Mediating Innovation through Language Teacher Education

Description

This Element examines how pedagogical innovation in language classrooms can be mediated through language teacher education (LTE) by subjecting the author's own practices as a teacher educator to scrutiny. Starting from the premise that implementing innovation can be a challenging enterprise, effective LTE is framed as being built on helping practitioners to recognise and confront often deeply-rooted beliefs and adjust subsequent practices through critical reflection on what an innovation may look like both theoretically and practically. A critically reflective lens is then applied to the author's own work as a teacher educator over several years through a research approach known as self-study of teacher education practices or S-STEP. The approach highlights changes to the author's beliefs and practices as lessons emerged from beginning teachers' engagement with innovative ideas. These are presented with the aim of better understanding how teachers' beliefs and practices with regard to innovation can be enhanced effectively. Cover Title page Copyright page Mediating Innovation through Language Teacher Education Contents 1 Mediating Innovation through Language Teacher Education 1.1 The Aim and Organisation of This Element 1.2 Innovating the Classroom – from Teacher-Led to Learner-Centred 1.3 Innovating the Language Classroom – Communicative Approaches 1.4 Contexts Where TBLT Has Been Introduced – to Greater or Lesser Effect 2 Teacher Education as the Vehicle for Pedagogical Innovation 2.1 Teacher Cognition 2.2 Reflective Practice 2.3 S-STEP 3 Introducing the New Zealand Case 3.1 The ITE Programme 3.1.1 Background 3.1.2 Changes to the Teaching Languages Course 3.1.3 Supporting Reflection For-In-On Action 4 A Longitudinal Research Project into Mediating Pedagogical Innovation 4.1 The First Study (2012 4.2 Impacts on My Own Practices (2013–2014) 4.3 The Second Study (2015) 4.4 Impacts on My Own Practices (2015–2016) 4.5 The Third Study (2017) 4.6 The Fourth Study (2017) 4.7 Final Reflections (2017) 5 Discussion 5.1 Implications for S-STEP 5.1.1 The Tension between Promoting Innovation and Teacher Autonomy 5.1.2 The Tension between Sage on Stage and Guide on Side 5.1.3 The Tension between Successfully Innovating and Stakeholder Buy-In 5.2 To Innovate or Not to Innovate? 5.3 Questions that Remain 5.4 Implications for Language Teacher Education 5.5 Conclusion – Where to from Here? References