A process of becoming: A longitudinal analysis of pre-service teacher development through an MA TESL program
Open Access
- Author:
- Amory, Michael D
- Graduate Program:
- Applied Linguistics
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- June 06, 2019
- Committee Members:
- Dr. Karen E. Johnson, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Dr. Karen E. Johnson, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Dr. James P. Lantolf, Committee Member
Dr. Deryn P. Verity, Committee Member
Dr. Mari Haneda, Outside Member - Keywords:
- Second Language Teacher Education
Sociocultural Theory
Teacher/teaching expertise
Development
Language Teacher Cognition
Praxis - Abstract:
- While past second language (L2) teacher cognition research has critically examined what language teachers know, believe, and think (i.e., their mental lives) (cf. Borg, 2006), fundamental questions remain about the developmental trajectory of L2 teacher/teaching expertise. In a recent special issue of The Modern Language Journal, Kubanyiova and Feryok (2015) posed to the field the yet to be resolved questions: “How do language teachers create meaningful learning environments for their students?” and “How can teacher education, continuing professional development, and the wider educational and sociocultural context facilitate such learning in language teachers?” (p. 435). With these questions mind, the researchers concluded that “what constitutes a meaningful and worthwhile impact of teacher education is far from resolved” (Kubanyiova, 2012, as cited in Kubanyiova & Feryok, 2015, p. 436). Addressing these concerns, and grounded in Vygotskian Sociocultural Theory (SCT), this dissertation longitudinally examined the impacts of a series of SCT-informed second language teacher education (SLTE) pedagogy courses on the development of teacher/teaching expertise of a cohort of MA TESL pre-service teachers. Following this cohort over a two-year period, I empirically documented each pre-service teacher’s unfolding development-in-activity and detail how this development is mediated by and through their participation in the pedagogy and practices of SLTE. In particular, I examined the quality and character of the interactions between experienced teacher educators and pre-service teachers, how and what the preservice teachers are developing through their participation in the SLTE practices, and how their development enabled them to create productive language learning opportunities for their L2 students. This dissertation is in a unique position in that each of the three teacher educators followed is theoretically grounded in SCT. As such, these pedagogically-oriented courses are designed to be an arena of praxis. That is, they engage pre-service teachers in concrete goal-directed activities directly informed by, and intertwined with, theoretical instruction of how individuals and the human mind develop, as well as high-quality scientific knowledge. With praxis as their guiding principle, the teacher educators design practices (e.g., creating mediational spaces, promoting mindful conceptual development, providing opportunities for prolepsis) that create the conditions under which developmental processes may be set in motion, observed, and upon which intervention can take place as the pre-service teachers come to think about, conceptualize, and enact their teaching. Through their participation in the SCT-informed practices of SLTE and the mediating effects of context, the internalization of academic concepts (e.g., teach off your students, predictability, teaching is connecting, it depends) introduced by the teacher educators became “vehicle[s] for self-discovery” (Mahn & John-Steiner, 2002) as each pre-service teacher experienced a catharsis resulting in a qualitative transformation in their thinking about and enactment of teaching, as well as about themselves as teachers. This reconceptualization and transformation of thinking and teaching activity led to several outcomes for the enactment and embodiment of teacher/teaching expertise. As human agency plays a central role in development, however, the meaning and functional uses of the academic concepts developed in idiosyncratic and unique ways for each of the pre-service teachers. Documenting such development will not only bring relevance to SLTE, but will offer a more theorized, SCT-informed SLTE pedagogy with implications for the content, design, and enactment of SLTE programs.