Teacher Candidates’ Knowledge Base Related to ESL: A Case Study

Dr. Francis Bangou

Dr. Douglas Fleming

University of Ottawa/ Université d’Ottawa

Faculty of Education/ Faculté d’Éducation

PurposePurpose

Analyzing student teachers' knowledge base construction related to:

1) English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching and learning theories;

2) English Language Learners (ELL’s);

3) the act of teaching.

Research Questions1) What are the beliefs of these teacher

candidates regarding the field of ESL/ ELL and how do these beliefs change during the course?

2) Within the context of the course and the program, what contributes to the development of this knowledge base?

Knowledge Base• Freeman and Johnson (1998) argue that

teacher education “has focused more on what teachers need to know and on how they can be trained than on what they actually know, how this knowledge shaped what they do, or what the natural course of their professional development is over time”(p. 398).

We need to take into consideration: (a) the nature of the teacher-learner; (b) the nature of schools and schooling, (c) the nature of language teaching.

Teacher Candidates

• Teacher candidates are not empty vessels. In fact, learning to teach “is affected by the sum of a person’s experiences” (Freeman & Johnson,1998, p. 401).

• Teacher education research must better document and understand teacher learning so that we can move beyond discipline based content frameworks to a grounded descriptive analysis based on current classroom practice.

MethodsMethodsESL methodology course taught as an elective at a

large Canadian universityData collected and analyzed after completion of the

courseMost participants had prior experiences as second

language instructors or learners4 blog contributions from each of the 32 blog

participants8 follow up semi-structured interviewsAll volunteers selected for participationDiscourse analysis of blog entries

Beliefs and Experiences

Pre-service teachers prior beliefs were primarily based on their experiences as students in the program, as second language learners or as instructors.

“I recognize the importance of empathy in teachers, [speaking] as a person who suffers a great deal from testing anxiety”.

“My experience overseas has left me with the impression that…”

Teacher Candidates Realized that:

Teaching ESL is not just about teaching language skills

“My question and reflection upon today's class is: Is this more than just teaching English?”

ELLs are not monolithic

“There can be range of ELL students”.

ELL’s do not necessarily need pull-out classes

“I [once] believed it was best to have the students acquire the language skills necessary to communicate and understand with an ESL teacher apart from their peers. I now know that there are alternatives”.

Good ELL teaching techniques help everyone

“The suggestions can benefit all students in the classroom”.

Reinforcement of Some BeliefsBeliefs acquired in previous classes were

reinforced, most notably related to constructivist learning and teaching:

“As teachers we have to remember that our ELL students come to us with some sort of previous knowledge that we have to take into consideration”.

“Not surprisingly, the strategies discussed… are the same strategies that we… are being taught within our language classes”.

Struggling with BeliefsCandidates struggled with the course content

when it contradicted some of the beliefs they had previously acquired in teacher training:

“I was surprised to read this. In my Kindergarten class we learned that it is in fact very important”

and as language learners

“To me it does not make sense. Everyone should learn the alphabet… that’s how we all start learning”

Struggles occurred when contradictions occurred with practicum experiences:

“Some of the ideas are not realistic”.

“Life in the real world does not operate like this”.

“Realistically speaking, few schools have the funds for translators”.

The course was a site of constructions, deconstructions and reconstructions:

through classroom discussions and activities

  “I am looking forward to discussing the how to’s of effective assessment in class”.

opportunities to bring in other material

“I found this article online”.

and discussing the textbook

“Before reading this I believed…”

The Course Blog

“Within blog postings people would write really thoughtful things…It kept the thread of learning going”.

[its a] “really, really dynamic way [to learn because] it is easier to share your own personal experiences in that sort of forum. You have the time to, you know, spell it all out, the way they were thinking of it and then you had sort of a time as the reader to kind of go through it and reflect on it.”

DiscussionA teacher candidate’s ESL/ ELL knowledge

base is not just simply based on applied linguistics, psychology, methodology, or language acquisition theories.

It is constructed out of previous teaching and learning experiences.

This is a long developmental process of deconstruction and reconstruction that operates in social contexts and practices.