Narrative Inquiry on the Content and Influencing Factors of Excellent English Teachers’ Practical Knowledge

This narrative inquiry explored the ways in which four mid-career English teachers construct themselves as W/writers and how those writerly identities are performed in their pedagogy. I curated data collected from extended interviews, journals, personal and professional writings to build narratives of these teachers-aswriters. Through these narratives and metaphorical thinking (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980), I analyzed the wholeness of each participant's experience with writing. Then, in stage two of the study, I used data collected from teaching observations to build a continuum of process --> product, employing Goffman's (1974) frame analysis to place the teachers within that continuum. This continuum represented the stable thread that continued through the teachers' personal and professional identities and led to three insights: (1) Those teachers who identified as Writers were more comfortable teaching writing processes (2) The desire to be seen as a "kind of W/writer or teacher" brings risk writing instruction and (3) Agency provides Writers a way to mitigate the risk of teaching writing.

Download Full-text

University students’ preferences on English teachers’ nationality and teaching style

EduLingua ◽

10.14232/edulingua.2019.1.1 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 1-21

Author(s):

Flora Komlosi-Ferdinand

Keyword(s):

University Students ◽

English Language ◽

Practical Knowledge ◽

Teaching Style ◽

Well Being ◽

English Teachers ◽

English Language Teaching ◽

Self Confidence ◽

Gender Based ◽

Local Students

Inspiration dynamics between students and teachers have great impact on learners’ perceptions, attitudes and psychological well-being in the ESL classroom. Gender-based differences in opinions about foreign-language acquisition often shape students’ approaches and learning structures. Nowadays, great emphasis is placed on the presence of native English-speaker teachers in English language teaching institutions. However, such teachers may struggle to understand local students’ attitudes. Seventy-four university students were asked about their perceptions and preferences on English teachers’ nationality and teaching-style in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. The data were analysed according to gender-based differences in opinions. The findings reveal that, in general, students have no preference for native or non-native teachers, yet prefer educators who teach exclusively through the medium of English. Female students expressed less self-confidence, more need for continuous reinforcement and social interaction in the classroom, while male students displayed more self-confidence, more autonomy and the need for practical knowledge-focused learning content and strategies.

Download Full-text

Organizational and Content Peculiarities of English Teachers’ Professional Training in Canada

Comparative Professional Pedagogy ◽

10.1515/rpp-2016-0029 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 6 (3) ◽

pp. 25-31 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Maryna Ikonnikova

Keyword(s):

Professional Training ◽

Practical Knowledge ◽

High Mobility ◽

English Teachers ◽

Theory And Practice ◽

Multicultural Environment ◽

Canadian Higher Education ◽

Effective Activity ◽

University Colleges ◽

Teachers Training

AbstractThe article deals with studying organizational and content peculiarities of English teachers’ professional training in Canada. It has been found out that professional training of English teachers, in particular, is provided in many Canadian higher education institutions, namely, universities, university colleges, community colleges and CEGEP colleges. Students are offered the curricula ensuring their high mobility as they may define specificity, a mode and a level of study according to their educational needs and interests. It has been concluded that the content of philological training is a process coordinating the content according to its components, namely, theoretical, empirical and practical knowledge and skills form the block system of interrelated elements. It has been defined that main theoretical and methodical principles for structuring curricula and syllabi for English teachers’ professional training in Canada are multiculturalism; combination, concordance and rational correspondence of theory and practice; pedagogical ideas of equal opportunities, respect for cultures, identity and unity of learning and socialization; consistency and succession; collegiality, partnership, transparency and a dialogue of cultures. It has been specified that programme specifications for English teachers’ training are based on such directions of pedagogical activity as developing students’ interest and respect for cultures of the nations of the world, understanding their general and specific values, comprehending the essence of global events and their consequences, accepting different views on them. As a result, future English teachers obtain the abilities and skills that will ensure their effective activity in multicultural environment as well as learn how to solve the issues associated with adaptation, integration and learning of children from different ethnic groups.

Download Full-text

The evolving self : a narrative inquiry of experience shaping and identity shifting in native-speaking English teachers (NETs) in Hong Kong secondary schools

10.5353/th_991044005597103414 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Nicola Prio Gram

Keyword(s):

Hong Kong ◽

Secondary Schools ◽

Narrative Inquiry ◽

English Teachers

Download Full-text

Exploring knowledge landscapes: A narrative inquiry of midwives’ experiences of working in diverse settings in Ghana

Journal of Nursing Education and Practice ◽

10.5430/jnep.v9n8p36 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (8) ◽

pp. 36

Author(s):

Evelyn Asamoah Ampofo ◽

Vera Caine ◽

Jean D. Clandinin

Keyword(s):

Rural Communities ◽

Narrative Inquiry ◽

Urban Communities ◽

Practical Knowledge ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Professional Knowledge ◽

Relational Ethics ◽

Meaningful Relationship ◽

Personal Experiences ◽

Field Notes

Objective: This paper focuses on exploring the experiences of midwives in Ghana who have worked in diverse settings over time. It explores how midwives’ personal experiences across time, place and in diverse contexts impact their care for women during childbirth. The paper describes the forms of knowledge held by midwives. It presents how the experiences of midwives reflect their professional and personal practical knowledge landscape.Methods: Using narrative inquiry, the experiences of four midwives working in private maternity homes were explored. Being guided by the three-dimensional narrative inquiry space of temporality, sociality and place, and the concept of relational ethics, a meaningful relationship was built with participants over a period of five months. Several tape-recorded conversations were held with each participant, multiple other interactions were recorded as field notes and in a journal. Each tape-recorded conversation was transcribed and used to construct narrative accounts that reflected participants’ experiences as lived and told. Interim narrative accounts were shared with participants to ensure that the accounts reflected their experiences. Analysis: To identify resonant threads across all four narrative accounts, each account was read multiple times with intentionality and with the research objectives in mind.Results: Three distinct professional knowledge landscapes for midwives were identified. These were the professional knowledge landscape of working in rural communities, urban communities, and private maternity homes. Two concepts of knowledge: knowledge for midwives and midwives’ knowledge, were identified on each of these professional knowledge landscapes.Conclusions: Education of midwives should consciously take into consideration the different knowledge landscapes in which midwives in Ghana practice.

Download Full-text