TDAJ Volume 1, Number 1 (June 2020)
The IATEFL Teacher Development Special Interest Group is proud to launch our Teacher Development Academic Journal (TDAJ) with this inaugural issue! This project began with suggestions from members at our Open Forum in Brighton at IATEFL 2018 and now we have arrived at this place. We wish to sincerely thank all the contributing authors for their hard work and commitment to teacher development in ELT and choosing this inaugural volume of the TDAJ as the platform to share this work. Without you, this project would not have manifested.
Publication date: June 2020
Permalink: http://tdsig.org/tdaj-v1n1
All PDFs include original pagination to use for citation.
In this issue
Exploring Teacher Creativity through Duoethnography and Reflection
Peter Brereton & Shoko Kita
Although creativity is commonly promoted in language teaching, there is often little understanding or agreement regarding what this actually constitutes (Jones & Richards 2016). With the aim of exploring their own beliefs, understandings, and experiences of teacher creativity, and as a form of self-directed professional development, the authors carried out a duoethnography in which – informed by a range of relevant literature – they discussed and reflected upon various facets of teacher creativity. Through this study, the authors gained a greater insight of what creativity means to them, why principled creativity matters in teaching, and how to further develop as creative practitioners.
Mentoring in the Online Sphere: A Case Study of EAP Teachers
Dr. Lucas Kohnke
In this study, I explore the introduction of a virtual mentoring programme as an alternative to a traditional face-to-face mentorship programme to provide ongoing professional development. I detail how participants in the virtual mentoring programme reported increased levels of self-confidence, knowledge and skill in integrating information and communication technologies (“ICT”) into their teaching practices. Moreover, the findings indicate that open communication, support and encouragement were integral components in enabling teachers to take risks and to see the potential of ICT in their own teaching practices.
Teach(er) and Teach(ing): Beliefs, Attitudes, and Teaching Practices
Muhammad Fazle Ramzan Khan
Teachers’ beliefs, attitudes, and teaching practices are often believed to determine the classroom climate, shape the teaching-learning processes, and affect the overall psycho-academic development of the students’. Based on teachers’ and students’ perceptions of these factors and supported by the theories of emotional intelligence, learned helplessness/learned optimism, and the Pygmalion/Golem self fulfilling prophesies, this paper examines the symbiotic relationship between these elements in the Indian context. Findings show that these elements have a significant influence in determining the classroom climate, the teaching-learning processes, and the overall psycho-academic development of the students’.
What I Learned from an Initial Visit to Two Outlying Schools in China
Carol Yap
According to the report on Global Teacher Status Index 2018, China’s teachers are ranked the first in the world and it correlates with the results of the PISA 2009, 2012 and 2015. Conversely, Malaysia’s teachers which rank the second on GTSI 2018, do not match the same results as mentioned above. The author visited two outlying schools in China, as the basis, to learn more about the good practices by interviewing teachers of the two schools, distributing questionnaires for the teachers of the two schools to answer and collecting simple data from both schools as well as observing a lesson in one school. It was found that there are good practices that can be emulated and adapted by teachers so that pupils’ learning outcome can be improved in Sabah, East Malaysia.
Teacher Development and Isolated EFL Tutors: Reflections On Working in Small and Rural Communities
Cristina Fernández
Teacher development is a key action to take into account due to different aspects and reasons, such as refreshing, improving teaching techniques and developing a compendium of educational methods and ways to improve teaching. Teacher development courses offer an overview of teaching methods and inspirational introductions to different ways to teach, besides gaining knowledge about a variety of unknown fields and sharing experiences with colleagues. Teacher development is remarkably essential for those self-employed, freelance teachers working in small and isolated communities, whose face-to-face contact with colleagues is highly diminished if compared to teachers working in other institutions such as schools or universities. This paper aims to highlight the importance of teacher development courses to integrate all the educators within the ELT community as a whole, as a source of knowledge and learning for those under the least favourable conditions: rural, self-employed teachers.
How Not to Be Sabotaged by Your Teaching Identity
Raquel Marinho Andrade
Teacher Professional Identity (TPI) is today an autonomous theoretical construct, which draws from educational, psychological, and sociological paradigms of teaching (Beijaard, Meijer, & Verloop, 2004; Beijaard, Verloop & Vermunt, 2000; Connelly & Clandinin 1999). This paper exploits the personal experience of a teacher who loves teaching, a change of heart that took place after years of experience by showing how teaching can be life-changing. It also provides five simple steps to identify whether our teaching identity has been beneficial or harmful to the learning environment, and how to be an effective professional by having the right mindset.
Joining The Club: Teachers Collaborate to Develop a Research Mindset and Unlock the Benefits of Teacher Research
Laura Walker, Melanie Carson, Danila Datti, and Jungmin Lee
While the benefits of teacher research for teacher development and classroom practice are well documented, it is our belief that many second language teachers lack the confidence, skills and resources to ‘join the research club’, and therefore fail to develop as teacher-researchers. Using a classroom-based project in which experienced second language teachers reversed roles and became language learners as project stimulus, four aspiring teacher-researchers worked together to overcome a fixed mindset to engagement in research. This experience revealed that collaboration is key, enabling the growth of a research mindset for group members, and progress in teacher-researcher development.
Please note: For online editions ISSN are generally assigned only after the release of the first two (2) issues, provided that these issues contain five (5) articles at least. TDAJ will have ISSN following this procedure.
Learn more about the Teacher Development Academic Journal here.