scholarly journals Teacher identity and agency in language teaching: Adult ESL instructors as explorers

2020 ◽  
pp. 77-97
Author(s):  
Anna Sanczyk ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Identity ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Classroom Observations ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Narrative Study ◽  
Teacher Identities ◽  
Adult Esl ◽  
Identity And Agency

As the world becomes more globalized, various social, cultural, and historical contexts are shaping teacher identities. Exploring teacher identities is essential in understanding experiences, interactions, and beliefs that influence language teachers’ practices inside and outside the classroom (Farrell 2011). This narrative study, conducted in a large urban community college located in the southeastern region of the United States, engaged seven adult ESL instructors in critical reflection on their assumptions, teaching, personal experiences, and an institutional environment. Data collection included semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, journal entries, and classroom observations, including notes about artifacts used in the lessons. The findings of this study highlight the relationship between teacher identity and agency in teaching culturally and linguistically diverse learners. Participants characterized themselves as explorers, who valued various cultural experiences and acted agentively to create culturally responsive lessons and an enriching learning environment. These findings have significant implications for language teacher training and further research.

scholarly journals The Tensions Between EFL Teacher Identities and INSET in the Turkish Context

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatih Güngör
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Identity ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
National Education ◽  
Narrative Study ◽  
Teacher Identities ◽  
Efl Teacher ◽  
Service Training ◽  
Education In Turkey ◽  
Supportive Community ◽  
Mentoring System

Due to the insufficiency of current in-service training courses which are far from the collaboration and the reflection of teachers, the current study scrutinizes the incongruities between teacher identities and in-service training programs offered by the Ministry of National Education in Turkey based upon the use of the activity theory. In this narrative study, two English as a foreign language teachers reflected on their environment, behaviors, beliefs, competencies, and missions under the heading of teacher identity concept. The results suggest that teachers need a supportive community of practice and a well-tailored mentoring system to be able to reflect on themselves and the context in which they are teaching.

Teacher cognition of pronunciation teaching

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graeme Couper
Keyword(s):  
Reflective Practice ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Classroom Observations ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Teacher Behaviour ◽  
Knowledge And Beliefs ◽  
Awareness Raising

Abstract Recent advances in our empirically-based understanding of the role of instruction in pronunciation learning have been accompanied by growing recognition of the need for more knowledge about teachers’ cognitions of pronunciation teaching. That is, we want to know what they do and why because it informs teacher educators and researchers and provides a useful forum for teacher reflective practice. This paper draws on semi-structured interviews (N = 19), classroom observations (N = 6) and follow-up discussions to report on the pronunciation techniques the participants say they use, what they were observed using, and their related knowledge and beliefs. The following thematic areas emerged: Ways of presenting pronunciation; Listen-and-repeat practice; Explicit/analytic practice activities; Sounds and spelling; Use of phonemic symbols; Speech perception and awareness raising. The findings are discussed in terms of factors driving teacher behaviour, advice that can be given to language teachers and teacher educators and areas that need further research.

scholarly journals Language Pedagogy and Teacher Identity: A Decolonial Lens to English Language Teaching From a Teacher Educator’s Experience

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-214
Author(s):  
Diego Ubaque-Casallas
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Identity ◽  
English Language ◽  
Public University ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Language Teacher ◽  
Language Pedagogy ◽  
Narrative Study ◽  
English Language Teachers ◽  
Ways Of Being

This paper describes a narrative study that emerged from various conversations with an English language teacher at a public university in Bogotá, Colombia. This research is based on intersectional narratives to locate the intersections between English language pedagogy and the identities of English language teachers. Second, the study examined discourses that can construct English language pedagogy and teachers’ identities by avoiding simplistic generalizations and essentialisms. Findings suggest that although there are still colonial roots that repress other ways of being and doing, English language pedagogy goes beyond the instrumental sense of teaching. As such, English language pedagogy is about transformation as it is never static because it is an extension of identity.

scholarly journals Exploring Language Teachers' Beliefs About the Medium of Instruction and Actual Practices Using Complex Dynamic System Theory

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Gao ◽  
Yafang Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Beliefs ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Analytical Models ◽  
Classroom Observations ◽  
Medium Of Instruction ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Complex Dynamic ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Teacher Beliefs And Practices

This paper explores the relations between teacher beliefs and practices about the medium of instruction from the perspective of complex dynamic systems theory. Through a functional framework of teacher classroom discourse, mixed analytical models were adopted to fully describe the close interaction and non-linear relations between teacher beliefs and practices. Data were collected through classroom observations and semi-structured interviews from three college teachers working in a typical research-based university in northeast China. The findings revealed the complex and dynamic relations between teacher beliefs and practices about the medium of instruction. The consistency and inconsistency between the analysis of interviews and classroom observations represented the tensions and changes between teacher beliefs and practices about the medium of instruction. The study calls for attention to the socially situated and co-evolving relations between teacher beliefs and practices and how they develop with contextual affordances, attractor states, flexible goals, and high dependence on initial conditions.

scholarly journals Queer English Language Teacher Identity: A Narrative Exploration in Colombia

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-101
Author(s):  
Roderick Lander
Keyword(s):  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Teacher Identity ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Queer Identity ◽  
Language Teacher ◽  
Gay Male ◽  
English Language Teachers ◽  
Language Teacher Identity

This article presents partial results of research exploring links between language teacher identity and queer identity in English language teachers working in Colombia. Three gay male teachers participated in a narrative research project framed within a poststructural perspective on identity. I conducted and recorded semi-structured interviews with the participants and then carried out a thematic analysis of these interviews which led to the emergence of three main themes. Here, I present the most prevalent theme, that of being a gay language teacher in the Colombian context which reveals that the participants all live their queer identity alongside their language teacher identity with ease although they do recount instances of homophobia which have impacted their day-to-day lives and their careers.

Exploring University ESL/EFL Teachers’ Emotional Well-Being and Emotional Regulation in the United States, Japan and Austria

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 410-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle Talbot ◽  
Sarah Mercer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Teaching Profession ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Personal Lives ◽  
Regulation Strategies

Abstract Teacher well-being has been shown to play a central role in the quality of teaching and student achievement (Day & Gu, 2009; Klusmann, Kunter, Trautwein, Lüdtke, & Baumert, 2008). However, the teaching profession is currently in crisis as it faces record rates of burnout and attrition (Borman & Dowling, 2008; Hong, 2010; Lovewell, 2012), including stressors specific to the changing nature of foreign language teaching (Hiver & Dörnyei, 2015; Wieczorek, 2016) and to higher education (Kinman & Wray, 2013). This study seeks to understand how language teachers perceive of and experience their emotional well-being and what strategies they employ to manage it. Through a series of 12 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with ESL/EFL tertiary-level teachers in the United States, Japan and Austria, we explore a range of contexts examining how participants perceive of factors that add to or detract from their emotional well-being, the challenges and joys these teachers face in their professional and personal lives, and the most salient emotional regulation strategies that they employ to manage their emotions.

scholarly journals Identity Development of Foreign Language Teachers in Lithuania

Verbum ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Adam Mastandrea ◽  
Gabrielé Palaimaité
Keyword(s):  
Identity Development ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Teacher Identity ◽  
Personal Narratives ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Development Stage ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Foreign Language Teachers ◽  
Key Features

Teacher identity is an evolving, multi-dimensional concept of a teacher’s understanding of self, best understood as a dynamic narrative of self-growth. The present study is focused on hypothesized stages of teacher identity development (Pride, Survival, Experimentation, Disenchantment, Rebellion and Progressive Proficiency) and their occurrence in Lithuanian foreign language teachers. A series of semi-structured interviews were carried out with eight Lithuanian foreign language teachers to discover their personal narratives of teacher identity development.The findings of the qualitative case study research revealed that key features of the six possible identity stages were present across the unique experiences of theforeign language teachers interviewed. However, each research participant displayed only certain key features of each identity development stage rather than a combination of all the possible features. In general, less experienced teachers displayed fewer key features at certain identity stages, implying that they had not experienced particular phases of identity development to completion. The results suggest certain features of identity development stages can be omitted and then experienced later in a teacher’s career. Teacher satisfaction with compensation, job security, professional prestige and the education system in general were additional factors that contributed uniquely to the identity development of teachers working in Lithuania.

“Shhhh! Alex Has Something To Say”: AAC-SGD Use in the Classroom Setting

2010 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 108-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa M. Mellman ◽  
Laura S. DeThorne ◽  
Julie A. Hengst
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Augmentative And Alternative Communication ◽  
Classroom Community ◽  
Classroom Observations ◽  
Classroom Teachers ◽  
Classroom Setting ◽  
Alternative Communication ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Missed Opportunities

Abstract The present qualitative study was designed to examine augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) practices, particularly surrounding speech-generating devices (SGDs), in the classroom setting. We focused on three key child participants, their classroom teachers, and associated speech-language pathologists across three different schools. In addition to semi-structured interviews of all participants, six classroom observations per child were completed. Data were coded according to both pre-established and emergent themes. Four broad themes emerged: message-focused AAC use, social interactions within the classroom community, barriers to successful AAC-SGD use, and missed opportunities. Findings revealed a lack of SGD use in the classroom for two children as well as limited social interaction across all cases. We conclude by highlighting the pervasive sense of missed opportunities across these classroom observations and yet, at the same time, the striking resiliency of communicative effort in these cases.

Telemedicine for Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (TELE-IBD) Clinical Trial: Qualitative Assessment of Participants’ Perceptions of the TELE-IBD Intervention (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlene C Quinn ◽  
Sarah Chard ◽  
Erin G Roth ◽  
J. Kevin Eckert ◽  
Katharine M Russman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Trial ◽  
Disease Activity ◽  
Remote Monitoring ◽  
Standard Care ◽  
Disease Process ◽  
The United States ◽  
Qualitative Assessment ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Treatment Groups ◽  
Inflammatory Bowel

BACKGROUND Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), comprising Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, affects 1 to 3 million people in the United States. Telemedicine has shown promise in IBD. The objective of the parent study, TELE-IBD, was to compare disease activity and quality of life (QoL) in a one-year randomized clinical trial of IBD patients receiving telemedicine versus standard care. Treatment groups experienced improvements in disease activity and QoL but there was not significant differences between groups. Study adherence to the text-based intervention was less than the 80% of the targeted goal. OBJECTIVE To understand adherence to remote monitoring, the goal of this qualitative assessment was to obtain TELE-IBD trial participants’ perceptions of the TELE-IBD system, including their recommendations for future TELE-IBD monitoring. METHODS In the parent study, patients attending three tertiary referral centers with worsening IBD symptoms in the previous two years were eligible for randomization to remote monitoring via texts every other week (EOW), weekly (W) or standard care. Participants (n=348) were evenly enrolled in the treatment groups and 259 (74.4%) completed the study. For this study, a purposive sample of adherent (N=15) and non-adherent (N=14) patients was drawn from the TELE-IBD trial population. Adherence was defined as the completion of 80% or more of the W or EOW self-assessments. Semi-structured interviews conducted by phone surveyed 1) the strengths and benefits of TELE-IBD; 2) challenges associated with using TELE-IBD; and 3) how to improve the TELE-IBD intervention. Interviews were recorded, professionally transcribed, and coded based on a priori concepts and emergent themes with the aid of ATLAS.ti qualitative data analysis software. RESULTS Participants' discussions centered on three elements of the intervention: 1) self-assessment questions, 2) action plans, and 3) educational messages. Participants also commented on: text-based platform, depression and adherence, TELE-IBD system in place of office visit, and their recommendations for future TELE-IBD systems. Adherent and non-adherent participants prefer a flexible system that is personalized, including targeted education messages, and they perceive TELE-IBD as effective in facilitating IBD self-management. CONCLUSIONS Participants identified clear benefits to the TELE-IBD system, including obtaining a better understanding of the disease process, monitoring their symptoms, and feeling connected to their health care provider. Participants' perceptions obtained in this qualitative study will assist in improving the TELE-IBD system to be more responsive to patients with IBD. CLINICALTRIAL NCT01692743

scholarly journals Male autistic youth experiences of belonging in integrated physical education

Autism ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 136236132110186
Author(s):  
Justin A Haegele ◽  
Anthony J Maher
Keyword(s):  
Physical Education ◽  
Peer Relationships ◽  
Peer Interactions ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
The United States ◽  
Educational Needs ◽  
Subjective Experiences ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Autistic People ◽  
Locker Room

The study examined the subjective experiences of autistic youth regarding the role of peer interactions and relationships in feelings of belonging in integrated physical education classes. The term integrated is used to describe a setting in which all students, regardless of educational needs, are educated in the same physical space. Eight autistic youth (all male, aged 13–18 years) who had received most of their physical education in integrated classes acted as participants. Semi-structured interviews were used to generate qualitative data, which were analyzed using a reflexive thematic approach. Findings are presented in three themes: (a) bullying can lead to self-harm and self-isolation, (b) peer interactions and relationships in the locker room, and (c) peer relationships are based on shared interests and take time to develop. Even though autistic students were educated in the same spaces as their non-autistic peers, feelings of belonging were largely unavailable to them. Lay abstract Recent years have seen calls to amplify the voices of autistic people in research about their subjective experiences. Despite this, we know little about how autistic youth experience integrated physical education, particularly in the United States. The term integrated is used to describe a setting in which all students, regardless of educational needs, are educated in the same physical space. In this study, we sought to explore the perspectives of autistic youth toward their experiences in integrated physical education, and the roles of social interactions and relationships with peers in those experiences. Findings noted that several factors influenced the ways and extent to which our participants interacted with their peers during physical education. Unfortunately, most of our participants recalled experiencing bullying, and that physical education offered an environment where bullying was most frequent and comparatively unique compared to other contexts throughout the school day. The locker room, a space linked to physical education, was of particular concern because of a lack of teacher presence. Despite the negative views of and experiences in physical education, there was evidence of participants actively pursuing to connect with peers in this context. However, most instances where participants recalled pursuing friendship were not welcomed from others, which stunted their sense of belonging in this space. Given the role that belonging plays in what it means “to be included,” our research supports emerging ideas that even though autistic students were educated in the same physical spaces as their non-autistic peers, feelings of inclusion were largely absent.

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