Teacher perspectives on linguistics in TESOL teacher education

Abstract

This paper reports on a study of 61 students and alumni of graduate programmes that specialise in training English language teachers. The goal was to examine the views of these students and alumni regarding the importance and/or relevance of linguistic theory for their pedagogical practice and to determine whether differences in perceptions were dependent upon varying years of teaching experience. Both rating data and responses to open-ended questions were collected. Results indicate that respondents across groups held positive views regarding the role of linguistic theory for their development as teachers, and they expressed interest in more direct linkages between theory and practice in their academic programmes. We discovered, however, that a U-shaped response pattern emerged: the most novice and most experienced teachers were more optimistic about the value of theory than those whose years of teaching experience fell somewhere between these two groups. Possible reasons for this developmental pattern are considered. The paper concludes that responses of these students and alumni provide important evidence that the primary rationale for including theoretical elements in language teacher education programmes should be to enhance the language awareness and professional development of teachers, not for making direct applications between theory and classroom practice.

Keywords:

• language awareness
• ESL
• teacher training
• metalinguistic knowledge

Notes

∗One person wrote N/A for phonetics/phonology though he/she did rate the other areas.

∗One respondent did not answer this question because he/she had not taken sociolinguistics yet.

∗Some respondents did not answer this question, stating that they had not yet taken enough methodology courses to be able to see how linguistic study would inform their practice.

1. Coursework in linguistic theory is defined in this paper as courses that focus on the core traditional areas of linguistics, such as phonology, morphology, syntax, etc. and examine how language functions as a system.

2. Our own MA TESL programme includes required courses in Principles of Linguistics, Second Language Acquisition, Language and Society, elective courses in Phonological Analysis, Syntactic Analysis, and Semantics and Pragmatics, alongside methodology-oriented courses. A review of MA TESL programme descriptions in other US and Canadian institutions (Garshick, 2002) shows this listing of required courses is similar to many other programmes.

3. Carter (1994, p. 5, cited in Andrews, 2007, p. 12) draws attention to the breadth of language awareness and says that a general awareness of language involves at least the following: (1) awareness of some of the properties of language; creativity and playfulness; its double meanings. (2) Awareness of the embedding of language within culture. Learning to read the language is learning about the cultural properties of the language. Idioms and metaphors, in particular, reveal a lot about the culture. (3) A greater self-consciousness about the forms of the language we use. We need to recognise that the relations between the forms and meanings of language are sometimes arbitrary, but that language is a system and that it is for the most part systematically patterned. (4) Awareness of the close relationship between language and ideology. It involves ‘seeing through language’ in other words.

4. Following Borg (2006), Woods (1996), and others working on language teacher cognition, we are not distinguishing between beliefs, knowledge, and assumptions due to their intertwined nature. Like Woods (1996), we also view beliefs, assumptions, and knowledge as points on a spectrum of meaning, rather than distinct concepts.

5. Indeed, some TESOL professionals believe that people can start teaching before examining theoretical explanations of teaching and learning and that this experience will form the base for the depth and breadth of professionalism they later gain through teacher education. (TESOL Teacher Education Interest Section discussion list, May 2007).

6. We classify as ‘novices’ student teachers who are just beginning to learn often context-free procedures of teaching and learning (cf. Berliner, 1994 reported in Andrews, 2007, p. 119–120).

7. The view that linguistic theories can be directly applied to language teaching is not one that has been held only by novice teachers. Early researchers (e.g. Lado, 1964) also attempted similar direct applications.

8. The observation that many experienced teachers in the study assign high relevance to their coursework in linguistic theory suggests possibilities for in-service teacher development, particularly those kinds of activities that would promote thoughtful reflection on learner language and development.