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This article first appeared in TESOL Quarterly, Volume 53, Number 13, pgs. 658–711. Subscribers can access issues here. Only TESOL members may subscribe. To become a member of TESOL, please click here, and to purchase articles, please visit Wiley-Blackwell. © TESOL International Association.
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Abstract
The importance of social interaction in a community of practice for promoting effective teacher learning is well established (Johnson & Golombek, 2011; Lave & Wenger, 1991). Research outlines the challenges language teachers experience in transitioning between teacher education programmes and the classroom, particularly regarding the theory–practice nexus, and emphasizes the professional community's key role in providing mentoring and support. In this regard, language teachers’ experiences in transitioning from theoretically oriented language education master's programmes to the language classroom are underresearched. This study reports data gathered from 21 mainland Chinese participants transitioning from master's programmes in three locations (Hong Kong, Scotland, and China) to language classrooms in China. In line with other research on teacher education programmes, this study's findings suggest interesting common experiences among these new teachers regardless of the context where their studies took place, including a sense of isolation, a “sink‐or‐swim” phenomenon leading to the abandonment of theoretically grounded pedagogical beliefs in exchange for adherence to “safe” practice, confusion regarding the relationship between learning on university programmes and the practice of teaching, and weak self‐efficacy as transitioning teachers face internal and external pressures. Implications and consequences are discussed in the context of the theory–practice nexus. |
The internationalisation of higher education is a worldwide phenomenon, with an estimated 1.6 million students studying outside their home countries (Altbach, 2015). Career enhancement prospects and knowledge enrichment are two of the key factors influencing students’ decision to enrol on international master's programmes relating to the teaching of English (MATESOL; Copland et al., 2017). Detailing the impact that globalisation has had on higher education in general and MATESOL programmes in particular, Hasrati and Tavakoli (2015) point to the need to adapt curriculum content in response to the rising recruitment of international students. Yet, in many MATESOL programmes, largely populated by international students, instruction focuses on theories and practices developed in sociocultural contexts that are quite different from those in which students were schooled and will later teach. Despite extensive exploration of associated economic, political, and social factors (e.g., Jiang, 2008; Svensson & Wihlborg, 2010), little is known about the pedagogical challenges brought about by internationalisation (Hasrati & Tavakoli, 2015). The present study aims to address this gap, at least partially, by examining the experiences of English language (EL) teachers transitioning from international MATESOL programmes to a teaching career in China. Understanding the extent to which MATESOL study may or may not adequately prepare teachers for their teaching context is crucial for those working on such programmes, designing curricula, determining content, and shaping pedagogies. Furthermore, examining the interpersonal and contextual affordances and constraints experienced by teachers transitioning into the classroom should extend understanding of the factors that mediate teacher learning, when transition is not only from student to professional, but also from one cultural context to another.
For the purposes of this article, MATESOL represents master's programmes in EL teaching. Specifically, in our study the term MATESOL represents postgraduate, taught programmes, lasting 1 to 2 years, claiming to engage students with the key theories in the field of EL education and undertaken primarily by current or future EL teachers, with varying backgrounds and degrees of experience.
China is by far the highest student‐sending country (HEA, 2017), with master's study abroad being a path frequently taken by those preparing to be EL teachers, raising important theoretical and practical questions relating to students’ transition from an advanced degree to the language classroom on returning home. Although little is known about the Chinese context, studies in the wider context (e.g., Farrell, 2014, 2016; Kaufmann & Ring, 2011) document the challenges novice teachers face particularly in the first 5 years, with expectations of applying their learning to practice being quickly overwhelmed by organisational and institutional responsibilities. The sense of failure teachers experience in facing these demands leads many to leave the profession (DelliCarpini, 2009) and others to adopt survival rather than best practices (Feiman‐Nemser, 2001), generating a highly problematic situation for these new teachers and their students, as well as for the health of education systems (Ingersoll & Strong, 2011).
Wright (2010) outlines a shift in teacher education programmes towards greater emphasis on school‐based, experiential practice, challenging the applied linguistics model that splits practice from theory. His review of research on second language teacher education practice points to increasing recognition within teacher education of pedagogies that emphasise discovery, dialogue, modelling, reflection, and experience over transmission of theories and knowledge for rich teacher learning. Notwithstanding exceptional exemplars of such pedagogies in practice, “in many contexts, change in SLTE [second language teacher education] pedagogy has been either very slow or negligible” (p. 281). The present study examines the experiences of students as they transition into the classroom from MATESOL programmes continuing to adopt an applied linguistics model of theory and practice.
Unlike master's programmes, initial teacher training or teacher education programmes typically offer opportunities for learning about and through teaching practice. A core component of such programmes is the opportunity for mentored teaching practice that iteratively integrates theory and practice, encouraging students to apply their learning to practice, reflecting on the need to adapt theory in response to classroom contexts. Notwithstanding such opportunities, in transitioning into the classroom novice teachers struggle to negotiate the integration of theory and practice with their role as practitioners and the dissonance between idealised expectations and classroom realities (e.g., Kaufmann & Ring, 2011).
Qualifying as a teacher in China requires passing examinations on general educational knowledge and educational psychology, and is not contingent on completing a teacher education programme or a teaching practicum. Thus, for many Chinese students studying MATESOL, this course constitutes de facto a primary form of teacher preparation. Because such programmes rarely explicitly set out to train teachers, practicum opportunities within which to discover, experience, model, and reflect on practice have not typically been a priority. Yet many MATESOL programmes do seek to enable students to use theory to critically evaluate their own and others’ teaching practices, thus implicitly seeking to equip them for effective practice. Students in such programmes often express a wish for more practical input on how to perform their future roles in the language classroom and for opportunities to put their learning into practice (Copland et al., 2017). Discussions about integrating a stronger practice component need also to consider the extent of parity with the classroom situations students encounter as they begin teaching. Effective teacher learning is understood to result from the interplay between theory, practice, and the context of teacher learning (Johnson & Golombek, 2011), posing a challenge to MATESOL programmes attracting international students who engage with theories developed in social settings very different to their own and do so outside the context of classroom practice....
This article first appeared in TESOL Quarterly, 53, 658–711. For permission to use text from this article, please go to Wiley-Blackwell and click on "Request Permission" under "Article Tools."
doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.505 |
