Doktori (PhD) Disszertáció
Gordon T. G. Dobson
Teacher development: A case study
2010
Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem Pedagógiai és Pszichológiai Kar
ELTE PPK Neveléstudományi Doktori Iskola Doktori iskola vezetője:
Dr. Bábosik István DSc, egyetemi tanár Nyelvpedagógiai Doktori Program
Programvezető:
Dr. Károly Krisztina PhD, habil. egyetemi docens
Gordon T. G. Dobson
Teacher development: A case study
Témavezető: Dr. Szesztay Margit PhD, egyetemi adjunktus A bíráló bizottság elnöke: Prof. Dr. Kárpáti Andrea, egyetemi tanár
Bíráló: Dr. Uwe Pohl PhD, egyetemi docens Bíráló: Dr. Poór Zoltán CSc, egyetemi docens
A bizottság titkára: Dr. Holló Dorottya CSc, egyetemi docens A bizottság tagjai: Dr. Lazár Ildikó PhD, adjunktus
Dr. Loch Ágnes PhD, főiskolai docens Dr. Sárvári Judit PhD, egyetemi docens
2010
This dissertation is dedicated to Ágnes, Hanna and Philip - it’s a poor substitute for times missed.
Thanks go to Szesztay Margit for being a constant source of wisdom, constructive criticism and encouragement.
I want to express my gratitude to my parents, Alan and Joan Dobson, for creating such positive views of education so many decades ago.
Thanks must also go to Zentai Erzsébet for her help.
Lastly, thank you to all the students and colleagues whose comments and ideas can be found in these pages.
Abstract
This thesis examines an instant of teacher development at tertiary level. It makes use of the case study approach and employs exploratory practice as a means of collecting the necessary data. The development in question is that of a language teacher who makes the transition to teacher trainer. The case study approach is used because this is a long-term undertaking concentrating on one individual teacher. Exploratory practice is employed because the teacher did not wish to use intrusive research methods, preferring those which could be used as part of everyday practice. The findings should help those in a similar position.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Background ... 1
1.1 Development ... 1
1.2 Case study ... 2
1.3 The rationale behind the choice of research area ... 4
1.4 The research context ... 4
1.5 Data sources ... 5
1.6 The research method ... 5
1.7 Procedures for data collection and analysis ... 5
1.8 Summary ... 6
Chapter 2 The chronology of my teaching ... 7
2.1 Introduction ... 7
2.2 My teaching career to date – An overview ... 7
2.3 Pre-training ... 8
2.3.1 State school language assistant ... 8
2.3.2 University lector ... 9
2.4 Post-training ... 10
2.4.1 Freelance Berlin ... 10
2.4.2 British Council Budapest ... 12
2.4.3 ELTE Budapest ... 14
2.4.4 PhD in Language Pedagogy ... 15
2.5 My research career to date ... 16
2.5.1 Research concerns ... 17
2.6 Fine-tuning the research ... 18
2.6.1 Charting the move from teacher to teacher trainer ... 19
2.7 Conclusion ... 21
Chapter 3 Literature review ... 22
3.1 Introduction ... 22
3.1.1 Teacher development, Action Research and Collaborative or Cooperative Development ... 22
3.2 Teacher development ... 23
3.2.1 Development and the teacher: Background ... 23
3.2.2 Teacher development and teacher training ... 27
3.2.3 Potential misconceptions about teacher development ... 29
3.2.4 The personal nature of teacher development ... 31
3.2.5 Pre-service teacher training ... 34
3.2.6 My understanding of teacher development ... 37
3.3 Teacher training and teacher development ... 38
3.4 Teacher training and teacher development: Historical perspectives ... 39
3.5 Teacher training and teacher development: Examining the differences ... 41
3.6 Teacher training and teacher development: Definitions ... 43
3.6.1 In-service teacher training (INSETT) ... 46
3.7 Language classroom research ... 51
3.8 Action research ... 52
3.9 Reflective practice ... 54
3.10 Exploratory practice ... 57
3.11 Conclusion ... 59
Chapter 4 Research design and method ... 60
4.1 Introduction ... 60
4.2 Research aims ... 60
4.3 Research design ... 64
4.4 Research method ... 65
4.4.1 Diary writing as a research tool ... 66
4.4.2 Survey data ... 67
4.4.3 Feedback ... 68
4.5 Methodological considerations ... 69
4.5.1 Students as partners in the research endeavour. ... 69
4.5.2 Validating the case study approach ... 69
4.5.3 Thick description ... 70
4.5.4 Grounded theory ... 70
4.5.5 An emic versus an etic perspective ... 72
4.5.6 Credibility ... 73
4.5.7 Generalisability ... 74
4.6 The issue of research ethics ... 77
4.7 Data collection ... 78
4.7.1 Data collection procedures ... 78
4.8 Data sources ... 79
4.9 Conclusion ... 83
Chapter 5 Baseline data: Preliminary research and pilot study ... 84
5.1 Introduction ... 84
5.2 Overview – Preliminary research ... 84
5.3 Research instruments used prior to spring 2005 ... 85
5.4 Themes ... 86
5.5 Choosing and naming ... 87
5.6 The dilemma of naming ... 87
5.7 Why effectiveness? ... 88
5.8 The pilot study ... 88
5.9 Conclusion ... 91
Overview of Chapters 6 - 9 ... 92
Chapter 6 Results and discussion of Research Question 1 ... 93
6.2 Introduction ... 93
6.2 Research Question : How should the teacher trainer share their own teaching experience and expertise in the delivery of a methodology course? ... 93
6.3 How far should the teacher trainer feel obliged to do this? ... 98
6.4 How can the teacher trainer avoid the temptation to lead their students down their own preferred methodological path? ... 103
6.5 Conclusion ... 111
Chapter 7 Results and discussion of Research Question 2 ... 112
7.1 Introduction ... 112
7.2 Research Quesiton: Students on methodology courses often comment that they have no teaching experience. As far as you are concerned, what does having ‘no teaching experience’ mean? ... 112
7.3 What are the implications of this for the teacher trainer? ... 118
7.4 What counts as experience? ... 125
7.5 Conclusion ... 129
Chapter 8 Results and discussion of Research Question 3 ... 130
8.1 Introduction ... 130
8.2 Research Question: What is a teaching professional? ... 130
8.3 What is ‘classroom culture’? ... 134
8.4 How are you initiated into the culture of the classroom? ... 140
8.5 What is expected of you by your future teaching colleagues, supervisors, mentors and teacher trainers in terms of knowledge of the classroom? ... 143
8.6 Conclusion ... 146
Chapter 9 Results and discussion of Research Question 4 ... 147
9.1 Introduction ... 147
9.2 Research Question: How can the course materials, in particular the readings, best be exploited for maximum comprehension and usefulness? ... 147
9.3 How can the theoretical best be linked to the practical? ... 153
9.4 How can the course materials be made more interactive/participatory? ... 158
9.5 Conclusion ... 162
Chapter 10 Conclusions ... 163
10.1 Introduction ... 163
10.2 Conclusion ... 166
References ... 167
Appendices ... 183184
List of Tables and Figures
Figure 1 Time line of the chronology of my teaching ... 8
Figure 2 A sequence for developing competences ... 26
Figure 3 Grenfell's (1998) 'triangle of training' ... 36
Figure 4 The training – development continuum ... 39
Figure 5 Gebhard's (1996) The four –stage cycle of exploratory practice ... 58
Figure 6 The three ways of examining teacher development ... 62
Figure 7 Research instruments ... 65
Table 1 Characteristics of the lector’s lot ... 14
Table 2 Research question 1 ... 62
Table 3 Research question 2 ... 63
Table 4 Research question 3 ... 63
Table 5 Research question 4 ... 64
Table 6 Consideration of ANN- 462 Methodology Foundation I ... 79
Table 7 Consideration of ANN- 464 Methodology Foundation II ... 80
Table 8 Consideration of ANN-466 Methodology Specialisation Tier – Focus on the teacher...80
Table 9 Consideration of ANN-466 Methodology Specialisation Tier – Teaching English for business...81
Table 10 Consideration of ANN-465 Methodology Specialisation Lecture – Teaching ESP...82
Chapter 1
Background
1.1 Development
What is teacher development? Teacher development can mean different things to different teachers. For some teachers teacher development is completely synonymous with training and they use the two terms interchangeably, for others it is something completely different from training and the two are not at all connected. Another group of teachers considers that while the two are not the same, they are nevertheless linked in some fundamental way. Reconciling the views of the first two groups is far from easy, and is outwith the scope of this study; it is the third view, that development and training are linked yet different which lies is at the heart of this dissertation. The nature of development, specifically development for the practising language teacher, will be discussed later in the dissertation. To further complicate matters, in addition to the term 'teacher development' education professionals refer to various types of development: 'personal development', 'professional development', 'personal professional development' or 'continuing professional development'. The literature is replete with distinctions between develepment and training, just as it is with the various types of development (Allwright, 1999a, Bailey, Curtis & Nunan, 2001, Blandford, 1998, Boyd, 2005, Crookes, 2003, Edge 1992a & 1992b, Foord, 2009, Hargreaves & Fullan, 1993, Kiely, 1996, Mann, 2005, Perkins, 2002, Richards & Farrell, 2005, Richards, Platt & Platt 1992, Thornbury, 2006, Ur, 1998 and Wright & Bolitho, 2007).
As far as consideration of the different guises under which teacher development can be found is concerned, Mann (2005) concludes that a 'distinction between professional development and teacher development is not that marked in the literature'; however, it will
prove useful to be aware of what meanings are given to the various kinds of development mentioned here. Mann explains that at 'an institutional level it is more common to use the term 'continuing professional develoment' or CPD', while 'professional development is career orientated and has a narrower more instrumental and utilitarian remit'… whereas 'teacher development' is 'more inclusive of personal and moral dimensions' (p.104). This three-way distinction is important because we can now locate what the term development means for the author of the present study.
Development for me is not synonymous with training; however, it is not entirely separate either, the two are linked and the existence of the one does not preclude that of the other. In addition, in terms of the type of develoment which is of interest, it is the more personal teacher development, rather than the CPD of institutions or the professional development solely for career advancement, which is my major concern and area of investigation. Throughout the thesis it is teacher development which is referred to; unless there is a need to specify, for example CPD or professional development, teacher development will serve as the default term.
1.2 Case study
The aim of the research described here is to present an example of teacher development within the teacher training context at tertiary level. The essence of the study is to capture instances of my own development in terms of my recent transition from being a teacher to becoming a teacher trainer. In order to examine this I have chosen to examine an area of my own practice using a limited number of research instruments. However, in order to bring these together I have chosen to view the research as a case study.
To describe what a case study is, is no easy task. It may be useful to consider two definitions of what it is not. McKernan (1996) is clear in stating that it 'should be noted that case study employs many research methods and that it is not a single method that can be packaged and used as a prescription' (pp.75- 76), rather a case study makes use of a variety of research methods and data collection tools. Similarly, McDonough and McDonough (1997) advocate caution in asserting that a 'case study… is not itself a research method nor the equivalent of one: it employs methods and techniques in the investigation of an object of interest' (p. 203) and as a result is 'methodologically eclectic' (p. 207). In more positive terms, Nunan (1992) posits that a case study can be seen as 'a 'hybrid' in that it generally utilises a range of methods for collecting and analysing data, rather than being restricted to a single procedure' (p. 75). In support of this view, Robson (1993) states that 'the basic rule is that the nature of the data collection should depend on the kind of study that you are doing' (p. 157), and thereby underlines the eclecticism of the case study. Simons (2009) offers a definition which includes all the preceding while also being broader in its coverage. For Simons the case study is
an in-depth exploration from multiple perspectives of the complexity and uniqueness of a particular project, policy, institution, programme or system in a 'real life' context.
It is research-based, inclusive of different methods and evidence-led. The primary purpose is to generate in-depth understanding of a specific topic (as in a thesis), programme, policy, institution or system to generate knowledge and/or inform policy development, professional practice and civil or community action. (p.21)
The research presented here reflects a number of points from the above definition: the complex nature of the tertiary teacher training situation; its very 'real life' context; its utilisation of different methods of conducting research and collecting data; its proposal to generate a detailed understanding of one aspect of professional practice.
1.3 The rationale behind the choice of research area
Part of the rationale for the study presented here is to reach an understanding of what the transition or 'the “shift” from teacher to teacher educator' (Matei, Bernaus, Heyworth, Pohl and Wright, 2007, p.5) means for my own personal teacher development. However, under the circumstances, that on its own would be too narrow and limited. In wanting to better understand my own situation, I realised that I also need to do something akin to Lamb and Simpson (2003) where Simpson attempted to 'relate more to his students and empathise with their struggle' (p.55). As I was also new to the teacher trainer role I felt a certain empathy with the students coming to be trainee teachers. In very many ways it was a clear example of 'the teacher as learner' (p.56). In order to find out about myslef, I also found out about the trainee teachers and came to undestand them better. There was a second rationale, I wanted to make the findings from my research available to other teachers who might find themselves in the same situation. As Fraser, Kennedy, Reid and McKinney (2007) contend, teacher development activities can act 'as potentially knowledge generating for the wider educational community' (p.161). The third element was to validate the case study as one means of professional development.
1.4 The research context
The research context is my teacher training work as part of my role as a full-time member of the Department of English Applied Linguitics (henceforeth DEAL) in the School of English and American Studies (henceforth SEAS) at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest (heneforeth ELTE).
1.5 Data sources
The source of data for this study was the 13 language teaching methodology seminars, two of which were complusory courses, and two of which were electives, and one elective methodology lecture which I held during the period between spring 2005 and spring 2008 inclusive, a period of three and a half years.
1.6 The research method
The research method chosen was to make use of three instruments: a teaching diary;
classroom surveys; and end of semester feedback sheets. The reasoning for this choice was to make use of data that was, as far as possible, non-intrusive and non-parasitc (Allwright 2003), or for which the collection, as far as possible, involved the use of of activities that formed part of the teaching and training in the seminars.
1.7 Procedures for data collection and analysis
The instruments detailed above were chosen to ensure that data could be collected on a regular basis and analysis in an ongoing way. The diary was written as quickly as possible after the lessons, surveys were conducted as part of the course on a number of occasions for a variety of purposes, and the semester feedback sheets were administered, according to DEAL guidleines, in a dedicated time slot during the final lesson of the semester.
The reason for the use of all these instruments was threefold: firstly to ensure that triangulation could be achieved; secondly to guarantee that a reasonable amount of data could be collected which would provide different perspectives; and thirdly to make sure that
given the unpredictablity of the classroom, data could still be collected in all foreseeable and unforeseeable classroom circumstances.
1.8 Summary
The dissertation is divided into ten chapters. Following this introductory chapter, Chapter 2 presents a chronolgy of the authors teaching as background to the study and the influences upon it. Chapter 3 then provides an overview of teacher development, discussing training in the process, along with addressing some of the wider concerns of education. Next Chapter 4 addresses the research design and method of the study as well as introducing the four research questions. It also provides further information on the research instruments and data sources, as well as introducing the study's most important participants, the trainee teachers. It also discusses a number of important methodological considerations. In Chapter 5 preliminary research and the pilot study are discussed. Chapters 6 to 9 are the results and discussion of each of the four research questions. Chapter 10 concludes the dissertation, discusses the implications for teacher training, including a number of limitations and ends by proposing areas for further research.
Chapter 2
The chronology of my teaching
2.1 Introduction
I include a chronology of my teaching in order to 'locate the background and significant features' (Simons, 2009, p. 71) which have ultimately contributed to the research presented here. I wish to divide the chronology into two distinct yet overlapping parts. These will be a description of my teaching career to date followed by a description of the study proper. The chronology will span a period of approximately twenty years, beginning in 1985 with a year spent as a language assistant in a state school in western Germany and concluding in the spring of 2008.
2.2 My teaching career to date – An overview
Two distinct periods are described here. The time I spent as a state school language assistant during the 1985/1986 school year, and a later period of three academic years, 1988- 1991, spent as a university lector. These four years I shall term pre-training since they refer to the time spent teaching without any formal teacher training or formalised teaching qualifications. In the spring of 1992 I took part in a diploma level teacher training course and subsequently gained the Diploma in Teaching English as a Foreign Language to Adults (Dip.TEFLA) in the summer of the same year. The period from summer 1992 to the present I have termed post-training. The timeline below illustrates this:
1985/6 1988/9 1989/1991 1991/2 1992/7 1997/9 1999/2000 2000/8 2008/10 Language
Assistant
University Lector
University
Lector Freelance Freelance
British Council Teacher
ELTE-TTK Lector
ELTE-BTK
Lector Freelance
Figure 1 Timeline of the chronology of my teaching
2.3 Pre-training
This section deals with three geographic locations, the Rhineland Palatinate, Rostock and Berlin, and two teaching situations, those being an undergraduate teaching assistant and working as a lector at two institutions of tertiary education.
2.3.1 State school language assistant
The first period I describe is that prior to any contact with formal training. Essentially, I can begin my teaching career in 1985 when I took up the post of a language assistant in a combined state primary and secondary school (ages 7 to 16) in the Federal Republic of Germany. The role of a language assistant was threefold:
• to provide language input to host country learners of English;
• to enable British undergraduate language students to spend a year in the country of their language of study;
• to experience the school environment first-hand by acting as a teacher and language resource to the institution concerned.
Such positions were remunerated and the language assistant was expected to participate in the academic life of their institution, albeit to varying degrees. However, very
little preparation, except a short two-day orientation focusing on basic classroom survival skills, was offered to language assistants before they took up their posts. Most assistants had little or no teaching experience and were expected to gain the requisite skills at post. There were not always opportunities or circumstances for this to occur. Despite enjoying the 1985/1986 academic year, I most definitely did not see my career being in teaching as a result of my assistantship. Since my motivation was to improve my own language skills and extend my cultural knowledge, the assistantship was a means to an end. At the end of the assistantship I returned to university to complete the remaining two years of my studies.
2.3.2 University lector
Following graduation in 1988, I took up a post as an English language lector at a university in the German Democratic Republic. Again, apart from a brief orientation (this time with a rather more political than pedagogical slant) little preparation was offered. In situ I was likewise offered little on-the-job training, and therefore found myself teaching as I had been taught at school, and more recently, at university. In essence I continued to teach in very much the same way as I taught in 1985/1986. However, given that I was now working with adults, the one difference I did introduce was that I consciously based a lot of my teaching on that of our own language assistants from university.
For the next three years I worked as a lector in Rostock on the Baltic coast, and subsequently in (East) Berlin. Again, initially at least, my motivations were linguistic and cultural rather than any commitment to the teaching profession. Nevertheless, over time I found that I did genuinely have a liking for, and interest in, the job and role of teacher, particularly at tertiary level.
However, I found myself acutely aware of my shortcomings in terms of pedagogy, practical as well as theoretical, and ever more conscious of a need to see English as a skill rather than exclusively as a subject of academic enquiry. I had reached the stage where I could no longer rely on my resources of experience; my apprenticeship of observation no longer sufficed. I had developed in two significant ways. Firstly, in terms of my realisation that I had found something I enjoyed and felt challenged by, enough that is to wish to pursue it further, and secondly, that I needed to acquire knowledge and skills to enable me to do this.
Circumstances conspired to have me in the United Kingdom for the 1991/1992 academic year where I was able to follow a formal course in EFL methodology. The Diploma in Teaching English as a Foreign Language to Adults (Dip.TEFLA), which I gained in 1992, proved to be the first step on a long journey of conscious and unconscious personal professional development.
2.4 Post-training
This section deals with two geographic locations, Berlin and Budapest, and three teaching situations, freelance, private sector language schools and public tertiary education.
2.4.1 Freelance Berlin
Following the Dip.TEFLA, I began what I now see as the second and ongoing period of my teaching career. In the summer of 1992 I returned to Berlin and worked freelance for a total of five years. During this time, I worked as a teacher for the public and private sectors (colleges, universities and non-university/tertiary adult education, as well as private language schools and corporations), and as a teacher trainer for tertiary institutions. As a freelance teacher and trainer I had no recourse to any kind of institutional further training or
professional development opportunities. Operating very much alone, as is the lot of many freelance teachers, I found myself drawing considerably on the knowledge resources of the Dip.TEFLA, both in terms of its theoretical content, and the opportunities it provided in terms of teaching practice and discussion of the same.
Nevertheless, without being overtly aware of any significant shortcomings, I soon came to realise that I needed a wider and deeper knowledge base than that offered by the Dip.TEFLA. The then practical and pragmatic solution was to begin a master's level course. I chose to study for an MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).
This I did over three years via distance learning (DL), thus enabling me to finance the course by being able to continue working whilst studying. At the same time, I was involved in the foundation of a regional teachers’ association which aimed at being a professional forum and self-help group. We succeeded in establishing an association offering workshops on various aspects of language teaching as well as on social, legal and financial issues related to teaching, particularly freelance work. It was an active organisation with a healthy mix of non- native and native speakers, a wide range of experience and qualifications, and representing some eight or more nations. Without knowing it, this did indeed constitute a type of teacher development.
Both the Dip.TEFLA and the MA (TESOL) provided me with a wealth of resources:
theoretical, practical and experiential. However, they both put forward knowledge and practice which were prescriptive. This was especially so in terms of the PPP (presentation, practice and production) paradigm from the Dip.TEFLA, and the emphasis on accumulating a considerable body of theoretical linguistic knowledge which was to be applied in the classroom from the MA. In neither was any mention made of how the teacher was to develop amidst the knowledge and practice they were being provided with; the focus was very consciously on either the student, or on the subject knowledge, that is, linguistics applied.
During these five years spent doing freelance work, this situation was not in any way disturbing or problematic; as a busy teacher I was involved in the business of day-to-day teaching, concentrating more on the likes of preparing classes, writing materials and marking student work than any conscious consideration of whether or not I was developing. Added to which I was studying for the MA (TESOL) and running a freelance business. Nevertheless, as during the pre-training stage described above, I again felt there was something lacking in terms of teacher development outside of the practical and theoretical knowledge I was gaining during this time. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, the situation was a clear. However, at the time I was not sufficiently aware and articulate enough to realise and express such an idea.
2.4.2 British Council Budapest
A move to Budapest in 1997 saw me working for an international English language provider, and after five years of freelance work I was back inside a very institutionalised school environment. As a member of a large and varied teaching staff in respect of age, experience, qualifications and inclination, I soon became aware of a pedagogical management framework apparently placing considerable emphasis on teacher development and ultimately teacher performance. As a competitive commercial entity, the school had a clear interest in portraying its teachers and teaching as being of the highest quality.
As well as the formalities of a job description, individual job plans and line- management, in-house teacher development was a compulsory component of the teachers' timetable and part of the routine of life in the centre. More knowledgeable teachers, and sometimes academic management, were responsible for passing on knowledge and skills to other, usually newer and more inexperienced teachers. For all teachers there were possibilities for development inside and outside the school. This could be formalised in terms of courses
relating directly or indirectly to preferences and interests (with the potential for later promotion in the school or the wider network), for example the Dip.TEFLA for less experienced teachers, qualifications in teaching English for Business, Computer Aided Language Learning (CALL), teaching young learners, academic management, or even the sponsored learning of Hungarian. In a less formalised, but by no means less valuable way, teachers were encouraged to observe fellow teachers, be peer-observed themselves, team- teach and take on levels or areas of teaching new to them. Moreover, all teachers irrespective of experience were encouraged to contribute to the centre’s stock of materials as well as to actively participate in the development sessions already outlined.
Reality of course intruded in that teachers were contracted to teach 24 classroom contact hours per week and teaching had priority over all of the above. Everyday working put extreme pressure on all members of staff, with the result that the compulsory and formalised elements of teacher development were on many occasions severely constrained. Less formalised elements tended to be quickly forgotten once a semester got under way.
On a personal level, practical and less practical difficulties aside, the teacher development framework offered by the school, as briefly described above, proved to be pivotal in raising my awareness not just of the absence of teacher development (personal and professional) during the time prior to my working in the school, but also the clear and pressing need for such. Clear and pressing despite, or more accurately because of the Dip.TEFLA, the prestige qualification in the school and in the wider British influenced English language teaching world. I did therefore avail myself of a number of development opportunities ranging from learning Hungarian, peer observation, team teaching, teaching new courses, gaining further qualifications as well as leading teacher development sessions and giving conference papers. Having a line-management function, I was also responsible for the professional well-being of three other teacher colleagues.
2.4.3 ELTE Budapest
Returning to tertiary education in 1999, I was instantly cut off from teacher development as I had known it over the previous two years. No such notions on the institutional or departmental level appeared to exist. It was, and effectively remained, a case of everyone being responsible for themselves, or a general attitude that at university level people know what they are doing and need no further training, education, development or what one will, apart that is, of course, from doctoral studies, post-doctoral studies and publish-or-perish. Members of the university considered themselves to be faculty not teachers.
On a personal and professioanl level the lector post offered a number of advantages, as well as having a number of disadvantageous characteristics. These are set out in the table below. The positive aspects of the job are self-explanatory and show the range of possibilities open to a lector. In terms of negatives, explanation is needed. The notion of being neither fish nor foul refers to the role of the lector, primarily to input language and culture, they are more teacher than faculty and hence have very little status within the academic hierarchy of the university. Job security and pay are concerns of all those working in education and are outwith the scope of this discusssion.
Table 1 Characteristics of the lector's lot
Negatives: Positives:
• neither fish nor fowl;
• virtually non-existent job security;
• low pay;
• low down in the academic hierarchy.
• myriad opportunities to meet a variety of colleagues;
• freedom to teach a range of course types to a great diversity of students;
• introduction to a plethora of jobs and tasks;
• intimate acquaintance with academe.
In summary, the lector role confers numerous advantages and benefits, but is balanced out to a certain, if much lesser extent, by a number of disadvantages and drawbacks.
2.4.4 PhD in Language Pedagogy
Beginning the PhD in Language Pedagogy, which coincided with my return to university teaching, was not, at least consciously, seen as a form of teacher development at the time. It was rather a case of qualification inflation, after an MA the next logical step, for me, appeared to be a doctorate. Unconsciously, the decision can be seen as a further striving for opportunities to develop. For as much as I enjoyed working in the British Council English Teaching Centre I no longer felt it was the type of teaching I wanted to do for the rest of my career. Whilst for Hungarian colleagues working in higher education a PhD acted as an insurance against ever present job redundancy in academic circles, I did not have such pressure at that time.
The PhD in Language Pedagogy does indeed offer scope for personal and professional growth. It opens new vista and can act as a forum for professional exchange and debate.
However, despite its clear applied nature it appeared to focus on areas that are often quantifiable, emphasising the subject matter as object or foregrounding the language learner.
During my compulsory courses only one brought the teacher to the fore. Obviously all thesis topics within the programme were worthy in their own right as contributions to the individual and to the field. However, I felt a great opportunity was being wasted with too little stress
placed on the role and the place of the teacher. Moreover, too little mention was made of how this important classroom participant could develop and grow.
However, I came to realise that the PhD could offer me avenues of personal and professional growth via self-development and exploration. This was a result of five courses that were offered, the compulsory first year course Focus on the language teacher (the companion course to Focus on the language learner) and four electives Training the trainer, Language classroom research, Teacher development through exploration and Group facilitation. The attraction of these courses lay in their reflecting an interest which began to develop around the year 2000, but which took rather longer to be made conscious and become articulated. This was an interest in how teachers can develop, at all stages, but, particularly for me, at the stage when a teacher has collected their various diplomas and masters degrees, and as a result is considered by many, sometimes even including themselves, to be a finished entity. I perceived a clear desire to move on in the sense of improving further as a classroom practioner rather than just forwards or upwards into academic management and administration as discussed by Lortie (1975):
The major opportunity for making status gains rests in leaving classroom work for full-time administration. The primary benefits earned by persistence in teaching (annual increases in pay) are outcomes of seniority and course-taking, the incentive system is not organised to respond to variations in effort and talent among classroom teachers. (p. 99)
2.5 My research career to date
The above has detailed my teaching experience, almost exclusively in adult education, in the public and private sectors. Now I wish to turn to my experience as a researcher: this is a much shorter chronology and an area of activity where I am still inexperienced and oftentimes uncertain. However, as should have become clear from the preceding paragraph, the requirements of the taught component of the doctoral studies acted as a fillip to investigating
my own classroom practice and thus set a course for conducting research in my own classrooms with my own students.
2.5.1 Research concerns
As should also be clear by now one of my overriding concerns was to avoid conducting research of a parasitic nature (see Chapter 1), that is the tendency to research ‘on’
people and situations, rather than ‘with’ people in their situations.
The rationale for my choice of research topic as outlined in Chapter 1 sought to illustrate my understanding of what can constitute doctoral research within applied linguistics, or more specifically within the field of language pedagogy. In doing this my aim was to utilise research means that have as little intrusive impact on the classroom as possible. Whilst I acknowledge that all research is, perforce, intrusive, I wished to minimise its impact as much as possible within my own classrooms. My motivation for this stemmed predominantly from my own experience of having research thrust upon me. By this I mean having teaching colleagues conduct their research on the classrooms and students where I have taught.
One example should serve to illustrate the point. This process of ‘having teaching colleagues conduct their research often entailed a process of being co-opted, coerced or forced to partake in someone else's research. Whilst wishing to adopt an accommodating attitude and contribute to the creation of a positive professional atmosphere in one the institutions where I worked, I found myself becoming ever more resistant to such requests, and eventually very much annoyed, so much so that on later occasions towards the end of the academic year I openly refused to assist further. This was a less than collegial attitude, but I was no longer prepared to tolerate further such intrusions on my students learning opportunities and my classroom practice.
My reason was not just a growing annoyance at such intrusions and at having classroom time stolen from students, but a burgeoning dislike of such research processes. This dislike was made manifest in the attitude of those colleagues who sought to take data from those they viewed as their research subjects, that is people (my students and myself, for example) and places (our classrooms), without offering anything in return. For me at the time this became unacceptable and lead to my subsequent point-blank refusal to offer further assistance. Later, whilst reading for the Language classroom research elective I happened upon the notion of 'parasitic research' (Allwright 1999b) and found intellectual and practical solace in my earlier actions.
As a result of these two occurrences, being researched and refusing to sanction it further, I made a conscious decision to choose a research methodology, or more accurately an approach to conducting research, which would attempt to minimise intrusion and avoid conducting research that only took rather than also contribute to the classrooms where it was carried out. I vowed not to become a parasitic researcher viewing my temporary hosts as a source of data yet worthy of no further thought and consideration once their data had been taken.
Adopting such a stance led me to choose the research contexts, data sources and the research method given in Chapter 1. However, it took a considerable period of time to fine- tune a research area which I could examine within the confines laid down by the requirements of a doctoral thesis; Chapter 4 provides details of this.
2.6 Fine-tuning the research
Inspired as I was in 2000 by the compulsory courses Focus on the teacher, and such electives as Language classroom research and Teacher development through exploration in
2001 it took me at least 18 months to realise that conducting a broad sweep approach to the study of a teacher’s professional development would break the bounds of a doctorate. The Group facilitation elective in 2002 made it clear that a narrow focus within the wider field of teacher development was possible and that adopting a case study approach to teacher development was appropriate for doctoral research. Nevertheless, the process of adequately narrowing down and fine-tuning the research topic had to wait a further three years until 2005 when I was able to identify an area of my practice which could be sufficiently delineated in order to offer a clear focus and a potential for research.
2.6.1 Charting the move from teacher to teacher trainer
This focus and potential was a wish on my part to teach the two Methodology Foundation courses offered by DEAL as mentioned in Chapter 1. At this point it is of fundamental importance that I clarify not just the reasons for, but also the circumstances of, my decision to teach these course types. My principal reasons stemmed from a keen interest, and it must be admitted a nagging wish over many years, to teach English language teaching methodology at tertiary level. Although I had already taught a course in business English methodology on numerous occasions since 2001 at DEAL, and also for Budapest’s Municipal Pedagogical Institute since 2000, I did not consider myself a teacher of methodology, that is a teacher trainer. My work teaching the methodology of business English teaching was, I felt, a natural outcome of my own experience of teaching business English in the public and private sectors, and of my own ongoing interest in the business world, business English and the wider field of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). I had until then lacked the confidence to attempt teaching a course in the methodology of English language teaching (ELT). As above, I did not consider myself a teacher trainer (despite experience pointing to the contrary outlined in
section 2.4 above). This may, in part have stemmed from a DEAL departmental ruling requiring staff to have five years’ experience in the department before they could observe and assess the department’s trainee teachers during their teaching practice in school. I misinterpreted this as also excluding me from teaching ELT methodology until these requisite five years had passed.
As with many practitioners who work as teacher trainers, I self-selected myself to teach methodology and to train future teachers (Kurtoglu Eken, 2012, p.7). Somewhat to my surprise, I was able to teach the Methodology Foundation I course in spring 2005. Between spring 2005 and spring 2008 I taught Methodology Foundation I and Methodology Foundation II four times each. In addition, I continued to teach a Methodology Specialisation course on the teaching of business English, as well as the more recently developed Methodology Specialisation Tier- Focus on the teacher. The opportunity to lecture on ESP in the autumn of 2007 added a further teaching experience.
Having taught the two Foundation courses I began to look upon myself as a teacher trainer as well as a teacher. However, more importantly than this changed perception of self, I was able to collect and record data on a new development within my own practice. Unlike the data I had been collecting previously on courses and teaching I was already very familiar with, the data gleaned from the Foundation courses, beginning in spring 2005, offered the opportunity to gather data in, and on, uncharted waters. I could research my new role (given the caveat that I was not wholly unfamiliar with the trainer role per se as the chronology of my teaching exemplifies) as a teacher of ELT methodology and teacher trainer.
2.7 Conclusion
My teaching career to date has exposed me to a wide range of students in a variety of teaching situations, teaching for a variety of purposes. Now having started the move into teacher training I find myself very much in the role of the learner once again; learning that is to teach teaching. This is an opportunity that I purposefully sought out, yet it is also one which offers considerable chances to develop as a teacher, personally, and it must be said, professinally. Chapter 3 will now review the literture on teacher development.
Chapter 3
Literature review
3.1 Introduction
There are a variety of ways to develop as a teacher: Five will be discussed here:
language classroom research; collaborative development; action research; reflective practice;
and exploratory practice. However, before these are considered, the bulk of the review will be devoted to teacher development, as indicated in Chapter 1.
Whether the situation is to be bemoaned or not, the teacher's lot is a lonely one (Bailey, Curtis and Nunan, 2001, p.10). Once a classroom door is shut behind the teacher, they are very much on their own: the focus of attention may, temporarily, be on other elements and phenomena in the classroom, but the prime mover and arbiter of classroom activity remains the classroom teacher. This role and responsibility of classroom teachers can neither be removed nor abdicated without obviously and radically altering the reality of the classroom. Teacher development is discussed here as a valuable way of ensuring that classroom teachers have the means at their disposal to contemplate, reflect upon, understand and where need be, change their practice for their own benefit and that of their students.
3.1.1 Teacher development, Action Research and Collaborative or Cooperative Development
In terms of this thesis, teacher development is synonymous with neither action research nor collaborative development. Action research is acknowledged as one type of
teacher development, albeit an influential one, exemplifying an approach to problem solving in the classroom; collaborative or cooperative development meanwhile emphasises collaborative/cooperative ventures. Influential titles in the field of action research (Allwright and Bailey, 1991, Chaudron 2000 and Wallace, 1998) and those in that of collaborative/
cooperative development (Edge, 1992a and Burns, 1999) underline these preoccupations.
However, the prime focus of this thesis is on the development of an individual teacher and is presented as a case study. In order to provide a background to the case that is to follow, it is necessary to provide a review of the literature that has influenced the thinking and ideas which have helped form this thesis, as well as offering a snapshot of the current state of the field.
3.2 Teacher development
This section will deal with teacher development and explore the various terms associated with development; some of which are used synonymously, some of which are used inappropriately and some of which are used inaccurately. For this reason a number of terms will be introduced in an attempt to find a working definition of teacher development for the purposes of this thesis. In addition, the distinction between training and development will be made and examined in some depth, including a treatment of the term education. The examination begins with background information on the current state of teacher develoment, in particular in the United Kingdom, a country where CPD has become all important across both the public and private sectors (Boyd, 2005).
3.2.1 Development and the teacher: Background
For Cohen, Manion and Morrison (1996) 'education is… problematic and not susceptible to simple recipes for success' (p. 37). As a result it becomes incumbent upon students teachers, and I would contend, both 'recently and distantly qualified teachers' (p. 28) 'to nurture their own development …constantly aware of the shifting currents of debate and practice, and becoming increasingly able to exercise autonomy, collegiality and professional judgement' (p. 37).
Nicholls and Jarvis (2002) refer to the recent situation in the United Kingdom, where there is to be found a 'rhetoric that teaching and research are of equal importance' (p. 1) and consequently its government sought 'to create a better balance between teaching, research and scholarship (…attainment and achievement) in higher education' (p. 1). This implies a need 'to reconsider the role of the lecturer in teaching and learning, the changing 'nature of student intake, curriculum and pedagogy, and the way they are affecting the way in which academics have to function' (p.2). In addition, the British context reflects a heightened acceptance by large swathes of society of the ongoing socio-economic swing towards consumerism and entrepreneurism. As White, Hockley, van der Horst Jansen and Laughner (2008) point out when discussing the management of English language teaching operations throughout the world, there is now 'a focus on quality, efficiency, improved productivity, self-management, accountability to stakeholders and an emphasis on service', which is all pervasive. It 'is a feature of managerialism… in which codes of practice and the interests of the client are prioritized' (p.5).
While this reflects the pressures facing the teaching profession in the United Kingdom at all levels in terms of the relationship between the supplier and the consumer of educational services this eventually will have an effect on the Hungarian teaching context at tertiary level.
The consequences may be the increased use of teacher development as a means of ensuring quality control. However, examining recent examples from the United Kingdom can provide
assistance in contextualising potential types of teacher develoment activities which could enhance the provision of teacher training and so ease the lot of trainee teachers and help teachers make the transition to the role of teacher trainer.
When discussing innovations to initial teacher preparation in the UK, Cohen et al.
(1996), refer to the sea change which has meant that '[n]o longer do student teachers lead a closeted existence in schools of education and colleges of higher education' (p. 20). Instead they are required to spend periods of time in the classroom. Accompanying this practice is the acquisition, and demonstration, of a number of specific competences. Such competencies could prove useful as input into the teacher training courses described in Chapter 1. For example, for newly qualified secondary school teachers in the United Kingdom, these are:
• subject knowledge;
• subject application;
• class management;
• assessment and recording of pupils' progress;
• further professional development. (pp. 21-22)
The inclusion of professional development, is clearly significant as far as initial teacher preparation in the United Kingdom is concerned. As implied here the private educational sector is also influenced by such developments, particularly the provision of English lanaguage teacher training, as is shown by the likes of Spratt, Pulverness and Williams (2005) as well as Thornbury and Watkins (2007a and 2007b). How this could be included in the teacher training described here will be addressed in Chapters 6 to 9.
How, where and when these competences are to be demonstrated, and following demonstration, what is the point at which a newly qualified teacher can be deemed to possess them, lie outside the scope of this thesis. However, what is relevant for this thesis is the need
for teachers to be able to recognise such competences. In order for the 'extended professional' ' to do so, they have 'to be able develop the expertise through reflective practice' (Cohen et al., 1996, p. 26). See below for a thorough discussion of reflective practice.
A sequence for developing the competences described above could be as follows:
TEACHING TECHNIQUES DISCIPLINE
ASSESSMENT TEACHING &
LEARNING STYLES
CURRICULUM PLANNING
FURTHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Figure 2 A sequence for developing competences
What this sequence demonstrates is that for newly qualified teachers the pressing concerns are related to survival in the classroom. Discipline is a significant element for all new teachers, whether or not discipline is a real concern in their classrooms is frequently of secondary importance. The sequence in Figure 2 is also a progression and reveals how
teachers can move from primary concerns such as discipline, to such phases when they become, for instance, more aware of their pupils as individuals, and so can take on more responsibility in terms of curricular planning or working on assessment procedures, to a time when they are more able to take stock of their own practice and so contemplate their own professional development. Ironically, while such a system of initial preparation as described here by Cohen et al. emphasises that professional development begins 'from the point of entry to the course' (p.28), the sequence reveals that professional development 'may not be uppermost in the mind of the novice student teacher' (p.28) as is indeed proven by my own experience as will be discussed in Chapters 6 to 9.
3.2.2 Teacher development and teacher training
Although the terms 'teacher training' and 'teacher development' are often used interchangeably, there would appear to exist a dichotomy between the two. Kennedy (1993), for example, refers to 'the distinction between training and development' (p.162), describing training 'as reflecting a view of teaching as a skill which has finite components which can be learnt' (p.162). Development meanwhile 'focuses much more on the individual teacher's own development of a 'theory' through personal reflection, examination and intelligent analysis' (p.162).
Richards (1998) endeavours to differentiate between teacher development and what is often construed as its polar opposite, training, and their different relationships to the wider cast net of teacher education. Richards, Platt and Platt. (1992) consider teacher training and teacher development to be two areas often subsumed within teacher education. For them teacher education is 'the field of study which deals with the preparation and professional
development of teachers' (p. 374). Within this field they refer to a distinction sometimes made between teacher training and teacher development:
Teacher training deals with the basic teaching skills and techniques, typically for novice teachers in a PRESERVICE EDUCATION programme. These skills include such dimensions of teaching as preparing lesson plans, classroom management, teaching the four skills (i.e. reading, writing, listening, speaking), and techniques for presenting and practising new teaching items, correcting errors, etc.
Teacher development looks beyond initial training and deals with the on-going professional development of teachers, particularly in INSERVICE EDUCATION programmes. This includes a focus on teacher self-evaluation, investigation of different dimensions of teaching by the teacher (see ACTION RESEARCH), and examination of the teacher’s approach to teaching. (pp.374-375, capitals in the original)
As already mentioned, teacher development can also be referred to as continued professional development or personal professional development. Both Balloch (2000) and Curtis (2000) discuss the relevance and practicalities of professional development for language teachers. The likes of Edge (1992b) and Underhill (1992) perhaps, therefore, use the terms rather loosely, particularly that of development. Edge (1992b) refers to 'autonomous development' (p.62) as well as stressing his more personal use of 'the term development to mean self-development' (p.62). However, the use of the term differs somewhat from that of Allwright (1999b) since Edge (1992b) stress that 'the purpose of development is action' (p.64), whereas Allwright (1999a) sees a number of possible choices. Just as Gebhard and Oprandy (1999), so Edge (1992b) makes clear that there is 'extra effort involved' (p. 70) in such a developmental undertaking. Acknowledging the potential resistance to such effort, there is the significant observation that 'professional maturity and cross-cultural sensitivity are taking ELT worldwide beyond the idea of a best received method' (p. 70). As Barduhn (2002) makes clear development of some form is becoming a given.
For Underhill (1992) 'teacher development takes many forms, has different meanings in different contexts, operates from a variety of implicit and explicit beliefs and value bases
and is manifested in different forms of action' (p. 80). While this definition accords more with Allwright (1999a) it also gets closer to the notions of exploratory practice put forward by Gebhard and Oprandy (1999).
It is interesting to note the changes in how developemnt for teachers is perceived via the definition supplied in Thornbury (2006) 14 years after that of Platt et al. For Thornbury:
Teacher development (TD) refers to the ongoing professional growth of teachers, particularly that which takes place after initial teacher training. TD may take the form of in-service training of a more formal kind, such as attendance on short or long courses, or at professional conferences. But it is more typically associated with informal, collegial and classroom-based programmes that incorporate cycles of classroom practice and reflection. These might include such activities as: a mentoring system, where more experienced teachers work alongside novice teachers, including taking part in team teaching
• classroom observation, by peers, mentors or supervisors, plus feedback
• keeping a teaching journal
• action research
• locally-based workshops and seminars
• guided reading and discussion. (p. 224, italics and block in original)
Thornbury goes on to discuss how teacher development is frequently contrasted with teacher training with 'the latter having more technical goals, such as the acquisition of basic classroom skills and subject knowledge' whilst teacher development 'has a more 'whole person' orientation, aimed at developing the teacher's capacity for self-directed growth and educational well-being' (p. 225). However, as with Platt et al. both teacher training and teacher development are subsumed within the larger notion of teacher education.
3.2.3 Potential misconceptions about teacher development
While the above concepts of teacher development are well-established in the literature, for many teachers, and for many of their supervisors, managers and colleagues, teacher development is still frequently equated with training. Moreover, given such perceived
equivalence of the two terms, development can be construed as synonymous with the use, or more pertinently the misuse, of performance reviews, including the likes of classroom observations, observation reports and student feedback questionnaires, as well as career planning and counselling, including prospects for promotion, and even disciplinary and dismissal procedures.
Unfortunately, teacher development is all too often done under the guise of quality control, and then rarely for the benefit of the teacher involved, but rather for more visible and thus public benefit of the school and its students. Interestingly, White, Martin, Stimson and Hodge (1991) concern themselves with this perspective on teacher development (pp. 61 – 96).
Fortunately, other and more recent texts on ELT management offer approaches to development which are less threatening. For Impey and Underhill (1995):
development is an attempt to widen the professional development of staff beyond the concept of in-service training into a very much more personal model in which all aspects of a person and their interaction with the working environment are included.
The organization can facilitate this process by providing the necessary investment, support and conditions under which people can develop their potential to the full.
(p.73)
White et al. (2008) see development as 'encouraging staff to constantly develop their own professional goals and to enhance their skills and competencies as well as providing access to learning and development opportunities' as a result development is 'a very valuable way of increasing levels of personal mastery' (p.48).
In addition, teacher development may, falsely, be seen as receiving positive lesson observation reports from institutional superiors and positive student feedback, as well as keeping abreast of current developments in EFL/ESL, and the collecting of further (academic) qualifications.
3.2.4 The personal nature of teacher development
Development, as Gebhard and Oprandy (1999) emphasise, is indeed personal, and can be neither externally imposed nor undertaken with any lack of conviction. For Underhill (1992) teacher development is a means of enabling teachers 'to move on rather than keep repeating the same experience' (p.75). Moreover, teacher development is seen as a very personal aspect of the individual teacher's roles, and being 'no different from personal development...can only be self-initiated, self-directed, and self-evaluated. No one else can do it for us…' (p.79).
Research findings which presume to offer insights pertinent to language classroom practice have, stereotypically, come (and for many teachers do still come) from academe, and classroom teachers were expected, until quite recently in many contexts (or still are in many others) to accept, unquestioningly, such insights as sound educational practice. The observation of Ramani (1987) that 'teachers often see themselves as 'practitioners' who have little or nothing to do with theory' (p.3) would appear to support this. As Freeman (1998) contends 'many people outside the classroom try to define what teaching should or shouldn’t be' (p. 13). Bowen and Marks (1994) underscore this: '...if the only channels of enquiry into professional development which teachers use lead away from them, towards outside authorities of various kinds, the result can be an unnecessary and debilitating degree of disempowerment' (p. 5, italics in the original). However, Widdowson (1984) advocates the view that '[t]eachers are not consumers of research, but researchers in their own right' (p. 90) and thus places such consumption as the antithesis of teacher development as proposed here.
Rather than just being consumers of research, teachers engaging in teacher development can find themselves in situations where '[t]heory can be discovered and developed through practice'’ (Bowen and Marks, 1994, p.15). By way of a summary Lampert (1985) puts forward the view that the 'academician solves problems that are recognized in some universal
way as being important, whereas a teacher's problems arise because the state of affairs in the classroom is not what she wants it to be' (p. 180). While this may be construed as devaluing the role and relevance of teacher-initiated language classroom research, it does raise a number of points, one of which is that of generalisability. As an important characteristic of research per se, the notion of reliability is given more detailed treatment below. However, the quotation can be interpreted as revealing some preconceived ideas regarding the value of language classroom research, namely that it is small in scale and limited to some here-and- now solvable problem concerning one individual teacher. Opposed to this, of course, is broad- sweep, real academic research that naturally addresses problems of interest and concern to all.
This thesis, in part, sets out to show that such perceptions are misleading and by their nature, essentially false.
The wealth of available literature about teachers researching their own lives and activities, (Appel, 1995, Ashton-Warner, 1968, Borg, 2004, Bradley and Poór 1998, Elekes, Magnuczné Godó, Szabó and Tóth, 1998, Goodson, 1992, Johnston, 1997 and Johnson and Golombek, 2002), reveals that this situation no longer pertains universally and so displays a confidence and fund of knowledge on the part of practising classroom teachers. Widdowson (1984), while emphasising teaching's inherent contradictions, that is, '[n]o matter how concerned teachers may be with the immediate practicalities of the classroom, their techniques are based on some principle or other which is accountable to theory' (p.87), does admit that there is the need for 'a recognition that what is at the heart of teaching is intellectual enquiry and experimentation, operational research which uses various techniques to test out principles explicitly spelled out' (p.88). This operational research and its various techniques are now widely accessible via the literature, and it is no longer 'the teacher's role to apply other people's models' (Edge, 2001, p.5). Examples of such research are studies such as Kiely (1996) and Lamb (1995), both of which explore teacher development, whilst Tsai-Yu (2000)
