Reflective Practice for Novice Language Teachers; From Trainee to Teacher; Thomas Farrell

Thomas S.C. Farrell [+–]

Brock University

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Thomas S.C. Farrell is Professor of Applied Linguistics at Brock University, Canada. His professional interests include Reflective Practice, and Language Teacher Education & Development. He has published widely and has presented at major conferences worldwide on these topics. His webpage is: www.reflectiveinquiry.ca

For many novice ESL/EFL teachers the transition from their teacher education program (Cert or MA) to their first year of teaching has been characterized as a type of ‘reality shock’ because the ideals that novice teachers may have formed during the education program are often replaced by the harsh realities of the classroom, and social and political contexts of the school in which they are teaching. One reason for this may be that teacher education programs are unable to reproduce an environment similar to that teachers face when they graduate. Even though many schools may have induction programs available, novice teachers are often left to cope on their own in a sink-or-swim type situation, with some ultimately leaving the profession because of difficulties encountered during their first year. EVERY teacher must experience life as a novice when they begin their teaching career in a real classroom, and From Trainee to Teacher is the book that will make the transition from the training course to the classroom as smooth as possible because it focuses on the needs of the novice teachers in particular.

From Trainee to Teacher outlines and describes a comprehensive framework for the professional development of novice teachers through reflective practice that is grounded in the classroom realities of real teaching contexts so that they can develop beyond their novice years and become expert ESL/EFL teachers. In addition, the suggestions presented in this book can be operationalized as standards for future ESL/EFL teacher education and development programs worldwide.

Chapter 1

Teaching: A Profession that Eats its Young [+–] 1-11

Chapter 1 makes the case for the importance of focusing on novice teachers as we are a profession that tends to eat its young. The chapter then outlines what can be done about the lack of information about what novice ESL teachers actually experience during their first year by laying the group for subsequent chapters that report on the experiences of a group of three novice ESL teachers in Canada during their first year.

Chapter 2

‘Forget all you Learned at ____’: Role of Teacher Education [+–] 12-29

Chapter 2 notes that no in-depth case study of novice ESL teacher experiences in their first year teaching has been accounted for in the TESOL literature and so the chapter outlines and discusses in detail how data were gathered and analyzed as well as the overall framework that guided the research reported on the three novice ESL teachers in subsequent chapters of this book. This chapter also sets the scene for the novice teacher reflection group by outlining the result of the overall interpersonal climate of all the group discussions before going into detail of particular topics they talked about that are outlined in subsequent chapters. These topics are not presented in order of their frequency but rather in chronological order as experienced by the teachers themselves.

Chapter 3

From Trainee to Teacher: The Transition Shock [+–] 30-43

Chapter 3 outlines and discusses the transition novice teachers must make from their teacher education programs to the first year in real contexts. The chapter outlines the shock that many report with this transition and the challenges they must face in real classrooms and interacting with new colleagues. The chapter points out that many novice ESL teachers report that they feel they have not been prepared adequately for this shock basically because the TESOL profession does not know what novice teachers actually experience during their transition.

Chapter 4

‘The First Week is Like you are in a Swamp’: Developing Awareness [+–] 44-57

Chapter 4 outlines and discusses the initial transition shocks all three novice ESL teachers reported that they experienced from their very first day on the job and especially that they experienced no orientation or induction when they arrived. In addition the chapter reports that the novice teachers did not have any mentor appointed to them and they did not know who to go to for information or feedback in those first few weeks. The chapter then reports that because they realized they were on their own they began to become more aware of what they had to do in order to survive in their classroom and with their colleagues.

Chapter 5

‘Here’s the Book, Go Teach’: Managing the Classroom [+–] 58-70

Chapter 5 explores what the teachers talked about at the group meetings in terms of their approaches and methods. This includes what they talked about in terms of the actual teaching approaches and methods they used in their practice including what they said about what they know about or believe about these approaches and methods. The chapter also talks about the impact of school context and in particular the administration on their teaching such as the need to produce weekly lesson plans for a prescribed curriculum. The chapter also outlines what they talked about in in terms of what works and what does not work in their lessons and how to deal with issues related to classroom management.

Chapter 6

‘It was Very Dry’: Evaluating Lessons [+–] 71-83

Chapter 6 outlines and discusses how they evaluated their teaching. More specifically the chapter outlines what they talked about in terms of effective lesson plans and how they played out in their lessons or not and/or how well an approach, method and lesson/class and the course was progressing. These discussions also included their perceptions of their learners’ responses and behaviors, as well as student perceptions and opinions of the class.

Chapter 7

‘I Want to be Me’: Role Identity Development [+–] 84-96

Chapter 7 explores the perceptions of all three novice ESL teachers concept of teaching style from an analysis of all the transcripts of the group meetings. Teaching style reflects the teacher’s values, beliefs, which are reflected in how a teacher acts during the teaching and learning process in a classroom and the chapter outlines and discusses how the three novice ESL teachers teaching style was influenced by their personality, their experience of what works best, their teaching methods and by established practice.

Chapter 8

‘You Put your Personal Stamp on It’: Reflecting on Teaching Style [+–] 97-105

Chapter 8 explores the novice teachers’ perceptions of their role identities during their first semester and which of these may have been assigned by others and which they have taken on themselves. Reflecting on teacher role identity allows language educators a useful lens into the who of teaching and how teachers construct and reconstruct their views of their roles as language teachers and themselves in relation to their peers and their context. The chapter outlines and discuses 14 main professional role identities emerged from the group discussions and these were further placed into three main clusters.

Chapter 9

‘Remember All you Learned at ____’: Reflective Practice within Teacher Education [+–] 106-122

Chapter 9 discusses how novice ESL teachers can be empowered through the use of reflective practice both in teacher education programs (the focus of the chapter) and during their first year (the focus of the following chapter). Specifically, the chapter outlines in detail how novice teachers can receive instruction in how to engage in systematic and structured reflection by using a framework for reflecting on practice that has five stages or levels of reflection: philosophy of practice, principles of practice, theory of practice, practice, and beyond practice.

Chapter 10

‘I Liked Hearing Other Ideas’: Reflective Practice during the First Year [+–] 123-136

Chapter 10 follows on from the previous chapter by outlining and discussing how novice teachers can continue their reflections in their first year which becomes especially important if they have no real induction program or mentor support and as a result, left to sink or swim. The chapter points out that novice ESL teachers can be helped through their challenging transition/praxis shock from the teacher education programs to the first year of teaching with the use of novice ESL teacher reflection groups so that they will swim and not sink.

End Matter

References [+–] 137-142

For many novice ESL/EFL teachers the transition from their teacher education program (Cert or MA) to their first year of teaching has been characterized as a type of ‘reality shock’ because the ideals that novice teachers may have formed during the education program are often replaced by the harsh realities of the classroom, and social and political contexts of the school in which they are teaching. One reason for this may be that teacher education programs are unable to reproduce an environment similar to that teachers face when they graduate. Even though many schools may have induction programs available, novice teachers are often left to cope on their own in a sink-or-swim type situation, with some ultimately leaving the profession because of difficulties encountered during their first year. EVERY teacher must experience life as a novice when they begin their teaching career in a real classroom, and From Trainee to Teacher is the book that will make the transition from the training course to the classroom as smooth as possible because it focuses on the needs of the novice teachers in particular. From Trainee to Teacher outlines and describes a comprehensive framework for the professional development of novice teachers through reflective practice that is grounded in the classroom realities of real teaching contexts so that they can develop beyond their novice years and become expert ESL/EFL teachers. In addition, the suggestions presented in this book can be operationalized as standards for future ESL/EFL teacher education and development programs worldwide.

Index [+–] 143-144

For many novice ESL/EFL teachers the transition from their teacher education program (Cert or MA) to their first year of teaching has been characterized as a type of ‘reality shock’ because the ideals that novice teachers may have formed during the education program are often replaced by the harsh realities of the classroom, and social and political contexts of the school in which they are teaching. One reason for this may be that teacher education programs are unable to reproduce an environment similar to that teachers face when they graduate. Even though many schools may have induction programs available, novice teachers are often left to cope on their own in a sink-or-swim type situation, with some ultimately leaving the profession because of difficulties encountered during their first year. EVERY teacher must experience life as a novice when they begin their teaching career in a real classroom, and From Trainee to Teacher is the book that will make the transition from the training course to the classroom as smooth as possible because it focuses on the needs of the novice teachers in particular. From Trainee to Teacher outlines and describes a comprehensive framework for the professional development of novice teachers through reflective practice that is grounded in the classroom realities of real teaching contexts so that they can develop beyond their novice years and become expert ESL/EFL teachers. In addition, the suggestions presented in this book can be operationalized as standards for future ESL/EFL teacher education and development programs worldwide.

Reviews

The book certainly stirs up a number of issues and is quite an eye-opener. Without doubt, it amounts to a first-year practitioner's toolkit, providing the first step in marking the route with, perhaps, the identification of more concrete teaching content to be followed. All in all, the book is an excellent case study of a teachers' support group whose aim is being fulfilled as they reflect on their professional problems.
System

A valuable contribution to the scholarship on language teacher education. Thomas Farrell makes a persuasive argument about the need for greater support for pre-service and novice teachers, and this volume provides an important part of that support through compelling stories from novice teachers, insightful analysis, and pragmatic advice on the utility of reflective practice.
The Linguist List

This book is a must read for novice ESL teachers, as well as those who teach in and design teacher preparation programs.
TESL Canada Journal

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From Trainee to Teacher

Reflective Practice for Novice Teachers

Thomas S.C. Farrell [+–]

Brock University

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