Crandall, J. A., & Christion, M. A. (Eds.). (2016). Teacher education and professional development in TESOL: Global perspectives. New York, NY: Routledge.

With increased diversity in student and teacher population, second language teacher education (SLTE) programs have “to meet the demand for context-sensitive teacher education programs in diverse range of contexts and situations” (p. 259). Teacher Education and Professional Development: Global Perspectives includes a well-integrated collection of studies on SLTE and professional development (PD). The collection consists of an introduction, an epilogue, and 14 studies organized around four themes: teacher identity in SLTE, SLTE for diverse contexts, PD for diverse contexts, and preparing teachers for English-medium instruction. Such dense consolidation of related studies provides the field with valuable guidance for emerging research ideas, designs, and analyses of research in TESOL.

The volume shows consistency in the organization and structure of chapters, including a description of the research, design, its applications, and its implications, helping readers compare studies in their design and implementation. The studies avoid jargon and use terminology suitable for researchers and practitioners. In Part I, the editors synthesize previous and current research on SLTE and the shifts in research foci, hence placing the volume themes in a broader framework and highlighting their significance.

Part II includes three studies on teacher professional identity: EFL teacher identity development in Sudanese preservice teachers, the role of emotions, and the influence of English language learners’ attitudes toward native-English-speaking teachers and nonnative-English-speaking teachers. The studies utilize qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods, focusing on the sociocultural contexts of L2 teachers.

Part III includes four studies on SLTE in diverse contexts. Chapter 5 compares three TESOL programs in the United States in terms of diversity in their certification, coursework, practicum, and degree requirements. Chapter 6 examines the experiences of linguistically diverse preservice teachers in Canada and their perception of their roles as teachers of diverse students in multilingual classrooms. Chapter 7 presents multiple perspectives on the language proficiency development of nonnative-English-speaking teacher candidates in Canada and Israel. Chapter 8 describes an experimental study of how teacher language awareness changes with deliberate instruction.

From the United States to Japan and across the globe, Part IV includes studies on the effectiveness of different aspects of second language PD programs: the effectiveness of instructional strategies on instructor-participants’ interaction in online communities of inquiry (Chapter 9), collaborative inquiry on teaching literacy between ESL teachers of adult immigrants and refugees and teachers of kindergarten through second grade (Chapter 10), and the effect of PD on elementary school teachers’ anxiety about their English abilities (Chapter 11).

Part V tackles topics related to teaching through English-medium instruction in different contexts: university professors’ needs for PD on teaching strategies in Japan (Chapter 12) and Denmark (Chapter 14). Chapter 13 describes an intervention project between a research university in the United States and a science and technology university in the Middle East.

This volume will be of interest to junior scholars and researchers in TESOL as well as teacher educators. It is in line with TESOL’s focus on research, as it includes recent studies on SLTE and PD with an eye to future scholarly and practical considerations.

Reference

Nunan, D. (2016). Epilogue. In J. A. Crandall & M.A. Christion (Eds.), Teacher education and professional development: Global perspectives (257-264) New York, NY: Routledge.

Doaa Rashed is The MA TESOL program Director at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). She is also a doctoral candidate in the Language, Literacy and Culture Doctoral Program at UMBC. Originally from Egypt, Doaa taught EFL and ESL for 18 years before becoming a teacher educator in 2014.