Reflective Language Teaching by Thomas S. C. Farrell

Author:Thomas S. C. Farrell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

10

Teacher Development Groups

Chapter Outline

Introduction

Teacher development groups

Case study I: Experienced language teachers in group reflections

Case study I reflection

Case study II: “I’ve Plateaued . . . Gone A Little Stale.”

Case study II reflection

Case study III: Novice language teachers in group reflections

Case study III reflection

Practical applications for TESOL teachers

Reflection

Conclusion

Chapter scenario

Reflection

Introduction

Since the day they started to teach, teachers have been socialized to work in isolation from their colleagues and this has led to feelings of insecurity because teachers may be afraid to share their experiences with other teachers for fear of being “exposed.” However, if teachers come together on their own initiative in order to reflect on their work, they can complement individual members’ strengths, and compensate for each member’s limitations, all for the common good of the group and the institutions in which they work. As Little (1993: 138) has pointed out one principle of professional development for language teachers is that it can offer “meaningful intellectual, social, and emotional engagement with ideas, with materials, and with colleagues both in and out of teaching.” This chapter outlines and discusses how teachers can work together when they volunteer to join a teacher development group in order to form relationships with colleagues in order to discuss, share, and reflect on their beliefs and practices both inside and outside the classroom.

Teacher development groups

Teacher development groups provide a context where participants can reflect on and come to understand their classroom practices, and plan their professional growth and development together in a safe place. Head and Taylor (1997: 91) define a teacher development group as “any form of co-operative and ongoing arrangement between two or more teachers to work together on their own personal and professional development.” Teachers as well as other members of a school (or teachers from different schools) come together in such groups or networks in order to improve their teaching and their students’ learning through collaboration on the basic assumption that collaborating with a group of colleagues will be more effective than reflecting alone. Research suggests that collaboration is an important component of teacher professional development because it involves teachers sharing their personal and professional knowledge with other teachers. As a result of participating in teacher development groups, teachers can change their thinking about their work and as a result can become more confident practitioners (Matlin and Short, 1991).

Research indicates that language teacher development groups facilitate dialogue, sharing and collaboration, and the exchange of resources, information, and expertise.

For example, after realizing that they have been pursuing their own professional development in isolation for several years as individual language teachers, three language teachers in the United States decided to come together in a teacher development group not only for the purposes of reflecting on their practice but also as a means of offering “hope to others wishing to break out of the shells of isolation separating teachers from their colleagues as well as from teacher educators” (Oprandy, Golden and Shiomi, 1999: 152). Oliphant (2003) has observed that language teachers join a teacher development group in

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