MA International Education (TESOL)

The course unit introduces key concepts in teacher education, including distinctions between teacher education, teacher training, and teacher development, as well as competing theoretical models of teacher education. It stimulates understandings of self in relation to professional development, the importance of context in teacher education and of the exploration of such context through reflective practice and action research. The knowledge base of teacher education is debated, along with perspectives on teacher learning in both pre and in-service contexts. Professional development within institutional frameworks is also explored. A series of units cover themes including observation and feedback, language awareness, critical pedagogy, personal learning networks, collaborative teacher development, course design and evaluation

This unit has a pre-requisite of a minimum two years of language teaching experience

The unit aims to:

• initiate, or further develop, professional competence in the area of language teacher education -develop participants’ ability to evaluate and/or provide  training or development opportunities for teachers that are appropriate to local educational contexts;
• develop participants’ skill in critically reflecting on their previous teaching or teacher education experiences, whether as learners, teachers, trainees or trainers, in the light of research, theory, and current areas of debate in language teacher education;
• develop a knowledge and understanding of past and current theories of, and research into, language teacher education and the skills of relating that theory and research to particular teacher education contexts;
• facilitate the continuing theorisation of teacher education praxis.

The course content mixes seminar-type input and small group work in various formats: experiential workshops and reflective tasks, and a variety of demonstration processes; case studies, guided reading, participant-led discussions. Many activities are aimed at providing loop input enabling students to theorise practice in an integrated manner. Participants contribute to and develop their ideas using reflective padlets and discussion fora along with an Ideas Repository in the VLE.

Weeks 9-12 are organised around group-oriented enquiry locating their specific teacher education interests in their particular contexts of practice. Formative feedback, both peer and tutor-led, is built into group- based enquiry sessions as students focus on their assignment projects and is provided to individual students orally through assignment preparation tutorials
 

• demonstrate a research-informed understanding of language teacher learning and development
• Identify what makes for principle-informed teacher education practices
• Identify how the research helps them to determine particular responses to particular contexts and teacher needs at different stages of their career

• Problematise teacher development needs
• demonstrate teacher educator skills in applying knowledge and understanding to the analysis and evaluation of the content and process of specific language teacher education course components and/or materials;
• interact critically with the literature of the field, including its socio-political aspects.
   

• engage in professional self-development activities and facilitate these for others as a teacher educator;
• undertake an analysis of the training and/or development needs of a particular group of trainees or teachers;
• adapt and/or develop appropriate content and processes for course components and/or materials for a particular group of trainees or teachers.

• To draw on their developing  academic and digital  literacy to present their academic work and teacher development materials,  navigate and utilise online tools and resources for study and professional purposes, process information (on- and off-line)
• demonstrate the value of reflection as a tool for professional practice.
• demonstrate autonomy and meta-cognitive strategies with regard to further professional development as teacher educators.
   

Feedback via Turnitin

Core texts
Malderez, A. and Wedell, M. 2007. Teaching teachers: Processes and Practices. London: Continuum
Richards, J.C. and T.S. Farrell (2005). Professional Development for Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Indicative texts
Bailey, K. 2006. Language Teacher Supervision: A case-based approach. Cambridge: CUP 
Burns, A. (1999). Collaborative Action Research for English Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Burns, A. & Richards, J. (eds.) (2009). The Cambridge Guide to Second Language Teacher Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Edge, J. (2002). Continuing Cooperative Development: A Discourse Framework for Individuals as Colleagues. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Edge, J. and Mann, S. Eds. 2013. Innovations in pre-service education and training for English Language Teachers. British Council. Available https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/C442_Innovations_PRESETT_FINAL_WEB%20ONLY_v2.pdf 
Farrell, T. (2015) Promoting Teacher Reflection in Second Language Education. London: Routledge
Freeman. D. (2016) Educating Second Language Teachers. Oxford: OUP
Gebhard, J. and R. Oprandy (1999). Language Teaching Awareness: A Guide to Exploring Beliefs and Practices. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Johnson, K. (2009). Second Language Teacher Education: A Sociocultural Perspective. New York: Routledge.
Mann, S. (2005). The language teacher's development. Language Teaching 38: 103-118. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/3249/1/WRAP_Mann_State_of__ART.pdf
Richards, J. C. and Farrell, T. S. (2011). Practice Teaching: A reflective approach. Cambridge: CUP
Tedick, D. (ed.) (2005). Second Language Teacher Education: International Perspectives. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Wilson, R. and Poulter, M. (eds) (2015) Assessing Language Teachers’ Professional Skills and Knowledge. Cambridge: CUP