D. Giuliani (2008) The effectiveness of computer assisted pronunciation training for foreign language learning by children, Computer Assisted Language Learning (21) 5: 393-408. Nygaard, L. C., and D. B. Pisoni (1998) Talker-specific learning in speech perception, Perception & Psychophysics 60: 355-376. Pennycook, A. (2010) Language as a Local Practice, NewYork: Routledge. Pica, T. (1994) Questions from the language classroom: Research perspectives, TESOL Quarterly 28: 49-79.

142 Nicos C. Sifakis Reed, B. S. (2012) A conversation analytic perspective on teaching English pronunciation: The case of speech rhythm, International Journal of Applied Linguistics (22) 1: 67-87. Rivers, D. J. (2011) Intercultural processes in accented English, World Englishes (30) 3: 375-391. Rubdi, R. (2003) Selection of materials. In Tomlinson, B. (ed) Developing materials for language teaching, London: Continuum: 37-57. Saito, K. (2013) Reexamining effects of form-focused instruction on L2 pronunciation development: the role of explicit phonetic information, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 35: 1-29. Schegloff, E. (2000) When ‘others’ initiate repair, Applied Linguistics 21: 205-243. Segall, A. (2004) Revisiting pedagogical content knowledge: The pedagogy of content/the content of pedagogy, Teaching and Teacher Education (20) 5: 489-504. Seidlhofer, B. (2004) Research perspectives on teaching English as a lingua franca, Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 24: 209-239. Seidlhofer, B. (2007) English as a lingua franca and communities of practice. In Volk-Birke, S., and J. Lippert (ed) Anglistentag 2006 Halle: proceedings, Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier: 307-318. Setter, J., and J. Jenkins (2005) State-of-the-art review Article: pronunciation, Language Teaching 38: 1-17. Shulman, L. (1986) Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching, Educational Researcher 15: 4-14. Shulman, L. (1987) Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform, Harvard Educational Review 57: 1-22. Sifakis, N. C. (2004) Teaching EIL – teaching international or intercultural English: What teachers should know, System 32: 237-250. Sifakis, N. C. (2007) The education of the teachers of English as a lingua franca: a transformative perspective, International Journal of Applied Linguistics 17: 355-375. Sifakis, N. C. (2009) Challenges in teaching ELF in the periphery: the Greek context, ELT Journal 63: 230-237. Sifakis, N. C. (2010) Greek state-school teachers’ educational priorities: a preliminary review. In Kitis, E., N. Lavidas, N. Topinzi and T. Tsangalidis (eds) Selected Papers from the 19th International Symposium on Theoretical and Applied Linguistics (ISTAL 19), Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki: 393-401. Sifakis, N. C., and R. Fay (2011) Integrating an ELF pedagogy in a changing world: the case of Greek state schooling. In Archibald, A., A. Cogo and J. Jenkins (eds) Latest trends in ELF research, Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing: 285-297.

Teaching pronunciation in the post-EFL area 143 Sifakis, N. C., and A. M. Sougari (2005) Pronunciation issues and EIL pedagogy in the periphery: A survey of Greek state school teachers’ beliefs, TESOL Quarterly 39: 467-488. Smith, L., and C. Nelson (2006) World Englishes and issues of intelligibility. In Kachru, B., Y. Kachru and C. Nelson (eds) The Handbook of World Englishes, Oxford: Blackwell. Smith, L., and K. Rafiqzad (1979) English for cross-cultural communication: the question of intelligibility, TESOL Quarterly 13: 371-380. Tauroza, S., and J. Luk (1997) Accent and second language listening comprehension, RELC Journal 28: 54-71. Timmis, I. (2002) Native-speaker norms and international English: a classroom view, ELT Journal 56: 240-249. Tokumoto, M., and M. Shibata (2011) Asian varieties of English: attitudes towards pronunciation, World Englishes (30) 3: 392-408. Tomlinson, B. (2006) A multi-dimensional approach to teaching English for the world. In Rubdy, R., and M. Saraceni (eds) English in the World: Global Rules, Global Roles, London: Continuum. Trudgill, P. (2005) Native speaker segmental phonological models and the English Lingua Franca Core. In Dziubalska-Koáaczyk, K., and J. Przedlacka (eds) English pronunciation models: a changing scene, Bern: Peter Lang: 77-98. Trofimovich, P., and W. Baker (2006) Learning second language suprasegmentals: Effect of L2 experience on prosody and fluency characteristics of L2 speech, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 28: 1-30. Vogely, A. (1998) Listening comprehension anxiety: students’ reported sources and solutions, Foreign Language Annals 31: 67-80. Walker, R. (2010) Teaching the pronunciation of English as a lingua franca, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Weinreich, U. (1953) Languages in contact, New York: Linguistic Circle of New York. Werker, J. F., and R. C. Tees (2002) Cross-language speech perception: Evidence for perceptual reorganization during the first year of life, Infant Behavior & Development 24: 121-133. Widdowson, H. G. (1978) Teaching language as communication, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Widdowson, H. G. (1983) Learning purpose and language use, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Young, M., J. Kulikovich and S. Barab (1997) The unit of analysis for situated assessment, Instructional Science 25: 133-150. Zhang, X. (in print) Foreign language listening anxiety and listening performance: Conceptualizations and causal relationships. To appear in System.

144 Nicos C. Sifakis Zhiming, B. (2003) Social stigma and grammatical autonomy in nonnative varieties of English, Language in Society 32: 23-46.

7 Recommended reading Celce-Murcia, M., D. M. Brinton and J. M. Goodwin (1996) Teaching pronunciation: A reference for teachers of English to speakers of other languages, New York: Cambridge University Press. The book presents a a comprehensive treatment of pronunciation pedagogy, drawing on the communicative language teaching theory and practice, with a reference to the sound system of North American English. Discussion questions follow-up exercises guide teachers in developing a range of classroom activities within a communicative framework. Cogo, A., and M. Dewey (2012) Analysing English as a lingua franca, London: Continuum. The book sums up the research on the analysis of ELF discourse. The authors analyze and interpret their own corpus of naturally occurring non-native spoken interactions and focus on identifying innovative developments in the pragmatics and lexicogrammar of ELF talk. Jenkins, J. (2000) The Phonology of English as an International Language: New Models, New Norms, New Goals, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Jenkins’ original proposal for the Lingua Franca Core (LFC), which advocates an approach to pronunciation teaching in which the goal is mutual intelligibility among non-native speakers, rather than imitating native speakers. A must for pronunciation teachers interested in the research behind the LFC. McKay, S. L., and W. D. Bokhorst-Heng (2008) International English in its Sociolinguistic Contexts: Towards a Socially Sensitive EIL Pedagogy, London: Routledge. The focus of the book is an understanding of the many varied contexts in which English is taught, learned and used. It links sociolinguistic concepts and language pedagogy and provides an understanding of current-day communication by referring to three strands – globalization, sociolinguistics, and English as an international language.

Teaching pronunciation in the post-EFL area 145 Moyer, A. (2013) Foreign Accent: The Phenomenon of Non-native Speech, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. The book offers an updated and all-round overview of accent and discusses the cognitive, social, psychological, educational and legal ramifications of sounding 'foreign'. Nelson, C. L. (2011) Intelligibility in World Englishes: Theory and Application, New York and London: Routledge. The book provides a comprehensive overview of the definitions and scopes regarding the concepts of intelligibility, comprehensibility and interpretability. It is set within the paradigm of world Englishes (in particular, English used in the Inner, Outer, and Expanding Circles). Of interest to teachers and language planners alike. Pennycook, A. (2010) Language as a Local Practice, NewYork: Routledge. A discussion of the ways in which language changes through usage, the main assumption being that language is best perceived as a social and cultural activity, not simply as structure. Walker, R. (2010) Teaching the pronunciation of English as a lingua franca, Oxford: Oxford University Press. A handy volume with the “whole story” of ELF pronunciation teaching, from research to techniques and practices for teaching and learning the LFC framework.

8 Questions for reflection and discussion -

The chapter argues for a distinction between a “traditional EFL” and a “post-EFL” paradigm. To what extent do you find that distinction useful in your own context? Give reasons for your answer. In what ways are the notions of “intelligibility”, “comprehensibility” and “accentedness” helpful in understanding the function of pronunciation teaching and use in/for non-native spoken communication? Describe and comment on the role of ELF pronunciation teaching, learning and use as presented in this chapter. What are the strengths and what the obstacles in integrating the LFC (Lingua Franca Core) in the ESOL curriculum? In your answer, it would

146 Nicos C. Sifakis

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be useful to refer to specific aspects of your most familiar teaching context. If you are a teacher educator, reflect on the difficulties and opportunities of the teacher education and training perspectives offered in the latter part of the chapter.

The importance of developing multicultural awareness in ELT teacher education Sophia Papaefthymiou-Lytra (University of Athens, Greece) In this paper, I discuss the need to promote teacher trainees’ multicultural awareness in ELT teacher education. I consider it important as the ELT school classroom and teacher training contexts have been transformed as a consequence of the process of globalization and the impact of new technologies. I report empirical research on developing students’ multicultural awareness carried out in the context of a preservice teacher training programme.

1 Introduction Developing foreign language learners’ intercultural awareness is considered important for foreign language use (cf. Baker, 2012; Byram, 2012). Intercultural awareness is taken to mean an awareness and understanding of the language users’ own culturally-induced behaviours as well as about the L2 they learn. Developing teachers’ intercultural awareness aims at equipping teachers with knowledge and experience about how language and culture interrelate in the act of communication – be it verbal or non-verbal and how variations in language in use may endorse different cultural behaviours and vice versa. First, I will briefly refer the old paradigm in which we trained teachers pointing out that the ELT teacher training classrooms, like the ELT school classrooms, were primarily monolingual and monocultural, juxtaposing it to the new paradigm in which our ELT teacher training classrooms, like the ELT school classrooms, have become increasing multipolar in nature. Next, I will explore intercultural awareness in the light of the new paradigm and I will argue for the benefits that the expansion of contexts may have for developing FL teacher trainees’ multicultural awareness. Then, I will report empirical research on developing students’ multiculturalism carried out in the context of an elective pre-service teacher training course entitled Language and Culture for Foreign Language Learning. 1 Lastly, I will outline the benefits such an approach may have in developing teacher trainees’ multicultural awareness.

1 This course was taught in the pre-service teacher training programme in the Faculty of English Language and Literature, University of Athens, www. uoa.gr/english

148 Sophia Papaefthymiou-Lytra

2 Old and new paradigms of ELT: The Greek case On discussing ELT teacher training it is important to clearly define the teacher training paradigm in which we train teachers of English as well as the school context in which a good number of our teachers, if not all of them, are expected to function as professionals later on. The defining features of the broader old paradigm in which ELT teachers were trained in Greece was as follows: The overwhelming majority of our teacher trainees were native speakers of Greek, born and raised in Greece. Most of them had learned English as a FL in the school system, be it the public or in the private sector. 2 In this context, with regards to the English taught in schools and Universities, it was that branch of ELT generally referred to as EFL. The emphasis was on the teaching of a particular NS variety of English, mainly British or General American English, with the purpose of using it as a foreign language particularly with NS. The teaching of a particular variety of English was reenforced by the widely accepted understanding in the broader society that a FL should be certified to be used for job purposes in adult life (cf. Sifakis, 2011). In terms of Kachru’s (1992) model, I consider Greece to be a representative paradigm of the periphery or extended circle. 3 Roughly speaking, this kind of an EFL situation was to be found in the broader European context, too. In the last twenty years or so, the unprecedented flows of people, goods and services have changed Universities in Europe. Increasingly, students with different home L1s attend and graduate from Greek schools (cf. Gogonas, 2010). After graduation, they enroll in our English Faculty courses to earn a degree. In addition, thanks to student and teacher/tutor mobility schemes of the European Union, there is also a good number of Erasmus students who enroll for a semester at our University. These students are most commonly studying in Faculties of English Studies in their home institutions. Moreover, in undergraduate teacher education courses there are Greek students who have had the experience of an Erasmus student in another European country. These changes have altered the scene in our classrooms - both in schools and in the teacher training quarters – transforming them into multicultural spaces. In the school context, the new paradigm can be represented as follows: L1: Greek + L1a, L1b, L1c etc. representing the home languages and cultures of migrant pupils vs L2 culture: English. In the University teacher training context in particular, besides the pattern outlined, there is also another 2 In Greece, there is a thriving private language centres sector. These language centers provide foreign language classes to students of all ages aiming to prepare students to sit for language exams for an internationally acknowledged certificate. 3 I am aware of the limitations of Kachru’s (1992) model spelled out by Pennycook (2003) among others. However, this discussion is beyond the scope of the present article.

The importance of developing multicultural awareness 149 important factor that we need to consider that of the presence of Erasmus students coming from various European countries. The pattern now encompasses, on the one hand, the majority of students with basically a Greek culture and language orientation, a small number of migrant students who graduated from Greek schools as well as a small number of Erasmus students. The emerging new paradigm can be described as follows: L1: Greek + L1a, L1b, L1c etc. representing the home languages and cultures of migrant students + L1b, L1c etc. of the Erasmus students’ languages and cultures vs L2 English. Of course, in this paradigm we need to add all other foreign languages students may have been exposed to –formally or informally- thus expanding their linguistic and cultural repertoires further. In response to this new paradigm, we need to train teachers to cope with a changing world and the developing realities in the ELT teacher training classrooms as well as the school classrooms. What is more, English as a global language is now widely used among people with different L1s for a variety of reasons, such as travel, work, pleasure, to mention a few. Moreover, it is the language most widely employed to roam the Internet and make use of social media and new technologies. Following these developments, the emphasis of ELT in Greece is shifting towards teaching English as an international language where interactions among NNS become dominant whether these encounters are meant to be off-line or on-line with one person or pairs and/or groups of people. 4

3 From intercultural to multicultural awareness It has by now become a scholarly cliché that all speakers rely on a particular conceptual framework to make sense of the construction of reality. This conceptual framework makes up their cultural identity. In context of the old ELT paradigm described in the previous section, language learners were provided with mainly fragmented information of facts -be they anthropological, sociolinguistic or ethnographic in nature - about the L2 culture. This information was clustered around two axes: the target culture and the culture of the learners in a binary opposition. The argument put forth was that L2 learners were expected to learn to appreciate and use the L2 culture appropriately. This perspective understood interculturality as the interchange or space between the users’ own culture and the target culture (cf. Byram, 1997; Risager, 2006). This understanding, however, was based on the assumption that FL

4

It is worth mentioning two additional reasons that have speeded up the shift. More and more Greek publishers produce ELT books locally while the state has introduced its own certification scheme for English, German, Italian and Spanish.

150 Sophia Papaefthymiou-Lytra users would mainly interact with target language users. Figure 1 below is a visual representation of this relationship.

Figure 1. Visual representation of old paradigm. As Figure 1 indicates, each of the two contributing cultures constitutes a world of its own. The language user’s interculture - like interlanguage – constitutes an on-going, ever developing and expanding world of its own which is interfaced between the L1 and the L2 cultures. In this paradigm intercultural awareness is defined as L2 users’ knowledge and experience to handle the target culture successfully in order to achieve effective communication in the L2. This definition of intercultural awareness in foreign language learning has primarily been rooted in the bipolar relationship of NS - N-NS communication. As I argued in the previous section, the old ELT paradigm has given way to a new paradigm. This new paradigm is inspired by the current literature on English as an international language and/or English as a lingua franca. 5 As a result, the intercultural space is no longer a bipolar one; rather it is a multipolar one. In addition, FL users of English, in particular, may have been trained in one variety of English or other, which also represent different cultural orientations. Figure 2 below is a visual presentation of the new prevailing paradigm where speakers of various cultural and linguistic backgrounds use English for a range of interactional purposes.

5

It is beyond the scope of the present article to present and discuss the debate between English as a FL, English as a lingua franca or English as an international language. The interested reader may like to consult Jenkins, 2006; Seidlhofer, 2011; Sifakis, 2011.

The importance of developing multicultural awareness 151

Figure 2: Visual representation of new paradigm. Legend: 1 = Spanish + English 2 = Greek + English 3 = Arabic + English 4 = Swedish + English 5 = English as an International Language According to the figure 2, the L1 cultures of the participants are Arabic, Greek, Swedish and Spanish. Consequently, broadly speaking a host of different cultures are at play in the act of communcation; namely, the L1 cultures of the four participants on which they often rely on to fill in gaps for understanding, interpretation and production purposes, their ‘brand’ of English culture, which all users may not share and may perceive in different ways as well as any other culture of a foreign language they may know. In this respect, I argue that the four speakers who use English for interactional purposes constitute a multicultural community of practice. Moreover, concurring with Blommaert and Backus’ (2011:9), I claim that learning a foreign language, in our case English, does not mean that we can claim at some point in life that we can know all the sources of the language. Depending on age, purpose and interests, individuals choose to learn certain registers, styles, genres and language varieties. The repertoires, therefore, they are able to handle in English are biographically determined. Besides, choices are shaped by top-down decisions regarding the varieties of English available in schools and other societal institutions in the countries they reside. What’s more, family, peer groups, ICT technologies and social media have introduced language learners of all ages to informal learning environments, the impact of which has not been fully measured yet (Blommaert and Backus, 2011: 10). Returning to figure 2, bubble 5 represents the cultural and linguistic outcome of their current encounter in English, to which each individual has contributed. Bubble 5, therefore, constitutes the multiculturalilty or multicultural space of the mediated culture product of the communication processes currently in action. The range of linguistic resources may increase

152 Sophia Papaefthymiou-Lytra the multiculturality options at play in this particular group, hence convergence is required for the L2 speakers in question to achieve purposeful interaction (cf. Author, 2004). The more the participants interact, the more cultural presuppositions and assumptions coming from a variety of sources become convergent, meaning it is easier for participants to understand and interpret each other’s utterances. Thus, the multiculturality space becomes less diversified and more manageable. One may argue that opposite processes may prevail due to lack of knowledge or other factors present. As a result, the multiculturality space may become more diversified and more complicated rendering it more difficult for each participant to handle it in the act of communication, which may lead to communication breakdowns. The following quote from the diary of one of my Greek students is revealing of this process of divergence: I met once an American guy. We could communicate and understand each other very well. However, when it came to matters of humour everything changed. All of a sudden, he started laughing with an expression, which had nothing humorous in it at all for me. I felt that our communication had fallen apart.

The student’s reflections reveal that when repertoires are shared by all sides, such as when talking about everyday matters, communication seems smooth and uncomplicated. When repertoires concern specialized matters like humour that are not shared by all participants, then communication may fall apart unless action is taken to resolve the problem, namely, to try to reinterpret it. It is important for students to learn to think of incompatible cultural issues as problem-solving situations rather than consider them as an offence and to be trained to take appropriate action to resolve them. Indeed, the new ELT paradigm has influenced the culture teaching orientation in the FL class too. Learners are now expected to understand the otherness of the cultures involved primarily as process that influences actions, beliefs and ways of thinking. This is also in accord with Street’s (1993) view that culture is not a set of features that one has or do not have, but culture is action due to our engagement in cultural practices. In this sense, multiculturality is seen as a dynamic process by which people not only draw on and use resources and processes of cultures with which they are familiar but also create culture as they attempt to construct meaning in interaction. In my view, this new paradigm in the undergraduate teacher training sector (as well as in schools) necessitates the use of new terms to denote more clearly the developments taking place and the emerging new realities. Hence, I suggest that along with the terms multicultural space and multiculturality to adopt the terms multicultural awareness and multicultural competence. I take multicultural awareness to mean L2 users’ understanding that there are usually more than ‘two’ cultures involved when using the L2 and that there is a need to be aware of whether and how this multiplicity of cultures influences

The importance of developing multicultural awareness 153 language use and what possible action(s) to take to adjust divergence. This understanding and the array of options constitute the L2 users’ multicultural competence. In this context, I take multicultural competence to mean L2 users’ ability to be alert and appreciate otherness and difference in their own culture, in the L2 culture they have acquired and in the other cultures present in an encounter and to ‘perceive conflicting/contrasting sets of rules, values, attitudes, behaviours, identities, images etc. culturally conditioned in multicultural social encounters and be prepared to manage conflict graciously’ (cf. Author, 2004: 22). It is imperative, therefore, that L2 users have a repertoire of options of appropriate practices and/or strategies to deal with diversity. For as Barnlund (1988: 14) claims: When people communicate between cultures, where communicative rules as well as the substance of experience differs, the problems multiply. But so, too, do the number of interpretations and alternatives. If it is true that the more people differ the harder it is for them to understand each other, it is equally true that the more they differ the more they have to teach and learn from each other.

4 Developing multicultural awareness in undergraduate FL teacher training: A case study It is important to acknowledge that taking a multicultural approach or multicultural perspective is central in influential curricula such as CEFL (2001) (cf. Johnson, 2006; Young and Sacher, 2011; Byram, 2012). However, it is equally important to acknowledge that cultural issues have infused curricula in an arbitrary way. They have been referred to as intercultural awareness, socio-cultural competence, compensation strategies and politeness issues as well as facts about the FL culture among others. As research reveals, there is not just one embraced by all definition of a multicultural approach nor is there one kind of understanding and implementation of the multicultural issues involved by practicing teachers in real classroom situations around the world (cf. Johnson, 2006). Hence, the aim to develop teacher trainees’ multicultural awareness rather than intercultural awareness becomes an important aspect of their education. In my opinion, multicultural awareness helps them to: a) better understand and rationalize cultural issues, such as beliefs, conventions, world views, facts and stereotypes among others of students’ own culture and of the L2 they will be teaching, b) fully recognize that when using the L2 with other N-NS teacher trainees need to be sensitive and proactive in handling issues stemming from other cultures, be it the speakers’ L1s, other varieties of English or other (foreign, community and immigrant) languages known to them that can be divergent from and/or misguided convergent to what they consider

154 Sophia Papaefthymiou-Lytra established or accepted ‘truths’ deriving from their L1, the L2 or other culture knowledge and experiences. The overall approach I adopted in the development of my undergraduate teacher trainees’ multicultural awareness was that of critical reflection. I take this to mean the process of analysing, questioning and revisiting experiences and knowledge in the context of social, cultural, political or use of technology issues among others. Indeed, developing critical reflection as an attainment target for teacher trainees needs to be an important characteristic for undergraduate as well as graduate teacher education programmes (cf. Schön, 1987; Wallace, 1991; Loughran, 1996; also Author et al., 2003). In particular, drawing on the work of Dewey (1933), Schön (1987) and Loughran (1996), I adopted Dewey’s tools of intellectual inquiry as the means by which teacher trainees can develop an awareness and understanding of the multipolar nature of the multiculturality space they co-construct in interaction. Through this understanding teacher trainees come to recognize their own assumptions and beliefs about themselves and the impact on their own way of thinking and doing things and juxtapose it to an understanding of linguistic and cultural diversity. Furthermore, I deployed Schön’s (1987) distinguishing concepts of ‘reflection-on-action’ and ‘reflection-in-action’ in conjunction with Loughran’s (1996) perspective who recognizes three different types of critical reflection: anticipatory reflection, contemporaneous reflection and retrospective reflection. In my context, anticipatory reflection is made use of to deal with students’ beliefs and assumptions about a specific theme or topic to be explored in class or through observation and research. Contemporaneous reflection or reflection-in-action occurs when tasks, projects and/or fieldwork are in action and teacher trainees are expected to make necessary adjustments to attain their goals. Retrospective reflection or reflection-on-action takes place after tasks, projects and/or fieldwork are over and students are invited to reflect on what they said, did, thought or observed and evaluate previous knowledge and experiences in the light of the new knowledge and experience they acquired. As Loughran maintains, critical reflection can become a permanent trait of FL teachers if they have become accustomed and have practiced all three of forms of reflection during their teacher education programmes. In this context, teacher trainees are invited to identify, compare and contrast, critically talk about, interpret, challenge and contest their own beliefs, values, assumptions, misconceptions and stereotypes concerning their own culture, the foreign language culture, other cultures present in the classroom or in the broader social environment as well as cultures from around the world. An awareness of the presence of other cultural practices can help them develop the attitudes of seeking alternatives, of becoming responsible and proactive by recognizing possible consequences if they choose one option over the other,

The importance of developing multicultural awareness 155 and wholeheartedly embracing constant self-examination for re-adjustment in order to improve their repertoires for handling new elements of culture(s) present in the here-and-now. For, as Barnlund (1988: 11) rightly argues: Every culture attempts to create ‘a universe of discourse’ for its members, a way in which people can interpret their experience and convey it to one another. Without a common system of codifying sensations, life would be absurd and all efforts to share meaning will be doomed to failure.

To promote retrospective reflection or reflection-on-action students are asked to keep diaries where they enter personal cultural experiences past and present and reflect upon them. The content of the diaries is also discussed in the classroom where students are invited to look for similar instances and compare and contrast their responses vis-à-vis the problem-solving situations at hand. The excerpt below is from the diary of a Turkish Erasmus student who recorded the following incident: My flat-mates and I were looking for a street market in Kypseli [a residential area of Athens] for about twenty minutes but could not find it. Both my flatmates came from Lithuania and they decided to approach a lady in the street and ask her about the street market. They asked her in English but the lady did not speak English and was unable to answer. Then I approached the lady and simply said ‘pazar? pazar?’. She immediately understood what I was looking for and tried to help using body language. This is because a street market in Turkish is called ‘pazar’ while in Greek it is ‘pazari’…

The strategy the student made use of is that where English does not work try to see if your language or some other language you know can help. Actually, as this student explained in his diary while taking a short Erasmus students’ course in Modern Greek, he became aware that a good number of words in Greek and in Turkish sounded similar. This awareness prompted him to experiment with this strategy and he got it right! Overall, the course material dealt with a given set of key themes (see table 1 below for a sample) that were to be discussed and researched during the course. The themes selected reflected basic anthropological categories adapted from Szafraniek (1994). 6

6 The list is adapted from Szafraniek J.D. 1994. IN TERCULTURAL AWAREN ESS: Curricullum Internationalization –Dossier guidelines for exchange students. Vol. 1 and 2. Christelijke Hogeschool Windesheim, Windesheim, Holland. These two volumes were among the products of the European funded project: Lingua Action II ICP 93 NL 1125/20. The European Universities involved in the project were: The University of Amsterdam, College of Ripon and York, University of Strasbourg, The University of Aveiro, The University of Dresden, The University of Bergamo, The University of Zwolle, The University of Hamburg, The University of Copenhagen, The University of London, Universidad de Seveille, Universitat Dortmund and The University of Athens.

156 Sophia Papaefthymiou-Lytra 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

Personal identity Family Partner relationships (friendship, love, flirt) Residence, living, dwelling Environment Work Education Free time, art, graffiti Mobility, transporting, experience of space Communication (sign systems, media) Experience of norms and values (ethics, religion, relocation) Experience of historicity (experience of time) etc.

Table 1. Sample of themes. Topics form these themes were subsequently used in class work and field work. Not with standing, this list can be expanded or reduced responding to students’ profiles, interests and needs. Concerning the theme of free time and entertainment a Greek student who had spent a semester in Germany as an Erasmus student the year before he took the course recounted his experiences, reflected on them and evaluated them as follows: It struck me as strange when I found out that night life in Germany is completely different from my country. In Germany it is usual for night clubs to operates on weekends only until three or four in the morning and for bars to close at midnight, whereas in my country they normally operate throughout the week until five or six in the morning. Later on I found out that this is so for two reasons. The first one is the environment. Since winter there is really heavy with intense snowfalls it is very dangerous to go out during the night, even more so if one is drunk. The second reason is work ethics. It is unacceptable for someone to go to work exhausted from a party and thus unable to be productive.

I also used certain materials to make my students aware of the multipolarity of cultural underpinnings, namely, that different cultures assign different values, symbolic meanings and traits to the same gestures, living creatures, objects and/or concepts. Most of these materials were collected by the students themselves when they did research or field work. First, I briefly present some very interesting advertisements by HSBC Bank that circulated in the international press in the 2000s. The bank wanted to promote itself as an institution that was well-versed in local knowledge and never underestimated its importance. In its advertisements, the Bank used gestures, musical instruments, food and concepts etc. to promote this view. For instance, one of the advertisements featured three inanimate objects, three musical instruments called “pipes” (see Appendix 1, image 1).

The importance of developing multicultural awareness 157 However, in terms of design the pipes from Scotland looked different from the pipes from Ireland and the pipes from England. Still they were all called pipes. Here, the same word denoted an object but the object itself was not exactly the same. In another advertisement, what constituted a “delicacy” was understood differently in China, Mexico and France. Therefore, chicken legs were understood as a delicacy in Chine, a grasshopper in Mexico and snails in France (see Appendix 1, image 2). By using material such as advertisements, cartoons, films, songs, postcards, pictures as well as recorded or videotaped foreign language classroom discourse, conversations in English among multicultural participants (simulated or natural), English literature texts translated into the L1 and vice versa among others, teacher trainees become aware of and sensitive to conceptual, ideological, cultural, stereotypical differences and similarities among cultures. 7 As I mentioned earlier in this section, to further develop my teacher trainees’ multicultural awareness, I opted for teaching/learning practices, such as tasks, projects, research and fieldwork, which incorporated diaries, reports and appraisals. The table below includes a template for field work assignments that I used in my class; it is adapted from Szafraniek (1994) (see also footnote 6). Pairs or groups Choice of topic Specific cultural practices to focus on Methodology and data selection create a question list Æ to guide research Description and analysis of cultural practices create a checklist Æ to guide analysis Interpretation of cultural practices

Greek students, Erasmus students, students with different home language living in Greece where possible e.g. non-verbal communication, body language e.g. hand gestures observations, interviews, collection of artifacts such as photographs, advertisements, post-cards, books, etc. that can be found on-line or off-line demonstrating ‘what others do / what I (we) do’ key symbols, rituals, values, etc.

7 Students are encouraged to compile a portfolio to take away and make use of later in the language class if they wish.

158 Sophia Papaefthymiou-Lytra Conclusion, self- reflection and appraisal

in the cultural, social, economic, historical context.

Table 2. Template for field work assignments. As stated, the aim of the course was not only to increase teacher trainees’ awareness and sensitivity as observers in events but also to help them deal with multiculturality in action as participants in events, in other words, to develop and put into practice their multicultural competence. In this course pair and group work (inside and outside the classroom) was emphasized. It was important for group members to have experienced or come from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. The presence of Erasmus students or of Greek students, who had the experience of an Erasmus student elsewhere helped to that end as did the presence of students with different home languages. After all, it is through constructive collaboration that students learn to handle difference and otherness in action. In particular, students were requested to write about multicultural encounters in their diaries how they as individuals and as group members managed to bridge gaps in the multiculturality space and reflect upon the interactional consequences these may have had in their exchanges. Besides, teacher trainees were encouraged to recount their multicultural experiences in class and discuss them in pairs, groups or with the whole class. They were also involved in projects that required of them to carry out field work in Athens. The following example I describe is from such field work in Athens. Students were teamed up in groups of three. They were instructed to visit places of interest to tourists in Athens and observe pairs or groups of tourists. In the process, they were asked to make intelligible guesses about the tourists their observed: their nationality, how many tourists there were in a given group, their age, greeting habits observed, body language and posture, facial expressions, gestures, voice (tone/pitch) and their relationship. Students were also required to explain what prompted their guesses. As reported in class afterwards, there were sometimes heated discussions among students as they tried to make these guesses in the field. The data collected concerned various nationalities such as Germans, Americans, French, South Americans, Arabs, British, Philippines and Greeks. They were indicative of the multicultural (and multilingual) orientation of the people observed and they were then used for reflection and discussion in tasks in the classroom. Here are four excerpts from the data describing when people of different nationalities meet: a)

We observed two Chinese men in a cafeteria in Monstiraki, in central Athens. When they met they patted each other on the shoulder and smiled to each other. They sat at a table facing each other and started

The importance of developing multicultural awareness 159 talking. No gestures were involved whereas facial expressions were motionless so to speak. b) We observed a group of four male Arabs in the Acropolis. … they were talking very loudly gesturing all the time. They kept short distances from each other. However, they did not talk while walking. When talking they stopped to face each other and establish eye contact. c) We observed two Greek female students in the University cafeteria. When they met they kissed each other twice on the cheeks and sat down at a table one next to the other. They were talking loudly, often their speech overlapped, gesturing lot and establishing intensive eye-contact. d) We observed a group of middle-aged Frenchmen in the Acropolis. Two ladies from the group accidentally met a third woman, obviously a friend of theirs but member of another group visiting the Acropolis, too. They kissed each other three times on the cheeks establishing good eyecontact. Through team work, collaborative tasks, projects and field work teacher trainees became aware of the richness of the cultural practices encountered. These practices may have been expressed differently across cultures but they may have meant similar things and served similar purposes. Likewise, some practices that may have looked similar may have meant something different serving different purposes. In addition, they became aware that if the multiculturality space was not shared in advance, it was imperative that gaps had to be bridged. They were encouraged to do so either by asking their interlocutors, their fellow students, their tutor or by looking up things at their own leisure.

5 Discussion and concluding remarks: On the benefits of multicultural awareness and teacher training The benefits teacher trainees have in developing multicultural awareness are multiple. Firstly, the development of multicultural awareness increases teacher trainees’ understanding of the complexity of the multiculturality space and its fluid nature; at the same time, it prepares them for the unexpected cultural underpinnings encountered in the use of language(s) and culture(s) and how to deal with them. In this sense, as teacher trainees often state in their diaries, reports and appraisals of the tasks and projects they undertook, multicultural awareness decreases their anxiety about how to handle unknown information while it increases a) their curiosity about others and otherness by seeking alternative paths to cope with diversity, b) their motivation and autonomy in acquiring new knowledge about the world at large by recognizing the consequences in instances of misinterpretation and/or misunderstanding and making the necessary adjustments and c) it helps them activate their learning

160 Sophia Papaefthymiou-Lytra how to learn strategies and practices, which makes strategy or practices instruction necessary to develop student autonomy further. A case in point is the following account of the practices of accommodation adopted by the same Greek student who had spent a semester in Germany as an Erasmus student: In Germany, I had to adapt to two different situations. The first concerned politeness issues. Greece is a culture that favours positive politeness practices, German culture favours negative politeness practices. I had to keep this difference in mind so as to avoid misunderstandings. The second one refers to behaviour inside the classroom. In Germany it is customary for students to knock on their desks when the lesson is over. It signifies the end of the lesson and respect towards your professor and your class-mates. In Greece there is no equivalent practice so it was strange but interesting for me. At the beginning it was difficult for me to get used to it but I gradually became accustomed to it and by the end of my stay there I did it almost unconsciously.

Moreover, developing multicultural awareness helps teacher trainees enrich their language prowess by engaging in critical thinking through ‘continual self-examination’ i.e. by asking themselves questions of the type: ‘I am not sure if I agree/disagree with what I am hearing, listening, reading, writing’ as they write in their diaries or voice their concerns to their interlocutor(s) about their contributions or others’ contributions in order to manage communication successfully. As a result, students often felt empowered to approach the people they observed, introduce themselves, explain about their projects and ask them to elaborate on what they were doing. As a group of students explained in their report: We approached the two Chinese we observed, introduced ourselves, explained about the project we were doing and asked them if they ever kissed each other when they met. They said they never did so if they met outside the home.

Furthermore, developing multicultural awareness reinforces respect and understanding of other cultures, including the L1 culture. Reflecting on this issue, a Swedish Erasmus student wrote in her diary: Back in Sweden I strongly believed that my children should learn English first, because I thought that English was the language to provide them with a global view of things. Now that I have attended this course I think my children should first learn Swedish and then English if they are to become global citizens.

As the student’s quote reveals, developing teachers trainees’ multicultural awareness can also help students’ better understand and appreciate their own culture, since they can see it through the lens of other cultures in a multipolar dimension rather than a bipolar one; particularly so when at the other end there is a dominant L2 like English. This can provide a positive way for “foreign language learning to dig inroads into other culture appreciation” and

The importance of developing multicultural awareness 161 to promote “culture ecology” (cf. Author, 2007: 299). What’s more, being receptive to cultural otherness beyond the L1 and L2 is a first step towards tolerance and understanding as well as towards pluriculturalism, in the sense of developing partial multicultural competences. 8 As mentioned earlier in this article schools have changed not only in Greece but elsewhere in Europe due to globalization and immigration. In addition, there are pupils from indigenous minorities who share a different home language (cf. Lytra, 2007). Immigrant and minority pupils with other home languages come to class bearing their own cultural identities and having been socialized from an early age to different sets of values, beliefs, gender norms and cultural patterns (cf. Gollnick and Chinn, 2002). What’s more, learners bring along to class other foreign languages and cultures they may know. FL teachers, therefore, need to be prepared to respond to the cultural diversity and be proactive in answering the challenges and opportunities they will encounter in the foreign language classroom. The FL classroom can become the space where cultural similarities and differences among learners can be discussed through English. This resonates with Fay et al. (2010) who persuasively argue in favour of developing pupils’ multicultural awareness through English (MATE). Figure 3 below demonstrates this multicultural relationship. L2 (English)

L1 (official language)

a) L1b, L1c, etc. (Home language(s) of immigrant or minority pupils) b) Other foreign languages

Figure 3. The multicultural classroom. Once the pupils and the teacher acknowledge this triangular relationship of cultures through multicultural awareness practices, they can become 8

I use the terms pluriculturalism (a description of a person’s ability to function in a multicultural society) and plurilingualism (a description of a person who has competence in more than one languages and can switch between languages according to context) as they have been defined by the Council of Europe (cf. Byram, 2008).

162 Sophia Papaefthymiou-Lytra multiculturally sensitive to other cultural systems and able to approach cultural “others” whether it is the L2, other foreign languages or other L1s as home (languages and) cultures present in class, without feeling insecure or threatened. Eventually, I claim, direct comparisons between the majority L1 and the other home (languages and) cultures become easier and less strenuous. These practices can help reduce negative feelings towards the cultural other and racism in the FL class while the outcomes of such practices can spill over to other classes at school and to society at large. An Erasmus student from the Czech Republic described this transition very eloquently in her diary as follows: At first I was no tolerant at all. I could not stand the diversity. But I have gradually learnt a lot about Greece, its people, and culture, and I have improved my Greek so that I can ask or respond from time to time now. And even if I still do not understand or accept many things here, I put up with them much easier now than a couple of months ago. I believe that I have developed (to a certain degree) my intercultural awareness and I have accommodated ‘the other’ culture quite well.

By training teacher trainees to embrace FL teaching as the vehicle to develop their pupils’ multicultural awareness and eventually their pupils’ multicultural competence practices of this kind in the FL classroom can influence pupils’ attitudes towards the other and otherness. These practices can help pupils develop critical reflexivity and understanding of diverse cultures, thus becoming flexible enough to live within and between cultures and make it easier for some of them if not all of them, to want to know how this other is expressed linguistically not only in English, the L2 they are learning, but also in the other L1s present in classroom. In this way, teachers and learners can experiment with the other languages and cultures present in the classroom. In the long run, if properly encouraged by teachers who are open to embracing diversity, this kind of practices can, by and large, lead to plurilingualism, not only pluriculturalism as suggested earlier, for both pupils and teachers! This is in accord with the Council of Europe’s ideal that European citizens should become plurilingual in as many languages as possible developing different degrees of competence in the areas of their own interests, purposes and needs. After all, as Blommaert and Backus (2011) argue speakers develop a better competence in certain areas than others even in their L1. Last but not least, one more benefit I can identify in developing teacher trainees’ multicultural awareness and preparing them to apply these practices to their classes is that of developing teacher trainees’ global multicultural citizenship. I suggest that multicultural awareness (and multicultural competence) reinforce global multicultural citizenship where all languages involved are considered worth while (cf. Byram, 2008, 2012). I would like to conclude with the words of a Turkish Erasmus student who I think puts this

The importance of developing multicultural awareness 163 global multicultural citizenship perspective very nicely in his diary. He writes: Language and culture seem to be inseparable. … I have realized it thanks to the Erasmus programme I have joined. Visiting or living in a country for a short while is the best way to learn how others live, discover new places, civilizations, practices, habits and customs, checking out how far stereotypes about others are wrong, what others think of you and your country, practice the languages you speak but particularly meet people and share things with them, … culture, in particular, can easily become a topic to talk about with others.

6 References Baker, W. (2012) From cultural awareness to intercultural awareness: culture in ELT, ELT Journal (66) 1: 62-70. Barnlund D. C. (1988) Communication in a global village. In Samovar, A., and R. R. Porter (eds) Intercultural Communication: A Reader, Wadsworth Inc.: 5-14. Blommaert J., and A. Backus (2011) Repertoires revisited: ‘Knowing language’ in superdiversity, Working Papers in Urban Language & Literacies, Paper 67: 1-26. Byram, M. (2012) Awareness and (critical) language awareness – relationships, comparisons and contrasts, Language Awareness (21) 1: 5-13. Byram, M. (2008) From foreign language education to education for intercultural citizenship, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Byram, M. (1997) Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Council of Europe (2001) Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment, Strasbourg: Council of Europe/CUP. Dewey, J. (1933) How we think, Chicago: Henry Regnery. Fay, R., V. Lytra and M. Ntavaliagkou (2010) Multicultural awareness through English: a potential contribution of TESOL in Greek schools, Intercultural Education (21) 6: 581-595. Gogonas, N. (2010) Bilingualism and multilingualism in Greek education. Investigating ethnic language maintenance among pupils of Albanian and Egyptian origin in Athens, Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Gollnick, D. M., and P. C. Chinn (2002) Multicultural education in a pluralistic society, Columbus, OH: Merrill Prentice Hall. Jenkins, J. (2006) Current perspectives on teaching world Englishes and English as a lingua franca, TESOL Quarterly (40) 1: 157-181.

164 Sophia Papaefthymiou-Lytra Johnson, K. E. (2006) The sociocultural turn and its challenges for second language teacher education, TESOL Quarterly (40), 1: 235-257. Kachru, B. B. (1992) Models for non-native Englishes. In Kachru, B. B. (ed) The other tongue: English across cultures. 2nd edition, Urbana & Chicago: University of Illinois Press: 48-74. Loughran, J. (1996) Developing reflective practice: learning about teaching and learning through modelling, London: Falmer Press. Lytra, V. (2007) Play frames and social identities: Contact encounters in a Greek primary school, Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Papaefthymiou-Lytra, S. (2004) Multipolar intercultural competence. In Sougari, A. M., and E. Joycey (eds) Challenges in Teacher Education, Thessaloniki: University Studio Press: 15-26. Papaefthymiou-Lytra, S. (2007) On multipolar communicative competence. In Division of Linguistics – University of Athens (eds) A Linguistic Journey – An Honorary Volume for Demetra TheophanopoulouKontou, Athens: Book Institute - M. Kardamitsas: 412-423. Sifakis, N., and M. Hill (2003) The reflexive foreign language teacher and distance education-theory and practice. In Lionarakis, A. (ed) 2nd Panellenique Conference for Distance Education, Athens: Propompos Publications: 286-295. Pennycook, A. (2003) Global Englishes, Rip Slime, and performativity, Journal of Sociolinguistic (7) 4: 513-533. Risager, K. (2006) Language and culture. Global flows and local complexity, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Seidlhofer B. (2011) Understanding English as a lingua franca, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Sifakis, N. (2011) English and Globalization. Aspects of present day reality in Greece, in Europe and the World, Athens: Horodotos Publications. Schön, D. A. (1987) The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action, London: Temple Smith. Street, B. (1993) Culture is a Verb. Anthropological Aspects of Language and Culture Process. In Graddol, D., L. Thompson, and M. Byram (eds) Language and Culture, Clevedon: BAAL and Multilingual Matters: 23-43. Szafraniek J. D. (1994) Intercultural Awareness: Curriculum Internationalization D – ossier guidelines for exchange students (1-2). Christelijke Hogeschool Windesheim, Windesheim, Holland. Young T. J., and I. Sacher (2011) Intercultural communicative competence: Exploring English language teachers’ beliefs and practices, Language Awareness (20) 2: 81-98. Wallace, M. (1991) Training foreign language teachers: A reflective approach, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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7 Recommended reading Aden, J., T. Grimshaw and H. Penz (eds) (2010) Teaching language and culture in an era of complexity: interdisciplinary approaches for an interrelated world, Brussels: Peter Lang. This edited collection discusses the importance of the acquisition of intercultural competence in foreign language teaching. Byram, M. (2008) From foreign language education to education for intercultural citizenship: essays and reflections, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. In this publication, different concepts associated with intercultural education are clearly defined and situated in the EU context. The need for pluriligualism in Europe is also persuasively argued for. Guest, M. (2002) A critical ‘checkbook’ for culture teaching and learning, ELT Journal (56) 2: 154-162. The article attempts to help teachers develop an awareness of the role and usage of culture into the EFL classroom, on the one hand by sensitizing teachers and students to cultural differences and the possible misunderstandings they may cause and on the other hand developing a critical perspective towards much EFL cultural research that has tended to misrepresent foreign cultures. Sowden, C. (2007) Culture and the ‘good teacher’ in the English Language classroom, ELT Journal (61) 4: 304-310. This article argues that ELT has become increasingly sensitive to the issue of culture. However, in the absence of objective guidelines about what to do in the classroom, the teacher has returned to centre stage as a more informed, articulate, and empowered professional. Woodin, J. (2010) Cultural categorisation: what can we learn from practice? An example from tandem learning. In Special Issue: Young, T. J., and P. Sercombe (eds) Communication, discourses and interculturality, Language and Intercultural Communication (10) 3: 225242. This article addresses the issue of cultural categorisations in ELT, which is often claimed to lead to stereotyping. It reports classroom research indicating

166 Sophia Papaefthymiou-Lytra that categorisation marking similarity and difference can open up possibilities for understanding diversity rather than limit them.

8 Questions for reflection and discussion -

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Listen to the song ‘An Englishman in New York’ by Sting (www.sting.com). Reflect on what makes an Englishman in accordance with the lyrics of the song. Do you agree or disagree with this image. If you were to write a similar song about yourself in New York, what would you write? Would you use this kind of material to enhance your teacher trainees’ multicultural awareness? Why or why not? Discuss your views in class. One of Aesop’s well-know stories is about the crow and the fox. In the Greek version of the story the fox is a ‘she’ where as in the English version of the story the fox is a ‘he’ (see, for instance, A first book of Aesop’s Fables, Ladybird Books LTD, series 740, retold by Marie Stuart). How is the fox rendered in your own language? Reflect on the differences or similarities in gender in the Greek version and the translated ones. Discuss possible explanations in class. Taking as a point of departure the anthropological categories in table 1 of this article, compile a list of cultural features that characterize your own age group, justifying their inclusion in your list. In your opinion, which of the features that characterize your age group are locally nurtured and which ones are more globally orientated? Discuss differences and similarities in the lists with your fellow students. It has been claimed that if European citizens develop pluriculturalism they will further enhance their European identity. To what extent do you agree with this claim? Give reasons for your answers. In this article evidence of the importance of developing teacher trainees’ multicultural awareness is provided in the journal samples of the students who attended the course. Is the development of multicultural awareness possible in your teaching/learning context? Justify your answer by providing further evidence from your own experience.

Section II Teacher identity construction: Emotional and cognitive dimensions of teaching

Teacher emotion, emotional labor and teacher identity Paul A. Schutz (University of Texas, USA) Mikyoung Lee (University of Munich, Germany) A growing number of researchers suggest that teachers leave the profession at high rates during the first few years of teaching (Achinstein, 2006; Kersaint et al., 2007). These estimates are even higher in schools that serve minorities and English Language Learners (ELL) (Jacob, 2007). Excessive teacher turnover is costly to society, schools, and most importantly to students. Researchers have suggested that one explanation for this exodus is the emotional nature of the teaching profession (e.g., Schutz and Zembylas, 2009). They suggest that teaching involves considerable emotional labor, which involves the effort, planning, and control teachers need to express “appropriate” emotions. Emotional labor has been associated with job dissatisfaction, health symptoms and emotional exhaustion, which are key components of professional burnout. In this chapter we will discuss how teachers’ emotional experiences and emotional labor associated with those experiences are intimately related to their emerging teacher identities. In addition, we will discuss the importance of social, emotional, contextual factors and how those factors may influence teachers’ identity development and their decisions to stay or leave the profession.

[I was talking to a] kid last night and I told him about my experiences, my life, and I told him this is one of the hardest jobs I have ever done, being a teacher. And he looked at me and was like, really sir, and I was like yeah I never realized how difficult it is to be teacher. And I think it’s because of all those things, those emotions that you deal with. (Mr. Guerrero quoted in Schutz et al., 2012)

1 Introduction Every year a large number of early career teachers enter classrooms around the world. Like Mr. Guerrero, these early career teachers enter the teaching profession armed with, among other things, their goal to be a teacher, the training they received, and an emerging idea of whom they are as a teacher (Schutz et al., 2001). Unfortunately, there are also a number of reports that suggest that many of those same teachers are leaving the profession at high rates (Achinstein, 2006; Darling-Hammond, 1999; Kersaint et al., 2007; Ulvik et al., 2009). In the USA these reports suggest that nearly 30% to 50% of teachers leave the profession within the first five years (Alliance for Excellent Education 2004; Ingersoll, 2003; Quality Counts 2000). Even more problematic, these attrition rates tend to be higher in schools that serve students of color and English language learners (Jacob, 2007).

170 Paul A. Schutz and Mikyoung Lee A number of researchers are now suggesting the high level of teacher exodus may be related to the emotional nature of the teaching process (see Schutz and Pekrun, 2007; Schutz and Zembylas, 2009). Teaching, among other things, involves managing complex emotional classrooms transactions that tend to be even more pressing for novice teachers who are rarely prepared to manage the emotional events that are an endemic part of teaching and working within school contexts. Therefore, it is not surprising that many teachers leave early in their career: some are simply ill equipped to deal with the emotional transactions involved in their profession. As such, this exodus tends to be higher among early career teachers in part because of the potential emotionality of teaching, which may lead to job dissatisfaction, health symptoms, and emotional exhaustion (Jackson et al., 1986; Maslach, 1982; Morris and Feldman, 1996; Schaubroek and Jones, 2000). Excessive teacher turnover during the first few years is problematic for many reasons. First and foremost, it hurts students. It takes years for teachers to fully develop their craft and yet too many students (especially our high needs students) repeatedly encounter newer, less prepared, and less knowledgeable teachers. In addition, teacher turnover also results in lost revenue from the cost of professional development for new teachers; it results in the dissolution of relationships with families, the community, and the school; and, finally, high turn over makes long-term educational reform efforts difficult (Schutz et al., 2012). As such, Cowie (2011), who explored how language teachers experience their teaching environment, contended that the emotional aspects in language teaching is important to consider and a key aspect of becoming a successful teacher. In this chapter we discuss how teachers’ emotional experiences and emotional labor associated with those experiences are intimately related to their emerging teacher identities. In addition, we will discuss emotions episodes in the language classroom and how those episodes may influence teachers’ identity development and their decisions to stay or leave the profession. Finally we will offer some conclusions regarding teacher emotions.

2 Teacher emotion episodes Generally researchers suggest that emotional episodes consist of cognitive appraisals, physiological responses, affective feeling, and behavioral tendencies (e.g. Frijda, 2000; Izard, 2007; Russell and Barrett, 1999; Schutz et al., in press; Smith, 1991). Schutz et al., (2006) further elaborated on this view by also emphasizing social and historical aspects that shape an emotional episode. They described emotional experiences as “socially constructed, personally enacted ways of being that emerge from conscious and/or unconscious judgments regarding perceived successes at attaining

Teacher emotion, emotional labor and teacher identity 171 goals or maintaining standards or beliefs during transactions as part of socialhistorical contexts (p. 344).” As indicated emotions involve judgments or appraisals about what is occurring during a particular classroom event (Pekrun et al., 2007; Schutz et al., 2007). Basically, teachers’ goals, values, and beliefs, act as referent points used to judge where they are in relation to where they want to be (Carver and Scheier, 2000; Schutz and Davis, 2000). These goals, values, and beliefs represent ways teachers’ position themselves during classroom activities (Schutz et al., 2010). These appraisals involve teachers’ perceptions of how the activity is going, related to their goals and plans for that activity. In most cases, these judgments occur outside of awareness, yet they are key to an emotional episode (Frijda, 2000; Lazarus, 1991; Pekrun et al., 2007; Schutz and Davis, 2000; Smith, 1991). Researchers have found it useful to make a distinction between primary and secondary appraisals (Lazarus, 1991; Schutz and Davis, 2000). Primary appraisals are related to how important teachers perceive the outcome to be. For primary appraisal, Lazarus (1991) talks about judgments related to goal relevance (i.e., is it important to the teachers’ goals?), goal congruence (i.e., is the activity going how the teacher thought it would?), and the type of ego or identity involvement (i.e., how much of the teachers’ self or one’s identity is involved?). For example, if a particular teacher thinks that preparing students for standardized tests is an important aspect of their role as teacher -- a student’s slight off task behavior during an “important” test preparation activity may be scrutinized more closely resulting in judgments that the event was not going as planned, which may result in the emergence of unpleasant teacher emotions. On the other hand, if the test preparation activity was going as planned, it is more likely that pleasant emotions would emerge. Secondary appraisals are judgments that teachers make about their potential to handle what is occurring during a particular activity. Two secondary appraisals that are key to our discussion here are perceptions of autonomy (Lazarus, 1991; Schutz & Davis, 2000; Pekrun et al., 2007) (i.e., Am I in control of this situation?) and problem efficacy (Schutz and Davis, 2000), (i.e., Am I confident I will be able to handle this situation?). These secondary appraisals help differentiate among potential emotion episodes. Consequently, a situation that has been appraised as goal important (i.e., ‘‘It’s important for my students to do well on this standardized test’’) and goal incongruent (i.e., ‘‘My students did really badly on that practice test’’), with secondary appraisals of self-blame (i.e., ‘‘I knew I should have done a better job of teaching’’) may result in shame. Alternatively, the same situation with secondary appraisals of other blame (i.e., ‘‘These standardized tests don’t measure what my students know’’) may result in anger. In terms of pleasant emotions, if the situation was appraised as goal important (i.e.,

172 Paul A. Schutz and Mikyoung Lee ‘‘It’s important for my students to do well on this standardized test’’) and goal congruent (i.e., ‘‘My students did really well on that practice test’’), with secondary appraisals of being in control and able to handle any problems (i.e., ‘‘I thought those teaching strategies would help my students!’’) may result in pride and enjoyment. It is important to also indicate that these emotions are also related to teacher motivation. Schumann (2001) argued that teacher motivation is, in part related to how language teacher appraisals events in the classroom. For instance, appraising oneself as being in control and able to handle the situation tends to facilitate successful outcomes and pleasant emotions such as pride and joy, whereas appraising oneself as not able to handle the situation may facilitate failure outcomes and unpleasant emotions such as frustration and anger; thus, influencing to the potential for success in second language learning classrooms.

3 Emotional labor As indicated, for teachers as well as students, the classroom has the potential for a variety of emotional episodes that range from the overwhelming enjoyment of seeing your students understand a difficult concept to the intense frustration of attempting to deal with the constraints of a student’s challenging home life. However, Williams-Johnson and her colleagues (2008) also found that teachers sometime find it necessary to suppress or avoid displaying certain emotions in the classroom. Other researchers have also suggested, that within the context of classroom activity settings, teachers are expected to display emotions in particular ways (Morris and Feldman, 1996; Williams-Johnson et al., 2008; Zembylas, 2003, 2005). These emotional display rules can be defined as the standards or norms for the appropriate emotional expression during classroom transactions. Thus, emotional labor is the work or effort teachers use to present various roles or identities during school related transactions. Which means that, during transactions in the school context teachers’ express, repress, or generate emotions based on perceived needs during particular activities (WilliamJohnson et al., 2008). In other words, there are certain expected socialhistorical based ways of expressing emotion. For teacher this generally means that during most transactions with students, they are expected to show pleasant emotions and suppress their unpleasant felt emotions (Schaubroek and Jones, 2000; Williams-Johnson et al, 2008). The expectation to that teachers expected to show some emotions and suppress others creates the potential for emotional dissonance or a conflict between what a teacher is actually feeling and the perceived display rules expected to follow. Hochschild (1983) referred to act of having feeling one way while trying to portray a different feeling as “surface acting.” In other

Teacher emotion, emotional labor and teacher identity 173 words, when teachers try to wear a “mask” in a effort to show their students one emotions, they are suppressing their real feelings and, instead, present a facade as if they feel them. On the other hand, deep acting refers to the teachers attempt to actually feel the emotions that they need to express and spend effort to regulate their own genuine emotions. The expectation that teachers are obliged to follow particular display rules has been associated with the idea of emotional labor (Morris and Feldman, 1996; Zembylas, 2005). Morris and Feldman (1996) define emotional labor ‘‘as the effort, planning, and control needed to express organizationally desired emotion during interpersonal transactions’’ (p. 987). In the area of occupational psychology, researchers have suggested that emotional labor is related to emotional exhaustion (a key component of burnout), job satisfaction, and health symptoms (Maslach, 1982; Jackson et al., 1986; Morris and Feldman, 1996; Schaubroek & Jones, 2000). Research into emotional labor in teaching and other aspects of teachers’ emotions is becoming increasingly important not only because of the growing number of teachers leaving the profession, but also because unpleasant classroom emotions have considerable implications for student learning, school climate and the quality of education in general. In addition, these emotional episodes and the emotional labor associated with them have the potential to influence how teachers see themselves as teachers – or their teacher identities.

4 Teacher identities Teachers’ identities involve both the ways in which teachers perceive themselves (as teachers) and the ways they portray themselves to their students (Schutz et al., 2007). These identities continuously change, evolve, and emerge as teachers transact among social historical contexts over the course of their teaching lives (Danielewicz, 2001; Zembylas, 2003; Cross and Hong, 2009; Hong, 2010). This construction and reconstruction of their identities is based not only on the continually changing self-knowing of teachers, but also on teachers’ continually changing perceptions of the profession itself. Thus, what teachers know about themselves, their perception of the characteristics and nature of the teaching profession, and their beliefs about their roles are all interrelated in forming and transforming their teacher identities. A key aspect of teachers’ changing identities revolves around the emotions associated with the teaching process. For example, Nias (1996) indicated that teachers invest their “selves” in their work. This investment includes emotional episodes that provide salient evidence regarding one’s evolving identity commitments. During emotional transactions, teachers’ emerging identities not only influence their actions and emotions, but their actions and emotions also influence their professional identity formation. As such,

174 Paul A. Schutz and Mikyoung Lee teacher identities and emotion are not linear or unidirectional; rather, they are inextricably related to each other through an ongoing, multidirectional, transactional process. For example, some unpleasant emotions may represent a challenge to existing identity-related beliefs and goals about student learning, whereas, pleasant emotional episodes about student learning may suggest a confirmation of emerging identities. In English language class, teachers may feel frustrated when students’ performance did not reach teachers’ academic goals for their outcomes, especially given that performance in English is important for students’ academic careers. In this situation, teachers might reconsider their teacher identity, by asking themselves: ‘‘can I do good job as an English teacher?’’ On the other hand, teachers may experience enjoyment or pride, when they see their students being successful while explaining difficult vocabulary items using the words they learned in class, without giving up. These successes might provide teachers with an opportunity to reinforce their identity as English teacher. New teachers begin with beliefs and goals about their students and the roles they will be “playing” as a teacher (Cross and Hong, 2009; Van Veen and Sleegers, 2009; Hong, 2010; Schutz et al., 2012). These beliefs and goals can range from being useful to not useful and yet they act as reference points or standards used by teachers to judge what happens during classroom transactions. For example, students’ actions and reactions may be compared to idealized versions of how students “should” act in the classroom (Flores and Day, 2006). When students’ behaviors are in line with teachers’ perceptions of how the classroom should be and are associated with pleasant emotions and those salient identities may be strengthened. However, when there is a discrepancy among a teacher’s current identity beliefs and what is actually occurring in the classroom, there is the potential for those identities to be challenged, resulting in potential changes in those identities (Schutz et al., 2007; Cross and Hong, 2009). When students are compliant, it confirms pleasant emotions about being respected. When students are defiant, frustration can lead to doubt about emergent teacher roles. Thus, it is important to keep in mind that it is difficult to separate teachers’ professional identities from teachers’ emotional experiences, how they display those emotions, and the contexts in which those emotions arise (Schutz et al., 2007). Recently, scholars have elaborated on the role that emotions play in changing and maintaining teacher identities (Carlyle and Woods, 2002; Flores and Day, 2006; Schutz et al., 2007; Cross and Hong, 2009; Schutz et al., 2009; Schutz et al., 2012; Van den berg, 2002). These researchers provide evidence for relationships between unpleasant emotions and the adjustment of teacher identities. In one example, Carlyle and Wood (2002: 77) quote Morag, a 25-year-old arts teacher, who said, ‘‘the stress of teaching splits you up so you don’t know who you are any more.” Thus teachers’ identities can

Teacher emotion, emotional labor and teacher identity 175 be constructed and reconstructed through changing beliefs related to the experience of pleasant emotions such as enjoyment and pride in one’s student accomplishments as well as unpleasant emotions, such as anger and frustration leading to feelings of being burned out. In language education, Varghese and colleagues (2005) argue that, ‘‘in order to understand language teaching and learning we need to understand teachers: the professional, cultural, political, and individual identities, which they claim or which are assigned to them’’ (p. 22). As mentioned, recently researchers have investigated language teacher identity. For example, Miller (2009) ‘‘places identity and discourse at the heart of language teaching and learning’’ (p. 172). Yet, teacher identity related to English language learning has received little attention by researchers (Varghese et al., 2005; Reeves, 2009; Farrell, 2011). Existing studies have heavily focused on novice teachers (e.g., Amin, 1997; Varghese et al., 2005; Park, 2007; Farrell, 2012), while scholars have paid little attention to the identity of experienced language teachers. Consideration of language teacher identity for both novice teachers and experienced teachers is important in professional development since their identities are fundamental to the beliefs, assumptions, values, and practices (Farrell, 2011), which will be also crucially taken into the preservice teacher training. In particular, the issue of teacher identity in relation to English language learners may need to be considered differently compared to other subject areas, given that English language learners may be a more heterogeneous group (Reeves, 2009). For example, their students are linguistically as well as cultural newcomers from potentially a variety of countries, creating multilingual and multicultural classroom environments. In fact, the enrollment of English language learners to public schools in English speaking countries (e.g., the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand) is rapidly increasing (Reeves, 2009). These dynamic situations demand that English language teachers change their instructional practices, which in turn generates dilemmas in that they may not been prepared during their professional training (Arkoudis and Davison, 2002). Without question, English language teachers will experience challenges to their emerging identities from their unique circumstances. Recently, Farrell (2011) categorized three main clusters in professional role identities of English language teachers: Teacher as Manager (Attempt to control everything that happens in classroom), Teacher as Acculturator (Helps students get accustomed to life outside class), and Teacher as Professional (Teachers dedicated to their work; take it seriously). Probably the identities of, Teacher as Manager and Teacher as Professional, can be applied to teachers of all subjects. However, the role identity of Teacher as Acculturator is something that may make English language professionals somewhat unique (Farrell, 2011). To illustrate, when students move to a new

176 Paul A. Schutz and Mikyoung Lee country, they tend to start with language learning, as such, language teachers may be the students’ first contacts and tend to be expected to provide advice and support to students on top of the language lessons. Thus, these teachers may also develop a caregiver role for students in this respect, which may be a less likely expectation for other subject teachers who may not be fluent in the student’s first language. In addition, Duff and Uchida (1997) describes language teachers as cultural workers, because teachers ‘‘play a key role in the construction of the learners’ views of their homes; their understandings of unfamiliar belief systems, values and practices; and their negotiations of new social relationships’’ (Hawkins and Norton, 2009: 32) for students who just come into their new school and new community. In essence, the role of “Teacher as Acculturator” is not just for the long-term educational needs of their students but also the short-term entry into a new culture – a role that teachers of other subjects may not feel as acutely. As such, it is evident that in order to understand English language teaching and learning as well as to help students learn their target language (English) more effectively, understanding teachers in the first place is essential. In order to understand teachers, we should have a clear perspective of who they are: ‘‘the professional, cultural, political, and individual identities which they claim or which are assigned them’’ (Varghese et al., 2005: 22). In other words, we have to pay attention to comprehend how language teachers shape their identities among others in their teacher education program, and with students in their schools and classrooms (Varghese et al., 2005).

5 Emotions episodes in the language classroom Consideration of the importance of affective factors in students’ language learning is not new (Arnold, 2011). In fact, two affective domains have received considerable attention from researchers in the field of language learning: student language anxiety and second language motivation. First, in foreign language learning anxiety has been considered as an influential emotional factor (Oxford, 1999); accordingly, numerous studies on language anxiety have been conducted (e.g., Gardner, 1985; Horwitz et al., 1986; Aida, 1994; Truitt, 1995; Price, 1999; Horwitz, 2001). For example, Horwitz and colleagues (1986) defined foreign language anxiety as “a distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings and behaviors related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process” (p. 128). They proposed that three components of foreign language anxiety are communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation. Most studies on foreign language anxiety demonstrated negative impacts of anxiety on performance in language learning, focusing on emotions from students’ perspectives. Nevertheless, we can assume that

Teacher emotion, emotional labor and teacher identity 177 teacher emotional experiences will be affected by student emotional sufferings in language class, which might lead teachers to reconsider about their roles as teachers. To illustrate, if teachers face students suffering high test anxiety, they might feel sympathy or caring for these students, and accordingly considering themselves as a caregiver role. Another area of research on affective factors in foreign language learning is second language motivation. Scholars in second language motivation research have concentrated on the combinations of two motivation dichotomies: integrative (learning a second language to integrate into a community or a cultural group where the second language is being spoken) vs. instrumental (learning a second language for specific purposes, for example, to get admitted to a post-secondary institution), and intrinsic (learning a second language with enjoyment for one’s own self-fulfillment without any external pressure) vs. extrinsic motivation (learning a second language forced by others such as parents, society, or schools, and often influenced by some sort of rewards such as grades) (Gardner and MacIntyre, 1993; Dörnyei, 1998; Noels et al., 2001). These researchers suggest that integrative and intrinsic motivation constructs are the most important predictors for successful language learning, because learners with high integrative and intrinsic motivation demonstrate more positive perceptions of their academic competency, perceived autonomy, persistence, lower language anxiety and positive attitudes towards language learning, which influences their academic achievement positively. When teachers have the highly motivated students in their class, they might experience more pleasant emotions such as enjoyment or pride in themselves and their students, whereas they might have sympathy, frustration, or anger for students with lower motivation. According to students (with higher motivation or lower motivation), teachers will have to adapt their roles differently. However, as noted, these studies focused on affective variables from language learners’ perspectives and not the teachers’ side. In fact, although recently researchers are beginning to pay attention to teacher emotions (e.g., Hargreaves, 1998; Sutton and Wheatley, 2003; Cross and Hong, 2009; Frenzel et al., 2009; Schutz et al., 2009), they have been implementing studies in general education contexts rather than within the ELL context (Cowie, 2011). With a few exceptions (Horwitz, 1996; Stanley, 1999; Bress, 2006; Mousavi, 2007), there has been little research on investigating comprehensive emotions and English language teaching. For example, Horwitz (1996) and Mousavi (2007) investigated the anxiety of nonnative speaker teachers due to their possible language deficiency. Stanley (1999) maintains that unpleasant emotions can have a negative influence on teachers’ teaching abilities. In addition, Bress (2006) found that English language teachers experience stress mainly because of lack of time, unwanted classroom observation, and uncooperative relationships with colleagues.

178 Paul A. Schutz and Mikyoung Lee However, even from these studies it is difficult to understand a clear research outline or consistent approach (Cowie, 2011). With a few exceptions, there has been little empirical research investigating how language teachers’ approach or perceive the affective domain in the classroom. For instance, Aydin (2009) demonstrated that English language teachers in Turkey gave importance to the affective side in their classes in general, but this study has a limitation to demonstrate whether the teachers really apply what they believe to make effective language teaching. More recently, Saeidi and Jabbarpour (2011) explored the relationship between teachers’ social and affective strategy use and students’ academic performance in English language class. They argue that language teachers should use affective strategies (e.g., sense of humor, positive attitude, fairness, encouragement, and politeness) in order to lead successful teaching and to improve students’ achievement. As such, there is a gap in studies on the affective domain focusing on teachers’ perspectives, although it is clear that investigating how teachers approach the affective domain of language teaching will provide understanding their attitudes toward students, which greatly influences the way they teach to promote more efficient learning and teaching environments. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that researchers pay more attention to studies on how teachers approach the affective domain, in particular emotions, in the language classroom.

6 Conclusions Overall it is clear that classrooms are emotional places and the language learning classroom, because of it unique role in the education process, is no exception. As indicated, over the last ten years there has been increased interest in the teacher emotion in the classroom. As a result of these research efforts, we are beginning to develop some understandings of emotions, emotional labor and their influence on teachers’ developing identities. As noted earlier, although recently researchers have investigated teacher identity related to English language learning, existing studies have mostly focused on novice teachers with a conspicuous lack of research on the identity of experienced language teachers who may be useful in understanding how to be successful in those classroom. For future studies, researchers might give more empirical attention to language teacher identity for not only novice teachers but also experienced teachers, since teacher identities are central to their beliefs, assumptions, values, and practices (Farrell, 2011), which will be also crucially taken into consideration for the professional development training for pre-service teachers. In particular, the professional training for language teachers might be considered differently compared with the training for other subject teachers,

Teacher emotion, emotional labor and teacher identity 179 given that English classroom environments are more dynamic with multilingual and multicultural learners. English language teachers should be prepared to deal with these dynamic situations because these special teaching environments might require English language teachers to modify their instructional practices a great deal. We suggest that most of all, it would be important to make some sort of collaboration (e.g., connection programs) among language teacher educators, teachers, and school administrators. Through this collaboration, teachers can be better supported for more successful management in these dynamic teaching environments (Farrell, 2012). This consideration might be even more crucial for novice teachers who suddenly have no further connection with their previous educators. If they still have contacts with teacher educators, the support from their educators can help make a smooth transition of their challenging first years teaching and experience joy of teaching, before they think about leaving their teaching career. Teachers also need to be encouraged to share their experiences, especially with their fellow teachers, their teacher educators, and school administrators. As it is shown in a Cowie’s (2011) recent study, teachers reported that although sometimes they wanted to change or leave their profession as an English language teacher, they have decided to stay because they collaborated with their colleagues, and shared some sense of identity as a fellow professional, which means were getting emotional support from one another. Writing reflective stories about their own experiences in real classrooms also could be a good way to make sense of their experiences (Farrell, 2011, 2012). These reports can be used in pre-service teacher training so that pre-service teachers can be better prepared for their teaching in real classrooms. This would be possible when there exists effective collaboration between teachers and teacher educators. In addition, it might be necessary to include a supplementary course in language teacher programs that especially explores these kinds of dynamic classroom environment, given that there is still no agreement for what specific courses to be offered in the field of teaching English as a second language (Farrell, 2012). In this supplementary course, for example, the reports from in-service teachers can be used as part of course materials.

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182 Paul A. Schutz and Mikyoung Lee Arlingotn, VA: National Science Education Leadership Association and National Science Teachers Association Press. Izard C. E. (2007) Basic emotions, natural kinds, emotion schemas, and a new paradigm, Perspect Psychol Sci 2: 260–280. Jackson, S. E., R. I. Schwab, and R. S. Schuler (1986) Toward an understanding of the burnout phenomenon, Journal of Applied Psychology 71: 630-640. Jacob, B. (2007) The Challenges of Staffing Urban Schools with Effective Teachers, The Future of Children 17 (2) (Special Issue: Excellence in the Classroom. Policies to Improve the Teacher Workforce). Kersaint, G., J. Lewis, R. Potter, and G. Meisels (2007) Why teachers leave: factors that influence retention and resignation, Teaching and Teacher Education 23: 775-794. Lazarus, R. S. (1991) Emotion and Adaptation, New York: Oxford University Press. Maslach, C. (1982) Burnout: The cost of caring, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Miller, J. (2009) Teacher identity. In Burns, A., and J. C. Richards (eds) The Cambridge Guide to Second Language Teacher Education, Cambridge University Press, New York: 172-181. Morris, J. A., and D. C. Feldman (1996) The dimensions, antecedents, and consequences of emotional labor, Academy of Management Review 21 (4): 986-1010. Mousavi, E. S. (2007) Exploring ‘teacher stress’ in non-native and native teachers of EFL, English Language Teacher Education and Development 10: 33-41. Nias, J. (1996) Thinking about feeling: The emotions in teaching, Cambridge Journal of Education 26 (3): 293-306. Noels, K. A., R. Clément, and L. G. Pelletier (2001) Intrinsic, extrinsic, and integrative orientations of French Canadian learners of English, Canadian Modern Language Review 57: 424–442. Oxford, R. L. (1999) Anxiety and the language learner: New insights. In Arnold, J., and H. D. Brown (eds) Affect in language learning, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 58-67. Park, J. E. (2007) Co-Construction of Nonnative Speaker Identity in CrossCultural Interaction, Applied Linguistics 28 (3): 339-360. Pekrun, R., A. C. Frenzel, T. Goetz, and R. P. Perry (2007) The control-value theory of achievement emotions: An integrative approach to emotions in education. In Schutz, P. A., and R. Pekrun (eds) Emotions in education, San Diego: Elsevier Inc.: 13-36. Price, M. L. (1991) The subjective experience of foreign language anxiety: Interviews with highly anxious students. In Horwitz, E. K., and D. J. Young (eds) Language anxiety: From theory and research to

Teacher emotion, emotional labor and teacher identity 183 classroom implications, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall: 101108. Quality Counts (2000) Who should teach?, Education Week 19 (Jan. 31). Reeves, J. (2009) Teacher Investment in Learner Identity, Teaching and Teacher Education: An International Journal of Research and Studies, 25 (1): 34-41. Russell, J. A., and L. F. Barrett (1999) Core affect, prototypical emotional episodes, and other things called emotion: Dissecting the elephant, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 76(5): 805-819. Saeidi, M., and N. Jabbarpour (2011) EFL teachers’ socio-affective strategy use in relation to students’ academic achievement, International Journal of Academic Research 3 (3): 746-750. Schaubroeck, J., and J. R. Jones (2000) Antecedents of workplace emotional labor dimensions and moderators of their effects on physical symptoms, Journal of Organizational Behavior 21: 163-183. Schumann, J. H. (2001) Learning as foraging. In Dörnyei, Z., and R. Schmidt (eds) Motivation and second language acquisition, Honolulu: Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa: 21-28. Schutz, P. A., L. P. Aultman, and M. R. Williams-Johnson (2009) Educational psychology perspectives on teachers’ emotions. In Schutz, P. A., and M. Zembylas (eds) Advances in teacher emotion research: The impact on teachers’ lives, New York: Springer Publishing: 195-214. Schutz, P. A., D. I. Cross, J. Y. Hong, and J. N. Osbon (2007) Teacher identities, beliefs and goals related to emotions in the classroom. In Schutz, P. A., and R. Pekrun (eds) Emotion in education, San Diego, CA: Elsevier Inc.: 223-241. Schutz, P. A., K. C. Crowder, and V. E. White (2001) The development of a goal to become a teacher, Journal of Educational Psychology 93: 299308. Schutz, P. A., H. A. Davis, J. T. DeCuir-Gunby, and T. Tillman (in press) Regulating Test Emotion. In Pekrun, R. and L. Linnenbrink-Garcia (eds) Handbook of Emotions and Education, Taylor & Francis. Schutz, P. A., and H. A. Davis (2000) Emotions during self-regulation: The regulation of emotions during test taking, Educational Psychologist 35: 243–256. Schutz, P. A., J. Y. Hong, D. I. Cross, and J. N. Osbon (2006) Reflections on investigating emotions among educational contexts, Educational Psychology Review 18: 343-360. Schutz, P. A., S. Nichols, K. Bilica, K. Rodgers, and D. J. McKenzie (2012) Early Career Mathematics and Science Teachers’ Emotional Experiences, and Emerging Teacher Identities, Paper presented at the

184 Paul A. Schutz and Mikyoung Lee annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Schutz, P., and R. Pekrun (eds) (2007) Emotion in education, Boston: Academic Press. Schutz, P. A., P. D. Quijada, S. de Vries, and M. Lynde (2010) Emotion in educational contexts. In McGaw, B., P. L. Peterson, and E. Baker (eds) International Encyclopedia of Education, 3rd Edition, Oxford: Elsevier Inc.: 591-596. Schutz, P. A., and M. Zembylas (eds) (2009) Advances in teacher emotion research: The impact on teachers’ lives, Springer Publishing: New York. Smith, C. A. (1991) The self, appraisal and coping. In Snyder, C. R., and D. R. Forsyth (eds) Handbook of social and clinical psychology: The health perspective, Elmsford, NY: Pergamon: 116-137. Stanley, C. (1999) Learning to think, feel and teach reflectively. In Arnold, J. (ed) Affect in language learning, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 109-124. Sutton, R. E., and K. F. Wheatley (2003) Teachers’ Emotions and Teaching: A Review of the Literature and Directions for Future Research, Educational Psychology Review 15 (4): 327-358. Truitt, S. N. (1995) Anxiety and beliefs about language learning: A study of Korean university students learning English, ProQuest Information & Learning, US. Ulvik, M., K. Smith, and I. Helleve (2009) Novice in secondary school – the coin has two sides, Teaching and Teacher Education 25 (6): 835-842. Van den Berg, R. (2002) Teachers’ meanings regarding educational practice, Review of Educational Research 72: 577–625 Van Veen, K., and P. Sleegers (2009) Teachers’ Emotions in a Context of Reforms: To a Deeper Understanding of Teachers and Reforms. In Schutz, P. A., and R. Pekrun (eds) Emotion in education, San Diego, CA: Elsevier Inc.: 233-252. Varghese, M., B. Morgan, B. Johnston, and K. A. Johnson (2005) Theorizing Language Teacher Identity: Three Perspectives and Beyond, Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 4 (1): 21-44. Williams-Johnson, M. W., D. I. Cross, J. Y. Hong, L. P. Aultman, J. N. Osbon, and P. A. Schutz (2008) There is no emotion in math: How teachers approach emotions in the classroom, Teacher College Record 110 (8): 1574–1612. Zembylas, M. (2003) Emotions and teacher Identity: A poststructural perspective, Teachers and Teaching 9 (3): 213-244. Zembylas, M. (2005) Teaching with emotion: A postmodern enactment, Greenwich, CT: IAP.

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8 Recommended reading Farrell, T. S. C. (2011) Exploring the Professional Role Identities of Experienced ESL Teachers through Reflective Practice, System: An International Journal of Educational Technology and Applied Linguistics 39 (1): 54-62. The author describes the role of identity development of experienced ESL teachers, therefore providing insights into the influence of identity and reflective practice on the teaching process. Frenzel, A. C., T. Goetz, E. J. Stephens, and B. Jacob (2009) Antecedents and effects of teachers’ emotional experiences: An integrated perspective and empirical test. In Schutz, P. A., and M. Zembylas (eds) Advances in teacher emotion research: The impact on teachers’ lives, New York: Springer: 129-152. The authors provide strong theoretical and empirical evidence for the emotional lives of teachers. Hong, J. Y. (2010) Pre-service and beginning teachers’ professional identity and its relation to dropping out of the profession, Teaching and Teacher Education 26: 1530-1543. The author provides evidence and insight into the beginning teachers identities and how those developing identities transact with feeling and thoughts about dropping out of the profession. Schutz, P. A., D. I. Cross, J. Y. Hong, and J. N. Osbon (2007) Teacher identities, beliefs and goals related to emotions in the classroom. In Schutz, P. A., and R. Pekrun (eds) Emotion in education, San Diego, CA: Elsevier Inc.: 223-241. In this chapter the authors unpack the relationships among identities, beliefs and goals and how those transactions are related to classroom emotions.

9 Questions for reflection and discussion -

Do you know people who have left the teaching profession? What sort of reasons did provide as to why they decided to quit teaching? The authors suggest that emotions emerge from how we think about and make judgments about our daily events. Think about the last time you were angry – what appraisal or judgments did you make?

186 Paul A. Schutz and Mikyoung Lee -

When you think about your own identities – Who are you? How have your identities changed over time? Would you describe yourself the same way as you would have ten years ago? What are some of the reasons why you think the emotions that emerge in a language classroom are different then a regular classroom? In what ways are they the same?

NNS imagining a future self as teachers in bilingual education María E. Torres-Guzmán (Columbia University, USA) Patricia Martínez Álvarez (Columbia University, USA) Framed in the preparation of bilingual teachers in the US, this article will focus on the way non-natives speakers (NNS) learn about the process of constructing bilingual teacher identities as they consider interculturality, community, and the use of the first and second language – their own and those of the children they are likely to teach. The teacher pipeline projects more and more White and heritage second language learners to be occupying teacher spaces within the bilingual classrooms and as teacher educators we see the need to construct a teacher education that is more supportive of the teacher candidates’ needs as second language speakers. Thus, we examined the responses of 12 NNS to two assignments – on-line discussion and comic life projects -- in a cultural foundations class to explore their potential as indicators of the engagement of teacher candidates in identity construction. We found that the responses to the assignments did serve to illustrate both the range of historical traces of home life (language and culture of origin) and the variations in imaginative spaces the teacher candidates envisioned themselves in as future bilingual teachers.

1 Introduction Our purpose is to examine, through a case study of teacher candidates who are likely to engage in instructional activity through their second language within bilingual/bicultural education programs, the variation of responses to written assignments as a way of exploring how the past and present enter their future-oriented identity constructions. Within the two-way immersion and dual language bilingual programs, in particular, bilingual teachers who are teaching in their second language, also known as non-native speakers (NNS), are likely to have students who are first language speakers of that language. This situation creates insecurities for some of the teachers, particularly if they do not feel confident in their second language (Pavlenko, 2003). We propose that such a situation generates not just linguistic insecurities that mediate their instruction and communicative capacities (Richards and Lockhart, 1994; Medgyes, 1994; Boyle, 1997; Samimy and Brutt-Griffler, 1999; Rajagopalan, 2005; Braine, 2010) but cultural insecurities. In order to become effective as bilingual teachers, we believe the candidates have to engage in a process of acknowledging their linguistic and cultural insecurities, live with them as a reality with material consequences, and move to a more positive view of the multicompetent self (Cook, cited in Pavlenko, 2003) as teacher in the second language. This, we deem, is part of their individualized life journeys in thriving as bilingual

188 María E. Torres-Guzmán and Patricia Martínez Álvarez teachers. Nonetheless, we take a situated look at the beginning of the journey as it is manifested in the concerns the teacher candidates express in one of the teacher education courses, the cultural foundations course, with the intention of learning from the teacher candidates themselves (Zeichner and Liston, 1985; Urzúa and Vázquez, 2006) about this process of identity exploration and development. We understand teacher candidates’ views expressed in this cultural foundations course about multilingualism/multiculturalism as symbolic and situational, as a construction of self - a moment-to-moment production of their identity that is constructed in relation to the second language and its speakers. More specifically, within, we examine how teachers conceptualize their positionality and subjectivity in relation to interculturality, how they view themselves and others as historized (Engeström, 2008), and their futureoriented perceptions (Pavlenko, 2003; Urzua and Vazquez, 2006) as teacher in a bilingual classroom. We examine the teacher candidates’ responses to course assignments as reflective of identity construction and their struggle with what it means to position themselves as historically situated beings that reflect on actions of the past (Schon, 1983), stepping into and having to reflect for action (Urzúa and Vásquez, 2008) as they imagine themselves performing in a world different from that in which they feel most comfortable. We particularly wanted them to focus on their future oriented views of themselves as teachers, their strengths and challenges they perceive they will have as inter and crosscultural communicators within instruction and as collaborators with parents and community. We consider in this chapter, the process of identity exploration and development of teacher candidates, both mainstream and international, who must demonstrate pedagogical processes and their multicompetence. We continue to use the NNS because when they come to us this is how they have situated themselves, even though we understand they are in the process of becoming aware of their multicompetence. We understand the examination of the views of NNS teacher candidates to be important within the United States because, on the one hand, the pool from which the teaching profession is culling its future bilingual colleagues is from mainstream students who are second language learners of the language of the children with whom they will be working. On the other hand, the international group of teacher candidates, who are second language learners of English, are also learning to teach in bilingual settings and might end up teaching in their second language (i.e., English). We also recognize what the Maori’s call the lost generation -- the heritage language teacher candidates that learned the ancestral language as a second language – as also fitting within the linguistically insecure teacher candidates but we suspect they may be a slightly different case interculturally and therefore are not our focus within.

NNS imagining a future self as teachers in bilingual education 189 We feel that in a globalized society, we need to prepare teachers of the future to be able to bridge the language and cultural worlds they will encounter with the increasingly diverse student populations. In this sense, we agree with Benson (2004) who echoes Hornberger’s (2002) call for all teachers of the world to be educated in the principles of mulilinguality, as learning a new language opens up a third space (Gutierrez, 2008) that frees the individual to, as Becker (1984) proposes, “learn a new definition of language, a new definition of human beings in the world” (p. 220). It is in this sense that we propose to examine our NNS graduate students’ negotiation/resistance of the crossing into different cultural and linguistic worlds while preparing themselves as the teachers of the future.

2 Literature review Benson (2004) developed a list of suggested elements for an effective bilingual teacher education program. While focused on the conditions of teacher education programs in two developing countries, the identified elements resonate with programs in other countries and thus they can be applicable elsewhere. Benson’s identified elements are: - L1 and L2 second language learning theory; - First and second language teaching methods (oral and written); - Modeling of methods for intercultural instruction; - L2 verbal and literacy skills; - L1 verbal and literacy skills, including pedagogical vocabulary; - Language and program assessment, including international studies of bilingual schooling, models, and evaluations; - Study visits and/or practical internships at functioning bilingual schools; and - Collaboration with parents and community members. Of particular interest within the context of the cultural foundations course we teach are how teacher candidates speak about (1) identifying methods and learning to model them for intercultural instruction, (2) their abilities in the pedagogical vocabulary in the children’s L1, and (3) their collaboration with parents and community members. Their importance relates to the saliency of these issues within the course due to the changing student population entering the program. Whereas our graduate student population was historically an (im)migrant population, in the last decade it has become a mixture of international non-native English speaking population that expects to return English-speaking to their country of origin, Whites who have learned the minoritized language as a second language, or students from the minoritized group who learned the heritage language as a second language. The new demographics of our student population call for us to attend to some of the

190 María E. Torres-Guzmán and Patricia Martínez Álvarez elements of the program differently and within we explore particular identity issues arising within the NNS population. The literature on the NNS comes from the field of teaching of English as a second language (TESOL), as more than 80% of its teachers worldwide are NNS. Such a phenomenon has brought to the surface the questions about the value of the NNS in teaching languages and how they have overcome the prejudices against them within the field (Braine, 2010; Mahboob, 2010). A seminal study of NNS of English by Reves and Medgyes (1994) found that their NNS status biased their self-image and attitudes toward teaching. While the field has burgeoned recently, the studies of NNS have found that selfconfidence, expectation, perception, investment, language ideology, and language proficiency were key to NNS viewing themselves as competent (Tseng, 2011). The researchers in this sub-area propose that the NNS has been discriminated due to an ideological popular belief that is called the Native Speaker Fallacy (Phillipson, 1992) that proposes the native language speaker as a better language teacher than the non-native. Thus, much of the research efforts have focused on disproving such a view and of identifying the benefits and challenges of the NNS as teachers (Medgyes, 1992, 1999; Canagarajah, 1999; Liu, 1999, 1998; Mahboob, 2004; Brain, 2004, 2010). The construction of the NNS and the NS in this literature accounts for the way the language of instruction was learned; few studies explore identity construction in relation to teaching. Varghese et al. (2005) theorize across social identity theory, communities of practice and image text construction of language education teachers to conclude that the juxtaposing of theories and maintaining an open mind about theoretical constructs might be necessary to understand the complexity of identity construction. From a sociocultural perspective, Clark et al. (2011) focus on the stages of metamorphosis associated with creating identity, consciousness, and awareness among teacher candidates. Pavlenko (2003) proposes a method of understanding the power of linguistic theories in legitimizing social identities of new teachers in development. Anzua and Vasquez push on how language markers in future tense help of student teachers in conversations about their teaching with supervisor can serve to indicate how the teacher candidates are constructing themselves as future teachers. The issue of identity construction of NNS is relatively new and does not account for the cultural ways in which NNS navigate the new worlds nor how they see themselves interculturally in the new world they are discovering. The literature on NNS, as Varghese et al. (2005) proposed, has investigated the views of these individuals as attached to the NNS status rather than seeing them as multicompetent individuals that are in a dynamic process, as ever evolving and becoming. Within, while accounting for the situatedness, in two written assignments within a course, of the teacher candidates’

NNS imagining a future self as teachers in bilingual education 191 explorations into a new world, we understand that their exploration of selves in imagined worlds (Urzúa and Vásquez, 2008) will occur their entire lives. We use the assignment to understand the range of possible positionalities they might be taking during the fluid process of becoming a bilingual teacher. The views we specifically are interested in exploring are how the NNS bilingual teacher candidates construct their identity as they bring the beliefs and values of the home into understanding themselves and in how they imagine and designing themselves to be in the new worlds which presupposes a period of the ontological discourse of juxtaposing the I and thou (Dascal, 1999 cited in Torres-Guzmán and Gómez, 2010). The view of the NNS as situated, fluid, and in construction permits us to bring out the discomforts about their movements and the assets/limitations they bring from their own backgrounds as they construct future possibilities.

3 Methodology We compare a sub-sample of 12 NNS students, six mainstream and six international. The six mainstream students are from English speaking background and learned Spanish as a second language as they were growing up. The majority of them have studied or worked in countries outside the United States – Latin America or Spain. The other six students are from different countries (two Spaniards, two Chinese, and two Korean) and have learned English as a second language. All 12 took our Cultural foundations course during the same semester. The data we considered in this paper were designed as responses for two assignments: comic life displays and written explanations of family dinners and on-line journal entries. The comic life displays and written explanations of the family meals (12 total), initially designed by Schultz and Theophano (n.d.), were used to explore how the graduate students saw the cultural beliefs and values with which they grew up and their endurance across time -- what is understood as their ‘historicity’ (Engeström, 1996). was brought into their construction of selves as bilingual teachers and how they approached discomforts in their lives. The on-line journal discussion segments selected were written midway through the semester. It asked the graduate students to reflect on critical quotes from the readings and connect these to their own experiences. The connections of the readings to their lived experiences were important for us to identify the topics they selected and how they brought their beliefs and values as well as discomforts to bear on their understandings of self in the new worlds they were experiencing and in which they were exploring and constructing their bilingual teaching identities.

192 María E. Torres-Guzmán and Patricia Martínez Álvarez There were 91 entries all together. We eliminated all instructor entries and entries of students who did not grant permission. From the remaining 58, we selected only those entries written by the targeted random stratified student sample. Thus, our analysis was based on the 23 entries generated by our 12 NNS teacher candidate participants. Not all the teacher candidates responded a minimum of two times to the readings, as requested. Five of them responded once, four responded the two times requested, 2 responded 3 times, and 1 responded 4 times. Theme and content analysis were conducted on the 12 family dinners and 23 online entries. The theme analysis was conducted to discover what areas of preparation bilingual teacher candidates were working on through the course and the content analysis was conducted to uncover how they were positioning themselves to their situated career identities in the course.

3.1

Findings

The findings are centered around two types of discourses: those that the teacher candidates develop (a) when they describe and analyze themselves in relation to their families and the values they carry into the present as a result of their particular history and (b) those developed in the present as they engage in trying out different selves in the process of becoming, in the future, a bilingual teacher. While our inquiry initially searched for ways of understanding where our teacher candidates were in the process of development and what we could say about them as multicompetent within bilingual settings, we consciously resisted pursuing this goal to rather stand in the understanding of the moment. One which for us, as faculty members in a teacher education program, was a moment of describing and understanding who we had before us and how they were displaying who they were to us. More than putting them into a set of hierarchical categories or in a particular place in a continuum, we felt that to portray who they were would be to understand that the teacher candidates were in the process of constructing their fluid yet situated identities as they delved into understanding their historical and future selves. This represented a range of possibilities. Historical selves: The discourses of the teacher candidates as they engage in a description of their families are about (a) historically situated childhoods from which they identify a sense of self as enduring, and values that are constraining/supporting their engagement in the present; and (b) the learned rules of engagement in a community of practice, the family, where they developed a sense of place and of belonging from which they still draw values. The historical markers in the lives of teacher candidates are present in their narrative, whether it was a grandmother and mother that exhibited traditions

NNS imagining a future self as teachers in bilingual education 193

Illustrative samples

arising from the poverty lived during a dictatorship, the lingering absence of a father, and the need to redefine family as extended, nuclear, or dismembered in some way. We tried to capture the depth of their historically situated performance, in the Butlerian (Butler, 1990) sense, “as accumulative facts governing the norms of social relationships” that have become configured, and even “naturalized, over time.” We operationalized this as the temporal mention of facts and generations to which the tradition or custom was attached. For lack of better ways of speaking about this we attached it to the temporal space associated with generations. Teacher candidates’ family meals were categorized as historically-situated performances by mention of traditions across generations. Table 1 shows how the family meals were discretely categorized into; (a) immediate family meal (with no reference to how family members or their customs located historically), (b) historicized to an immediate family member by locating customs prior to the time of the meal without naming the period historically, (c) historicized meal within the last three generations and by naming the historical period, and (d) historicized meal in values and customs that have been incorporated across many generations. No historical reference N= 5

Mention historical past of parents N=1

The table didn’t require much setting. We had plastic plates, silverware and glasses of water, as well as a Coke for Dad.

Then, I had to figure out how this Japanese dish came into our dinner table. My mother studied in Japan for two years before she got married, and she enjoys Japanese food as much as she enjoys Korean food.

Mention historical period N=3 My mother was born in the 1941, right after war, when there was the biggest food scarcity for the side that lost the war.

Historicized customs N=3 Table manners and etiquette play very important role in a traditional Chinese meal. For example, in terms of using chopsticks, never plant chopsticks vertically into a bowl of the rice because it looks like an incenseburning ritual to show respect to the dead ancestors; never tap chopsticks on the edge of the bowl because beggars always do this to attract the attention of the passers-by.

Table 1. Historically-situated performance by generational temporal space.

194 María E. Torres-Guzmán and Patricia Martínez Álvarez Their lives are situated in the family narrative in ways that tell the reader who the actors were, what their roles and responsibility were, and what values were communicated (See Table 2). The reader could see that there was family intimacy, togetherness, rebellion, and conflict. Whatever specific descriptions, what emerged was how these family childhood moments bore many values that they still hold true. Sandy, E-S M,2Ss, ExFam

Seating; prayer holding hands; Mom started conversation

Seating; money determined what you ate.

Responsibility

Rules

Actors

Jane, E-S F, M, Br

Everyone pitched in to cook; children cleaned dishes and mom put away the food

Patty E-S F, M, Br

Margi, E-S F, M, 2 Ss

All food was to be eaten; time 6pm; seats set; mom close to kitchen; vegetarian; nuclear family Mom Set the table; Do cooked; mom close to homework play older sister kitchen door; and table; mother relied outside; set set clean up on children to the table help with ADD S’s needs

Sasha, E-S F,M, Br, S

Sabina, E-S F,M, Bro

Time is 7pm; Seating fixed; no television; all sit at once

Help out and Mingling clean, if before sitting; kids available determined snacks; cooking as family affair; sharing /listening to each others; “I learn to internalize simply by participating in the meal day and plans for tomorrow

NNS imagining a future self as teachers in bilingual education 195

Rules

Actors

Values

Family as important; each responsible for self;equal opportunity to talk

Belonging and not belonging to public and private schools; discourse of poverty throughout; openness; seeking help

Hamel, S-E Alicia, S-E Gma, M, bro M, 2 bro, ss

Time; Seating to keep brothers apart; not all sat at the same time; grandma 1st; mom sat close to kitchen door

Time; TV as window to the world; women would clean; participants were allowed to start eating as soon as they arrived at the table without having to wait for the rest to come, specially if food was already served

Gendered division of labor; lack of independence me to see where some of my own conflicting thoughts stem from and how I can be more aware of gender roles and power dynamics in my own life

Tone of conversation set by dad; openness; visitors not expected to clean

Openness to others: individuals contributing to common goal

Openness to others; hospitality; Gendered division of labor; importance of family; treat others like you would like to be treated

Gema, K-E M,F, 2 S, ExFam

Grace, K-E F, M, S

Chao, C-E F, M, EXFam

Mae, C-E F, M, Ex

Time set at 6:30pm: seating accommodated left handed: kimchi shared by all; prayer; father served first; no one left table before meal had finished; mother did dishes

Time set at 7 pm; sat on floor; guests permitted; parents ate first; father started the conversation; mother pointed to discipline

No one would leave before meal finished; order of course varied among individuals; everyone, except grandparents, helped clean up

Father /uncle prep meal; mom assisted; Mom & I set table; use of chop sticks and bowl in hand; multiple rules based on traditions and beliefs; about the elderly.

196 María E. Torres-Guzmán and Patricia Martínez Álvarez

Values

Responsibility

ȱ

Older br stayed to speak with M and Gma; No waste any food; mother bought best foods Symbolic values of Spanish Civil War and Dictatorship

Children set Mom & Aunt Roles at table Mom the table cooked; cooked; we sometimes I helped set negotiated; children table & run helped errands;

Seating set; uncle close to kitchen door; women cleaned

Metaphors; elder as important; democracy as choice, chorus as orchestration of responsibilities

Stocks, hospital, academic performance were all topics; equal opportunity to speak; we always view the whole family higher than each individuals and personal needs although nowadays China is under the influence of the western culture to give more priority to individuals.

Nurturance, strength, and disciplinarian ;among children roles were negotiated; valued education; family intimacy, and interruptions disapproved; mutual help, listening, and respect

Openness, freedom, women independent and confident; Japanese values were part of the family

Table talk over dinner in my family has always been an important place to process the small and large of our day: to instill us the Korean culture as well as identity; family as place of communication and fellowship

Table 2. Actors, rules, responsibilities, and values by teacher candidates. The norms of the meal were described in detail as ritualized and communicated but not explicitly spoken. The seating arrangements were, for example, the same, day after day. Some seating arrangements were functional (mother close to kitchen to get the forgotten), where the children were separated so they would not quarrel. As Hamel described a meal with his grandmother, mother and brother after a divorce, he wrote: I made the meals chaotic and bothered everyone. This may also be the reason for the seats arrangement, by keeping me as far as possible from my brother. In some homes, the elders or the children sat and ate first, signaling the respect for the elders and the responsibility of nurturing the young. Chao wrote about the intergeneration seating arrangements as follows:

NNS imagining a future self as teachers in bilingual education 197 The elderly, i.e., my grandpa and grandma, will be invited to sit around the table prior to the rest of family members, and their seats are located in the inner side of the dining room, then my younger cousins and I join the dinner party and sit around them, followed by my father, my uncle, then comes my mother and aunt when they finish cooking.

Also communicated were who were the actors. Out of the 12 students, ten spoke to the value of others outside the nuclear family. Six spoke to the presence of the extended family members – the grandparents, the aunts and uncles, and the cousins. Two teacher candidates spoke not only to the presence of the outsider but how they orchestrated the family meal routine to be inclusive of the outsider in order to make them welcome. For example, Jane, speaks to how the outsider is included in her family meals. Others were welcome to come and eat at any time … If the outsider was a family member, often he or she would help clean up (and prepare the meal depending on the time he or she arrived). If the outsider was a friend of the family, he or she would sometimes offer to help clean up as well. We would usually allow them to help. Outsiders always had equal opportunities to contribute to conversation and felt comfortable participating in the conversation.

Four teacher candidates spoke about the exclusivity of the meal arrangements. Sandy, one of them, wrote about her family’s expectations as the following: Everyone was expected to be present for dinner and outsiders (non-family members) were not invited to participate in this meal. The division of labor was primarily seen as “natural” where the mother organized the meal and the father set the tone of the conversation. For example, Sae, one of the teacher candidates actually used the term ‘natural’ to describe the role of her mother. My mother took all the responsibilities without complaining and my family also took her role for granted. For example, it was just so natural that she carried all the tasks from preparing the meal to cleaning up after the meal with nobody helping her out because it was her own responsibility for my family.

Nonetheless, in some homes the children were part of the making of the meals, the go getter or situational roles that were negotiated. One of the students, Sasha, wrote about the children’s participation in the following way: At every moment, someone in the family is doing something on their own that led to a common goal; even the dog, who consistently ate leftovers or foods that we secretly discarded at mealtime. Being that contributions to the meal were very important, my brother and sister and I took part in a lot of the preparation involved in the meal, often times creating our own mini-meals that served as appetizers. I think that our participation most reflects a willingness to be involved and participatory with the family, as dinner was one core moment that we all had as a family.

198 María E. Torres-Guzmán and Patricia Martínez Álvarez Some of the values they understand as “ritualized performances” as Butler (1990) proposes. The rules of family meals were implicitly transmitted to the young. For many there was a specific time to sit at the table to share, for all but one individual, there were the specific seating arrangements. In the majority of cases, the elders or the males ate first or signaled that the meals had started. The norms of the meals were clear, even where there were exceptions and flexibilities. For example, Chao spoke to the order in which each individual member of the family would eat their food as how he learned to participate in a democracy and from which he drew in the present. The notion of equal status is also manifested in the democratic atmosphere within which our family dinner is organized; we can customize the course order in different ways, as I mentioned before that I always begin my meal with salads whereas my grandparents always choose to have a cup of hot soup before eating. Also, in my family, it is more than acceptable to start main course while others are still eating appetizers.

The responsibilities were also transmitted to the young. They knew that they were to play and get out of the way or pitch in to make the meal possible. The gamut of responsibilities gives way to the gendered division of labor that most experienced, although as one teacher candidate put it, the younger generation was living the gendered roles in a different way. So, what did they say they learned? For some, like Grace, the family is the place to share and to process the days’ issues; for Chao the family orchestrated their meals as a choir. He wrote: During the process of the initial preparation and the final clean-up, my family operates like a group of singers in a chorus, i.e., all the members are supportive and make individual contributions to the family dinner in a coordinate way, though the tasks for someone can be as complicated as cooking meal, while for others might be as simple as rearranging the table and chairs, the sense of responsibility for the family that shared by all of us is conveyed through these different but interconnected tasks.

Patty, however, experienced eating as a place of combat and isolation. She wrote: Because [the members of] my family were strict vegetarians this often limited our meal experiences to the nuclear family. My extended family is not vegetarians and if they did not agree to come to our house to eat we would not have the opportunity to share a meal with them. My father was very strong and clear that he did not want to eat meals with other people who were eating meat. To this day, this causes rifts between our family and other family members and close friends.

To all, as expected, family was important, it is where each of the teacher candidates found that they learned how to participate in a conversation, whether it was characterized as an equal opportunity to speak, of as giving

NNS imagining a future self as teachers in bilingual education 199 signals of ritualized phrases that communicate normality, as the place to process the day, and as a legacy to be photographed weekly. Chao wrote: Last but not least, we always sit together and have photo taken at the end of our family dinner, the picture is the symbol of togetherness, and the underlying value for our family dinner is harmoniousness and solidarity.

The meal was a place where each of the teacher candidates learned how to be in a community – understanding how to act as a choir and how to individually understand their role within the group. As one student put it, it is where she learned the golden rule of “treating others like you would like to be treated.” It is where children learn how to negotiate with each other, listen, learn how to respect each other, and find themselves seeking out mutual help. It is where many proposed that the dependency on the mother was so strong that they saw “mom” as a nurturing, heroine, as a center signally dependency. One of the students signaled the expectation of the male and female as a source from which “her own conflicting thoughts stemmed” and “from which she could be more aware of how the gender roles and power dynamics were living into her own life.” Openness was repeatedly mentioned as a value, whether it was in the form of hospitality, to be inclusive of other cultures (meals as coming from Japan in a Korean or an American household), openness to the importance of the world (through the attention to the news on TV), to the openness of girls as achievers, as independent and confident, and as free to make their own decisions, or the openness of individuals taking on roles in a group for a common goal. They also became aware of their belonging and not belonging in relation to social class as some of the candidates spoke to times of duress, mentioned ways that particularities in their families related to social times, and how identities were constructed within the families in relation to the outer worlds. Imagining selves as futures: The first analysis we conducted was on the themes the students picked up in relation to Benton’s elements in teacher education. Table 3 illustrates the number of mentions of topics by teacher candidates. A teacher candidate could mention more than one element. As we anticipated, identifying methods and learning to model them for intercultural instruction (element 3) and collaborating with parents and community members were the most salient items (element 8), due to the nature of the course content. Since the course also seeks to connect culture to language, when grouped together, the issues of language (elements 1, 2, 4 and 5), whether theory or practice in L1 and/or L2, were mentioned 12 times. The language of pedagogy was of particular interest since many of the teacher candidates felt that they were unsure of their second language abilities.

200 María E. Torres-Guzmán and Patricia Martínez Álvarez

Table 3. Mentions of Benson’s elements of teacher education by teacher candidates. A second analysis was conducted to get at the content discourse of the teacher candidates in relation to how they constructed their teacher identities as they engaged in the discussion on-line. We found four types of imaginative engagements in identity construction: (a) the construction of an “ideal” way of being a future bilingual teacher, (b) the construction of a repertoire of resources they could see themselves using in future classrooms, (c) the ontological and emotive connections that permit the self to encounter the other in a more compassionate way in the future, and (d) the construction of self in a possible future. The construction of the “ideal” way of being a future bilingual teacher is how we understood the teacher candidates’ mention of teacher characteristics. Even though we do not believe in teacher identity development as a discrete set of characteristics but rather as fluid and situated pedagogical aspects from which teachers draw, we did have three entries of the teacher candidates reflecting on the readings as if their goal was to find the ideal quality bilingual teacher characteristics to which they would have to live up to in the future. There were three main characteristics of the ideal bilingual teacher identified in five teacher candidates’ entries. The teacher ought to be someone capable of understanding other cultures, background, and identities. The teacher ought to be capable of connecting with non-English speaking others. Maggie, one of the teacher candidates wrote: But as seen throughout the chapters, teachers must acknowledge these differences and use them in a positive,

NNS imagining a future self as teachers in bilingual education 201 thought provoking way. And, finally, the teacher ought to be one who knew the rules and applied them creatively against the everyday pressures. Another group of the on-line discussion entries, 3 in total, was the construction of a repertoire of resources teacher candidates could see themselves using in future classrooms. This group of responses was focused on the pragmatic ways of dealing with the issues arising around interculturality in classrooms. The teacher candidates mentioned what they have done or observed others doing that communicated an ideological stance about second language learning. Rather than leaving behind the native language, it promoted the second language as expanding rather than supplanting it. The entries also mentioned connections between language and culture through five different strategies. One was a as pen-pal, a la Freinet (1993), which promoted understanding different ways of being between children of different regions while pursuing their similar social interests. The second was a reading about a different cultural group as a whole school experience, which promoted the reading of a piece of literature about a group other than their own to understand and dialogue about widely at the school level. Margie, one of the teacher candidates, wrote: Basically, each grade was required to read Greg Mortenson's book: Listen to the Wind for grades pre-K to 2 and Three Cups of Tea for grades 3 and up. The story is about how the author traveled to Afghanistan and how his relationship developed with the people. … It was amazing to see how the more we read about Greg's journey, and the more they saw the people as "humans" just like themselves, their minds and perspectives were totally changed...for the better. We got into deep conversations about lack of education in the country, how they were lucky to be attending their school in Hometown, similarities and differences between Afghani and American culture, etc.

Children in the mentioned school were sufficiently moved that they took on a social activity to raise funds to help support the children of war. The third example provided centered on the use of vernaculars in literature and poetry reading and writing in which children were explicitly read to and read as well as encouraged to use terminology from their everyday life in the writing so that they could see themselves represented. Another was about communicating with parents about what they had to contribute to the classroom. The last was about journal writing as a way of connecting with individual students. The third type of entry (9 total) is about the ontological and emotive connecting experiences that permit the self to encounter the other. The teacher candidates would generally identify a ‘reflexivity of discomfort” (Hamdam, 2009), an incident that the readings provoked and/or of which they were reminded. The teacher candidates describe the personal discomfort or vulnerability as a way of thinking about, empathized with, and understand what the other, usually their multicultural students, might be going through.

202 María E. Torres-Guzmán and Patricia Martínez Álvarez Sabina, for example, spoke about her learning elsewhere and their applicability to the United States. She stated: My experiences outside US taught me the importance of learning about other cultures. I need to keep an open mind and reconsider my own beliefs. Student absences were because they need to sell fish in order to make money for families or when teachers were absent because of family visits. I need to apply this to US – listen, ask questions, learn about community so that I can make real world connections.

Another student, Mae, spoke about her experiences of isolation as a nonEnglish speaker in an all-English classroom: I was the only English learner in that school. There was no ESL program, and I think that teachers did not receive any training in teaching English learners. However, I was able to follow along with the academic work after few months and probably did not cause any problems. The teachers did not particularly take care after me or talk to me in person about my new experiences. Of course, I did not go to talk to them either probably because I did not feel any personal connections to them. I think that they all assumed that everything was okay because there were no apparent problems in grades or behaviors. But they did not even notice that I barely spoke with anyone in school and had no friends. I was reading books during lunch because I did not have any friends to eat with. Also, I did not speak at all in my classes because I was afraid to make mistakes in front of my classmates. Not one teacher asked me to speak up, not even once.

The self in relation to the other is a way of attending to what might be different for another individual as well as the ability to connect with that which might be different in the other. The fourth type of entry (6 in total) is where the teacher candidate creates future possibilities for self as bilingual teachers. In these entries the teacher candidates voiced how they felt that the existing situation could be different than what it was; they focused on possibilities. The teacher candidates proposed that they could learn about the communities they served through methods described in the literature on funds of knowledge. They proposed to read, interact with families, and engage in learning about the ways in which children are socialized in order to understand the individual children repertoire sets as Delpit and Dowry (2008) proposed. The third way in which they imagined a future was by constructing collective ways in which they could become more effective with the students they would be teaching. Jane, for example, wrote: Perhaps teachers could meet with each other to discuss students they have in common. For example, sixth and seventh grade English teachers could meet at the beginning of the year to talk about the strengths, weaknesses, and personalities of the students entering seventh grade. This kind of meeting would strengthen relationships between teachers and at the same time, provide more information about the students.

NNS imagining a future self as teachers in bilingual education 203 In other words, they dreamt of teams of teachers sharing what they knew about the child to steer away from the fragmented vision we have of others that do not permit us to see the other as a whole individuals. When we plotted out these four types of engagement of the on-line discussion by teacher candidates (See Table 4), we found that the teacher candidates in the course primarily stood in positions of discomfort and possibilities. Characteristic

Strategy

Discomfort

Possibilities

Jane Sandy Margie Patty Sasha Sabina Hamel Alicia Gema Grace Chao Mae Table 4. Types and intensity of discourse in on-line discussion by teacher candidates. We were pleased to see that the bilingual teacher candidates had moved from just imagining what they could identify as characteristics to be personally implicated by what they were reading, as 15 of the entries cluster around the discomforts and possibilities. Furthermore, we could also see that our stance of identity as fluid and situated was judicious in that a teacher candidate could take on various positions within the stream of the on-line conversation. In Table 4, for example, five teacher candidates stood in one position (darker grey to indicate how intensely they stood within the discourse) and one of them, Sasha, seemed to be stuck on trying to draw a picture of what she as teacher would look like. Three teacher candidates crossed over more than one category but not more than two, as if transitioning, or rehearsing between different stances. The last teacher candidate, Sabina, who had four entries, spanned the range of positions teacher candidates could take. Sabina seemed to playfully trying out the different positions afforded to her.

204 María E. Torres-Guzmán and Patricia Martínez Álvarez

4 Conclusion The literature of the NNS has focused on the benefits and challenges in relation to the language and the associated culture of the language they will teach in and the identity construction literature on the issues of language. Within, we focused on the process they were going through when they were engaged imaginatively, in what we could called the crisálida stage (TorresGuzman and Tran, 2011), that is, within the bilingual teacher education stage of becoming a bilingual teacher. We would argue that what the teacher candidates wore to the rehearsal (our cultural foundations course assignments) were the dresses they felt most comfortable in (historically situated and future selves) at that moment of development in which the assignment took place and, thus, were chosen identities. The variety of students, where they came from, and how they constructed their future oriented bilingual teacher identity were all processes one can examine through close examination of assignments. In this sense, the moment-to-moment view of the written assignments as indicators of the different identity constructions of the teacher candidates was useful. We were able to identify a variety of discourses. The limitation of this study, however, is that we could not speak to development per se, as our data was reflective of one moment rather than the development of the bilingual teacher identity over time. Just as they had come to us with specific family values they still pulled from, the point in the process they were in when they completed the on-line response to reading conversation assignments permitted us to see that while many of the teacher candidates were already undertaking their own reflexivity discomfort moments as ways of processing difference and they were imagining many possible future selves, there were other students that were still constructing images of who they thought they ought to be or building a repertoire of what they could try out when they went into the classroom. For us, the teacher educators, we preferred to see them as a spread of possible spaces, a continuum, in which our teacher candidates could stand and play, and with which we had to work. Our researcher selves reveled in being able to confirm that identity constructions are situated, temporal, and fluid as we as teacher educators are able to see many of these teacher educators facing their discomforts and moving to be multicompetent as a result.

5 References Becker, A. L. (1984) Toward A Post-Structuralist View Of Language Learning: A Short Essay, Language Learning 33: 217-220.

NNS imagining a future self as teachers in bilingual education 205 Benson, C. (2004) Do we expect too much of bilingual teachers? Bilingual teaching in developing countries, International Journal of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education 7 (2-3): 204-221. Braine, G. (2004) Nonnative English-speaking professionals; movement and its research foundations. In Kamhi-Stein, L. D. (ed) Learning and teaching from experience: Perspectives on nonnative Englishspeaking professionals, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press: 9-24. Braine, G. (2010) Non-native speaker English teachers: Research, pedagogy and professional growth, New York: Routledge. Boyle, J. (1997) Imperialism and the English language in Hong Kong, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 18 (2): 91-104. Butler, J. (1990) Gender Trouble: Feminism Theory, and Psychoanalytic Discourse. In Nicholson, L. J. (ed) Feminism/Postmodernism, New York: Routledge: 324-340. Canagarajah, A. S. (1999) Interrogating the “native speaker fallacy”: Nonlinguistic roots, non-pedagogical results. In Braine, G. (ed) Non-native educators in English language teaching, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers: 77-92. Delpit, L., and J. K. Dowry (ed) (2008) The skins that we speak: Thoughts on Language and Culture in the Classroom, New York: The New Press. Engeström, Y. (1996) Development as breaking away and opening up: A challenge to Vygotsky and Piaget, Swiss Journal of Psychology 55: 126-132. Freinet, C. (1993) Education Through Work [L’Education du travail], Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press. Gutierrez, K. (2008) Developing a Sociocritical Literacy in Third Space, Reading Research Quarterly 43 (2): 148-164. Hamdam, A. K. (2009) Reflexivity of Discomfort in Insider/Outsider Educational Research, McGill Journal of Education 44 (3): 377-404. Hornberger, N. (2002) Multilingual language policies and the continua of biliteracy: An ecological approach, Language Policy 1 (1): 27–51. Liu, J. (1999) From their own perspectives: The impact of non-native ESL professionals on their students. In Braine, G. (ed) Non-native educators in English language teaching, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers: 159-176. Mahboob, A. (2004) Native or nonnative: What do students enrolled in an intensive English program think?, In Kamhi-Stein, L. (ed) Learning and teaching from experience: Perspectives on nonnative Englishspeaking professionals, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press: 100-120. Mahboob, A. (ed) (2010) The NNEST lens: Non native English speakers in TESOL, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Press.

206 María E. Torres-Guzmán and Patricia Martínez Álvarez Medgyes, P. (1992) Native or nonnative: Who’s worth more?, ELT Journal 46 (4): 340-349. Medgyes, P. (1994) The non-native teacher, London: Macmillan. Medgyes, P. (1999) Language training: A neglected area in teacher education. In Braine, G. (ed) Non-native educators in English language teaching, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers: 177-195. Pavlenko, A. (2003) I never knew I was a bilingual: Reimagining Teacher Identities in TESOL, Journal of Language, Identity & Education 2 (4): 251-268. Phillipson, R. (1992) ELT: The native speaker’s burden?, ELT Journal 46 (1): 12-18. Rajagopalan, K. (2005) Non-native speaker teachers of English and their anxieties: Ingredients for an experiment in action research. In Lluda, E. (ed) Non-native language teachers: perceptions, challenges, and contributions to the profession, New York, NY: Springer Science and Business Media: 283-303. Reves, T., and P. Medgyes (1994) The non-native English speaking ESL/EFL teacher’s self-image: An international survey, System 222 (3): 353367. Richards, J. C., and C. Lockhart (1994) Reflective teaching in the second language classrooms, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Samimy, K., and J. Brutt-Giffler (1999) To be a native or non-native speaker: Perceptions of ‘non-native’ students in graduate TESOL program. In Braine, G. (ed) Non-native educations in English language teaching, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum: 127-143. Schon, D. A. (1983) The reflective practitioner, New York: Basic Books. Schultz, J., and J. S. Theophano (n.d.). Family Meal Description, Unpublished document. Torres-Guzmán, M. E., and J. Gomez (eds) (2009) Global Perspectives on Multilingualism: Unity in Diversity, New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Torres-Guzman, M., and T. Tran (2011) Crisálida: A metaphor for bilingual education teacher preparation. In Bustos, B., R. Hernández, and E. Riojas (eds) Teacher preparation for bilingual student populations: Educar para transformar, New York, NY: Routledge: 84-99. Tseng, S. C. (2011) Understanding Non-Native English-Speaking Teachers’ Identity Construction and Transformation in the English-Speaking Community: A Closer Look at Past, Present, and Future Authors, (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana. Urzúa, A., and C. Vásquez (2008) Reflection and professional identity in teachers’ future oriented discourse, Teaching and Teacher Education 24: 1935-1946.

NNS imagining a future self as teachers in bilingual education 207 Varghese, M., B. Morgan, B. Johnston, and K. A. Johnson (2005) Theorizing Language Teacher Identity: Three Perspectives and Beyond, Journal of Language, Identity and Education 4 (1): 21-44.

6 Recommended reading Morgan, B. (2004) Teacher Identity as Pedagogy: Towards a fieldinternal conceptualization in Bilingual and Second Language Education, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 7 (2-3): 172-188. This article is illustrative of how teachers can use their own identity as “textimage” to challenge and expand students’ notions of the possibilities of deconstructing and reconstructing themselves and their cultures of reference in a writing task. Morgan’s example takes place within an adult ESL class in a community center in Toronto and it shows how these adults reposition themselves in writing about the changes they observe in their own cultures. Riojas, E., L. G. Jackson, and L. Prieto (2011) A central facet of culturally efficacious Bilingual Education Teachers. In Bustos, B., R. Hernandez, and E. Riojas (eds) Teacher Preparation for Bilingual Student Populations, Florence, KY: Routledge: 27-39. In this chapter the authors use the metaphor of metamorphosis – dormancy, exploration, crystallization, and flight – to help teacher candidates, aspirantes, to think about their own ethnic identity constructions as a way of understanding how they could become more open to the possibilities of humanity. Urzúa, A., and C. Vásquez (2008) Reflection and professional identity in teachers’ future oriented discourse, Teaching and Teacher Education 24: 1935-1946. The authors propose that teacher education programs, instead of just reflecting on or about the past, ought to be more aware of cultivating reflection for the future. They illustrate how important these are and are manifest in the planning for instruction during supervisor-student teaching conferences. Varghese, M., B. Morgan, B. Johnston and K. A. Johnson (2005) Theorizing Language Teacher Identity: Three Perspectives and Beyond, Journal of Language, Identity and Education 4 (1): 21-44.

208 María E. Torres-Guzmán and Patricia Martínez Álvarez In this article, the authors explore three theoretical frameworks – identity studies, poststuctualism, and text-image – and what each of them contributes to understanding teacher identities, particularly in bilingual and ESL settings. They conclude that rather than emphasizing the competing aspects that we open ourselves up to multiple possibilities and that a juxtaposition of such theoretical positions might help us keep the complexity of identity construction in mind.

7 Questions for reflection and discussion -

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The chapter explores family meals as a source of information on values that were acquired while growing up. Some teachers might find the experience of looking back into their early family meals traumatic for a variety of reasons. If this is the case, what alternative explorations could be suggested for these students? Our work takes on a multimodal dimension by asking teacher candidates to explore and present information on their family-acquired values via a comic and an analysis, including both visual and written texts. How do you think the combination of using visuals and writing is different from just using writing to express such values? If we accept the premise that values are learned first in the family nucleus, and that we must learn about our students’ values, what could be ways in which the family meal assignment could be implemented in a bilingual elementary setting? Apart from family values, bilingual students bring an array of resources to the academic learning arena. What are other ways to explore students’ rich home-community resources? As you read and think about the family dinners from teacher candidates from different backgrounds, how can we discuss certain cultural aspects that are present most often in some cultures without falling into stereotypes about that particular culture?

Beliefs in learning to teach: EFL student teachers’ beliefs about corrective feedback Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo (University of Extremadura, Spain) A great deal of research has been recently conducted in the field of second language teacher education (SLTE) on teachers’ beliefs as a means of understanding how student teachers learn to teach. This paper sets out to shed some light on language teacher cognition research by focusing on the context of a pre-service course for EFL teachers in Spain. The paper first reviews the research literature conducted so far on language teacher cognition, namely the role of student teachers’ beliefs in EFL teacher training. Given the need for the improvement of SLTE and the importance of pre-service teacher beliefs in teacher training (Zheng, 2009), this research paper aims to analyse what pre-service teachers actually believe about the role and effectiveness of corrective feedback as a particular area of language instruction. The main conclusion that emerges from the present study is that EFL pre-service teachers’ preexisting beliefs about language teaching in general and error treatment in particular will likely influence their initial teaching practices during the practicum experience. The results suggest that student teachers’ beliefs about corrective feedback are mainly influenced by their past classroom learning experiences as L2 learners and their early teaching experiences during the practicum period. Bearing the results in mind, it can be concluded that student teachers require more training in corrective feedback pedagogy.

1 Literature review One of the important areas of study in second language teacher education (SLTE) research is the exploration of teachers’ cognitions 1 or mental lives (Borg, 2003) which has generated a great deal of interest since the 1970s. Throughout recent decades the cognitive dimension of teaching has been emphasized. The emphasis is mainly given to teachers’ thinking and cognitions underlying their classroom instructional practices (Borg, 2006; Zheng, 2009). In fact, teacher education research has made significant contributions to the study of teachers’ beliefs by examining the complex 1 Teacher cognition research is mainly concerned with understanding the unobservable cognitive dimension of teaching - what teachers actually know, believe and think - (Borg, 2003, 2009). Whereas initially the focus was on L1 learning, interest in the study of teacher cognition also eventually impacted on the field of second and foreign language education in the mid-1990s (Freeman & Richards, 1996; Woods, 1996). According to Borg (2011:370-371), beliefs are “propositions individuals consider to be true and which are often tacit, have a strong evaluative and affective component, provide a basis for action, and are resistant to change”.

210 Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo interactive relationship between teacher beliefs and classroom instructional practices so as to improve language teacher education (Borg, 2003; Gabillon, 2005; Phipps and Borg, 2007; Richards, 2008; Zheng, 2009; Wright, 2010; Busch, 2010; Phipps, 2010; Kuzborska, 2011; Borg, 2011; Inozu, 2011; Kelly, 2011). In this respect, an increasing amount of research has examined how teachers’ beliefs are somehow reflected in classroom practices and how these cognitions influence and/or guide both pedagogical decisions and actions in classrooms (see, for example, Borg, 2003, 2006). Rather, what teachers do in classrooms is in some way influenced by what they actually think about L2 learning and teaching (Borg, 2009). Teachers’ cognitions seem to have an influential effect on the way they teach, or rather, teachers’ beliefs guide their classroom practices, as McDonough (1995: 9) suggested “what we believe we are doing, what we pay attention to, what we think is important, how we choose to behave, how we prefer to solve problems, form the basis for our personal decisions as to how to proceed”. However, beliefs are not always necessarily reflected in classroom practices (Phipps and Borg, 2007; Borg, 2009), that is, teachers’ instructional practices may not sometimes be consistent with their own beliefs. In short, beliefs are viewed as a key aspect in SLTE and have recently become an important research area. Undoubtedly, this research has generated significant pedagogical implications for both pre-service and in-service teacher education. What is generally accepted so far in the research literature about the relationship between teacher cognitions and classroom instructional practices is summarized as follows (Borg, 2009: 3): - “teachers’ cognitions can be powerfully influenced by their own experiences as learners; - these cognitions influence what and how teachers learn during teacher education; - they act as a filter through which teachers interpret new information and experience; - they may outweigh the effects of teacher education in influencing what teachers do in the classroom; - they can be deep-rooted and resistant to change; - they can exert a persistent long-term influence on teachers’ instructional practices; - they are, at the same time, not always reflected in what teachers do in the classroom; - they interact bi-directionally with experience (i.e. beliefs influence practices but practices can also lead to changes in beliefs)”. Research on learning to teach which involves a complex developmental process has mainly focused on teachers’ beliefs and perceptions (Johnson, 1994; Raths and McAninch, 2003), previous learning experiences within formal language classrooms (Vélez-Rendón, 2006) and challenges of initial

Beliefs in learning to teach 211 instructional practices during the practicum (Hudson et al., 2008), among other issues. Where do teachers’ beliefs come from? The overall conclusion that can be drawn from the current SLTE research literature is that teachers’ beliefs generally derive from their own learning experiences as language learners within formal classrooms (Pajares, 1992; Vélez-Rendón, 2006; Ellis, 2006) – through “apprenticeship of observation” (Borg, 2004)-, early teaching experiences and teacher training courses (Popko, 2005) which significantly influence the way they view and approach teaching (Woods, 1996), even though other sources or factors that also contribute to the formation of teachers’ cognitions are as follows: teaching experiences of what works best in the classes (Mattheoudakis, 2007), principles derived from an approach or method (Richards and Lockhart, 1994) and knowledge sharing with colleagues (Sengupta and Xiao, 2002). As Richards and Lockhart (1994:30) claimed, other sources may include “teachers’ personality factors, educational principles and research-based evidence”. In short, many sources or factors can be attributed to the formation of teachers’ beliefs, among which previous learning and teaching experiences are of great importance (Zheng, 2009). Regarding the impact of teacher education on teacher cognition, several research studies have revealed that teacher training courses can be influential in shaping pre-service and in-service teachers’ beliefs, thus providing evidence of change in such beliefs (Pajares, 1992; Cabaroglu and Roberts, 2000; Mattheoudakis, 2007; Clarke, 2008; Nicholas & Williams, 2009; Busch, 2010), even though, other studies, in contrast, have reported stability in student teachers’ beliefs, that is, teacher training courses do not necessarily lead to change, or rather, do not significantly alter student teachers’ preexisting beliefs (Kagan, 1992; Almarza, 1996; Richardson, 1996; Peacock, 2001; Urmston, 2003; Borg, 2005). Despite suggesting that beliefs are dynamic since they are continuously shaped and reshaped through experience, research on teachers’ beliefs has also indicated that beliefs are generally resistant to change (Borg, 2006, 2011). Additionally, teachers’ cognitions also impact, in turn, on training. In this respect, Farrell (2006) and Inozu (2011) supported the argument that student teachers bring beliefs about L2 learning and teaching to their teacher education programmes that influence what and how they learn. It has also been suggested that student teachers’ beliefs evolve as they are involved in teacher training courses and initial practical teaching experiences during the practicum period (Borg, 2003, 2006, 2011). In short, there does not seem to exist any overall consensus or agreement on the relationship between teacher beliefs and teacher training programmes, even though Borg (2011: 370) suggested that “teacher education is more likely to impact on what teachers do if it also impacts on their beliefs”. Rather, the relative influence of formal teacher

212 Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo preparation courses is still arguable (Zheng, 2009). In this respect, Wright (2010: 269) concluded that, The evidence from general teacher education (for example, Wideen, Mayer-Smith & Moon 1998; Lewin & Stuart 2003) and SLTE (Bigelow & Ranney 2005) is, however, that formal teacher preparation courses have relatively little impact on STs’ preexisting beliefs.

Why do student teachers teach the way they do during the practicum experience? What makes them do so? Attitudes and beliefs toward teaching are essential in understanding candidate teachers’ classroom instructional practices, and learning to teach during the practicum period. Research in teacher education has indicated that candidate teachers seem to hold certain strong ideas and beliefs about teaching and learning long before they start their teaching profession (Kagan, 1992; Pajares, 1992; Johnson, 1994; Almarza, 1996; Woods, 1996; Numrich, 1996; Cabaroglu and Roberts, 2000; Tercanlioglu, 2001; Mattheoudakis, 2007). Rather, pre-service teachers begin their professional education with deeply grounded beliefs -at times inappropriate assumptions or unrealistic understandings- which may influence what and how they teach in the classroom context (Kagan, 1992; Pajares 1992). Studies on student teachers’ beliefs indicate that candidate teachers bring with them beliefs acquired from many years’ learning experiences that influence the way in which they view and approach teaching, that is, what and how they learn to teach (Kagan, 1992; Pajares, 1992; Richardson, 1996; Zheng, 2009; Inozu, 2011). When they start teaching student teachers assess their past classroom learning experiences. The fact is that student teachers learn a lot about teaching through their own learning experiences as language learners which may have either positive or negative impact on their already preexisting beliefs (Johnson, 1994; Numrich, 1996; Zheng, 2009). It may be assumed that student teachers’ beliefs and ideas on how learning and teaching should be best conducted in classroom settings will likely shape their early teaching experiences. Research on learning to teach has also sought to examine the problems, difficulties and conflicts student teachers face during their initial teaching experiences (Farrell, 2003): problems of control, insufficient training for certain aspects of teaching or types of classes, inappropriate methodology and lesson planning difficulties. In this respect, it needs to be remembered that the practicum experience normally constitutes the first opportunity that student teachers have of instructional practice in classroom settings in which they are given in some way the freedom to teach the way they wish and put their beliefs into action. Such beliefs probably influence their preferences for a certain way of language teaching. The existing research literature so far has shown that a fuller understanding of teachers’ beliefs would be of great value –both theoretically and

Beliefs in learning to teach 213 pedagogically- to teacher educators (Pajares, 1992; Fang, 1996; Peacock, 2001; Tanaka and Ellis, 2003; Woolfolk et al., 2006; Hayashi, 2009; Inozu, 2011). In this respect, Farrell (2006: 237) argued that “it is essential that teacher educators take these beliefs into account as any new material taught has to compete with existing beliefs”. Accordingly, the real challenge for teacher educators would then be to encourage student teachers to reflect in a critical and objective way on their own assumptions and understandings so as to improve their professional preparation (Borg, 2003; Inozu, 2011; Kuzborska, 2011). Since student teachers’ beliefs while learning to teach can significantly affect how they develop professionally –some of which may be detrimental to their own professional preparation or to their prospective students’ learning (Peacock, 2001)-, one goal in teacher education should be mainly oriented towards the identification and formation of more appropriate and realistic beliefs in relation to their past classroom experiences, eliminating those erroneous ones which may seriously influence their instructional practices. In short, the focus of teacher education should be on student teachers as learners themselves because, as Freeman and Johnson (1998: 401) claimed, Teachers are not empty vessels waiting to be filled with theoretical and pedagogical skills; they are individuals who enter teacher education programs with prior experiences, personal values, and beliefs that inform their knowledge about teaching and shape what they do in their classrooms.

Investigation into teacher thinking is a developing research area which is highly promising but also complex due to its multidimensionality. Learning to teach EFL actually involves a complex developmental process in which many aspects need to be fully understood. Despite the valuable work that has been done so far, there are still important gaps in the teacher cognition literature. For example, the mismatches found between teachers’ and learners’ beliefs (Ferreira, 2006) call for further consideration. Likewise, few studies have actually investigated how teachers’ beliefs interact with teaching decisions (Ho-yan, 2011). Although research has reported that student teachers’ instructional practices are very consistent with their theoretical beliefs (Fang, 1996; Almarza, 1996; Borg, 2003), the fact is that the complex interactive relationship between teacher beliefs and classroom practices is still an inconclusive issue (Zheng, 2009). Accordingly, an increased understanding of student teachers’ beliefs is actually needed in order to better understand how they view their work and what they say and do in classrooms (Johnson, 1994; Numrich, 1996; Richardson, 1996; Golombek, 1998; Cabaro÷lu and Roberts, 2000; Zheng, 2009). Even though student teachers’ beliefs are, so far, relatively unexplored in SLTE, further research is also needed to better understand the impact of teacher training programmes on candidate teachers’ already preexisting beliefs (Borg, 2006). As indicated

214 Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo above, while past classroom learning experiences are of great importance, the influence of teacher education programmes is still arguable. The fact is that many issues on teacher cognition have remained relatively unexplored and, consequently, need further empirical investigation (Peacock, 2001). What is really evident is that our understanding of the impact of language teacher education on student teachers’ beliefs, as Borg (2011) claimed, still deserves further consideration. In short, research studies on teachers’ cognitions set out to improve the quality of SLTE by helping pre-service and in-service teachers develop their thinking and classroom instructional practices. Over the last decades the role of corrective feedback in classroom settings has been extensively debated in both SLA research and language pedagogy, being profoundly discussed from both theoretical and pedagogical grounds (see, for example, Hyland and Hyland, 2006). Certainly, few issues in second language pedagogy have generated as much controversy as those relating to corrective feedback. Most research studies advocate the facilitative role and/or effectiveness of corrective feedback in classroom settings (e.g., Lyster and Ranta, 1997; Panova and Lyster, 2002; Sheen, 2004; Ellis et al., 2005; Ellis, 2006; Ellis et al., 2008; Bitchener and Knoch, 2009; Ellis, 2009). Additionally, several meta-analyses have confirmed its effectiveness (Russell and Spada, 2006; Mackey and Go, 2007; Lyster and Saito, 2010; Shaofeng, 2010; Li, 2010). Despite the fact that corrective feedback effectiveness has been justified from different perspectives, the fact is that research literature has also revealed different positions as well as evidence for and against error treatment. Thus, research examining corrective feedback effectiveness is still inconclusive because of the numerous variables that mediate feedback effectiveness (Russell, 2009; Lyster and Saito, 2010). Bearing in mind that feedback on error can be provided in a wide variety of ways (Lyster et al., 1999), researchers still face the dilemma of how to ensure effective corrective feedback in classroom settings. There is still debate over what types of corrective feedback are more effective and, consequently, it is not easy to decide which type of feedback is best for all contexts (Ellis et al., 2005; Russell and Spada, 2006; Loewen and Erlam, 2006; Loewen and Nabei, 2007; Mackey and Goo, 2007). Actually, there does not exist any `ideal corrective feedback recipe’ (Guénette, 2007). Since learners respond to corrective feedback in different ways, Ellis (2009) and Lyster and Saito (2010) remind us that teachers need to adapt and adjust flexibly a wide variety of corrective feedback techniques to the particular learner’ s cognitive and affective needs.

2 Research questions Teacher beliefs are generally viewed as an essential aspect in language teacher education and, thus, have recently become an important research area.

Beliefs in learning to teach 215 One area of teacher cognition research which is relatively researched is preservice teacher cognitions, including candidate teachers’ previous classroom learning experiences, pre-service teachers’ beliefs about language teaching, trainees’ decision-making, beliefs during the practicum experience and change in student teachers’ cognitions during teacher education (Borg, 2006). As described above, the current research literature acknowledges the importance of student teachers’ pre-existing beliefs in shaping their professional identities and classroom instructional practices (Borg, 2003, 2009). In this respect, this paper explores this issue in the context of a preservice EFL teacher education course in Spain. Despite the fact that research studies on teacher cognition conducted so far are largely qualitative, Borg (2003) also highlights the contribution that quantitative research methods can make to this research domain. The approach of the present study is then quantitative. Namely, the main focus of the present research study is on what EFL student teachers actually think about the role of corrective feedback during the practicum experience. Therefore, the study addresses the following research questions: - What do EFL student teachers actually believe about corrective feedback? - What are the sources of student teachers’ beliefs?

3 Method 3.1

Participants

The research study was conducted at the Faculty of Education of the University of Extremadura in Spain. A total of 55 Spanish EFL student teachers participated in the present study. All subjects were enrolled on a four-year teacher education programme and were all training to become EFL teachers. Additionally, the participants were in their final year of study, particularly during the practicum period during which teacher candidates have a unique opportunity to develop their teaching skills in a classroom setting. The practicum experience is scheduled for a period of fourteen weeks (September to January). Participants are supervised by mentors who guide the process and monitor and assess the progress of the participants. Mentors also provide guidance in lesson preparation and presentation.

3.2

Data collection instrument and procedure

The candidate teachers completed a closed-ended questionnaire that consisted of 21 statements about corrective feedback. This survey examined the EFL student teachers’ beliefs about corrective feedback in L2 classroom settings.

216 Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo Items were selected from existing questionnaires (Karavas-Doukas, 1996; Burgess and Etherington, 2002; Baleghizadeh and Rezaef, 2010). The participants were asked to indicate the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with the statements on a 5-point Likert scale where 1=strongly disagree and 5=strongly agree. Descriptive statistics were computed for the survey data.

3.3

Analysis and discussion of results

The following section presents the main findings emerging from the data obtained in this study according to the research questions raised above. Data were analyzed by quantifying the number of respondents who agreed or disagreed to different degrees with the different aspects indicated by each statement or item contained in the survey. Table 1 reports the results of the analysis with agreement percentages. STRONGLY DISAGREE

DISAGREE

UNDECIDED

AGREE

STRONGLY AGREE

TOTAL

Statement 1. Grammatical correctness is the most important criterion by which language performance should be judged. 5.88% 49.02% 25.49% 15.69% 3.92% 100.00% Statement 2. Form-focused correction helps students to improve their grammatical knowledge. 1.96% 11.76% 35.29% 45.10% 5.88% 100.00% Statement 3. Teachers’ feedback must focus on the appropriateness and not on the linguistic form of the student’s speech (oral or written). 1.96% 5.88% 54.90% 33.33% 3.92% 100.00% Statement 4. Since errors are a normal part of learning, much correction is a waste of time. 9.80% 41.18% 23.53% 23.53% 1.96% 100.00% Statement 5. If grammatical errors are not corrected, this will result in imperfect learning. 0.00% 15.69% 21.57% 43.14% 19.61% 100.00% Statement 6. Teachers should correct all the grammatical errors students make. 7.84% 33.33% 25.49% 25.49% 7.84% 100.00% Statement 7. Teachers should only correct some of the mistakes students make in order not to discourage them. 5.88% 17.65% 13.73% 43.14% 19.61% 100.00% Statement 8. All grammatical errors should be corrected in the students’ written work.

Beliefs in learning to teach 217 0.00% 3.92% 19.61% 52.94% 23.53% 100.00% Statement 9. Teachers should let the learners self-correct rather than correct the errors themselves. 1.96% 3.92% 25.49% 43.14% 25.49% 100.00% Statement 10. Teachers should prompt their learners to self-correct. 1.96% 1.96% 17.65% 56.86% 21.57% 100.00% Statement 11. Self-correction reduces the stress and anxiety among learners. 1.96% 3.92% 25.49% 47.06% 21.57% 100.00% Statement 12. Peer-correction is more facilitative than teacher correction. 3.92% 25.49% 37.25% 29.41% 3.92% 100.00% Statement 13. Peer-correction brings less anxiety in comparison to teacher correction. 5.88% 23.53% 33.33% 29.41% 7.84% 100.00% Statement 14. Teachers should reformulate students’ errors by correcting the erroneous part themselves and give them as a corrective feedback. 1.96% 1.96% 39.22% 49.02% 7.84% 100.00% Statement 15. Telling the learner that there is an error and vocally stressing the correct form helps learners notice the difference between what they know and what they don’t know in a L2/FL. 0.00% 7.84% 23.53% 52.94% 15.69% 100.00% Statement 16. Teachers should give metalinguistic feedback, i.e. use grammatical terms such as past, present, future, adjective, verb...in their corrective feedback. 1.96% 9.80% 23.53% 54.90% 9.80% 100.00% Statement 17. Teachers should ask for clarification when an error arises through clarification requests such as `I don’ t know what you mean’ . 0.00% 23.53% 27.45% 35.29% 13.73% 100.00% Statement 18. Teachers should correct all the learners’ errors immediately after the error has been made. 3.92% 15.69% 33.33% 35.29% 11.76% 100.00% Statement 19. Teachers should postpone their error correction to the end of the class. 17.65% 37.25% 25.49% 17.65% 1.96% 100.00% Statement 20. Teachers should provide learners with oral rather than written corrective feedback. 0.00% 7.84% 29.41% 41.18% 21.57% 100.00% Statement 21. What I think about error correction techniques is based on a) My own experience as a language learner

218 Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo b) My experience as a language teacher c) The teachers training course d) The books and articles I have read on language teaching methodologies. Table 1. Descriptive statistics concerning student teachers’ beliefs about corrective feedback (Adapted from Karavas-Doukas (1996), Burgess and Etherington (2002), Baleghizadeh and Rezaef (2010). After the data-gathering process, the next step was to synthesize and analyze the results. Figure 1 illustrates the result of this analysis.

State ment 1 State ment 2 State ment 3 State ment 4 State ment 5 State ment 6 State ment 7 State ment 8 State ment 9 St ate ment 10 St ate ment 11 St ate ment 12 St ate ment 13 St ate ment 14 St ate ment 15 St ate ment 16 St ate ment 17 St ate ment 18 St ate ment 19 St ate ment 20

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

Strongly disagree & Dis agree

Undecided

Strongle agree & A gree

Figure 1. Pre-service teachers´ beliefs about corrective feedback. As can be seen from the data presented in Table 1 and illustrated in Figure 1, several statements generated high levels of agreement (‘strongly agree’ and ‘agree’). While somewhat more than half of respondents (namely, 54.90%) surprisingly expressed their disagreement with the idea that language performance should be mainly judged on grammatical correctness (statement 1), we can see, in contrast, that a similar percentage of respondents (specifically, 50.98%) acknowledged the importance and effectiveness of form-focused correction for improvement of grammatical accuracy (statement 2). Current views on second language teaching methodology agree on the importance of form-focused instruction within the communicative perspective because a lack of focus on form is likely to lead to permanent errors. In this respect, about half of the respondents (50.98%) disagreed that over-correction was a waste of time (statement 4) and nearly two-thirds of

Beliefs in learning to teach 219 participants (62.75%) thought that error treatment was necessary and helpful because if errors were left uncorrected, this would likely result in imperfect learning (statement 5). The resulting data suggest in some way that these respondents do seem to share the traditional over-emphasis on grammatical accuracy. Regarding the controversy about whether errors should be corrected or not, we can see that while only one-third of the respondents (33.33%) agreed that all grammatical errors should be corrected (statement 6), nearly two-thirds of the participants (62.75%) thought, in contrast, that only some mistakes should be corrected in order not to discourage students (statement 7). However, the vast majority of the participants (namely, 76.47%) recognized that all grammatical errors should be corrected in the students’ written work (statement 8). Concerning the contentious issue of who should do the correcting, we can see that while 68.63% of the respondents agreed on the effectiveness of selfcorrection in comparison to teacher correction (statement 9), only one-third of the participants (specifically, 33.33%) thought, in contrast, that peercorrection is more facilitative than teacher correction (statement 12). Additionally, a high percentage of participants (68.63%) believed that selfcorrection would make a greater contribution to reducing learners’ stress and anxiety (statement 11) as opposed to peer-correction (37.25%) (statement 13). Thus, most participants (namely, 78.43%) thought that self-correction should be encouraged among students (statement 10). That is, the resulting data suggest that self-correction seems to be preferable to teacher correction and peer-correction. With respect to the type of corrective feedback strategy which is the most effective, we can see that most respondents surprisingly preferred explicit to implicit strategies. In fact, about two-thirds of the participants (namely, 68.63%) agreed on explicit correction (statement 15), followed by metalinguistic explanations (statement 16) which also received a high percentage (64.70%), recasts (56.86% - statement 14) and clarification requests (49.02% - statement 17). Thus, the data obtained reveal that explicit corrective feedback strategies received high levels of acceptance for at least this sample of population. As for the best timing for corrective feedback, while nearly half of the respondents (specifically, 47.05%) expressed their agreement with the choice of immediate correction of the learner’s erroneous utterances (statement 18), only 19.61%, in contrast, preferred delaying the correction to the end of the class (statement 19). Accordingly, it can be concluded that immediate corrective feedback seems to be preferable to delayed corrective feedback. It must also be added that nearly two-thirds of the respondents (specifically, 62.75%) preferred oral to written corrective feedback (statement 20).

220 Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo In response to the last question, in which the respondents were requested to state their opinions about what their beliefs about corrective feedback techniques were based on, Figure 2 shows that the vast majority of the participants (namely, 86%) considered that their beliefs about error correction techniques were traceable to their previous learning experiences as language learners.

Strongly disagree 2%

Disagree 6%

Strongly agree 47%

Neither agree nor disagree 6%

Agree 39%

Figure 2. My own experience as a language learner. As displayed in Figure 3, two-thirds of participants (specifically, 66%) also agreed that their early teaching experiences as language teachers during the practicum period were also influential.

Beliefs in learning to teach 221

Strongly disagree 8%

Strongly agree 27%

Disagree 10%

Neither agree nor disagree 16% Agree 39%

Figure 3. My experience as a language teacher. As illustrated in Figure 4, somewhat less than half of the respondents (specifically, 42%) expressed their agreement with the idea that the teachertraining courses can also be influential in shaping beliefs about error treatment. Strongly agree 10%

Strongly disagree 6%

Agree 32%

Disagree 25%

Neither agree nor disagree 27%

Figure 4. The teacher-training courses. Finally, as shown in Figure 5, a very similar percentage of respondents (namely, 41%) recognized that the books and articles they have read on

222 Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo language teaching methodology also influence in some way their own beliefs about corrective feedback.

Strongly agree 10%

Strongly disagree 6%

Disagree 16%

Agree 31%

Neither agree nor disagree 37%

Figure 5. The books and articles I have read on language teaching methodologies. Regarding the second research question raised in this study, it can be concluded that student teachers’ beliefs about corrective feedback mainly derive from their own classroom learning experiences as language learners and from their initial teaching practices during the practicum experience and, to a lesser extent, from teacher training courses and the books and articles on language teaching methodologies.

4 Conclusions The main goal of the present study was to contribute to the research literature on teacher cognition by investigating Spanish EFL student teachers’ beliefs about the controversial issue of corrective feedback during the practicum experience. The resulting data revealed interesting information about what EFL student teachers actually think about the role and effectiveness of corrective feedback. The continued over-emphasis on grammar and grammatical accuracy is somehow reported in the discussion part. The findings of this study also revealed that students should be encouraged to self-correct when making errors. Likewise, this study found evidence of the emotional influence derived from the corrective feedback process which makes learners find oral corrective feedback inhibiting and embarrassing to varying degrees. Although further research would be needed as confirmation,

Beliefs in learning to teach 223 the results obtained from this study somehow suggested that candidate teachers require more training in corrective feedback pedagogy. Regarding the second research question raised in this study, it can be concluded that student teachers’ beliefs about corrective feedback mainly derived from their past classroom learning experiences as L2 learners and their early teaching practices during the practicum experience. In fact, pre-service teachers seem to judge the effectiveness of particular corrective feedback strategies by bearing in mind their firsthand learning experiences as former students and their early teaching experiences. Thus, the main conclusion that emerges from the present study is that the pre-existing beliefs about language teaching in general and error treatment in particular will probably influence their initial teaching experiences during the practicum period. This paper also invites teacher educators to consider how pre-service teachers’ beliefs influence to a great extent the process of learning to teach, thus affecting their professional identity and classroom instructional decisions and actions. Accordingly, influencing student teachers’ beliefs about L2 learning and teaching should become today a primary goal of L2 teacher education so as to improve second language pedagogy. Several limitations in the research design make it difficult to make overall generalizations about the potential implications of this research study. Namely, the insufficient number of participants (n=55) and the respondents’ problems with understanding the meaning of the questionnaire statements could be seen as the greatest limitations of the present research study. As with any survey instrument, there is a possibility that respondents may misunderstand certain questionnaire items due to either their own limited language proficiency or the subjective nature of a questionnaire statement. Thus, caution should be exercised in generalizing the current findings beyond this population sample, or indeed to other wider populations. Because of the very limited size of the sample, research findings evidently call for replication on larger populations and in different teaching contexts. For future studies, a greater number of participants and the inclusion of openended questions in the research instrument could also be considered. Other research instruments such as interviews could have been used for gathering additional data. Thus, special care should be taken in interpreting the results. This research article must then be interpreted in the light of its limitations. Despite the importance of researching teachers’ beliefs in the field of L2 teaching, the fact is that few studies have been conducted so far on student teachers’ assumptions, understandings and beliefs about the role and effectiveness of corrective feedback (Baleghizadeh and Rezaef, 2010). As Baleghizadeh and Rezaef (2010) suggested, further research is actually needed to investigate the connection between teachers’ stated beliefs and their observed classroom instructional practices.

224 Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo Since current research highlights the idiosyncratic nature of language teachers’ cognitions and instructional practices (Borg, 2003), more longitudinal studies of language teacher cognition in both pre-service and inservice teacher education contexts are actually needed (Borg, 2003). Another line of research which might be highly promising is that which analyses preservice teachers’ beliefs when compared to those of more experienced teachers about different aspects or areas of language instruction (Peacock, 2001; Stergiopoulou, 2012). Since there has been surprisingly little research into the extent to which teacher education does actually impact in some way on the beliefs of prospective teachers, future studies might also examine how teacher training courses may shape or modify the prospective teachers’ beliefs with regard to other areas of language instruction as, for example, teaching grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. More research is also needed to explore the existing relationship between reflective teaching and candidate teachers’ beliefs during the practicum experience. Another direction for further research would be, as Borg (2003) suggested, to explore relationships between cognitions, practices and learning outcomes, that is, we need to consider how what language teachers actually think, know and do in classrooms relates to learning achievement. Acknowledgements I would like to thank all the participants in the study for their kind collaboration.

5 References Almarza, G. G. (1996) Student foreign language teachers’ knowledge growth. In Freeman, D., and J. C. Richards (eds) Teacher Learning in Language Teaching, New York: Cambridge University Press: 50 -78. Baleghizadeh, S., and S. Rezaef (2010) Pre-service teacher cognition on corrective feedback: A case study, Journal of Technology & Education 4 (4): 321-327. Bitchener, J., and U. Knoch (2009) The contribution of written corrective feedback to language development: A ten month investigation, Applied Linguistics 31: 193-214. Borg, M. (2004) The Apprenticeship of Observation, ELT Journal 58 (3): 274-276. Borg, M. (2005) A case study of the development in pedagogic thinking of a pre-service teacher, TESL/EJ 9 (2): 1-30. Borg, S. (2003) Teacher cognition in language teaching: A review of research on what language teachers think, know, believe, and do, Language Teaching 36 (2): 81-109.

Beliefs in learning to teach 225 Borg, S. (2006) Teacher Cognition and Language Education: Research and Practice, London: Continuum. Borg, S. (2009) Introducing language teacher cognition, JACET Summer Seminar Proceedings – Perspectives on Language Teacher Development 8: 1-5. Borg, S. (2011) The impact of in-service teacher education on language teachers’ beliefs, System 39: 370-380. Burgess, J., and S. Etherington (2002) Focus on grammatical form: explicit or implicit, System 30: 433-458. Busch, D. (2010) Pre-service teacher beliefs about language learning: The second language acquisition course as an agent for change, Language Teaching Research 14: 318-337. Cabaroglu, N., and J. Roberts (2000) Development in student teachers’ preexisting beliefs during a 1-year PGCE programme, System 28 (3): 387402. Ellis, E. M. (2006) Language learning experience as a contributor to ESOL teacher cognition, TESL-EJ 10 (1): 1-20. Ellis, R. (2006) Researching the effects of form-focused instruction on L2 acquisition, AILA 19: 18-41. Ellis, R. (2009) Corrective feedback and teacher development, L2 Journal 1 (1): 3-18. Ellis, R., S. Loewen, and R. Erlam (2005) Implicit and explicit corrective feedback and the acquisition of L2 grammar, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 28: 339–368. Ellis, R., Y. Sheen, M. Murakami, and H. Takashima (2008) The effects of focused and unfocused written corrective feedback in an English as a foreign language context, System 36: 353-371. Fang, Z. (1996) A review of research on teacher beliefs and practices, Educational Research 38 (1): 47-65. Farrell, T. S. C. (2003) Learning to teach English language during the first year: personal influences and challenges, Teaching and Teacher Education 19 (1): 95-111. Farrell, T. S. C. (2006) The teacher is an octopus: uncovering pre-service English language teachers’ prior beliefs through metaphor analysis, RELC Journal 37 (2): 236-248. Ferreira, A. Mª (2006) Teachers’ and students’ beliefs within a Deweyan framework: Conflict and influence, Educational Linguistics 2: 171199. Freeman, D., and J. C. Richards (1996) Teacher Learning in Language Teaching, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Freeman, D., and K. E. Johnson (1998) Reconceptualizing the knowledgebase of language teacher education, TESOL Quarterly 32 (3): 397– 417.

226 Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo Gabillon, Z. (2005) L2 learners’ beliefs: An Overview, Journal of Language and Learning 3 (2): 233-260. Guénette, D. (2007) Is feedback pedagogically correct? Research design issues in studies of feedback on writing, Journal of Second Language Writing 16: 40-53. Hayashi, A. (2009) Student preconceptions of Japanese language learning in 1989 and 2004, Foreign Language Annals 42 (4): 673-694. Ho-yan, S. (2011) Tensions between conflicting beliefs of an EFL teacher in teaching practice, RELC Journal 42: 53-67. Hudson, P., T. Mai, and S. Hudson (2008) Challenges for preservice EFL teachers entering practicum. In Proceedings 2008 Asia TEFL International Conference: Globalizing Asia: The Role of ELT, Bali, Indonesia: 1-12. Hyland, K., and F. Hyland (2006) Feedback in second language writing: Contexts and issues, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Inozu, J. (2011) Beliefs about foreign language learning among students training to teach English as a foreign language, Social Behaviour and Personality: An International Journal 39 (5): 645-653. Johnson, K. E. (1994) The emerging beliefs and instructional practices of preservice English as a second language teachers, Teaching and Teacher Education 10 (4): 439-452. Kagan, D. M. (1992) Professional growth among preservice and beginning teachers, Review of Educational Research 62: 129-169. Karavas-Doukas, E. (1996) Using attitude scales to investigate teachers’ attitudes to the communicative approach, ELT Journal 50 (3): 187198. Kelly, M. (2011) Second Language Teacher Education, British Journal of Educational Technology 41 (2): 32-33. Kuzborska, I. (2011) Links between teachers’ beliefs and practices and research on reading, Reading in a Foreign Language 23 (1): 102-128. Li, Sh. (2010) The effectiveness of corrective feedback in SLA: A MetaAnalysis, Language Learning 60 (2): 309–365. Loewen, S., and R. Erlam (2006) Corrective feedback in the chatroom: An experimental study, Computer Assisted Language Learning 19 (1): 114. Loewen, S., and T. Nabei (2007) Measuring the effects of oral corrective feedback on L2 knowledge. In Mackey, A. (ed) Conversational Interaction in Second Language Acquisition: A Collection of Empirical Studies, Oxford: Oxford University Press: 361-377. Lyster, R., and L. Ranta (1997) Corrective feedback and learner uptake: Negotiation of form in communicative classrooms, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 20: 37-66.

Beliefs in learning to teach 227 Lyster, R., P. M. Lightbown, and N. Spada (1999) A response to Truscott’s `What’s wrong with oral grammar correction’?, Canadian Modern Language Review 55 (4): 457-467. Lyster, R., and K. Saito (2010) Oral feedback in SLA classroom research: A meta-analysis, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 32 (2): 265302. Mackey, A., and J. Goo (2007) Interaction research in SLA: A meta-analysis and research synthesis. In Mackey, A. (ed) Conversational Interaction in Second Language Acquisition: A Collection of Empirical Studies, Oxford: Oxford University Press: 407-452. Mattheoudakis, M. (2007) Tracking Changes in Pre-Service EFL Teacher Beliefs in Greece: A Longitudinal Study, Teaching and Teacher Education 23: 1272-1288. McDonough, S. (1995) Strategy and Skill in Learning a Foreign Language, London: Edward Arnold. Nicholas, H., and A. Williams (2009) School experience influences on preservice teachers’ evolving beliefs about effective teaching, Teaching and Teacher Education 26 (2): 278-283. Numrich, C. (1996) On becoming a language teacher: insights from diary studies, TESOL Quarterly 30 (1): 131-153. Pajares, M. F. (1992) Teachers’ beliefs and educational research: Cleaning up a messy construct, Review of Educational Research 62 (3): 307-332. Panova, I., and R. Lyster (2002) Patterns of corrective feedback and uptake in an Adult ESL classroom, TESOL Quarterly 36 (4): 573-595. Peacock, M. (2001) Pre-service ESL teachers’ beliefs about second language learning: A longitudinal study, System 29 (2): 177-195. Phipps, S., and S. Borg (2007) Exploring the relationship between teachers’ beliefs and their classroom practice, The Teacher Trainer 21: 17-19. Phipps, S. (2010) Language Teacher Education, Beliefs and Classroom Practices, Saarbrucken: Lambert Academic Publishing. Popko, J. (2005) How MA-TESOL students use knowledge about language in teaching ESL classes. In Bartels, N. (ed) Applied Linguistics and Language Teacher Education, New York: Springer: 387-404. Raths, J. D., and A. C. McAninch (eds) (2003) Teacher Beliefs and Classroom Performance: The Impact of Teacher Education, Greenwich, Conn: Information Age. Richards, J. C., and C. Lockhart (1994) Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classrooms, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Richards, J. C. (2008) Second Language Teacher Education Today, RELC Journal 39 (2): 158-177. Richardson, V. (1996) The role of attitudes and beliefs in learning to teach. In Sikula, J., T. J. Buttery, and E. Guyton (eds) Handbook of Research on Teacher Education, New York: Macmillan: 102-119.

228 Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo Russell, J., and N. Spada (2006) The effectiveness of corrective feedback for the acquisition of L2 grammar. A metaanalysis of the research. In Norris, J. M., and L. Ortega (eds) Synthesizing Research on Language Learning and Teaching, Philadelphia: John Benjamins: 133-164. Russell, V. (2009) Corrective feedback, over a decade of research since Lyster and Ranta (1997): Where do we stand today?, Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching 6 (1): 21-31. Sengupta, S., and M. K. Xiao (2002) The contextual reshaping of beliefs about L2 writing: Three teachers’ practical process of theory construction [Electronic Version]. TESL-EJ, 6(1). Retrieved March 11, 2011, from http://www.cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp/information/teslej/ej21/a1.html Shaofeng, L. (2010) The effectiveness of corrective feedback in SLA: A meta-analysis, Language Learning 62 (2): 309-365. Sheen, Y. (2004) Corrective feedback and learner uptake in communicative classrooms across instructional settings, Language Teaching Research 8: 263–300. Stergiopoulou, E. (2012) Comparing experienced and inexperienced foreign language teachers’ beliefs about language learning and teaching, Research on Steiner Education 3 (1): 103-113. Tanaka, K., and R. Ellis (2003) Study-abroad, language proficiency, and learner beliefs about language learning, JALT Journal 25 (1): 63-85. Tercanlioglu, L. (2001) Pre-service EFL teachers’ beliefs about foreign language learning and how they relate to gender, Journal of Research in Educational Psychology 5 (3): 145-162. Urmston, A. (2003) Learning to teach English in Hong Kong: The opinions of teachers in training, Language and Education 17 (2): 112-137. Vélez-Rendón, G. (2006) From student to teacher: A successful transition, Foreign Language Annals 39 (2): 320-333. Woods, D. (1996) Teacher Cognition in Language Teaching: Beliefs, Decision-making and Classroom Practice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Woolfolk, A., H. Davis, and S. J. Pape (2006) Teacher knowledge and beliefs. In Alexander, P. A., and P. H. Winne (eds) Handbook of Educational Psychology, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum: 715-737. Wright, T. (2010) Second language teacher education: Review of recent research on practice, Language Teaching 43 (3): 259-296. Zheng, H. (2009) A Review of Research on EFL Pre-Service Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices, Journal of Cambridge Studies 4 (1): 73-81.

Beliefs in learning to teach 229

6 Recommended reading Woods, D. (1996) Teacher Cognition in Language Teaching: Beliefs, Decision-making and Classroom Practice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. This book sheds light on our understanding of language teaching from the perspective of teachers by focusing exclusively on their planning and interpretive processes in second language classroom settings. It examines how teachers’ beliefs and assumptions influence the decision-making process. This book attempts to analyse how and what teachers think in their practice of language teaching. As the author himself claims on the back cover, this book is an important contribution to the emerging perspective in education which emphasizes the active involvement of teachers in constructing a personal theory of teaching. Borg, S. (2003) Teacher cognition in language teaching: A review of research on what language teachers think, know, believe, and do, Language Teaching 36: 81-109. This article offers a detailed overview of the numerous research studies conducted so far on language teacher cognition – what teachers think, know, and believe- in relation to classroom instructional practices by highlighting the different perspectives from which this issue can be examined. A brief discussion of empirical studies into cognition and prior language learning experiences, cognition and teacher education and cognition and classroom practices is offered in detail. This paper examines the current state of language teacher cognition research and suggests additionally new directions for further research. Borg, S. (2006) Teacher Cognition and Language Education: Research and Practice, New York: Continuum Press. This well-written, readable, comprehensive and thought-provoking book provides an overall overview of the development of language teacher cognition research by focusing on what is known so far about the cognitions of pre-service and in-service language teachers. This volume provides a timely discussion of the results of research on language teacher cognition conducted so far (see Chapter 1 for a historical review). The different research methods that can be used in language teacher cognition research are also examined in the second part of the book. Undoubtedly, this book contributes to a greater understanding of language teacher cognition research

230 Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo and stimulates further research into this fascinating domain. Hence, this book will be particularly helpful to teacher educators, researchers and teachers. Zheng, H. (2009) A Review of Research on EFL Pre-Service Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices, Journal of Cambridge Studies 4 (1): 73-81. This article provides a detailed review of the diverse empirical research studies that have been conducted since the 1990s on pre-service EFL teachers’ beliefs and practices by focusing exclusively on the complex relationship between EFL teachers’ beliefs and instructional practices in classroom settings. The overall overview of the research history on teacher beliefs reveals the diversity of the studies conducted so far in terms of focus and context, which present a multidimensional concept of teacher beliefs. Additionally, the article outlines diverse perspectives from which EFL preservice teacher education can be informed.

7 Questions for reflection and discussion -

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Why is it so important to understand what teachers actually think, know and believe about second language learning and teaching? To what extent do you think student teachers’ pre-existing beliefs are reflected in their early teaching practices during the practicum experience? Do you think there exists a great difference between what teachers think they should do and what they actually do inside the language classroom? How much are student teachers influenced by their own classroom learning experiences? Do experienced teachers think and behave in a different way to inexperienced teachers? How do you think EFL student teachers respond to learners’ errors during the practicum experience?

Native or non-native? The nativeness factor from the EFL student teachers’ perspective Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo (University of Extremadura, Spain) Ian Robinson (University of Extremadura, Spain) Since the debate comparing native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) and nonnative English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) has been widely discussed in the ELT literature, this research paper sets out to investigate EFL student teachers’ preferences and attitudes towards the (non)nativeness issue in relation to different aspects or areas of language teaching. Bearing the results in mind, it can be concluded that student teachers’ general preference was for NESTs, or more precisely, for a combination of both NESTs and NNESTs, even though a high percentage of undecided responses was also found in several areas or aspects of language teaching. The fact that many participants did not have a clear preference in particular areas of language teaching suggests that they did not necessarily prefer NESTs over NNESTs as their English teachers in all areas of language teaching. The resulting data suggest in some way that these EFL student teachers are neither entirely satisfied with the progress made nor with the English language input received from NNESTs so far. It may be assumed that their preferences were largely determined by their past classroom learning experiences with NNESTs. In addition, the data obtained lead us to the conclusion that team teaching practices through collaboration are positively perceived and accepted by student teachers. This study supports previous research studies and is therefore consistent with the findings reported in the research literature.

1 Introduction The controversial issue of nativeness, that is, the debate comparing the effectiveness of native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) and non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) and, more specifically, which group provides more effective ELT, has been extensively discussed in ELT literature (see, for example, Phillipson, 1992; Medgyes, 1992, 1994; Pennycook, 1998; Liu, 1999; Canagarajah, 1999; Arva and Medgyes, 2000; Davies, 2003; Widdowson, 2003; Braine, 2004; Medgyes and Benke, 2005; Moussu and Llurda, 2008; Braine, 2010; Mahboob, 2010; Selvi, 2011). Since the 1990s, with the seminal work by Medgyes (1994) and Braine (1999), the strengths and weaknesses shown by both NESTs and NNESTs have been subject to constant descriptions, comparisons and contrasts. Over the last two decades, several empirical studies on students’ preferences and attitudes towards NESTs and NNESTs have been conducted (see, for example, Samimy and Bruff-Griffler, 1999; Mahboob, 2004; Lasagabaster and Sierra, 2005a, 2005b; Adophs, 2005; Moussu and Braine, 2006; Butler, 2007; Cheung and Braine, 2007). On the whole, these studies revealed that

232 Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo and Ian Robinson NESTs are preferred to NNESTs in terms of pronunciation and language accuracy, even though NNESTs are also perceived in a favourable way in other aspects or areas of language teaching. Bearing in mind that the vast majority of English teachers around the world are non-native speakers and as result of the native speaker myth or fallacy as the ideal teacher (Phillipson, 1992), the fact is that numerous cases of prejudice and unfair professional discrimination against NNESTs have been reported in TEFL literature (Braine, 1999; Medgyes, 2001; Selvi, 2011). ‘Native-speakerism’ (Holliday, 2005) leads to unfair favouritism that make NNESTs suffer from ‘I-am-not-anative-speaker’ (Suarez, 2000) or ‘impostor’ syndrome (Bernat, 2009). In this respect, Braine (1999) reminds us that the commonly used excuse for the discrimination against NNESTs is that students prefer to be taught by native speakers whom they regard as perfect or authentic language models, even though this view on whether students do actually show a general preference for NESTs seems to be questionable. Generally NESTs have been viewed as the guardians of the true language (Davies, 2006), the only reliable source of authentic language input who offer learners the standard language model, while NNESTs are, in contrast, frequently perceived and treated as having a lower professional status (Mahboob, 2010). In response to such discriminatory attitudes towards NNESTs, Seidlhofer (2000) suggested that the emphasis should be placed on the variety of English used by speakers of English as a Lingua Franca, thus abandoning the traditional idealized native speaker model. Since the native speaker concept still remains ambiguous because it is both myth and reality (Davies, 2003), Davies (2006: 447) argued that “Disputes and differences of opinion about the native speaker arise because the concept is interpreted differently”. Since beliefs have a strong evaluative and affective component (Borg, 2011), NNESTs, limited by underdeveloped communicative competence, actually see themselves as linguistically inferior. In this respect, Medgyes (1994: 10) claimed that “We suffer from an inferiority complex caused by glaring defects in our knowledge of English. We are in constant distress as we realize how little we know about the language we are supposed to teach”. But why are many NNESTs so anxious about their linguistic competence? Given that linguistic competence is mainly perceived as an essential criterion, many NNESTs, obsessed with their lack of native-like pronunciation, often feel anxious, frustrated and insecure when communicating in the English classroom (Canagarajah, 1999; Liang, 2005). NNESTs actually receive unfair treatment due to students’ false perceptions and preferences for NESTs (Kamhi-Stein, 1999; Liu, 1999; Medgyes, 2001; Ellis, 2002; Braine, 2004; Mahboob, 2004; Achimbe, 2006) which has led to NNESTs having a poorer professional self-image and perceiving themselves as somehow incompetent teachers (Reves and Medgyes, 1994; Rajagopalan, 2005). The fact is that such discrimination impacts negatively on NNESTs’ professional self-esteem

Native or non-native? The nativeness factor 233 and identities as ELT professionals (Kamhi-Stein, 1999; Samimy and BruttGriffler, 1999; Rajagopalan, 2005; Kim, 2011; Murray, 2012). While NESTs show a superior command of language competence and cultural awareness which contributes to improving students’ pronunciation, communicative competence and cultural awareness, current research literature has reported, in contrast, that the NNESTs are in a better position in comparison to NESTs, since they have the privilege and benefit of having shared the learners’ first language and cultural background (Cook, 1999; Llurda, 2005). Actually, nativeness which is assumed to be a socially constructed identity rather than a linguistic category (Brutt-Griffler and Samimy, 2001) should, therefore, not be viewed as the main criterion for the description of second language competence (Canagarajah, 1999; Cook, 1999; Achimbe, 2006). In this respect, Liang (2005) emphasized user competence rather than native speaker competence as the main criterion for determining language achievement. The fact is that NNESTs’ language competence should not be considered inferior but relatively different from that of NESTs’. Based on the nativeness factor, two main approaches to NNESTs have been identified (Brutt-Griffler and Samimy, 1999): the dominance approach and the difference approach. While the dominance approach views NNESTs as ‘linguistically handicapped’ in comparison to NESTs (Medgyes, 1994), the difference approach, in contrast, emphasizes the strengths of NNESTs who are equally capable of being good language teachers as are NESTs due mainly to their valuable linguistic and pedagogical resources and, thus, should not be considered linguistically inferior to NESTs. In this respect, Braine (1999) stresses the importance of ‘co-teaching’ through collaboration so as to improve the quality of teaching and, consequently, students’ learning outcomes. Several terms referring to co-teaching through collaboration such as team teaching, collaborative and cooperative teaching have been suggested and are often interchangeable or synonymously used (Jang, 2006), even though each term has different implications. It is generally believed that students can benefit most if they are given the opportunity to be taught by both NESTs and NNESTs. Based on the assumption that both NESTs and NNESTs possess different abilities and attributes, several authors have claimed that their strengths and weakenesses are largely complementary (Medgyes, 1992, 1994; Canagarajah, 1999; Matsuda and Matsuda, 2001; Carless, 2006). In this respect, Medgyes (1992) suggested the usefulness and possibility of co-teaching English through cooperation between NESTs and NNESTs. Accordingly, team teaching practices need to be promoted in L2 classrooms so as to maximize the strengths of both NESTs and NNESTs (Carless, 2006). Co-teaching between native and non-native teachers may substantially improve the quality of their teaching, particularly of those native teachers who lack professional training in TEFL. In short, collaboration between NESTs and NNESTs needs to be encouraged within

234 Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo and Ian Robinson second language classrooms (Canagarajah, 1999; Matsuda and Matsuda, 2001). Since ‘Native-speakerism’ is now constantly under challenge (Modiano, 2009), ELT and SLTE need to move away from traditional debates on the idealized native speaker ideology towards notions of ‘beyond-native’ language competence and more appropriate teacher education programmes (Braine, 1999; 2010; Cook, 1999; Murray, 2012). In this respect, Kim (2011: 55) claimed that “The ELT profession should progress from a dominant and deeply established native-speaker ideology (Braine, 1999; Brutt-Griffler and Samimy, 1999; Canagarajah, 1999; Davies, 2003; Holliday, 2005) to a more inclusive perspective which supports diversity”. According to Selvi (2011: 188), the ELT field “is now moving towards a more encompassing ‘both/and discourse’ (i.e. NEST and NNEST) that embraces the strengths and limitations of both teacher populations”. By bearing in mind the hegemony of English and the existence of world Englishes, several authors have considered that “the native speaker fallacy is linguistically anachronistic” (Canagarajah, 1999: 79). Given that the ownership of English is shared by all its speakers (Widdowson, 1994; Kramsch, 1997), the ideal language teacher should not, therefore, be evaluated according to criteria relating to ‘nativeness’ or ‘privilege of birth’, but rather by pedagogical competence, among many other qualities. In this respect, Liang (2005) suggested that “second language competence should be extended beyond the linguistic domain into other cognitive, social, and motivational domains” because teachers’ instructional skills and their rapport with students are equally important. The fact is that nativeness does not necessarily guarantee successful teaching. In short, the controversial issue of nativeness as a legitimate area of research should be explored further.

2 Research aim Although students’ preferences are important, the fact is that such preferences should not be idealized at all because, as James (1998: 253) suggested, “these are not necessarily more effective for being preferred”. It is generally accepted that these preferences are often shaped by past classroom experiences. The main emphasis of the present paper lies on the nativeness factor from the point of view of student teachers, a perspective largely ignored so far. In short, this research study aims to analyse EFL student teachers’ perceptions and preferences for both NESTs and NNESTs.

Native or non-native? The nativeness factor 235

3 Method 3.1

Participants

The participants in this study were 37 student teachers in a pre-service teacher education programme in Spain. The TEFL program is a four year BA degree program preparing these undergraduates to work in primary education schools. All of them had, at some time or other, been taught by a native speaker of English. Only 16 of the 34 undergraduates had spent some time (a few weeks) in an English-speaking country. Additionally, the respondents in the survey had studied English for an average of 15 years.

3.2

Instrument and data collection procedure

Regarding the data collection methods, the need to rely more on qualitative methods such as interviews and diary studies rather than questionnaires has been recently suggested (Ellis, 2002). However, as Bernat and Gvozdenko (2005:7) claimed, “the limitations of such qualitative studies are reflected by selectivity of data, a degree of interpretive subjectivity, and contextspecificity resulting in a lack of application to broader SLA contexts. Consequently, the choice of research methodology in language learner beliefs studies will depend on the investigator’s purpose and questions of enquiry”. Hence, this paper has opted for a quantitative research design aimed at assessing EFL student teachers’ preferences and attitudes towards the (non)nativeness issue. The undergraduates were asked to express their views about NESTs and NNESTs by completing a Likert-scale closed-ended questionnaire specially designed for this research purpose which was made up of 26 statements. The participants were asked to complete the questionnaires during class time. The questionnaires took approximately 15 minutes to be completed, and the return rate of the questionnaire was 100%. The quantitative data from the questionnaire were then entered into descriptive statistics so as to identify the EFL teacher candidates’ commonly held perceptions and attitudes towards NESTs and NNESTs. The questionnaire was administered after explaining the purpose and potential usefulness of the survey and also making it clear to the participants that their responses would be used for research purposes only.

236 Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo and Ian Robinson

3.3

Analysis and discussion of results

Quantitative data from the questionnaire were only employed for descriptive statistics to answer the aforementioned research question. Table 1 displays the results of descriptive statistics. STRONGLY DISAGREE

DISAGREE

UNDECIDED

AGREE

STRONGLY AGREE

TOTAL

Statement 1. I prefer to be taught by native English teachers. 2.70% 0.00% 40.54% 24.32% 32.43% 100.00% Statement 2. It is best to study English with a native English teacher. 5.41% 18.92% 21.62% 29.73% 24.32% 100.00% Statement 3. I feel more comfortable with a teacher who learned English the same way I am learning English. 10.81% 21.62% 40.54% 18.92% 8.11% 100.00% Statement 4. A non-native English teacher is a good example of how to learn English. 0.00% 16.22% 21.62% 43.24% 18.92% 100.00% Statement 5. I prefer to learn English from a non-native English teacher who speaks my language. 8.11% 29.73% 48.65% 10.81% 2.70% 100.00% Statement 6. I prefer to learn English from a native English teacher who speaks my language too. 0.00% 5.41% 18.92% 51.35% 24.32% 100.00% Statement 7. I prefer to study grammar with a non-native English teacher. 2.70% 21.62% 62.16% 10.81% 2.70% 100.00% Statement 8. My listening ability in English would be better with a nonnative English teacher. 5.41% 35.14% 45.95% 10.81% 2.70% 100.00% Statement 9. I prefer to learn speaking and conversation from a non-native English teacher. 13.51% 40.54% 45.95% 0.00% 0.00% 100.00% Statement 10. I would speak more fluently with a non-native English teacher. 5.41% 51.35% 27.03% 16.22% 0.00% 100.00% Statement 11. I prefer to study pronunciation with a native English teacher. 0.00% 2.70% 32.43% 18.92% 45.95% 100.00% Statement 12. I prefer to study reading with a non-native English teacher.

Native or non-native? The nativeness factor 237 8.11% 29.73% 56.76% 5.41% 0.00% 100.00% Statement 13. I prefer to study writing with a native English teacher. 0.00% 16.22% 48.65% 27.03% 8.11% 100.00% Statement 14. I prefer to learn English culture from a non-native English teacher. 10.81% 51.35% 35.14% 2.70% 0.00% 100.00% Statement 15. I would have more positive attitudes towards learning English if I had a native English teacher. 2.70% 18.92% 35.14% 32.43% 10.81% 100.00% Statement 16. Non-native English teachers are better teaching beginner students. 2.70% 27.03% 54.05% 16.22% 0.00% 100.00% Statement 17. Native English teachers are better teaching advanced students. 0.00% 13.51% 43.24% 35.14% 8.11% 100.00% Statement 18. My English has improved by taking classes with non-native English teachers. 0.00% 10.81% 51.35% 29.73% 8.11% 100.00% Statement 19. Non-native English teachers are more sensitive to my personal problems and needs. 8.11% 24.32% 48.65% 16.22% 2.70% 100.00% Statement 20. Non-native English teachers understand my questions better than native English teachers. 2.70% 32.43% 32.43% 32.43% 0.00% 100.00% Statement 21. Non-native English teachers anticipate and predict language learning difficulties. 2.70% 13.51% 29.73% 51.35% 2.70% 100.00% Statement 22. Non-native English teachers are more aware of students’ English learning difficulties. 2.70% 21.62% 45.95% 27.03% 2.70% 100.00% Statement 23. Non-native English teachers are more patient than native English teachers. 16.22% 32.43% 48.65% 2.70% 0.00% 100.00% Statement 24. I prefer to have both native and non-native English teachers. 0.00% 5.41% 32.43% 21.62% 40.54% 100.00% Statement 25. Native and non-native English teachers should teach classes together.

238 Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo and Ian Robinson 0.00% 13.51% 29.73% 35.14% 21.62% 100.00% Statement 26. It does not matter what the teacher’s native language is, the only thing that matters is how they teach. 0.00% 8.11% 27.03% 18.92% 45.95% 100.00% Table 1. Descriptive statistics concerning the nativeness factor. Table 1 reports the results obtained from learners’ responses with percentages of students selecting each alternative. After the data-gathering process, the next step was to synthesize and analyze the results. As displayed in Figure 1, several statements generated high levels of agreement (‘strongly agree’ and ‘agree’). 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10%

State ment 1 State ment 2 State ment 3 State ment 4 State ment 5 State ment 6 State ment 7 State ment 8 State ment 9 State ment 10 State ment 11 State ment 12 State ment 13 State ment 14 State ment 15 State ment 16 State ment 17 State ment 18 State ment 19 State ment 20 State ment 21 State ment 22 State ment 23 State ment 24 State ment 25 State ment 26

0%

Strongly disagree & Disagree

Undecided

Strongly agree & Agree

Figure 1. The nativeness factor from the student teachers’ perspective.

Although the data shown in Table 1 reveal different percentages of responses, the data obtained are consistent enough to draw several conclusions. The resulting data revealed that somewhat more than half of the respondents (namely, 56.75%) showed a preference for NESTs over NNESTs, even though 40.54% were undecided on this issue (statement 1). In fact, a similar percentage of respondents (54.05%) agreed that studying English with a native English teacher would be better (statement 2). However, when they are offered the possibility of having both NESTs and NNESTs (statement 24) inside the classroom, the percentage slightly increased to 62.16%. Even the teacher candidates expressed their agreement (specifically, 56.76%) with the idea that both NESTs and NNESTs should teach classes together (statement 25). Accordingly, it can be concluded that team teaching practices are

Native or non-native? The nativeness factor 239 positively perceived and accepted by these respondents. Additionally, nearly two-thirds of the participants (namely, 64.87%) considered that the teacher’s native language is unimportant in this respect, and that the prime consideration should be how they teach (statement 26). Although 62.16% of the participants recognized that a NNEST is a good example of how to learn English (statement 4), most students (75.67%), in contrast, expressed their preference for those NESTs who speak Spanish in addition (statement 6). The respondents’ preferences and perceptions of native and non-native English teachers with respect to different areas or aspects of language instruction are examined below. When EFL candidate teachers were asked if they preferred to study grammar with a NNEST, 62.16% were undecided on this issue (statement 7). Additionally, most respondents did not show any preference for NNESTs in the areas of listening, speaking and conversation, reading and attitudes towards English culture. On the contrary, 64.87% of the participants preferred to study pronunciation with NESTs (statement 11). Likewise, it is worth noting that 62.16% of the respondents expressed their disagreement with the idea of learning English culture from a NNEST (statement 14) which suggests in some way that they preferred NESTs over NNESTs. In this respect, the resulting data lead us to conclude that their preferences were largely determined by their past classroom learning experiences with NNESTs. The data obtained also revealed contradictory results that cause some confusion because the respondents were undecided on whether NNESTs would be better employed in teaching beginner students (54.05%) or NESTs with advanced students (43.24%) (statements 16 & 17, respectively). In fact, only 43.25% of the participants agreed that NESTs would be better teaching advanced students (statement 17). Only one-third of the respondents (namely, 37.84%) recognized that their English has improved with NNESTs while somewhat more than half (51.35%) were undecided on this issue (statement 18). In this respect, the data obtained lead to the conclusion that these participants are neither entirely satisfied with the progress made nor with the English education received from NNESTs so far. It is also worthy to note that a significant percentage of respondents were undecided on issues such as whether NNESTs were more sensitive to students’ personal problems and needs (48.65% - statement 19), more aware of students’ English learning difficulties (45.95% - statement 22) and more patient (48.65% - statement 23). However, the resulting data also reported that the respondents agreed that NNESTs, in contrast, are better at anticipating and predicting language learning difficulties (54.05% - statement 21) than NESTs.

240 Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo and Ian Robinson

4 Conclusions The present study examined Spanish EFL student teachers’ perceptions and preferences for both NESTs and NNESTs with respect to different aspects or areas of language teaching. Although further research would be needed as confirmation, this study revealed that student teachers’ general preference was for NESTs, and in particular for a combination of both NESTs and NNESTs, even though high percentages of undecided responses were also found. Bearing in mind that many respondents did not have a clear preference in particular areas of language teaching, it can be concluded that they did not necessarily prefer NESTs over NNESTs in all aspects of language teaching. The resulting data suggest in some way that these EFL student teachers are neither entirely satisfied with the progress made nor with the English teaching received from NNESTs so far. Their preferences were undoubtedly determined by their past classroom learning experiences with NNESTs. Bearing these results in mind, it can be stated that EFL student teachers had a clear preference for NESTs over NNESTs, even though the team-teaching option (a NEST and a NNEST working together) was valued more highly. Additionally, many of the participants agreed that whatever the EFL teacher’s native language is, this factor should take on less importance than a consideration of that teacher’s overall effectiveness in motivating learners and providing them with opportunities to develop language learning skills successfully. This high percentage of undecided responses may somehow be explained in terms of their professional orientation. The data obtained lead us to conclude that team teaching practices through collaboration are positively perceived and accepted by student teachers. In fact, the respondents seem to share the impression that the contributions of both NESTs and NNESTs should be duly recognized and valued. Actually, NNESTs need to overcome their lack of professional self-esteem by becoming aware not only of their strengths but also of their limitations. Thus, this study supports previous research studies and is therefore consistent with the findings reported in the research literature. Several limitations in the research design make it difficult to make overall generalizations about the potential implications of this research study. Namely, the insufficient number of participants (n = 37) may be seen as the greatest limitation of the present research study. Since the present study is merely a small-scale research project with a small student sample size, caution should be exercised in generalizing the current findings beyond this student population or indeed to other wider populations, until further research is conducted in more detail. Because of the very limited size of the sample, research findings call for replication on larger populations and in different teaching contexts. For future studies, a greater number of participants and the inclusion of open-ended questions in the research instrument could be

Native or non-native? The nativeness factor 241 considered as well. Other research instruments such as interviews can also be helpful for gathering additional data. In fact, we are aware of the fact that this study could have been improved by means of an interview in which the respondents’ answers were explored in greater depth. There is no doubt that this would have increased the validity of the present study. Thus, special care should be taken in interpreting the results. Despite the shortcomings, it is hoped that the present study sheds some light on the (non)nativeness issue. Undoubtedly, these views will have significant implications for second language teacher education in general. Since the theoretical debate about the native speaker/non-native speaker distinction is still unresolved, further research is actually needed in this research area, and it would be encouraging as well as promising to examine in depth the specific strengths and weaknesses of both NESTs and NNESTs in the different areas or aspects of L2 teaching. How NNESTs see themselves and how their professional identities are affected by the native-speaker ideology, leading to low professional self-esteem, are areas which have remained relatively unexplored in the research literature. Acknowledgements We would like to thank all the participants in the study for their kind collaboration.

5 References Achimbe, E. (2006) The native speaker fever in English language teaching (ELT): Pitting pedagogical competence against historical origin, Linguistik Online 26: 3-14. Adophs, S. (2005) I don’t think I should learn all this: A longitudinal view of attitudes towards `native speaker’ English. In Gnutzmann, C., and F. Intermann (eds) The Globalization of English and the English Language Classroom, Tubingen: Narr: 109-131. Arva, V., and P. Medgyes (2000) Native and non-native teachers in the classroom, Svstem 28: 355-372. Bernat, E., and I. Gvozdenko (2005) Beliefs about language learning: Current knowledge, pedagogical implications and new research directions, TESL-EJ 9 (1). Retrieved from http://wwwwriting.berkeley.edu/TESL-EJ/ej33/a1.html on 28th May, 2008. Bernat, E. (2009) Towards a pedagogy of empowerment: the case of ‘impostor syndrome’ among pre-service non-native speaker teachers in TESOL, English Language Teacher Education and Development Journal 11: 1–11. Braine, G. (1999) Non-native Educators in English Language Teaching, Mahwah, N. J.: Erlbaum.

242 Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo and Ian Robinson Braine, G. (2004) The nonnative English-speaking professionals’ movement and its research foundations. In Kamhi-Stein, L. D. (ed) Learning and Teaching from Experience: Perspectives on Nonnative Englishspeaking Professionals, Ann Arbor, Ml: The University of Michigan Press: 9-24. Braine, G. (2010) Nonnative Speaker English Teachers: Research, Pedagogy, and Professional Growth, Abingdon: Routledge. Brutt-Griffler, J., and K. K. Samimy (2001) Transcending the nativeness paradigm, World Englishes 20 (1): 99-106. Butler, Y. G. (2007) Factors associated with the notion that native speakers are the ideal language teachers: An examination of elementary school teachers in Japan, JALT Journal 29 (1): 7-40. Canagarajah, S. A. (1999) Interrogating the "native speaker fallacy": Nonlinguistic roots, non-pedagogical results. In Braine, G. (ed) Non-native educators in English language teaching, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: 77-92. Carless, D. (2006) Good practices in team teaching in Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong, System 34 (3): 341-351. Cheung, Y. L., and G. Braine (2007) The attitudes of university students onwards non-native speakers English teachers in Hong Kong, RELC Journal 38 (3): 257-277. Clarke, M. (2008) Language Teacher Identities, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Cook, V. (1999) Going beyond the native speaker in language teaching, TESOL Quarterly 33(2): 185-209. Davies, A. (2003) The Native Speaker: Myth and Reality, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Davies, A. (2006) The Native Speaker in Applied Linguistics. In Davies, A., and C. Elder (eds) The Handbook of Applied Linguistics, Malden: Blackwell Publishing: 431-450. Ellis, R. (2002) A metaphorical analysis of learner beliefs. In Burmeister, P., T. Piske, and A. Rohde (eds) An integrated view of language development: Papers in honor of Henning Wode, Trier, Germany: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag. Holliday, A. (2005) The Struggle to Teach English as an International Language, Oxford: Oxford University Press.  James, C. (1998) Errors in Language Learning and Use. Exploring Error Analysis, London: Longman. Jang, S. (2006) Research on the effects of team teaching upon two secondary school teachers, Educational Research 48 (2): 177-194. Kamhi-Stein, L. D. (1999) Preparing nonnative professionals in TESOL: Implications for teacher education programs. In Braine, G. (ed) Non-

Native or non-native? The nativeness factor 243 native educators in English language teaching, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: 145-158. Kim, H. (2011) Native speakerism affecting nonnative English teachers’ identity formation: A critical perspective, English Teaching 66 (4): 53-71. Kramsch, C. (1997) The privilege of the nonnative speaker, Publications of the Modern Language Association 112 (3): 359-369. Lasagabaster, D., and J. M. Sierra (2005a) The nativeness factor: An analysis of students’ preferences, ITL International Journal of Applied Linguistics 148: 21-43. Lasagabaster, D., and J. M. Sierra (2005b) What do students think about the pros and cons of having a native speaker teacher. In Llurda, E. (ed) Non-native language teachers: Perceptions, challenges and contributions to the profession, New York: Springer: 217-241. Liang, J. (2005) Second language competence: native speaker competence or user competence?, NNEST Newsletter 7 (2). Liu, J. (1999) From their own perspectives: The impact of non-native ESL professionals on their students. In Braine, G. (ed) Non-native educators in English language teaching, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: 159-176. Llurda, E. (ed) (2005) Non-native Language Teachers: Perceptions, Challenges, and Contributions to the Profession, New York: Springer. Mahboob, A. (2004) Native or nonnative: What do students enrolled in an intensive English program think?. In Kamhi-Stein, L. D. (ed) Learning and teaching from experience: Perspectives on nonnative English-speaking professionals, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press: 121-148. Mahboob, A. (2010) The NNEST lens: Non-native English Speakers in TESOL, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Matsuda, A., and P. K. Matsuda (2001) Autonomy and collaboration in teacher education: journal sharing among native and nonnative English-speaking teachers, CATESOL Journal 13 (1): 109-121. Medgyes, P. (1992) Native or non-native: Who’s worth more?, ELT Journal 46 (4): 340-349. Medgyes, P. (1994) The Non-native Teacher, Hong Kong: Macmillan Medgyes, P. (1999) Language training: A neglected area in teacher education. In Braine, G. (ed) Non-native educators in English language teaching, Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: 177-198. Medgyes, P. (2001) When the teacher is a non-native speaker. In CelceMurcia, M. (ed) Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, Boston: Heinle & Heinle: 429-442.

244 Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo and Ian Robinson Medgyes, P., and E. Benke (2005) Differences in teaching behaviour between native and nonnative speaker teachers: As seen by the learner. In Llurde, E. (ed) Non-native Language Teachers. Perceptions, Challenges and Contributions to the Profession, New York: Springer: 195-215. Modiano, M. (2009) EIL, Native-speakerism and the failure of European ELT. In Sharifi, F. (ed) English as an International Language Perspective and Pedagogical Issues, Bristol: Multilingual Matters: 3558. Moussu, L., and G. Braine (2006) The attitudes of ESL students towards nonnative English language teachers, TESL Reporter 39 (1): 33-47. Moussu, L., and E. Llurda (2008) Non-native English-speaking English language teachers: History and research, Language Teaching 41 (3): 315-348. Murray, A. (2012) Who do you think you are? Investigating the Multiple Identities of Speakers of Other Languages Teaching English, Unpublished PhD: University of Sussex. Rajagopalan, K. (2005) Non-native speakers of English and their anxieties: Ingredients for an experiment in action research. In Llurda, E. (ed) Non-native Language Teachers: Perceptions, Challenges, and Contributions to the Profession, New York: Springer: 283-303. Reves, T., and P. Medgyes (1994) The non-native English speaking EFL teacher’s selfimage. International survey, System 22 (3): 353-367. Samimy, K. K., and J. Bruff-Griffler (1999) To be a native or nonnative speaker: Perceptions of “non-native” students in a graduate TESOL program. In Braine, G. (ed) Non-native Educators in English Language Teaching, Mahwah, N. J.: Erlbaum: 127-144. Seidlhofer, B. (2000) Mind the gap: English as a mother tongue versus English as a lingua franca, Views 9 (1): 51-68. Selvi, A. F. (2011) Key Concepts in ELT: The non-native speaker teacher, ELT Journal 65 (2): 187-189 Suarez, J. (2000) ‘Native’ and ‘non-native’: not only a question of terminology, Humanizing Language Teaching 2/6. Available a thttp://www.hltmag.co.uk/nov00/mart1.htm (accessed on 29 June 2010).

6 Recommended reading Lasagabaster, D., and J. M. Sierra (2005) The nativeness factor: An analysis of students’ preferences, International Journal of Applied Linguistics 148: 21-43.

Native or non-native? The nativeness factor 245 Lasagabaster and Sierra’s (2005) study focused on the native speaker versus non-native speaker debate considers the issue from the students’ perspective which has been largely ignored so far. In this respect, the authors explored university students’ preferences for both NESTs and NNESTs with respect to different areas or aspects of language teaching (language skills, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, learning strategies, culture and civilization, attitudes and assessment) and in relation to different levels of education. Llurda, E. (ed) (2005) Non-native Language Teachers: Perceptions, Challenges, and Contributions to the Profession, New York: Springer. This edited volume comprises several empirical research papers presenting NNSTs from a different perspective. As the editor acknowledges, the overall intention of the book is to make research on NNST available to anyone interested in the challenges faced by NNSTs all over the world. Additionally, this book provides helpful guidelines about how to boost NNSTs’ professional self-confidence and how to heighten their awareness of how much they can offer to students by emphasizing their strengths. That is one of the reasons why this publication should be welcomed, and should certainly be considered essential reading for anyone concerned with NNSTs. Braine, G. (2010) Nonnative Speaker English Teachers: Research, Pedagogy, and Professional Growth, New York: Routledge. The NNEST movement as a legitimate area of research in the field of ELT has grown substantially in the past two decades, resulting in several edited volumes (Braine, 1999; Llurda, 2005; Mahboob, 2010). In this changing scenario, Braine’s latest contribution to the NNEST movement deserves special consideration for several reasons. Namely, this coherent and accessible single-authored volume presents a very succinct overview of the NNEST movement, reflecting upon its main goals and achievements as well as outlining the future research directions of the movement. In addition, discussions from different perspectives including teachers, teacher educators, researchers and students are offered. The multifaceted nature of this volume makes a remarkable contribution to the research area and, accordingly, becomes a must-read reference. Mahboob, A. (2010) The NNEST Lens: Non-native English Speakers in TESOL, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This volume carefully analyses the common practices, assumptions and dilemmas faced by many NNESTs in different contexts by proposing a

246 Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo and Ian Robinson reexamination of such theories and practices through the multilingual and multicultural perspectives. This book discusses not only research and theory but also practical issues of interest for both native and nonnative professionals in TESOL. Various strategies and approaches which can be adopted in diverse contexts are also discussed. Thus, readers will find the discussions and research reports about the value of NNESTs in diversity and in World Englishes extremely helpful.

7 Questions for reflection and discussion -

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To what extent can an L2 learner who starts learning in early childhood become a native speaker of the target language? Does a good language teacher necessarily have to be a native speaker? To what extent do you agree with the popular idea or belief that NESTs are preferred over NNESTs and, accordingly, teach English better? What makes non-native speakers sound ‘foreign-accented’? How can NNESTs teach ‘natural’ English in the classroom? What do you think about co-teaching between native and non-native speakers? Can NESTs and NNESTs work together inside the classroom? If so, what can they offer? How will co-teachers evaluate students’ learning? Can non-native teachers be taught to teach better pronunciation and speaking as native teachers? Who would you prefer as your child’s English teacher, a native or a nonnative speaker? Give reasons for your answer.

Section III Lesson plans and classroom materials and resources

Teaching and learning how to plan lessons for EFL classrooms: Implementation of classroom techniques and activities Mª Sagrario Salaberri Ramiro (University of Almería, Spain) Nazmi Abdul-Salam Al-Masri (The Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine) Mª del Mar Sánchez Pérez (University of Almería, Spain) This chapter is intended for primary and secondary school teachers who are currently teaching English as a foreign language or plan to do so. The content will focus on the essentials in language teaching methodology and practical classroom applications: syllabus design and implementation, classroom techniques and activities. The main objective is that readers cultivate and reflect upon their understanding of the different theoretical and practical issues that influence the field of language teaching. An emphasis will be placed on the notion of informed and critical teaching and the need for teachers to mediate between theory and practice in constructing pedagogies for specific teaching-learning contexts. Following the most recent approaches in the field, new technologies will have an important role together with teaching-related research. Practical ideas will be suggested for implementation in the classroom that will guide how to apply and improve the most important aspects of teaching.

1 Introduction In the recent decades, the language teaching profession has been concerned by the search for a single, ideal method, generalizable across widely varying audiences that would successfully teach students a foreign language in the classroom. Historical accounts of the profession tend to describe a succession of methods, each of which is more or less discarded in due course as a new method takes its place (Brown, 2002). The concept of teaching method has a long tradition in language teaching (Richards and Renandya, 2002). Many teachers have found the notion of methods attractive over the last century, since they offer apparently infallible systems for classroom instruction and are thus sometimes embraced enthusiastically as a universal remedy for the “language teaching problem”. The 1970s and 1980s are considered the years of greatest enthusiasm for methods. In this “post-methods era”, attention has shifted to teaching and learning processes and the contributions of the individual teacher to language teaching pedagogy. However, there are some authors that discuss a number of reasons for the decline of the "method” concept in language teaching. Brown (2002) supports the idea that the term "method" is best replaced by the term "pedagogy". The former implies a static set of procedures, whereas the

250 Mª Sagrario Salaberri Ramiro et al. latter suggest the dynamic interplay between teachers, learners and instructional materials during the process of teaching and learning. The present chapter offers an insight on the lesson planning process as part of the teaching and learning method followed by teachers in the EFL classroom. Special attention will be given to activities and materials related to new technologies to be implemented in lessons.

2 Lesson planning in the EFL classroom When ELF teachers face each new lesson there is a feeling of uncertainty with regard to what they have to do in the course of it. This usually means that teachers need to plan what they want to do in their classrooms. A unit plan is a series of related lessons around a specific theme” (Farrell, 2002: 30). Planning lessons is the result of a complex planning process that includes the yearly, term, and unit plans. A daily lesson plan is a written description of how students will move toward attaining specific objectives. It describes the teaching behaviour that will result in student learning. Richards (1998:103) stresses the importance of lesson planning for English language teachers: “The success with which a teacher conducts a lesson is often thought to depend on the effectiveness with which the lesson was planned”. In this sense, lesson planning could be defined as the daily decisions a teacher makes for the successful outcome of a lesson. The lesson planning process is of vital importance for the successful development of the class (Salaberri and Sánchez, 2012). Not many teachers enter a classroom without some kind of plan. Lesson plans are systematic records of a teacher’s thoughts about what will be covered during a lesson. Richards (1998) suggests that lesson plans help the teacher think about the lesson in advance to “resolve problems and difficulties, to provide a structure for a lesson, to provide a ‘map’ for the teacher to follow, and to provide a record of what has been taught” (p. 103). There are also internal and external reasons for planning lessons (McCutcheon, 1980). Teachers plan for internal reasons in order to feel more confident, to learn the subject matter better, to enable lessons to run more smoothly, and to anticipate problems before they happen. Teachers plan for external reasons in order to satisfy the expectations of the principal or supervisor and to guide a substitute teacher in case the class needs one. Planning is often viewed as a key aspect of teaching a successful lesson (Richards, 1998). During the planning phase, the teacher makes decisions about goals, activities, resources, timing, grouping, and other aspects of the lesson. Harmer (1991) includes the following elements in a lesson plan: a. Description of the class b. Recent work c. Objectives

Teaching and learning how to plan lessons for EFL classrooms 251 d. Contents (context, activity and class organization, aids, language, possible problems) e. Additional possibilities Planning can be regarded as a process of transformation during which the teacher creates ideas for a lesson based on understanding of learners’ needs, problems, and interests, and on the content of the lesson itself. This does not necessarily result in a detailed, written lesson plan. Many teachers teach successful lessons based on mental plans or on brief lesson notes. What is important is not the extent and detail of the teacher’s plan but the extent to which the teacher has developed ideas for turning a potential lesson (such as a textbook lesson) into the basis for an engaging and effective lesson (Richards and Renandya, 2002). Lesson planning involves decisions about the pedagogical dimensions of the lesson. But another important aspect of a lesson concerns the management of learners during the lesson. This includes eliciting students’ attention, maintaining their engagement in the lesson, and organizing them into pairs or groups. If these aspects of a lesson are not well handled by a teacher, much of the time available for teaching can be lost in non-productive activity. Farrell (2002) discusses the processes involved in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of a lesson. At the planning stage, teachers need to think about questions such as what the objective(s) of the lesson will be, what materials and activities will be used, what type of interaction will be encouraged, and how the learning will be monitored. In the present chapter, we will focus on the reasons for lesson planning as well as the implementation process.

2.1

How to plan a lesson

An effective lesson plan starts with appropriate and clearly written objectives (Farrell, 2002). An objective is a description of a learning outcome. Objectives describe the destination (not the journey) we want our students to reach. These objectives help state precisely what we want our students to learn, help guide the selection of appropriate activities, and help provide overall lesson focus and direction. The generic components of a language lesson plan are highlighted by Shrum and Glisan’s (1994), which are in turn adapted from the Hunter and Russell (1977) model. This generic lesson plan has five phases: I. Perspective or opening. The teacher asks the students questions such as: What was the previous activity (what was previously learned)? What concepts have they learned? The teacher then gives a preview of the new lesson. II. Stimulation. The teacher (i) poses a question to get the students thinking about the coming activity; (ii) helps the students to relate the activity to

252 Mª Sagrario Salaberri Ramiro et al. their lives; (iii) begins with an attention grabber: an anecdote, a little scene acted out by peer teachers or lay assistants, a picture, or a song; and (iv) uses it as a lead into the activity. III. Instruction/participation. The teacher presents the activity, checks for student understanding, and encourages active student involvement. Teachers can get students to interact by the use of pair work and/or group work. IV. Closure. The teacher checks what the students have learned by asking questions like: “What did you learn?” and “How did you feel about these activities?” The teacher then gives a preview about the possibilities for future lessons. V. Follow-up. The teacher uses further activities to reinforce some concepts and/or to introduce some new ones. The teacher gives the students opportunities to do independent work and can set certain activities or tasks taken from the lesson as homework.

2.2

Implementing the lesson plan

Implementing the lesson plan is considered to be the most important and difficult stage of the lesson planning cycle. In this phase, the lesson plan itself will retreat into the background as the reality of the class takes over (Farrell, 2002). Teachers may need to make certain adjustments to the lesson at the implementation phase. As many experienced teachers know, it is easy to get unfocused by unexpected events. However, teachers should remember that the original plan was designed with specific intentions in mind and the plan was based on the teacher’s diagnosis of the learning competence of the students. When implementing their lesson plan, teachers might try to monitor two important issues, namely, lesson variety and lesson pacing. Variety in lesson delivery and choice of activity will keep the class lively and interested. To vary a lesson, teachers should frequently change the tempo of activities from fast-moving to slow.

3 Classroom materials and activities The processes of curriculum development and syllabus design in language teaching usually involve evaluating the needs of learners, developing goals and objectives, planning a syllabus, selecting teaching approaches and materials, and deciding on assessment procedures and criteria (Richards and Renandya, 2002). The materials provide the basis for the content of lessons, the balance of skills taught, and the kinds of language practice students take part in. Materials serve primarily to supplement the teacher’s instruction. For learners, materials may provide the major source of contact they have with the language apart from the teacher. Hence, the role and uses of materials in a

Teaching and learning how to plan lessons for EFL classrooms 253 language program is a significant aspect of language curriculum development. As the present chapter focuses on teaching strategies and activities paying special attention to the use of technological resources in the EFL classroom, a series of tips regarding the use of such resources that may be implemented by teachers will be now provided.

3.1

Material and activities design

As it is known, language is functional and as thus it should be taught in a contextualized way (Crawford, 2002). For this reason, materials must contextualize the language they present. Language, whether it is input or learner output, should emerge from the context in which it occurs. They should be authentic-like and as realistic as possible. The more realistic the language, the more easily it can cater to the range of proficiency levels found in many classes. On the other hand, classroom materials will usually seek to include an audio visual component. We live in an increasingly multimedia world in which advances in technology allow for expanding flexibility in delivery, but also because such materials can create a learning environment that is rich in linguistic and cultural information about the target language. Materials such as video and multimedia allow teachers and learners to explore the nonverbal and cultural aspects of language as well as the verbal. Intonation, gesture, mime, facial expression, body posture and so on, are all essential channels of communication which not only help learners understand the verbal language to which they are exposed, but also are an integral part of the system of meaning which they are seeking to learn.

4 The use of ICTs in the EFL classroom In the recent years, a widespread of new technological resources and materials has evolved in the EFL classroom. Effective use of ICT assists learners to progress faster in learning English. ICT comprises several multimedia tools that, such as computers, broadcasting technologies (radio and television) the internet, telephone, etc. (In Richards and Renandya, 2002). While computers now play a central role in these communications, the Internet is considered "the mother of all networks" Eastment (1999: 10). The internet itself include many communications tools such as email, social networking pages (Facebook or Twitter), blogs, wikis, twitter, Skype, podcasts, webquest, Podcasts, RSS, resources (online journals, online dictionaries, websites, etc.) and many more innovative tools to come. To discuss all of these tools or even most of them is beyond the scope of this chapter. Hence a focus will be given to two easily and widely used tools

254 Mª Sagrario Salaberri Ramiro et al. (email and Facebook) and to two internet resources vital for continuing professional development of teachers and for learners.

4.1

What ICT brings to the classroom

Both Wheeler (2000) and Tedla (2012: 201) agree that ICT brings about several pedagogical, cognitive and affective benefits to the learners and the teachers: - sharing resources - sharing learning environments and promoting conducive learning atmosphere among teachers and students - promoting collaborative learning - enhancing autonomous learning through encouraging student-centre learning - developing learners’ cognitive skills in their daily lives for it helps students to engage in problem solving, decision making reasoning. - increasing learners’ motivation and interest (Boulton et al, 2008) - offering genuine supportive communication opportunities that meet the digital learning styles of 21st Century learners which would lead to improving their language proficiency - providing teachers with an efficient self-learning way to Continuing Professional Development (CPD) which will be reflected positively on their teaching competence. Warschauer et al. (2000: 7) add five main reasons for using ICT, especially the Internet, in teaching and learning English. Taken together, these reasons help bring English teaching ALIVE: - Authenticity: The Internet allows opportunities for authentic communications among teachers and learners and provide spoken and written materials for learning English that can be used at anytime convenient to both teachers and learners. - Literacy: The Internet allows learners to develop their ability to read, write, and communicate which represents important new forms of literacy needed in the 21st century. - Interaction: Almost all Internet tools incorporate some kind of interactive communication necessary for acquiring a language and gaining fluency. - Vitality: Replacing traditional teaching methods focussing on rules, memorisation and teaching about the language systems, the "Internet can inject an element of vitality into teaching and motivate students as they communicate in a medium that is flexible, multimodal, constantly changing, and connected to their real life needs." - Empowerment: one of the most powerful benefits of mastery of the Internet is the continuing professional development of both teachers and learners. It allows them to become autonomous life-long learners who

Teaching and learning how to plan lessons for EFL classrooms 255 can find what they need when they need it and collaborate with others to help construct new knowledge. This implies that ICT is important for fast, low-cost and easy learning to process, store, retrieve and exchange information: texts, pictures, videos, audio material, etc. (Tedla, 2012).

4.2

Challenges and suggestions

Erben et al. (2009: 81-83) mention different types of challenges that teachers should be aware of when using ICT resources. They can briefly be outlined as follows: 1. Unanticipated technical difficulties such as a burnt- out bulb on LCD connected to computer, computer screen freezing and broken or slow links on websites. 2. Administration – related problems such as security blocks restricting teachers and students access to questionable sites from school computers. 3. Classroom control – related difficulties: as learners are accustomed to a traditional class where the teacher is the center of teaching, they may feel lost in a poorly designed technology-enhanced classroom. To overcome these challenges which might raise a teacher’s level of frustration, Erben et al. (2009: 82) recommend that teachers “don’t throw the technology out with the bath water” and offer several suggestions to reduce such avoidable frustrations: - In-advanced planning & and constant checking of the technology (hardware and software) first before a teacher walks into his/her classroom to teach. - a pedagogically sound teaching plan when carrying out online activities. - Preparing back-up plans - Providing students with time to tinker with new tool before they are expected to carry out an activity using them - Introducing students to netiquette and rules of interaction: explanations & modeling.

4.3

Commonly used ICTs

4.3.1 Email Email is considered "the mother of all Internet applications. . . [and] remains the most popular net-based activity" (Warschauer et al., 2000: 3) because it can be used easily by teachers and learners and can also save class time when teachers send assignments and announcements electronically to the group (Belisle, 1996) Through attaching files or links, email can be used to exchange a variety of learning and teaching materials, including:

256 Mª Sagrario Salaberri Ramiro et al. -

A written text (e.g. model sentences, short story, factual passage, dialogue) to read and comment on or to answer questions based on the text - A picture or a series of related pictures to comment on, describe, compare or write a story about - A video to watch, comment on or answer questions on - A game to practice learning vocabulary, communicative functions, skimming or scanning - Course outline/syllabus, old exams, announcements and assignments for more practice - A crossroad to practice vocabulary - A song or rhyme to practice pronunciation, stress and intonation - A useful link related to a particular lesson or unit taught or to be discussed. Wang (2010: 130) proposes three email application ways: teacher-teacher interaction, teacher-student interaction and student-student interaction. The first way will be presented separately later and the other two will be covered through the proposed activities below. It should be emphasized that teachers should feel free to adapt these proposed activities in a way that suits their learners’ level. - Email can be used to keep students "informed on a wide range of issues such as: films or documentary programme on TV, or relevant news items in a newspaper or on a news website. (Smith and Baber, 2005: 17). - To practice writing sentences or short paragraph, the teacher may e-mail learners a picture of a man, woman, bird, animal, car, tree, house, machine, etc. and ask them to write 3-5 sentences describing the picture. It is useful to attach a model paragraph or model sentences so that students observe and imitate these models and then they are asked to create a similar paragraph; using the strategy of observe, imitate and create. - To practice forming and answering questions (Wh-questions, yes- no questions) related to learners interests, the teacher may ask learners to work in pairs and exchange e-mail messages using the communicative functions of requesting and giving factual information about each other such as: ƒ Personal information: date of birth, address, home telephone number. ƒ Family: number of brothers and sisters, father’s and mother’s work. ƒ 3 interests (hubbies), hopes and wishes. ƒ Further information. - To practice oral argument, the teacher may send learners a controversial topic and some related points (pros and cons) in advance to let them prepare for oral discussion and debate or to give a presentation in class.

Teaching and learning how to plan lessons for EFL classrooms 257 -

To promote learners’ cultural awareness, the teacher may email learners a picture, a video to watch or a text to read about greeting habits, dressing, eating, happy and sad social occasions, etc. - To practice several skills for relatively advanced level students, the teacher may divide the class into 2 teams: one team sends an email to apply to join a reading/ sport club while the other team discusses and responds by email accepting, rejecting or requesting further information. Similarly, one team/partner could be asked to email a complaint, apology, congratulation, invitation email and another team/ partner writes responses to such email. - To give learners feedback on their practice assignments (sentences / answers / paragraphs / reports) submitted as an attachment by email, teachers may show some good and weak model assignments (without names of students) on LCD. - To develop learners’ communication skills, teachers and learners may join discussion groups to discuss topics of common interest. Smith and Baber (2005: 18) propose to start with YahooGroup joining which is easy to join and has many several English teaching groups. To self-develop their professional skills, teachers can subscribe to some email discussion lists through which they can exchanges information, teaching experiences with their counterparts from other countries and regions all over the world 1 .

4.3.2 Facebook As many of today’s learners spend most of their free time on-line, especially on social media including Facebook, it is wise to invest their interest in the Internet to encourage them to practice using English authentically. Before discussing how Facebook can be used to perform several activities, it should be emphasized that teachers should create a Facebook group and ask students to join the group. It is proposed to establish a "closed" group in the beginning and set rules (group ethics), so everyone knows what and how to interact with others. The “closed” group should be open to all members of the group and should not be open to the public to avoid any unnecessary communication or irrelevant material. Creating a small community will ensure using the several useful tools/features Facebook offers: Post, Add Photo / Video, Add File, Create 1 Here are some famous lists mentioned by Wang (2010: 130): TESL-L Discussion List (Teachers of English as Second Language Discussion List, the website is http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/~tesl-l/ English Forum http://www.Englishforums.com/ The English Learner / Diversity Listserv http://www.aea11.k12.ia.us/site/listserv/index.html English Teaching forum Online: http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/

258 Mª Sagrario Salaberri Ramiro et al. Event, Messages, Ask Question and Add Link. These tools allow instant posting of videos, photos, files, links, messages and comments in a friendly atmosphere. They also offer opportunities to use authentic language in an interesting and motivating way. Depending on the teacher’s creativity and teaching-learning context, some tools can be used more than others to conduct several activities that promote one or more of the four language skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) and the other language sub-skills/components: pronunciation, vocabulary, spelling, grammar and communicative functions (requesting, thanking, inviting, announcing, etc.). Here is an outline of such potential activities that are based on using some Facebook tools to develop learners’ varied language skills: - Post: a specific topic for the learners to write on. Depending on learners’ linguistic level, the teacher could ask learners to write a group of sentences, a paragraph an essay or any other piece of writing. Then he may choose the best three pieces of writing for voting. This competition will motivate learners to their best to write well. - Post announcements and reminders about upcoming events, exams, assignments or any classroom news. - Add video(s) to assist learners to better understand a written or a spoken lesson in their textbook. The video(s) should directly be related to the theme of a unit/ lesson that discusses a topic such as water cycle, manufacturing cars, symptoms of a disease or making olive oil. In fact, this tool is an extension to the classroom but in another setting offering much ease and comfort to learners. - Add link(s) requesting learners to read more about a unit/lesson topic (a scientific, sport or political figure; or about a story, song, poem, play or novel). - Add Files. A teacher may upload important files: class syllabus, supplemental reading or listening material, assignments, previous exams, exam results, or model paragraphs/essays/ reports. - Make quizzes to test students’ knowledge and see how they score and progress. - Add audio material focusing on developing pronunciation through allowing students to listen to native speakers and produce accurate pronunciation with emphasis on different sounds, stress and intonation. - Post useful links for learners to get additional language practice, i.e. games, crosswords, grammar and vocabulary quizzes that add enrichment to the class. - Post an entertaining written or spoken joke, story, rhyme, proverb, poem, song, riddle or puzzle periodically, e.g. every week or so. The teacher could ask learners to write a comment expressing their feeling and opinion on what they read or listened to.

Teaching and learning how to plan lessons for EFL classrooms 259 Post different videos, stories or songs on the same topic and ask students to vote for the best one and write brief justification/ argument for their choice. To share ideas, strategies and experiences about teaching English with a global audience, teachers can subscribe to a Facebook Page called TeachingEnglish 2 , established by the British Council. It also provides articles, videos, quizzes, etc. It is worth mentioning that the TeachingEnglish Page’s sister site is the LearnEnglish Kids Facebook Page 3 which is dedicated for teachers and parents of children who are learning English as a second or foreign language. -

4.3.3 Further Internet resources The internet has numerous reliable resources for both teachers and students such as online journals, online specialized dictionaries, websites for English language learners, websites for English language teachers, professional organizations, ELT publishers, mailing & discussion lists and others. For lack of space, only the first two ones will be discussed here. These two resources can be used to achieve 4 major objectives related to self-development and continuing professional development on the part of learners and teachers: 1. to enhance learners’ English language proficiency 2. to enhance learners’ English language learning competence 3. to enhance pre-service and in-service teachers’ language proficiency 4. to enhance pre-service and in-service teachers’ teaching competence Some of these further internet resources can be summarized as follows: - Online journals To teach English competently, teachers need to keep updating their teaching competence through constant reading of many varied full text articles available on free online journals. These journals have many articles related to using modern technologies in teaching English language skills. These journals familiarize teachers with theoretical knowledge, principles, advantages disadvantages and varied international experiences and ways of using modern technologies including, facebook, email, blogs, wikis, twitter, podcasts, and podcasts 4 . 2

https://www.facebook.com/TeachingEnglish.BritishCouncil https://www.facebook.com/LearnEnglishKids.BritishCouncil 4 Here is a list of some of these journals: CALL-EJ: http://callej.org/ The Journal of Teaching English with Technology (TEwT): http://www.tewtjournal.org/ Language Learning & Technology Journal: http://llt.msu.edu/index.html TESL-EJ: http://www.cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp/information/tesl-ej/index.html The Internet TESL Journal: http://iteslj.org/ More free online journals, newsletters and magazines can be found on ELT – JOURNALS: http://simonmgill.tripod.com/ELTJ.html 3

260 Mª Sagrario Salaberri Ramiro et al. - Online dictionaries Both teachers and learners can benefit from using free online specialized dictionaries out of the many dictionaries offered on the internet. After familiarizing themselves with the features of these dictionaries and how to use them, they can use them to in different ways. Below are samples of such dictionaries with brief illustration of how teachers and learners can use them: A) Free online pronunciation dictionaries Pronunciation is best learned through listening to words more than once as it happens naturally in first language acquisition. This way of learning and improving pronunciation can be achieved through audio pronunciation offered by free online pronunciation dictionaries. After familiarising themselves with the features of pronunciation dictionaries, teachers may use them when they are in doubt about the pronunciation of some unknown or confusing words as well as direct their students to check and practise - the pronunciation of confusing and troublesome words (in relation to English system itself and to the learners’ native language) including - Single words: tortoise, hurricane, phenomenon, entrepreneurship, - Vowel Minimal Pairs: pin; pen - sit; set - will; well - Consonant Minimal Pairs: choose; shoes – chop; shop – chair; share – cheap; sheep. - word stress - the differences between British and American pronunciation In this context, many Arabic teachers find difficulty in teaching the correct pronunciation of minimal pair words such as six and sex, liver and lever, pin and ten due to absence of such difference in Arabic. In several pre-services and pre-service training courses, the writer demonstrated how free online pronunciation dictionaries can be used to clarify difficult words or confusing words to pronounce and he received full approval of both types of teachers. With having access to such dictionaries, teachers have no excuse to mispronounce words in class or teach the pronunciation of some words incorrectly, especially those ones which are included in the learners’ textbooks. They become more competent at pronunciation and teaching it. What makes these dictionaries more useful is the fact that most of these dictionaries offer downloadable pronunciation of words which allows teachers to save them and use them offline in class 5 . 5

Here are some of these pronunciation dictionaries: http://www.howjsay.com http://www.macmillandictionary.com/british-and-american-pronunciation.html http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pronunciation http://dictionary.reference.com/ http://dictionary.reference.com/ - https://www.vocabulary.com/ www.ivona.com can be used for reading short texts aloud

Teaching and learning how to plan lessons for EFL classrooms 261 B) Synonyms, antonyms and definition dictionaries Again, free online synonyms, antonyms and definitions dictionaries are rich resources that can be useful for both teachers and students. Teachers can use these dictionaries to teach not only the meaning of unfamiliar words but also their usage in appropriate contexts as most of these dictionaries present these words in meaningful sentences. Using this technique for teaching new vocabulary, learning English in English, would help learners keep the meaning in their long term memory and enable them to sues them in contexts 6 . Additionally, advanced learners can use synonyms to improve their writing, for instance instead of using the same word such as advantage and picture several times in a short text, they can use words like benefit and photo. C) Visual dictionaries Picture dictionaries are useful for young learners. They are also an invaluable aid to words for beginners learning English 7 . D) Rhyme dictionaries The different free online rhyme dictionaries offer several types of rhymes: end rhymes, last syllable rhymes, double rhymes, triple rhymes beginning rhymes, and first syllable rhymes. These types have several pedagogical benefits: - Rhymes help children remember words more easily, for long period and in connection with other similar word. - Young children think playing with words that rhyme is fun, so they stay engaged for learning longer, i.e. their attention span become longer. - Rhyme helps them learn about language system. - Rhyme dictionaries are useful tool that can be used to develop language games and thus create fun in class. They help children remember words more easily 8 . Children think playing with words that rhyme is fun, so they stay engaged in learning longer. Rhyme helps learners learn about

6

Here are some of these free online synonyms, antonyms and definitions dictionaries: http://thesaurus.com/ http://www.synonym.com/ http://dictionary.reverso.net/ http://www.synonym.com 7 Here are some visual dictionaries: http://www.pdictionary.com/ http://visual.merriam-webster.com/index.php http://www.infovisual.info 8 Here are some of these rhyme dictionaries: http://www.rhymezone.com/ http://www.alcor.com.au/english_rhyming_dictionary.asp http://www.rhymer.com/ http://www.writeexpress.com/online2.html

262 Mª Sagrario Salaberri Ramiro et al. language and develop aesthetic sense as rhymes are useful for completing poem and songs.

5 Conclusions The present chapter has provided an insight on the teaching method concept for EFL teachers, focusing on the development and implementation of the lesson planning process in the classroom. Special attention has been given to the reasons for planning lessons as well as its implementation process in the classroom. A new perspective offer to be used in Primary and Secondary EFL teaching has been tried to be offered in order to give answer to some of the main questions arising among the EFL teaching community. Following the most recent approaches in the field, a series of activities and teaching techniques have been suggested for EFL to put into practices in their lessons regarding the use of materials related to the most updated technological media such as internet-based resources. The use of the e-mail, social networking such as Facebook and further online resources has been explained as a way to support teachers instruction in the EFL classroom. The suggestions in this chapter are not meant to be prescriptive. Contrarily, the intention is to provide some tips that facilitate EFL teachers’ work and that can be reinforced by further contributions so that a major methodological plan that meets the needs of the increasing number of EFL learners can be established.

6 References Adams, A., and S. Brindley (2007) Teaching Secondary English with ICT, London: Open University Press. Belisle, R. (1996) E-mail Activities in the ESL Writing Class, The Internet TESL Journal II, 12. [Online accessed on 15th April 2013: http://iteslj.org/.] Boulton, A., A. Chateau, M. Pereiro, and R. Azzam-Hannachi (2008) Learning to Learn Languages with ICT - But How?, CALL-EJ Online 9, 2. Boyd, S. (2003) Are you ready for social software? [Online accessed on 15th April2013:http://www.stoweboyd.com/message/2006/10/are_you_rea dy_f.html]. Brown, H. (1994) Principles of language learning and teaching. 3rd ed., Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents. Brown, H. (2002) English Language Teaching in the “Post-Method” Era: Toward Better Diagnosis, Treatment, and Assessment. In Richards, J., and W. Renandya (eds) Methdology in Language Teaching: An

Teaching and learning how to plan lessons for EFL classrooms 263 Anthology in Current Practice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 9-18. Crawford, J. (2002) The Role of Materials in the Language Classroom: Finding the Balance. In Richards, J., and W. Renandya (eds) (2002) Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology in Current Practice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 80-91. Eastment, D. (1999) The Internet and ELT, Oxford: The British Council. Erben, T., R. Ban, and M. Castaneda (2009) Teaching English Language Learners through Technology, Routledge: New York. Farrell, T. (2002) Lesson Planning. In Richards, J., and W. Renandya (eds) Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology in Current Practice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 30-39. Harmer, J. (1991) The practice of English language teaching, Harlow, UK: Longman. Hunter, M., and D. Russell (1977) How can I plan more effective lessons?, Instructor 87: 74–75. McCutcheon, G. (1980) How do elementary school teachers plan? The nature of planning and influences on it, Elementary School Journal 81 (1): 4 - 23. Richards, J., and W. Renandya (eds) (2002) Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology in Current Practice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Richards, J. C. (1998) What’s the use of lesson plans?. In Richards, J. C. (ed) Beyond training, New York: Cambridge University Press: 103-121. Salaberri, S., and M. Sánchez (2012) CLIL Lesson Planning. In Martínez, J. D. (ed) Teaching and Learning English through Bilingual Education, Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing: 89-110. Salehi, H., and Z. Salehi (2012) Challenges for Using ICT in Education: Teachers’ Insights, International Journal of e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and e-Learning 2 (1): 40-43. Shrum J., and E. Glisan (1994) Teacher’s Handbook: Contextualized Language Instruction, Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle. Smith, G., and E. Baber (2005) Teaching English with Information Technology: How to use the Internet and IT when Teaching – for the professional English language teacher, London: Modern English Publishing. Tedla, B. (2012) Understanding the Importance, Impacts and Barriers of ICT on Teaching and Learning in East African Countries, International Journal for e-Learning Security (IJeLS) 2 (3-4): 199-207. Walker R., G. Davies, and S. Hewer (2012) Introduction to the Internet. Module 1.5. In Davies, G. (ed) Information and Communications Technology for Language Teachers (ICT4LT), Slough: Thames Valley

264 Mª Sagrario Salaberri Ramiro et al. University Online accessed on 20th April 2013: http://www.ict4lt.org/en/en_mod1-5.htm] Wang, G. (2010) The Application of E-mail to College English Teaching in China, English Language Teaching 3 (2): 129 -134. Warschauer, M. et al. (2000) Internet for English Teaching, Alexandria, VA: TESOL Publications. Wheeler, S. (2000) The Role of the Teacher in the Use of ICT. Keynote Speech delivered to the National Czech Teachers Conference University of Western Bohemia, Czech Republic.

7 Recommended reading Richards, J., and W. Renandya (eds) (2002) Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology in Current Practice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. This book provides an overview of current approaches, issues, and practices in the teaching of English to speakers of other languages. The anthology offers a comprehensive overview to the teaching of English and illustrates the complexity underlying many of the practical planning and instructional activities it involves. Adams, A., and S. Brindley (2007) Teaching Secondary English with ICT. London: Open University Press. This book helps teachers who are unfamiliar with the latest classroom technologies, with equal emphases on theory and practice, to develop their own lesson plans employing the digital tools available to them. It is filled with case studies illustrating the ideas and strategies discussed and explores all major areas of the English curriculum. Brown, H. (1994a) Principles of language learning and teaching. 3rd ed., Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents. This book provides a comprehensive, up-to-date analysis of theories, research and practice in foreign and second language learning. It includes completely new end-of-chapter vignettes on classroom applications as well as features expanded sections that focus on recent advances in second language acquisition research. Salaberri, S., and M. Sánchez (2012) CLIL Lesson Planning. In Martínez, J. D. (ed) Teaching and Learning English through Bilingual

Teaching and learning how to plan lessons for EFL classrooms 265 Education, Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing: 89110. This chapter offers a whole educational approach to be used in Primary and Secondary education and intends to give answer to some of the main questions arising in current bilingual classrooms. It put at teachers’ disposal a wide variety of tried and tested planning tools for lessons, as well as some basic requirements for content and language integrated learning in different educational stages. Although it is mainly focused on bilingual teaching, some of the suggestions provided are perfectly applicable for EFL teachers.

8 Questions for reflection and discussion -

What are the main advantages of lesson planning for EFL teachers? Can you add further steps in the lesson planning procedure offered in this chapter? In this paper, a series of technological resources to be used in primary and secondary EFL classrooms have been provided. Can you provide further useful resources? What are the main advantages of using internet-based resources to support the instruction of EFL teachers for the successful language learning of students?

Textbook use training in EFL teacher education Mª del Pilar Montijano Cabrera (University of Málaga, Spain) As a result of globalization diversification has become a trend in policy guidelines, including education. Language curricula worldwide avoid too much prescription and many EFL teachers enjoy the freedom to choose relevant materials for their classes and to decide how best to use the textbook. Whereas the role played by textbooks in EFL learning is undeniable (they represent an effective source of examples, ideas, and activities for learners’ accumulation of practice, they create scaffolding upon which teachers can build new communicative situations, they are assumed to promote meaningful learning experiences by naturally stimulating interactions for communicative language use, and, among other things, they are also useful for selfdirected learning), it is impossible to ignore the fact that because of the movement to make learners the centre of language instruction (“learner-centred approach”), it is becoming more appropriate to regard textbooks as practical tools in achieving the aims previously set according to learners’ needs. It is therefore vital to make preservice EFL teachers aware of the importance of being able to look at the textbook critically, making the most of it without necessarily taking whole lessons from it, while constantly maintaining a certain degree of independence from it.

1 Introduction When being about to delve into the universe of EFL textbooks, their role, significance and reputation, it seems essential to start by making explicit reference to a fact that cannot go unnoticed: the importance of this business (Edge, 1993). These days, the considerable sums of money involved in the publishing of foreign language (FL) textbooks and coursebooks, together with the huge range of supplementary materials —particularly those relating to ELT— is simply impressive. This fact should be interpreted as a token of the high level of quality generally achieved: - in the first instance, as the natural result of the massive effort made in producing these materials that mirror the great advances made in the study of language and its acquisition, and how it can be maximized; and - because the healthy competitiveness among the different publishing companies is unquestionably an asset which spurs the development and rapid growth of this field. Remember: Huge efforts and a significant amount of time and money are invested in putting high-quality products at the disposal of teachers that may use

268 Mª del Pilar Montijano Cabrera them as useful tools to enhance performance-oriented EFL teaching which leads to actual language learning.

2 Why should textbook use training be included in a teacher education programme? Many views, even apparently opposing ideas, can be said about textbooks, relating to whether they really support teachers or the extent to which they do so (O’Neil, 1982; Grant, 1987; Cunningsworth, 1995; Ellis, 1997; McGrath, 2006; Tomlinson, 2008; Banegas, 2011, among others). Most of these beliefs will be justified, at least in part. But what cannot be doubted or denied regarding textbooks and what they mean in foreign language teaching (FLT) is that they bring about a colossal source of practical ideas on how to sequence the different linguistic constituents to teach, and that the expertise of the professionals who invest their expertise, time, effort and goodwill in producing such tools aimed to be helpful when teaching non-native languages is simply impressive. Publishing FLT materials is challenging. There are many who voice their concern that textbooks are not perfect. However, would it realistically be feasible to satisfy everyone’s needs? Can the “one size fits all” principle apply here? After all, no two teachers are the same or work under the same conditions. Constraints of very different natures also vary considerably in different parts of the world and the manifold teaching styles simply verify the existence of a wealth of differing priorities which consequently lead to different approaches when teaching. These, along with many other considerations, all point to the relevance of continuing to produce standard textbook materials which, despite being designed with no actual student in mind, can still prove to be useful in offering teachers a sound reference map that can be exploited in a wide range of ways, from faithful adoption to free adaptation, depending on the teacher’s criteria, which can be diverse. In some learning contexts the use of textbooks is virtually taken for granted. In others, however, they are never or hardly ever used because the teacher prefers to develop his/her own personallydesigned materials, resorting only occasionally perhaps to a coursebook, but without following it consistently and systematically. Remember: Given the obvious fact that the teacher’s aim is to teach students, not materials, teaching practitioners are expected to become skillful in discerning how and when to use which materials to support teaching and learning.

Textbook use training in EFL teacher education 269

3 How necessary is a textbook in an EFL learning context? Who does not immediately associate a FL class with memories of being in a situation which, as a minimum, had a teacher and a textbook of some kind? Actually, anything learnt in this kind of context is the outcome of the interaction between learners, teachers and the materials used. Differences in perceptions regarding the conditions for true learning, however, have opened a debate on the need of a textbook and on the dynamics of its use. There are, there have been, and probably there always will be teaching practitioners who argue ferociously against the systematic use of textbooks in EFL classes, maybe on the assumption that the richness of the experiences which occur in class may somehow become diminished if teachers are too tied to it. Notwithstanding this, textbooks survive, and what is more, they evolve to incorporate manifold insights gained through research, which proves that despite the criticism of the cynics, they still provide helpful scaffolding in classes. Often to be heard also are the voices that claim the essential role played by textbooks in foreign language learning. Adjectives such as necessary, useful, beneficial or even vital describe how those who are in favour of counting on textbooks as important teaching tools value what coursebooks provide to the teaching-learning environment. Because all decisions made by teachers impact significantly on the quality of their professional practice and consequently on their students’ eventual achievement, before coming down on one side of the textbook fence or the other —following no other rationale apart from one’s personal intuition— it is of extreme importance to become acquainted with the whole array of advantages that the use of textbooks has objectively proven to offer, and also with the constraints, limitations and disadvantages that may occur if teachers use textbooks in one way or another. Only after having analyzed properly both the pros and cons will teachers become able to make a well-informed decision on the suitability of employing a textbook in their particular situation, and if so, how and to what extent.

3.1

Reasons in favour of using textbooks

Multiple causes and explanations can justify and support relying systematically on textbooks in EFL teaching. Among them, the following ones seem of particular importance: 1. Framework: A textbook is, above all, a “structuring tool” which offers an essential sense of organization. Textbooks also serve as useful maps of the terrain that provide orientation (where we are, what is coming next) allowing both teachers and learners to see where a lesson fits into the wider context of the language programme.

270 Mª del Pilar Montijano Cabrera 2. Balance: Good textbooks offer a carefully planned and welladjusted selection of language content together with a sensible progression of linguistic items to be covered that can be followed systematically. 3. A time-saving and effort-saving tool: Teaching is a timeconsuming endeavor consisting of multiple tasks prior, during and after teaching the class, so many teachers often lack the time to prepare all the sequence of materials that would be needed for the smooth implementation of every class. Textbooks lessen and relieve the teacher’s working load by presenting texts and learning tasks in ways likely to be suitable for the majority of students because they have been previously piloted and tested and are ready for use. 4. Guidance and support for teachers: For inexperienced teachers, and for those who lack confidence, creativity, resourcefulness and/or imagination, a coursebook is a basic toolkit with valuable direction and assistance on how to proceed in class. It gives clear explanations on the “whats”, “hows” and “whens” of teaching. 5. Learners’ enhancement: Learners can use the textbook in an autonomous way to revise or to reinforce the learning that has taken place in class, without becoming teacher-dependent. 6. Reliability: Because of the accuracy in form, correctness of content and appropriateness of sequence, textbooks bring consistency and reliability to the process of language learning. 7. Suitability of package: A textbook is a self-contained, bound, orderly-sequenced, easy-to-carry set. 8. Cost-effectiveness: There seems to be no other cheaper alternative that can provide every learner with the amount of high-quality learning material that textbooks provide. 9. User-friendliness: Because of the priority given nowadays to meaningfulness as a key factor to promote language learning, both the illustrations accompanying texts and the sequence of tasks and activities have been carefully thought through and are provided in a clear, reader-friendly layout. The use of textbooks is basically uncomplicated. 10. Attractiveness: Textbooks attract the learners’ attention because of the way in which the different topics, pictures, photographs and charts are arranged on the pages.

3.2

Reasons against the use of textbooks

Those who are not in favour of the systematic use of textbooks in FL classes base their views on a series of arguments among which we can highlight the following ones:

Textbook use training in EFL teacher education 271 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Impossibility to satisfy all: Each group of students is potentially different and all textbooks are written with only a “general” learner profile in mind. Every learner, however, has their own learning needs and motivation, style and previous learning experiences which may not conform to the general pattern. No textbook can provide insight into any students’ specific needs —and students do indeed need to be treated as the individuals that they are. Irrelevance: Learners have different interests so not all the topics covered in textbooks may lead equally to attentiveness or curiosity. If what is offered by the textbook is not close to what motivates learners, the lesson may be considered to be irrelevant. The perception of irrelevance is a source of demotivation and lack of interest. Over-homogeneity: Generally speaking, textbooks tend to adopt a single learning/teaching style which more often than not only matches the cognitive preference of one kind of learner. This does not leave much room for maneuver for the teacher when trying to cater for the multiplicity of learning styles and levels of ability of any class (Gardner 1983, 1991a, 1991b, 1999). The similarity of format, something which in principle helps to make the book easier to handle, can also lead to a rigid routine which, in turn, may make classes appear monotonous and become increasingly demotivating and/or boring for learners. Restrictions on teacher’s performance: The set structure of textbooks may hinder teachers’ creativity and imagination or impede certain decisions regarding classroom delivery which can undermine the teacher’s autonomy. The concern continues to be expressed that when textbooks rule, they tend to take from the teachers their ability to respond to the students’ needs and personalize teaching. Contrived language: The gap between the kind of language presented in textbook situations at times (which may appear artificial and contrived with little resemblance to “the real world”) and that of ordinary users outside of class may be difficult to bridge, so the teaching that learners are given may not be of much practical use. If textbooks fail to present appropriate, realistic language models, they are not effective in preparing students for authentic communication. Cultural differences: Students of different nationalities may show different attitudes (or even be strongly biased) to the cultural issues presented in textbooks. If not dealt with, prejudices could emerge. Fostering adequate cultural understanding should be a must in today’s world. However, many textbooks do not seem to properly account for it.

272 Mª del Pilar Montijano Cabrera 7. Contextualization: Communication is by nature a social event that does not take place in a vacuum. If learners are to learn how to make themselves understood and how to understand others, it is vital that the language exchange in which they take part resembles the way it happens in reality and becomes meaningful for them. Often, language activities in textbooks do not appear contextualized enough and thus the practice loses part of its learning potential by becoming reduced to a somewhat mechanical kind of exercise focused more on language forms than on their real use. 8. Failure to address discourse competence: Many textbooks fail to provide enough attention to discourse phenomena and the way in which words, phrases and sentences are put together to create conversations, written texts, speeches etc. Learners need practice not only in producing language randomly, but also in how to achieve cohesion. 9. Failure to address strategic competence: Textbooks should avoid teacher-dependent student learning habits by promoting continuous autonomous learning, offering multiple opportunities for students to continue to use the language they encounter in class independently outside of class. However, coursebooks unfortunately do not extensively promote the development of skills and strategies which the learners can easily transfer to other contexts and situations beyond the class limits. 10. Failure to promote learner engagement: For language achievement, learners’ active involvement and commitment are absolutely essential. Attaining proficiency in any language entails far more than knowing about the language. Language acquisition is seen nowadays as a personal process that depends more than anything else on what every individual does, on their personal cognitive and affective implication. Language practice and use is what will determine the eventual degree of success reached. Textbooks can play an essential role in turning unmotivated learners into happy individuals ready to invest actively in their own learning. However, many coursebooks fail to encourage learners’ active decision-making and proactivity and just seem content with students’ unengaged reactive responses. After this overview of the most outstanding reasons both in favour and against the use of textbooks, some teachers may feel compelled to rethink the usefulness of or need for the systematic use of textbooks. With all the arguments provided, some professionals might change or at least modify their opinion by figuring out a new way to approach teaching materials.

Textbook use training in EFL teacher education 273 Remember: The answer to the question of how necessary an EFL textbook is is not universal but dependent upon every teacher’s assessment of the variables that determine their actual context. It is up to each individual teacher to weigh up the balance between the scaffolding that a textbook might provide to each class and the inevitable consequential reduction in personalization. When making a decision and establishing an informed judgment regarding whether to use a textbook systematically or not, every teacher should be able to analyze: (1) how important the textbook in question is going to be in their particular FL teaching context, (2) why, (3) what use it is to serve and (4) what they can do to compensate for the potential shortcomings detected.

4 What do we mean by ‘learning to use a textbook’? Delivering materials uncritically might be regarded as one of the easiest, most mechanical tasks in which pre-service FL teachers could be trained, if and only if, the only purpose were to follow closely what the book says — something which should not be the case. All textbooks come with a Teacher’s Guide offering a step by step description of how the different activities have been designed and how they should be implemented, so teachers can feel comforted that they will not go through an ordeal when giving their lessons. Those teachers who lack professional confidence or experience or who consider that they do not have enough imagination, inventiveness or creativity, for example, are the ones that are most likely to believe that exclusive and extensive use of the textbook will enhance the quality of their teaching, hoping that it will make up for their own absence or shortage of expertise and skill. These professionals tend to over-use their textbooks, to rely too much on them, unable to discern and select what may be most useful for their students or to discard parts which appear inappropriate (Harmer, 1991). For these professionals, the risk of reducing their role to mere mediators of content or just implementers of others’ ideas is high. Unsurprisingly, if this happened, it would result in a very impoverished and distorted performance that would disregard all that the teacher means to the FL acquisition process, where his/her contribution can be said to be not only unique but also irreplaceable. In this kind of performance the textbook becomes the carrier of decisions best made by someone else (not the teacher) on the belief of the differences in expertise (Allwright, 1981). Teachers should avoid making a blind, non judicious, use of what the textbook offers. Indeed, fighting the totalitarianism of textbooks is critical if a teacher really is to provide his/her learners with the optimal conditions for

274 Mª del Pilar Montijano Cabrera learning. Being selective is a duty for responsible, ethical teachers: “A coursebook should be related to critically; we should be aware of its good and bad points in order to make the most of the first and compensate for or neutralize the second” (Ur, 1996: 187). So teachers should not feel that they are a slave to textbooks, and these should not dominate the teaching. The lessons included in textbooks can mean a rich source of ideas, content and learning experiences that can be satisfactorily covered but the teacher should always feel free to adapt what seems appropriate and to introduce as many changes as necessary. Classes must be personalized if they are to trigger true learning. After analyzing students’ learning variables, teachers should make decisions regarding what to vary (principles, techniques) and whether to add some materials or to omit others which do not seem to have a significant learning pay-off. Teachers should also think of ways to bring relevance and authenticity to their classes. They can ensure greater doses of enthusiasm and involvement from their students by humanizing lessons and by paying more attention to the affective domain as well (Arnold, 1999). Materials exist in order to support teachers in teaching, so it is the materials which should suit the teachers, learners and their specific circumstances and not vice versa. Following the argument that teachers should not try to fit both themselves and their students into the demands imposed by textbooks, we claim that teachers should always pour their creativity, imagination, resourcefulness and energy into producing an improved version of what the textbook offers. All in all, it is essential that trainee teachers develop their evaluative skills regarding the suitability of textbooks as an integral part of their whole process of professional education. This is what should be meant by “learning to use a textbook”, which should be interpreted in terms of “learning to learn how to best use a textbook”. This applies to every context, whatever the circumstances or constraints. The key for EFL teachers when learning to use textbooks adequately is to develop critical-evaluation skills. No textbook should be regarded as the master of any class. The teacher’s criteria and his/her decisions are the ones that should rule the class and should always prevail, and not the ones dictated by the textbook. Teachers are responsible for choosing competently why and how certain parts of textbooks are useful in bringing about meaningful learning. When reflecting upon effective procedures for prospective FL teachers to learn how to best use textbooks, the focus should be on (1) making them aware of the need to escape from the dictatorship of textbooks as well as (2) promoting their skillfulness in approaching textbooks critically and thus making wise, well-informed decisions concerning how textbooks should be more appropriately exploited in their actual circumstances.

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4.1

Making teachers aware of the role textbooks play

Even when bearing in mind that no textbook is perfect, that they have limitations because they are designed with no actual student in mind so as to cover a wide population, pedagogically speaking the potential of textbooks in providing an invaluable platform to learning is undeniable. That is why textbooks cannot be fully disposed of, as they are still widely recognized as a beneficial aid, a useful tool that, despite constraints or shortcomings, can help enhance the teacher’s performance if used properly and discerningly. The textbooks are not as effective by themselves as they can become in the hands of properly trained, effective teachers.

4.2

Making the most of a textbook

What teacher has never suffered from the effects of being compelled to use a textbook which was uninteresting, with content which was far removed from our students’ real likes, which appeared badly sequenced, which took for granted a previous kind of learning experience that our students may lack, which showed blurring of cultural stereotypes, which apparently ignored some of the most remarkable findings of second language acquisition research or which severely lacked activities aimed at involving students affectively? These, and manifold other reasons alike, may lead to teachers’ frustration or disappointment believing that they are doomed to an ineffective sort of teaching practice, because the scaffolding that the textbook was expected to provide to our lessons is missing, is not logical or simply does not match our requirements. Despite the initial dissatisfaction, that situation must not be considered critical because there is always a way out. The battle could be half-won for a start if teachers bear in mind that there is no need to be confined to the constraints imposed by the textbook. As teachers we need to decide how best to use the textbook by considering: - when to do things in a different way/order from the one suggested in the textbook; - whether tasks should be split into several stages to facilitate the learners’ performance: - whether to create and use a supplementary hand-out; or - whether to resort to authentic materials. The message is that even when the materials seem very far removed from our students’ current circumstances, needs, motivations or goals, teachers can still alter and adapt the textbook in order to enhance our students’ classroom learning experience. In general, by making classes more personal and meaningful teachers can do a great deal to improve the learners’ experience. It is from this point of view that making the most of our textbooks (Grant,

276 Mª del Pilar Montijano Cabrera 1987) becomes essential, as it becomes one of the most useful strategies for teachers’ development. Deciding to make the most of our textbook is an empowering approach for teachers who aim to teach in a flexible and resourceful way so as to provide learners with what they really need —after all they are the ones that really matter. It entails being ready to adapt, simplify things, replace, omit or add to the textbook’s contents and activities as much as necessary depending on our aims (Grant, 1987). It implies overcoming a feeling of confinement to what the textbook indicates and taking a view on it as a point of departure, or a kind of springboard from which we may set off but by no means seeing it as a cage that imprisons us.

4.3

Choosing the right textbook

Remarkably, the literature on textbook evaluation/selection is rich as many scholars have offered reliable guidance on how to assess textbooks; thus teachers are aided in their task of choosing the most adequate one in each case (Chastain, 1971; Tucker, 1975; Cowles, 1976; Candlin and Breen, 1979; Daoud and Celce-Murcia, 1979; Swales, 1980; Williams, 1983; Rivers, 1981; Matthews, 1985; Breen and Candlin, 1987; Hutchinson and Waters, 1987; Littlejohn and Windeatt, 1988; Sheldon, 1988; Low, 1989; Skierso, 1991; Ur, 1996; Hedge, 2000; among many others). Generally speaking, in principle, one would appreciate in materials their high potential to trigger real learning experiences; thus, ideally, teaching materials should be memorable, varied, well-illustrated, and be perceived by learners as stimulating, inspiring, interesting, motivating, attractive, appealing, amusing, entertaining and engaging. And to all this, we should add that hopefully activities should be purposeful (language learning is demanding and cognitively complex, so there is no reason to waste time or energy) and all being well be eventually performance-led. Equally as rich as the literature on the subject are the discussions on which concrete issues should constitute the essential, common-core characteristics that any effective coursebook should comply with. In this sense, apart from some very general and critical aspects such as coverage, texts, tasks or administration (Ur, 1996) perhaps it is impossible to compile a list of actual features or a definite procedure to reliably assess the potential effectiveness of all textbooks worldwide. After all, different teaching practitioners in different contexts with different circumstances may have specific, detailed subtleties in mind that could easily go unnoticed under more standardized systems of judging the quality of materials. No textbook is perfect. Textbooks are simply embodiments of certain sets of pre-packaged decisions regarding language teaching and learning (Allwright, 1981) so it would be simply extraordinary to find materials that could

Textbook use training in EFL teacher education 277 satisfactorily cater for everyone’s needs. The teacher’s endeavor to determine judiciously and to arrive at a well-informed decision is what will make the difference between choosing the right textbook or an unsuitable one. It is obvious that what every single teacher should pursue is the identification of that coursebook which results in giving the most help and which best suits their target students, their characteristics and learning needs. The teacher’s personal judgment and subjectivity will almost inevitably permeate the whole process of selection and impact on his/her final decision. Indeed, the teacher’s personal beliefs about teaching and learning are highly significant when choosing the right textbook. A textbook may be better or worse in the hands of one teacher or another. Consequently, in the selection of textbooks it seems more appropriate to remove the emphasis from searching intrinsically for effective textbooks to figuring out what constitutes effective teaching practice. In other words, the interest and learning achieved in a class will depend less on the textbook itself and more on the extent to which the teacher can do interesting things with the materials. The assumption that the “doctor knows best” principle does not apply here and thus we consider it critical that every teacher evaluates what is more appropriate to their setting and conditions. However, we also believe that it is vital to aim at objectivity by following reliable criteria. It makes sense to combine efforts to identify some universal, consensus-reached criteria to discern the features that any good, reliable textbook should display. As stated above, although no unique formula will straightforwardly provide a definite procedure to assess all textbooks, the application of a set of universal characteristics is an asset for teachers as it will contribute to making textbook evaluation a coherent, systematic, thoughtful activity. Every teacher can contribute towards compiling a comprehensive data-driven collection of potentially positive characteristics of good EFL textbooks, detailed and accurate enough to help define one’s situation-specific set of criterion. By joining forces, teachers will certainly be on the right path towards professional development and towards the steady growth of our field. At times, textbook selection seems to take place in a rather hasty way or with no systematic set of criteria to apply. In order to carry out materials evaluation, we could either depart from some main (more or less general) areas to assess, or build a more detailed and elaborate checklist with multiple items that we can easily fill in to measure how well a particular textbook may do in our situation, bearing in mind our students’ characteristics. Teacherdesigned checklists bring about contextual data relevant in each case because of their local focus. In fact, if we really want to succeeding with the choice of teaching materials: “Their (=materials’) potential —or lack of potential— can only be evaluated in relation to real learners in real classrooms. […]

278 Mª del Pilar Montijano Cabrera evaluation of materials should largely be based on the collection and analysis of classroom data” (Nunan, 1991: 227). We offer here a principled alternative to the idiosyncratic approach. Accordingly, we consider it advisable that every teacher designs their own checklist to be able to discern in a systematic way all those aspects to take into account so that the textbook finally chosen matches the learners’ needs as closely as possible. For those teaching professionals not confident enough regarding what to base their assessment on, how to qualify the decisions made, or how to report the final choice and as way of kick-off orientation, we propose the following battery of issues for professionals wishing to elaborate their own personal checklist: Yes Aims are appropriate Main content areas are well-covered Enough variety of principles and approaches to ensure richness of language contact Strong focus on language experience Strong focus on explicit learning presenting contrived examples of the language Sufficient variety of material Material can easily be adapted to my own purpose when it is not relevant and/or useful for my students All communicative skills are adequately covered Sufficient exposure (input) Activities make up a dynamic sequence and lead easily to engaging classes The pace of learning is reasonable Students are (or can easily become) familiar with the format of tasks/activities Different senses (visual, auditory) are extensively involved Enough formal controlled practice Lots of opportunities for students to practice in a controlled and therefore less stressful environment before facing the “real thing” Activities and tasks lead naturally from language study to language use Activities are suitable in content Activities are cognitively challenging

No

Not sure

Textbook use training in EFL teacher education 279 Activities lead students easily to become increasingly less and less preoccupied by their degree of accuracy Activities provide a real-life use of the language in a pleasurable way Activities are purposeful Language that occurs incidentally in class (for example: greetings, instructions, words of praise or encouragement, day to day expressions, etc.) is approached in a truly communicative way Wealthy vocabulary coverage Topics are appropriate for students Topics are interesting and encouraging for students Topics are thought-provoking for students Sufficient revision, repetition, reinforcement in an informal way Students are viewed holistically —as whole human beings, with ideas, feelings, emotions, interests, etc. Students’ lives and personal experiences are given sufficient room (are covered) Students are supported (by means of advicegiving, guidelines for self-study, learning strategies) so that they gradually develop more and more self-reliance . Remember: Every prospective EFL teacher has to learn how textbooks should ideally be used. “Learning to use a textbook” should not be read as “learning to follow a textbook the way it appears”, without modifying it. What is meant by “learning to use a textbook” is that being aware of the essential role that textbooks play in EFL teaching, (1) no teacher should feel compelled to “follow” blindly what the textbook offers, and (2) all teachers should learn to recognize the textbook’s strengths and weaknesses in order to validly assess the adequacy of the material offered in reference to the actual circumstances of each cohort of students. This is vital in order to work out how to “use” the topics, activities or language reference sections in a way which may suit the students’ previous learning experiences, their motivation, their pace of learning or their learning styles. Only in this way can teachers make appropriate decisions about what and how to adapt whatever is deemed necessary.

280 Mª del Pilar Montijano Cabrera

5 Teacher education for the effective use of supplementary materials The grounds for relying on published materials rests on the assumption that they are better (McDonough and Shaw, 1993) than what the teacher could produce, given his/her personal constraints of time. Nevertheless, textbooks may fall short in several ways. Because the “one size fits all” principle does not apply when considering the implementation of textbooks, as no coursebook really fits 100% any individual teaching circumstances, not all EFL teaching should come from them: “Most language-teaching coursebooks probably need supplementing to some extent, if only in order to tailor to the needs of a particular class or to offer richer options” (Ur, 1996: 189) and most teachers are fully conscious of it: “Most experienced teachers take the view that a textbook should be supplemented in line with learner needs and have added other ingredients to the programme such as drama, extensive reading, role-play, communication games, and debates” (Hedge, 2000: 359). Teachers’ resourcefulness in this sense is vital to improve what the textbook does not provide adequately. By resorting to any kind of supplementary materials, teachers can counterbalance or offset any deficiencies of the textbook. Supplementary materials, then, play a key role in improving the quality of our lessons by humanizing them as they offer the possibility for teachers to adapt to the students’ needs or expectations. Computers, particularly the internet, mobile phone applications, CDs, books, magazines, posters, games or pictures, just to mention a few examples, can become important sources of learning and as such, may turn out to be teaching aids easily available to the teaching staff who want to provide learners with a more comprehensive experience of language use than the one provide by the textbook alone. Variety is the spice of life. By using a variety of types of supplementary material, and not relying exclusively on more traditional printed materials, teachers may activate learners’ knowledge, bring vividness to the class, attract the students’ attention and inject new ideas so that the learners’ learning experience is nurtured and enhanced. With this premise in mind, new approaches to EFL teacher education insert a materials development and evaluation module as in integral component of courses. With that, it is claimed, prospective teachers become aware of the importance of devoting thought to getting optimum learning benefit out of every class regardless of what the textbook commands. Moreover, preservice teachers are better equipped to create the best conditions for their students’ learning.

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5.1

Teacher-made materials

Designing teacher-made materials takes time, effort and unquestionably makes tough demands of practitioners who must hold both the awareness and understanding of the manifold interwoven variables affecting teaching theory and practice. However, they are undeniably the best materials that students may enjoy: personalized, as they cater for different learning styles, and relevant, because they respond to the learners’ needs as no other material can do. Surely no other investment on the part of the teacher may become half as worthwhile; despite having to cope with copious preparation, the benefits are much greater. Not only do (1) the classes become more inspiring and the curriculum becomes more stimulating and (2) the students benefit from having lessons specifically tailored for them, but the teachers also benefit because (3) those of them who get involved in exploring the guidelines and procedures to design materials do eventually grow professionally as a result of the confidence they gain as they get a more accurate picture of their reality. The overridingly most outstanding quality of materials development is the extent to which teachers, by doing so, can facilitate the learning of language and can maximize the likelihood of intake (Tomlinson, 1998). Since the 1990s materials development is not only regarded as an important strategy to improve the quality of teaching but it has also been looked upon in its true merit because of its invaluable contribution to teachers’ professional development.

5.2

Authentic materials

Authentic materials are those not produced specifically for language teaching purposes. Real poems, menus, songs, or, say, advertisements are just a few examples that bring students into contact with the language as it is used by the target language community to meet actual or potential communication needs. They represent an important source of meaningful exposure to language as it is naturally and realistically used by proficient speakers outside the artificial context of a class. Because of their authenticity —in spite of usually being accompanied by “unauthentic” exercises and tasks designed by teachers to facilitate students’ involvement— these materials may help to renew the students’ interest in the language. In fact, regularly providing students with opportunities to learn through authentic materials as a supplement to the ordinary class texts and tasks included in the textbook works as a plausible motivator (Melvin and Stout, 1987). Apart from their potential to motivate, other issues have been covered in the debate on the adequacy of authenticity in FL teaching and full consensus has not been agreed. For instance, when considering the attention to language

282 Mª del Pilar Montijano Cabrera itself, whereas for some researchers (Bacon and Finnemann, 1990; Kuo, 1993; Little et al. 1994) the positive effect of authentic materials on learners is beyond doubt, others (for example, Day and Bamford, 1998) have advocated simplified texts and strongly attacked the “cult of authenticity”. Textbooks tend to avoid confrontational or challenging topics and opt for presenting a too uncomplicated, safe and ideal view of the world (Wajnryb, 1996), which does not truly represent the essence of this “Global Village” (Maley, 1999) we live in, and which fails to engage learners (Wajnryb, 1996). On the other hand, “provocative texts that stimulate an affective response are more likely to facilitate learning” (Tomlinson, 2001: 68). We would argue that by including supplementary authentic texts which cover more engaging topics, such as politics, sexism, religion or violence we can invite learners to give a more affectively-involved response and thus we can greatly improve the students’ motivation as a result of the increase in their interest in the topics being dealt with. Remember: Inadequate facilities, large classes, too much prescription in textbooks or simply divergent aims and circumstances of our students (cognitive styles, motivation, previous learning experiences, etc.) all point to the need for teachers to gradually gain independence from textbooks, regarding them more as rich springboards or departure points and get more involved in designing materials specifically tailored to the target students as the best strategy to increase effectiveness in teaching by turning potential failure into success.

6 Conclusions FL textbooks, if used wisely, may lessen the teacher’s load and provide at least a valuable point of departure for virtually any class. Nevertheless, research has already proved that over-reliance on textbooks, despite their high quality, can be detrimental to students’ learning and hence different sets of criteria have been provided for textbook evaluation. In this sense, it is of the uttermost importance that teaching professionals should change any sense they may have of condemnation for having to “follow” a book which does not exactly match their expectations regarding what a textbook should offer into a much more positive realization that it is the teacher, and not the written material, who eventually determines the “what”, “how” and “when” variables of their teaching. Learning to use a textbook means developing the required skills to approach it critically and adapt whatever becomes necessary so as to tune into our students’ needs and main interests.

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7 References Allwright, R.L. (1981) What do we want teaching materials for?, ELT Journal 36 (1): 5-18. Arnold, J. (1999) Affect in Language Learning, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bacon, S.M., and M. D. Finnemann (1990) A study of the attitudes, motives and strategies of university foreign language students and their disposition to authentic oral and written input, Modern Language Journal 74 (4): 459-73. Banegas, D.L. (2011) Teaching more than English in Secondary Education, ELT Journal 65 (1): 80-82. Breen, M. P., and C. N. Candlin (1987) Which materials? A consumer’s and designer’s guide. In Sheldon, L. (ed) ELT Textbooks and Materials: Problems in Evaluation and Development, ELT Documents 126. London: Modern English Publications. Candlin, C. N., and M. P. Breen (1979) Evaluating, adapting and innovating language teaching materials. In Yorio, C., K. Perkins, and J. Schacter (eds) On TESOL’79: The learner in focus, Washington, D.C.: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages: 86-108. Chastain, K. (1971) The development of modern language skills: Theory to practice, Philadelphia: Philadelphia Center for Curriculum Development. Cowles, H. (1976) Textbook, materials evaluation: A comprehensive checksheet, Foreign Language Annals 9 (4): 300-303. Cunningsworth, A. (1995) Choosing your coursebook, London: Heinemann. Daoud, A., and M. Celce-Murcia (1979) Selecting and Evaluating a textbook. In Celce-Murcia, M. and L. McIntosh (eds) Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, Cambridge, MA: Newbury House Publishers: 302-307. Day. R., and J. Bamford (1998) Extensive Reading in Second Language Classrooms, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Edge, J. (1993) Essentials of English Language Teaching, Harlow, Essex: Longman. Ellis, R. (1997) The Empirical Evaluation of Language Teaching Materials, ELT Journal 51 (1): 36-42. Gardner, H. (1983) Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, New York: Basic Books. Gardner, H. (1991a) The Unschooled Mind: How children think and how schools should teach, New York: Basic Books. Gardner, H. (1991b) Intelligence Reframed. Multiple intelligences for the 21st century, New York: Basic Books.

284 Mª del Pilar Montijano Cabrera Gardner, H. (1999) The Disciplined Mind: Beyond Facts And Standardized Tests, The K-12 Education That Every Child Deserves, New York: Simon and Schuster. Grant, N. (1987) Making the most of your Textbook, Harlow, Essex: Longman. Harmer, J. (1991) The Practice of English Language Teaching, Harlow, Essex: Longman. Hedge, T. (2000) Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hutchinson, T. and Waters, A. (1987) English for Specific Purposes, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kuo, C.H. (1993) Problematic issues in EST materials development, English for Specific Purposes 12: 171-181. Little, B. L., S. Devitt, and D. Singleton (1994) Authentic texts, pedagogical grammar and language awareness in foreign language learning. In James, C., and P. Garrett (eds) Language Awareness in the Classroom, London: Longman: 123-132. Littlejohn, A., and S. Windeatt (1988) Beyond language learning: perspective on materials design. In Johnson, R. K. (ed) The Second Language Curriculum, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Low, G. (1989) Appropriate design: the internal design of course units. In Johnson, R. K. (ed) The Second Language Curriculum, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 136-154. Maley, A. (1999) Surviving the 20th century, English Teaching Professional 10: 3-7. Matthews, A. (1985) Choosing the best available textbook. In Matthews, A., M. Spratt, and L. Dangerfield (eds) At the Chalkface, Edinburgh: Nelson: 202-206. McDonough, J., and C. Shaw (1993) Materials and Methods in ELT, Oxford: Basil Blackwell. McGrath, I. (2006) Teachers and Learners Images for Coursebooks, ELT Journal 60 (2): 171-180. Melvin, B.S., and D. F. Stout (1987) Motivating language learners through authentic materials. In Rivers, W. M. (ed) Interactive Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 44-56. Nunan, D. (1991) Language Teaching Methodology. A textbook for teachers, Hertfordshire: Phoenix ELT. O’Neil, R. (1982) Why Use Textbooks?, ELT Journal 36 (2): 104-111. Rivers, W. (1981) Teaching foreign-language skills, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press: 475-483. Sheldon, L. (1988) Evaluating ELT textbooks and materials, ELT Journal 42 (4): 237-246.

Textbook use training in EFL teacher education 285 Skierso, A. (1991) Textbook selection and evaluation. In Celce-Murcia, M. (ed) Teaching English as a second or foreign language, Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle Publishers: 237-246. Swales, J. (1980) ESP: the textbook problem, ESP Journal 1(1): 11-23. Tomlinson, B. (1998) Materials Development in Language Teaching, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Tomlinson, B. (2001) Materials Development. In Carter, R., and D. Nunan (eds) The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 66-71. Tomlinson, B. (ed) (2008) English Teaching Materials: A Critical review, London: Continuum. Tucker, C. A. (1975) Evaluating beginning textbooks, English Teaching Forum 13: 355-361. Ur, P. (1996) A Course in Language Teaching, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wajnryb, R. (1996) Death, taxes and leopard: Systematic omissions in EFL texts, or life was never meant to be an adjacency pair. Paper presented at the 9th Educational Conference, Sydney. Williams, D. (1983) Developing criteria for textbook evaluation, ELT Journal 37 (2): 251-255.

8 Recommended reading Allwright, R. L. (1981) What do we want teaching materials for?, ELT Journal 36 (1): 5-18. This article gives an approach to materials, suggesting alternative ways of planning teaching based on students’ needs and aims which may be different from those of the textbooks. Cunninsworth, A. (1984) Evaluating and Selecting EFL Teaching Materials, London: Heinemann. This book offers reliable criteria to facilitate teachers’ assessment of textbooks. It is practical and offers clear examples. Grant, N. (1987) Making the most of your Textbook, Harlow, Essex: Longman. A text packed with practical advice on how to improve daily teaching by increasing students’ motivation as the result of adapting the textbook.

286 Mª del Pilar Montijano Cabrera Madsen, H., and J. D. Bourn (1978) Adaptation in Language Teaching, Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House. An interesting compilation of readings on how to adapt the materials presented in textbooks to avoid over-reliance on them and gain effectiveness. Tomlinson, B. (1998) Materials Development in Language Teaching, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. A most insightful book aimed at supporting readers in the application of research findings to the successful exploitation of classroom materials. It offers useful ideas which result in invaluable guidance when adapting materials.

9 Questions for reflection and discussion -

-

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Is there anything teachers can do to maintain a healthy level of energy and enthusiasm all throughout the class (and even throughout the course) even if the textbook contents appear not to match the students’ interests? How can teachers contribute to making the text material acquire reality and relevance? What are your main reasons to support the systematic use of a textbook? Is there anything you could do to avoid feeling weary of the material after years of teaching within the same systematic framework? Have a look at a piece of material in a student’s textbook and figure out possibilities for teaching it. After that, check the teacher’s book and see whether there are major differences. What can they be due to? What factors regarding your particular students did you consider that were neglected by the textbook? What means do teachers have to get to know whether a textbook is (a) attractive, (b) relevant, (c) user-friendly, or (d) meaningful for students? Discuss the experience you have had (either as a learner or as a teacher) after having used authentic materials in class. How do your/your students’ involvement and motivation increase or decrease compared to working with non-authentic or semi-authentic textbooks materials? What advantages and disadvantages can you notice in the introduction of authentic materials in EFL classes? What kind of materials would interest you/your students most?

Human drive and humanistic technologies in ELT training Gabriele Azzaro (University of Bologna, Italy) In a language teaching context increasingly dominated by a vision of learners as active, social, interacting members of globalized cultures, the role of technology is suffering from a syncing paradox: while technology is becoming progressively varied and integrated in everyday life (it is cheaper, more open, user-friendlier) its educational roles are often not fully synchronized with the preferences of the learner, and suffer from outdated traditional paradigms of instructed learning based on studying-to-thetest. This study aims at measuring engagement by comparing the impact of traditional, printed, form-focussed material with multimedia course content. An end-of-term questionnaire was administered to B1 university students of English for two running years to check their engagement and enjoyment of book vs MM language content. Pedagogical problems are discussed in relation to complementing the bidimensionality of technology with the x-dimensionality of human beings, with the aim of modelling a teaching perspective conducive to self-efficacy, autonomy and positive L2-guides in the language learner.

1 Introduction Traditionally, teacher trainees from the population here sampled are not too kind towards technology, which has always been the part of their curriculum they frown upon. IWs and other teaching aids are approached with a mixture of suspicion and fear. Clearly, the best way to train future teachers to use technology in the classroom confidently, is to have them learn through technology as boldly as possible. But how motivating, engaging and cognitively fruitful may this be? The aim of this study was to question student engagement with traditional and multimedia course materials, by collecting and interpreting information on their free use of multimedia materials and activities associated with coursebooks. The students in question were teacher trainees from the Department of Education of the university of Bologna, Italy. According to Deci and colleagues, the three basic needs to be developed in a balanced personality are competence, relatedness and autonomy (Deci and Ryan 1995; Deci and Ryan 2002a). Positive psychologists such as Seligman identify five elements fostering our well-being: positive emotions, engagement, positive relations, meaning and achievement (Seligman 2011:16-26). The need and the necessity to learn is favoured by environments where those basic psychological ingredients are acknowledged and maximized. The need/necessity to teach (language as well as other skills) stems from the cultural and social imperative to form balanced, autonomous, fulfilled human being, richly textured with the above traits.

288 Gabriele Azzaro We can easily inform the teaching environment with personality-enhancing experiences, favouring an engaging, emotionally attractive milieu, where positive social relations and student-centred activities are meaningful – beside being meaning-based. Each of these variable hinges on the others and in its turn feeds them, in a fully unpredictable dynamic system, where cognition is supported by a state of authentic emotional well-being.

2 Free learning Intrinsic motivation is the true engine of the human search for meaning and knowledge. It has been convincingly proven that in the educational context, like in other working or leisure environments, we cannot enhance students’ progress by promising money, iPads, iPods, laptops, games, holidays away from home, prizes, certificates, good grades, approval, success, or any such external gratification. Motivation has to spring from within. From the perspective of the learner, there is little to be done to fire up an intellectual curiosity where the basic fabric of existence is a burning concern with survival. But, given a minimum allowance of well-being, curiosity is the natural state of the human mind. From the perspective of the teacher, nothing is more rewarding than freely sharing one’s knowledge. As we see in enterprises like Linux, Apache, Wikipedia, Wiki-leaks, Mozilla, Prezi, Google, etc., the freedom of sharing knowledge and the joy of giving away freely are irreplaceable human needs. Psychology has convincingly shown us the most popular members of a collaborative group are not the givers but the borrowers, namely the people who can ask for a favour rather than those doing the favour; being in the position to ask for help makes us more popular in the community because it bares our vulnerability and allows our peers to satisfy their innate urge to give. The “selfish gene” 1 may thrive, but it looks as though it is having a tough job competing with the altruistic gene, which is totally capable of overpowering it culturally. Both teachers and learners should develop mutual ǥborrower’ relations, acknowledging the bi-directionality of the learning process. The gift is free for both recipients – learners and teachers – and we depend on students for directions in our profession as much as they depend on us. Even the world of business is starting to acknowledge this, while in the academic arena the idea of free-giving ideas has long been sustained. The thought that “citizens deserve easy access to the results of scientific research 1 I use the expression metaphorically, not in the literal sense of evolutionary genetic replication and selection found in the original text by Dawkins (2006). Our genes may be selfish, but as a counter-theory, the “communicative gene hypothesis” (Buck, 2011) posits that even genes function by communicating, and the actual evolutionary genetic replicators are their relationships.

Human drive and humanistic technologies in ELT training 289 their tax dollars have paid for” has been politically acknowledged by a recent historic policy memorandum of the Obama administration (22 Feb 2013 2 ); and the drive towards free access to all scientific research has a long tradition in Europe too 3 . Moodle, like many other open source platforms, proceeds along these lines. Teaching is the cultural operationalization of the altruistic human drive, and both teaching and learning find the most fertile intellectual ground when the innateness of intrinsic motivation is acknowledged. How do we best quench the human thirst for knowledge, mastery and wellbeing?

3 Personal relevance I stated earlier that learning activities should be meaning-based and also meaningful. The two adjectives qualify different perspectives: “meaningbased” denotes objective qualities pertaining to teaching approaches/materials; “meaningful” projects the light of motivation within the mind of the subject. A meaning-based lesson which also turns meaningful for the individual has personal relevance and is intrinsically motivating. Older students tend to devalue learning tasks which hinge on extrinsic motivation. Minimal effort, lack of concentration, indifference and subsequent poor academic or learning results stem from the absence of “direct or personal relevance to their lives” (Jang, 2008: 798). On the other hand, students seem to attain higher engagement, persistence, achievement, self-regulation and understanding of a given topic proportionately to their intrinsic positive evaluation of activities (in terms of task value, utility value, interest value, attainment value, instrumental value, future goals and consequences (idem)). At the outset of CALL, it was thought that technology would serve learners well because it would abound in patience with slower students and it would facilitate the administration of repetitive drills to all students. Boring activities may then magically turn into games, circular cages into merry-gorounds, and language learning would become fun. In fact, technological

2 See http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/02/22/expanding-public-access-results-federallyfunded-research and http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/ostp_public_access_memo_2013.p df. 3 The Nature Publishing Group has recently invested in Frontiers, the Swiss open access publishers, joining the race to advance the global open science movement (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nature-publishing-group-and-frontiers-form-alliance-tofurther-open-science-2013-02-27). See the work of activists like Aaron Swartz for information on the growth of the “Open Access” campaign.

290 Gabriele Azzaro gadgets have infinite stores of patience but lack rather heavily in rationale and intrinsic motivation. It is true that some of the interim learning tasks we perform while acquiring a new skill are uninteresting; there are activities which have no immediate meaning to us and are only externally motivated: in language learning, grammar drills and repetitive routines are an example. This is where technology seemed to be promising: a machine never gets bored. But we do; sometimes, very promptly. Motivation, engagement and learning may correspondingly be low, and both teachers and students may have to intervene to remedy this situation: teachers may 1. openly acknowledge the learner’s personal perspective and the hardships endured, 2. offer a meaningful rationale, and 3. avoid controlling language (Deci and Ryan, 2002b). Students, on the other hand, may self-generate personal interestenhancing strategies (like setting intermediate goals, varying procedures, studying with friends, creating task-based games, etc.) (Sansone et al. 1992). Teacher intervention seems to be more effective in improving engagement than student generated strategies, even though these originate a better state of individual well-being (Burton et al. 2006). Self-created strategies for enhancing engagement are “unable to generate the type of motivation students need” (Jang, 2008: 809). To strengthen motivation, students must perceive the personal utility of tasks and they must also feel autonomous, and to this end rationales must be presented in non-controlling language (Deci et al., 1994). Consequently, the students involved in this study were invited but not forced to follow the multimedia path with freedom of conscience. But why do we need drills and repetitive tasks?

4 Skill acquisition The definitions of “skills” found in the literature are rather reductive. A skill is generally defined as a non-innate ability acquired through practice, which can be both cognitive and physical. Carlson (2003) and Johnson, Wang and Zhang (2003) all stress two components of skill development, namely practice and automaticity, almost equating skills to sporting or computational activities. The element of creativity is played down, even if a skill often crucially impinges on it (see “artistic skills”). I suggest that any skill encompasses both technique and interpretation. Only the former proceeds from practice towards full autonomy. The interpretive side of language skill acquisition encompasses the emotional, personal, idiosyncratic aspects of language conceived as perhaps the most intimate expression of an individual. This is the level of expression where the person feels completely at ease and in the flow with their production, oblivious of the technicalities of the medium, able to concentrate on the communication of

Human drive and humanistic technologies in ELT training 291 the meaning with a personal voice, in style. In language acquisition, it is a state where L2-identity is positive. To reach those heights we have to master the technique, all the mechanical subroutines which combine to yield fluid expression. What does this imply?

4.1

Proceduralization

Most actions we perform are automatized. So much that Montaigne thought that each part of our body had a brain of its own: we cannot control our heart rate, our slips of the tongue, our reaction to pain, our bowel movements, and we cannot fully control our facial expressions, voice quality, body language, posture, walk, and infinite other traits which shape the uniqueness of our identity. Whole sections of our brain are devoted to very specific tasks: one group of neurons is solely active when we need to recognize vertical or horizontal lines, another regulates the frequency of our blinking, another instructs our intestine in the extraction of nutrients from food, discarding exactly what is redundant or harmful. Of course we do not need to learn any of these automatic procedures. We do not even think about them (unless they waver). How much of our language production is proceduralized or creative is not yet clear, and large regions of semantics are probably managed by our brain piecemeal, in explicit unpredictable ways; but at least as far as pronunciation and morphosyntax are concerned, automatization is central. To attain the peaks of creative personal expression, we must build for grammar a brain of its own, with a construction process known as proceduralization. Chunking is a relevant powerful strategy unconsciously applied by professionals in many fields to master their art. It consists of breaking up complex patterns of behaviour into shorter, simple ones, which are practised over and over again, first at a lower rate than necessary, and progressively faster. High levels of performance rely on previous simplification and chunking, which coordinates a complex task into one single fluid movement with the help of practice. Recent advances in neurophysiology explain chunking and proceduralization with the power-law of practice, noticing the physiological modifications which take place inside our brain while we learn new skills or perfect old ones. Performing a task requires the neurological circuit of the brain to encode it and reinforce the appropriate neuronal connections with an insulating layer of myelin (a process known as “myelination”). The effect of myelination is to increase the speed and efficiency of signals along the fibre and to contribute a path for regeneration of the fibre if it is damaged. The more often a neurological circuit is activated, the more its myelin sheath is strengthened, the faster it can fire, and the longer it will last (Coyle, 2009).

292 Gabriele Azzaro The outcome is automatization of skills. Anderson (2004) defines 3 stages of skill learning: 1. declarative; 2. procedural; 3. automatic. - Declarative stage. This stage consists of explicit direction and description of the particular ability or component (chunk) of the ability to attain. It may include examples, it implies explicit instruction via rule enunciation, it often causes a working memory overload, it is fairly prone to error and it often snowballs into narcolepsy. As an example, we may take the typical “Grammar Sections” or “Grammar Revision” boxes in classic language coursebooks, or picture ourselves carrot and stick mentors from the past, regurgitating verbal paradigms. The declarative module of our knowledge may contain all the idiosyncratic information like word meanings, irregular forms, idioms; the proceduralized automatic module may be subservient to all regular mechanisms of our language processing systems. - Procedural stage. “Proceduralization” (Anderson et al., 2004) is a complex phenomenon basically founded on practice periods resulting into a steep learning curve. It is not clear whether the proceduralization system coexists with the declarative system, but some form of corrective fall-back seems to be active in early stage of imperfect practice. Cognitive theories of proceduralization therefore value practice as reflected in DeKeyser (1997) and the Power Law of Practice. In any task requiring a certain amount of automatization, error rate decreases as a power-law function of the number of times the task has been performed (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Diagram of error rate decreasing with practice. Resilience and motivation are certainly key ingredients to achievement, in any field: “…if you want to become world class at anything, you must spend 60 hours a week on it for ten years.” (Seligman, 2011: 115). The magic

Human drive and humanistic technologies in ELT training 293 formula seems to be: “achievement = skill X effort”, where effort stands for “time on task” and “skill” refers to an acquired level of ability. This is a well investigated phenomenon in theories of learning skills. Mirrortracing experiments or cigar-rolling exercises, as well as problem solving studies, showed that error reduction after practice usually takes a very steep downward path, even though it has recently been observed that practice on its own is not enough: controlled quality practice is necessary for learning, for instance to avoid practising errors or stretching one’s limits too hard; practice must be graded, in that it would be impossible to start making complex utterances when simple ones have not been mastered yet; it must be a free choice of the individual, who has internalized a rationale for the hard work at hand; feedback is essential (Azzaro and Rice, 2010); and finally, practice must be communicatively contextualized and motivated: it is no good repeating lists of words or sentences with no communicative intent. Automatic stage. As automatization increases, cognitive pressure decreases. Errors fall and explicit declarative knowledge is shadowed 4 . We develop a sort of auto-pilot state, which is skill-specific (not transferable to other skills), relies on “procedural memory” (Lee, 2004), and features “absence of attentional control” (Hulstijn, 2005). Procedural knowledge allows us to perform automatic sequences unawares. How does our brain turn explicit declarative knowledge into implicit automatic production? The mental operation which transforms declarative knowledge into automated behaviour has long been debated. One interesting theory notices that neuroanatomically the declarative and procedural stages of learning are quite independent; therefore our brain cannot directly turn explicit formal knowledge of rules into automatic responses, supporting Krashen’s “learning vs. acquisition” dichotomy. It seems more plausible to envisage a dual superimposed mechanism, whereby declarative knowledge is acquired at a fast pace in declarative memory, while a parallel system is built up in procedural memory through repeated practice; the second system would later take over most automatic functions freeing the declarative module from the burden of grammatical (formal) processing (Ullman, 2005: 157-63).

4.2

Dynamic Systems

We often think via metaphors, and one metaphor regarding language learning (and perhaps learning in general) is the three-arm pendulum, whereby the movement of the three elements is totally unpredictable, in line with chaos theory. Students generally appear to have two arms but in fact learn languages rather unpredictably, like a 3- or 4-arm pendulum. We may know 4

Fossilization is possible, of course.

294 Gabriele Azzaro their starting platforms but the direction, speed, height, depth and coordinates of their end state mystify us. Students are all different not only in a biological sense, they all differ dynamically in the trajectories their learning takes. How do we adjust for the panoply of individual tastes? In a nutshell, Dörnyei (2009) reiterates six basic principles summing up the state of the art of recent research on instructed SLA. I have rarely admired such intellectual enlightenment and pragmatic artistry; it is such a pleasure to read that I cannot resist spoiling it with the additional comment here and there: 1 Instructed SLA should be meaning-focused and personally engaging as a whole. However, like the training of musicians or athletes, it should also include controlled practice activities to promote the automatization of L2 skills. The purpose of this practice should be clearly explained to the learners and the content/format should be made as motivating and meaningful as possible within the tasks’ inherent constraints 5 .

From a merely rhetorical stance, we must notice the lexical repetitions above. Were this a paragraph in a Prezi slideshow, we’d have to circle and join the focussed elements, which sing out a hymn to Meaning and Enjoyment:

meaning-focused

motivating

engaging

meaningful

Figure 2. Meaning and enjoyment. In order for a course to be motivating it must be engaging in self-constructive drive, so that it will identify and favour every student’s desire to selfactualize their ideal self, as perceived in terms of what they could become, what they would like to become, what they feel they should become and what they are afraid of becoming 6 . The model L2 self active in the learner’s mind must be reachable and it is constantly updated by the social interaction with the class and the teacher, who should be capable of offering emotionally positive attractors towards the target culture and the renewed expression of the student’s self in and through the target language. If students can will 5 6

My emphasis. See for instance Hadfield (2012: 5).

Human drive and humanistic technologies in ELT training 295 themselves to imagine a positive future self-image interacting in the L2, their brain will naturally synchronize to the necessary acquisitional patterns and rhythms falling in step with the class and activity offered. 2 To provide jump starts for subsequent proceduralization and automatization, instructed SLA should contain explicit initial input components. This declarative input can be offered in several creative ways […]

According to Dörnyei (idem) this should include some rote-learning and accelerated learning techniques. In this view, grammar sections and a minimum of formal exemplification of rules is beneficial, especially in the early stages, and in consideration of this the present study evaluated also the impact of formal grammar on the students’ learning experience. Dörnyei (ibid.) insists on the balance between meaning and grammar: 3 While maintaining an overall meaning-oriented approach, instructed SLA should also pay attention to the formal/structural aspects of the L2 that determine accuracy and appropriateness at the linguistic, discourse, and pragmatic levels. The hallmark of good teaching is finding the optimal balance between meaning-based and form-focused activities, in the dynamic classroom context.

Nobody would be allowed to fly a Cessna or sail a boat on the open seas without previously sitting still at a desk poring for hours on end over airflow dynamics or wind direction, pre-empting the suicidal effects of reckless improvisation. It must be said that most mainstream language books nowadays offer a balanced mix of formal and meaning-oriented activities, many of them offering communicative opportunities as well. This is not difficult to attain even in a digital environment. 4 Instructed SLA should include the teaching of formulaic sequences as a featured component. There should be sufficient awareness raising of the significance and pervasiveness of formulaic language, and selected phrases should be practised and recycled intensively.

The usefulness of idioms, routines, set expressions and all such prefabricated agglomerates is complex: first, these expressions are stored in our brain as unanalysed chunks so that their interpretation and retrieval is faster and completely automatized; second, they tastefully pepper the speech of native cultures, and in fact the absence of formulaic language is one of the hallmarks of non-native speakers; third, they may be useful in triggering post-acquisitional reanalysis and formal reflection the same way they do for children acquiring their native language 7 . 5 Instructed SLA should offer learners extensive exposure to large amounts of L2 input that can feed the learners’ implicit learning mechanisms. In order to make the

7

For a definition and analysis of formulaic language see Wray (2002).

296 Gabriele Azzaro most of this exposure, learners should be given some explicit preparation in terms of pre-task activities (e.g. pre-reading/ listening/watching tasks or explanations of some salient aspects of the material) to prime them for maximum intake.

This is where technology and multimediality are strongest. Perhaps the best results stem from a humanistic use of technology bent to the purpose of L2 identity building, so that intensive contact with the foreign culture and ǥworld’ may nurture in the learner’s mind a positive future image of themselves operating in the L2. Imagination, inspired by multimedia representations of the L2 universe, should function as a focus attractor for the L2 identity the learner wishes to establish. It can facilitate the definition of our future selves by creating positive expectations linked to the L2: neuroimaging studies prove that once we have made a choice between two or more options, the chosen element is valued more, it is less intimidating and is expected to yield more pleasure than the discarded elements (Sharot et al., 2009; Sharot et al., 2010). We must offer ample exposure to authentic visions of the target culture, which will instil and inspire positive mental attitudes in the students, and help them create their L2-identity 8 . Finally, 6 Instructed SLA should offer learners ample opportunities to participate in genuine L2 interaction. For best effect, such communicative practice should always have a specific formal or functional focus, and should always be associated with target phrases to practice.

In sum, the essence of the principled communicative approach I am advocating is the creative integration of meaningful communication with relevant declarative input and the automatization of both linguistic rules and lexical items. In instructed SLA, the more is not the merrier if it is not focused. (Dörnyei, 2009: 302)

5 Priming optimism Efficient learning, like achievement in general, is heavily dependent on positive perceptions of our state of affairs. Optimism is s driving force in learning a foreign language as much as in learning to survive a messy breakup. If we are exposed – consciously or even pre-consciously – to positive words, we act more positively. Experiments have shown that sentences containing words referring to kindness generate a kinder reaction to undesirable situations, while manipulating rude words triggers the opposite; exposure to words related to the elderly makes us slower; words related to professors 8

In full compliance with Krashen’s Affective filter and Schumann’s Acculturation model (Krashen, 1988; Schumann, 1986; Schumann, 1990).

Human drive and humanistic technologies in ELT training 297 make us smarter; and words related to football hooligans make us dumber. This happens even when the words are presented to us subliminally, flashed on a screen for just a few hundredths of a second. Language makes us, perhaps more than we make language. In a completely automated fashion, our brain does register the meaning and connotations of the words, associates them with a particular mood or state of being, and primes us into replicating that very state. So much so that Bargh claims that most mental processes happen automatically, without the need for conscious attention or control (Bargh, 2006; Bargh et al., 2001). Neuroscience proves that even if we may be pessimistic on a social scale, individually we tend to go for the silver lining. Since our future is shaped by our mind, and it is also a reflection of our past experiences, we reshape memories so that our future reflects a censored reality, which drops out unpleasantness in favour of positive remembrance (Sharot, 2012; Sharot et al., 2011). Remembered details are greater and clearer for emotionally desirable than undesirable episodes. Interestingly, the brain structures involved in this refining process are the amygdala and a small area of the frontal cortex modulating emotion and motivation 9 . Imagining positive future events fortifies the connection between these regions (Phelps and Sharot, 2008; Phelps, 2012). In one experiment, students were asked to perform cognitive tasks after being primed for positive or negative expectations of success 10 ; performance was clearly better in the positive expectation scenario (Bengtsson et al., 2011). And the fascinating finding from these studies is that different areas of the brain were activated according to positive vs negative priming in response to a mistake: the region of the brain reacting to mistakes after “clever” words was the same which is used in self-reflection and recollection (whereas no activity was recorded here after “dumb” words). The spirited brain reacts to mistakes with surprise, self-reflection and rejuvenated trials; the humiliated brain does not react, and therefore gives up on possible consequent attempts at success, forfeiting its chances to learn from mistakes and improve over time. This brain is dead to practice, locked within predestination of failure. We gather from all this that self-determination, our imagined self in L2, our inner self-guides for developing an L2 identity will determine our success. Technology may help in this complex process.

9

Other sub-cortical regions of the brain are active, too. Nothing is pure and simple in our mind… Students primed with words like “smart” and “clever had positive expectations of success, while “”stupid” and “ignorant” would intimate prospective failure. 10

298 Gabriele Azzaro

6 The study: subjects and materials The aim of this study was to evaluate students engagement with self-study technology vis-à-vis traditional printed materials, by comparing the impact of coursebook form-focussed material with multimedia course content. The subjects were second year university students from the teacher training course at the Department of Education of the university of Bologna. The course, which has now been reformed, offered a four-year curriculum with English as an obligatory subject up to year two; it was optional in year three and four, but all graduates were registered state school teachers of English (as well as other subjects), even if they had opted out after year two. Their intrinsic motivation should have been accordingly high. The course lasted only five weeks in the first semester for a total of 30 hours of language complemented by a CLIL course in English on teaching methodology, for another 30 hours. The formally required standard was B1. The course book and its associated MM activities were chosen both for their outstanding quality and for their popularity in the Italian teaching community.

6.1

Data

The data were collected via an online questionnaire which the students were asked to optionally complete after the final exam; it was anonymous, so that hopefully the students’ honesty would be granted, but the respondent’s matriculation number was required so that the actual mark from the exam could be double-checked. The questionnaire was administered for two running years to check students’ reaction and engagement with book vs MM language content, as well as selfassessment of their language level. It was in Italian, and asked students to report their final mark, their appreciation of various aspects of the learning activities, both in class and at home, plus other personal information geared towards assessing their general optimism and satisfaction with university life. Only part of the questionnaire is here analysed. Further details are in the next section. The sample is only representative of the population of prospective teachers from various areas of Italy with no control over their age, socio-cultural background and origin (hoping that this will not constitute too much of an obstacle to internal validity).

Human drive and humanistic technologies in ELT training 299

6.2

Correlation between exam results, attendance and book study

We may start by looking at a possible correlation between the exam results and various learning experiences: amount of class attendance, traditional study at home with the books, use of printed and multimedia materials. We may ask whether the learning outcomes were linked to the amount of attendance to the lectures. It seems that this was not the case. No correlation was detected between the proportion of attendance to the course and the final exam marks (Kendall’s IJ-b=-.028, p=.774). Along the same lines, one question dealt with the amount of general usage of the books (coursebook and exercise book), asking students what percentage of these books had been seriously employed in preparation for the exam. In this case too, we find no correlation between the amount of study done on the book and final results (R=0.037, p=0.755). The above was done by considering the students’ self-report of global use of the coursebook on a scale of three values (no use, 50% and 100% of use). A more fine-grained score was also computed summing up the above mentioned scale value with a more detailed report on the use of three basic activities in the coursebook: readings, exercises and grammar revision sections. Summing up all the individual values for these, we obtained a richer total score for each student. These scores were correlated with the final marks, showing no significant correlation (ANOVA, df 1, F=.065, p=.799). So, neither class attendance nor general book usage correlated with the final result. The data above actually conceal a wider array of features describing students’ preferences.

6.3

Book readings, exercises and grammar sections

In order to chart a more detailed map of exactly what activities had been followed on the coursebook, specific items on the questionnaire asked students to state the proportion of work done on the readings, the exercises and the grammar revision sections (at the end of each unit). These three variables showed a fair mutual correlation (Kendall’s IJ-b=.627; .520 and .471, all with p