Pub Date : 2021-07-16DOI: 10.1080/07908318.2021.1954938
Y. Gong, Chun Lai, X. Gao
ABSTRACT This paper reports on our inquiry into how language teachers’ identities relate to their efforts to teach intercultural communicative competence. In the study, we collected data through in-depth interviews with and observations of 16 Chinese language teachers in Hong Kong’s international schools. The analysis revealed that the participants simultaneously embraced multiple professional and sociocultural identities related to intercultural communicative competence teaching. Specifically, the professional identities included a Chinese language teacher identity and a school staff member identity, while the sociocultural identity comprised a Chinese culture bearer identity, a multicultural identity, a cultural transmitter identity, a culture learner identity, and a cultural bridge identity. These identities were found to compete with or reinforce each other in mediating the participants’ efforts in relation to teaching intercultural communicative competence; different identities were often associated with different understandings of and approaches to teaching intercultural communicative competence. The findings suggest that language teacher educators need to recognise teacher identities as an important pedagogical resource when preparing language teachers for teaching in cross-cultural contexts.
{"title":"Language teachers’ identity in teaching intercultural communicative competence","authors":"Y. Gong, Chun Lai, X. Gao","doi":"10.1080/07908318.2021.1954938","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2021.1954938","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper reports on our inquiry into how language teachers’ identities relate to their efforts to teach intercultural communicative competence. In the study, we collected data through in-depth interviews with and observations of 16 Chinese language teachers in Hong Kong’s international schools. The analysis revealed that the participants simultaneously embraced multiple professional and sociocultural identities related to intercultural communicative competence teaching. Specifically, the professional identities included a Chinese language teacher identity and a school staff member identity, while the sociocultural identity comprised a Chinese culture bearer identity, a multicultural identity, a cultural transmitter identity, a culture learner identity, and a cultural bridge identity. These identities were found to compete with or reinforce each other in mediating the participants’ efforts in relation to teaching intercultural communicative competence; different identities were often associated with different understandings of and approaches to teaching intercultural communicative competence. The findings suggest that language teacher educators need to recognise teacher identities as an important pedagogical resource when preparing language teachers for teaching in cross-cultural contexts.","PeriodicalId":17945,"journal":{"name":"Language, Culture and Curriculum","volume":"52 ","pages":"134 - 150"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2021-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/07908318.2021.1954938","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41283504","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-03DOI: 10.1080/07908318.2020.1825470
Priscilla Bretuo
ABSTRACT The decision on which language(s) of instruction to use and how to use them in education is a persistent challenge in the development of quality education in multilingual countries like Ghana. This qualitative study of four public basic schools in the Ashanti region of Ghana explores teachers’ and pupils’ experience of the early-exit transitional education policy in Ghana to understand how it is implemented in the classroom and what its outcomes are for learning. It was discovered that linguistic heterogeneity within classrooms remains a challenge to effective communication despite bilingual instruction. This is exacerbated by the inadequate supply of teaching and learning resources and cognitive underdevelopment of the mother-tongue. The interaction of these factors makes only three years of bilingual instruction insufficient for children to develop adequate bilingual ability to advance intellectually after primary three with English-only instruction. This is more so the case for children at the primary level whose L1 is a marginal/non-dominant language linguistically different from the L1 of their classroom.
{"title":"Using language to improve learning: teachers’ and students’ perspectives on the implementation of bilingual education in Ghana","authors":"Priscilla Bretuo","doi":"10.1080/07908318.2020.1825470","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2020.1825470","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The decision on which language(s) of instruction to use and how to use them in education is a persistent challenge in the development of quality education in multilingual countries like Ghana. This qualitative study of four public basic schools in the Ashanti region of Ghana explores teachers’ and pupils’ experience of the early-exit transitional education policy in Ghana to understand how it is implemented in the classroom and what its outcomes are for learning. It was discovered that linguistic heterogeneity within classrooms remains a challenge to effective communication despite bilingual instruction. This is exacerbated by the inadequate supply of teaching and learning resources and cognitive underdevelopment of the mother-tongue. The interaction of these factors makes only three years of bilingual instruction insufficient for children to develop adequate bilingual ability to advance intellectually after primary three with English-only instruction. This is more so the case for children at the primary level whose L1 is a marginal/non-dominant language linguistically different from the L1 of their classroom.","PeriodicalId":17945,"journal":{"name":"Language, Culture and Curriculum","volume":"34 1","pages":"257 - 272"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2021-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/07908318.2020.1825470","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41470753","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-06-17DOI: 10.1080/07908318.2021.1941077
Yanhong Liu, L. Zhang, Stephen May
ABSTRACT A number of studies have reported the cultural representations in English textbooks in many contexts, especially those in Asia. However, these studies relied on a small data set and the findings suffered severe limitations. To overcome such shortcomings, we self-built a corpus that has 40 volumes/books of over one million words to examine the cultural constellations evident in 10 sets of university English textbooks in China. With such a large corpus of 864 texts, which significantly exceeds the number of texts examined in previous studies, we intended to offset the weakness of manual content analysis in mining big data and thus also reduce subjectivity markedly. We subjected the whole data set to thematic coding through corpus tools. We found that: 1) the dominance of American/British cultures in these texts is prevalent, with the cultures of other Inner-circle countries in the periphery, and the cultures of the Outer-circle and Expanding-circle countries almost entirely neglected; 2) these textbooks showed little interest in local or Chinese cultures. We conclude by positing that the dominance of Anglo-American monocultural representation in English textbooks is problematic in an increasingly multilingual and multicultural world.
{"title":"Dominance of Anglo-American cultural representations in university English textbooks in China: a corpus linguistics analysis","authors":"Yanhong Liu, L. Zhang, Stephen May","doi":"10.1080/07908318.2021.1941077","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2021.1941077","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT A number of studies have reported the cultural representations in English textbooks in many contexts, especially those in Asia. However, these studies relied on a small data set and the findings suffered severe limitations. To overcome such shortcomings, we self-built a corpus that has 40 volumes/books of over one million words to examine the cultural constellations evident in 10 sets of university English textbooks in China. With such a large corpus of 864 texts, which significantly exceeds the number of texts examined in previous studies, we intended to offset the weakness of manual content analysis in mining big data and thus also reduce subjectivity markedly. We subjected the whole data set to thematic coding through corpus tools. We found that: 1) the dominance of American/British cultures in these texts is prevalent, with the cultures of other Inner-circle countries in the periphery, and the cultures of the Outer-circle and Expanding-circle countries almost entirely neglected; 2) these textbooks showed little interest in local or Chinese cultures. We conclude by positing that the dominance of Anglo-American monocultural representation in English textbooks is problematic in an increasingly multilingual and multicultural world.","PeriodicalId":17945,"journal":{"name":"Language, Culture and Curriculum","volume":"35 1","pages":"83 - 101"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2021-06-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/07908318.2021.1941077","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46941892","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-06-15DOI: 10.1080/07908318.2021.1942033
Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo
ABSTRACT Since the interaction of individual variables with learning outcomes has been relatively neglected in the CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) research agenda (Doiz, A., Lasagabaster, D., & Sierra, J. M. (2014). CLIL and motivation: The effect of individual and contextual variables. The Language Learning Journal, 42(2), 209–224), this study aims to investigate the impact of CLIL programmes on gender-related differences in language and content achievement at the end of primary and compulsory secondary education. In line with previous investigations reporting a levelling effect of CLIL programmes on gender differences, this study seeks to show whether bilingual programmes may help to balance out gender differences in CLIL learning outcomes and whether the gender gap may vary across educational levels. To that end, discriminant and factor analyses were performed with the experimental (EFL + CLIL exposure) and control (EFL-only exposure) groups. The main finding was that the gender gap in CLIL learning outcomes is cancelled out, which could be ascribed to the hypothesised levelling effect of CLIL on gender differences in learning outcomes.
由于在内容和语言综合学习(CLIL)研究议程中，个体变量与学习结果的相互作用相对被忽视(Doiz, A.， Lasagabaster, D.， & Sierra, J. M.(2014)。CLIL与动机:个体变量与情境变量的影响。《语言学习杂志》，42(2)，209-224)，本研究旨在调查CLIL课程对小学和义务中等教育结束时语言和内容成就的性别差异的影响。与之前报告CLIL课程对性别差异的平衡效应的调查一致，本研究旨在表明双语课程是否有助于平衡CLIL学习结果的性别差异，以及性别差距是否会在不同的教育水平上有所不同。为此，对实验组(EFL + CLIL暴露)和对照组(仅EFL暴露)进行了判别和因素分析。主要发现是CLIL学习结果的性别差异被抵消，这可以归因于假设的CLIL对学习结果性别差异的平衡效应。
{"title":"Do CLIL programmes help to balance out gender differences in content and language achievement?","authors":"Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo","doi":"10.1080/07908318.2021.1942033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2021.1942033","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Since the interaction of individual variables with learning outcomes has been relatively neglected in the CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) research agenda (Doiz, A., Lasagabaster, D., & Sierra, J. M. (2014). CLIL and motivation: The effect of individual and contextual variables. The Language Learning Journal, 42(2), 209–224), this study aims to investigate the impact of CLIL programmes on gender-related differences in language and content achievement at the end of primary and compulsory secondary education. In line with previous investigations reporting a levelling effect of CLIL programmes on gender differences, this study seeks to show whether bilingual programmes may help to balance out gender differences in CLIL learning outcomes and whether the gender gap may vary across educational levels. To that end, discriminant and factor analyses were performed with the experimental (EFL + CLIL exposure) and control (EFL-only exposure) groups. The main finding was that the gender gap in CLIL learning outcomes is cancelled out, which could be ascribed to the hypothesised levelling effect of CLIL on gender differences in learning outcomes.","PeriodicalId":17945,"journal":{"name":"Language, Culture and Curriculum","volume":"35 1","pages":"119 - 133"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2021-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/07908318.2021.1942033","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43431016","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-06-07DOI: 10.1080/07908318.2021.1938106
Anqi Peng, Meagan M. Patterson
ABSTRACT As the number of international students in the United States increases, many researchers show interest in understanding how international students adapt to the local society and what factors influence this process. Cultural identity and language proficiency, as two important factors for international students in adaptation, cannot be ignored. The purpose of this study was to examine the relations of cultural identity to language learning for international students (n = 77) in the United States. In order to achieve this goal, participants completed measures of cultural identity, motivation for language learning, and self-perceived language proficiency. Using path analysis, two important findings emerged. First, ethnic identification was negatively related to self-perceived English proficiency, but this relation was mediated by motivation in learning English (i.e. high levels of motivation for language learning could buffer the effect of ethnic identification). Second, American identification (i.e. feeling a strong attachment to the United States, seeking to learn more about U.S. culture) promoted English proficiency through motivation in language learning.
{"title":"Relations among cultural identity, motivation for language learning, and perceived English language proficiency for international students in the United States","authors":"Anqi Peng, Meagan M. Patterson","doi":"10.1080/07908318.2021.1938106","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2021.1938106","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT As the number of international students in the United States increases, many researchers show interest in understanding how international students adapt to the local society and what factors influence this process. Cultural identity and language proficiency, as two important factors for international students in adaptation, cannot be ignored. The purpose of this study was to examine the relations of cultural identity to language learning for international students (n = 77) in the United States. In order to achieve this goal, participants completed measures of cultural identity, motivation for language learning, and self-perceived language proficiency. Using path analysis, two important findings emerged. First, ethnic identification was negatively related to self-perceived English proficiency, but this relation was mediated by motivation in learning English (i.e. high levels of motivation for language learning could buffer the effect of ethnic identification). Second, American identification (i.e. feeling a strong attachment to the United States, seeking to learn more about U.S. culture) promoted English proficiency through motivation in language learning.","PeriodicalId":17945,"journal":{"name":"Language, Culture and Curriculum","volume":"35 1","pages":"67 - 82"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2021-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/07908318.2021.1938106","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48775998","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-26DOI: 10.1080/07908318.2021.1918144
K. Kabel, Mette Vedsgaard Christensen, L. Brok
ABSTRACT Studies exploring grammar teaching in first and foreign language subjects in Scandinavia are very rare. In this article, we present findings from a focused ethnographic study (Gramma3, 2018–2019) of grammar teaching practices in the three major first and foreign language subjects at lower-secondary level (age 13–15) in Denmark: Danish L1, English L2 and German L3, with data collected at seven schools. The dominance of traditional school grammar content in all three classrooms is one main finding. However, the approaches vary across the three subjects, mirrored also in different traditions and cultures for language learning within first and foreign language subjects. The co-existence of concurrent and even contradictory practices within each language subject is another main finding. Thus, the cross-curricular perspective of the present study leads to detailed findings suggesting new ways of understanding explicit grammar teaching in compulsory education. In this way, the study helps to shed light on an under-researched, yet key curricular content area in all three subjects, suggesting opportunities for cooperation between first and foreign language teachers. In turn, it contributes knowledge, which is valuable beyond the national context of the study, with the potential for comparative studies across borders.
{"title":"A focused ethnographic study on grammar teaching practices across language subjects in schools","authors":"K. Kabel, Mette Vedsgaard Christensen, L. Brok","doi":"10.1080/07908318.2021.1918144","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2021.1918144","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Studies exploring grammar teaching in first and foreign language subjects in Scandinavia are very rare. In this article, we present findings from a focused ethnographic study (Gramma3, 2018–2019) of grammar teaching practices in the three major first and foreign language subjects at lower-secondary level (age 13–15) in Denmark: Danish L1, English L2 and German L3, with data collected at seven schools. The dominance of traditional school grammar content in all three classrooms is one main finding. However, the approaches vary across the three subjects, mirrored also in different traditions and cultures for language learning within first and foreign language subjects. The co-existence of concurrent and even contradictory practices within each language subject is another main finding. Thus, the cross-curricular perspective of the present study leads to detailed findings suggesting new ways of understanding explicit grammar teaching in compulsory education. In this way, the study helps to shed light on an under-researched, yet key curricular content area in all three subjects, suggesting opportunities for cooperation between first and foreign language teachers. In turn, it contributes knowledge, which is valuable beyond the national context of the study, with the potential for comparative studies across borders.","PeriodicalId":17945,"journal":{"name":"Language, Culture and Curriculum","volume":"35 1","pages":"51 - 66"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2021-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/07908318.2021.1918144","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43194741","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-05DOI: 10.1080/07908318.2021.1910703
Nerea Villabona, J. Cenoz
ABSTRACT Although the core element in CLIL and immersion programmes is the integration of content and language, it is challenging to achieve a balance between the two to meet the dual-objective of CLIL. Research on the beliefs teachers have about CLIL and the way they understand the role of content and language in their classes is crucial to achieve that balance. In the Basque Autonomous Community (BAC), a multilingual region in Spain, schools are implementing CLIL programmes in order to improve students’ English proficiency and foster multilingualism. This case study aims at exploring how teachers in this particular setting conceptualise the integration of content and language in CLIL and their understanding is reflected through pedagogical practices. For that purpose, the thoughts and practices of two CLIL teachers with different teaching backgrounds are examined here. The findings show that teachers understand and implement CLIL in different ways and that there are substantial differences between the content-oriented teacher and the language-oriented teacher. This study shows that it is difficult to achieve a balance of content and language in CLIL classrooms because some classes tend to be content-oriented without enough attention given to language, while others are language-oriented without enough attention paid to content.
{"title":"The integration of content and language in CLIL: a challenge for content-driven and language-driven teachers","authors":"Nerea Villabona, J. Cenoz","doi":"10.1080/07908318.2021.1910703","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2021.1910703","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Although the core element in CLIL and immersion programmes is the integration of content and language, it is challenging to achieve a balance between the two to meet the dual-objective of CLIL. Research on the beliefs teachers have about CLIL and the way they understand the role of content and language in their classes is crucial to achieve that balance. In the Basque Autonomous Community (BAC), a multilingual region in Spain, schools are implementing CLIL programmes in order to improve students’ English proficiency and foster multilingualism. This case study aims at exploring how teachers in this particular setting conceptualise the integration of content and language in CLIL and their understanding is reflected through pedagogical practices. For that purpose, the thoughts and practices of two CLIL teachers with different teaching backgrounds are examined here. The findings show that teachers understand and implement CLIL in different ways and that there are substantial differences between the content-oriented teacher and the language-oriented teacher. This study shows that it is difficult to achieve a balance of content and language in CLIL classrooms because some classes tend to be content-oriented without enough attention given to language, while others are language-oriented without enough attention paid to content.","PeriodicalId":17945,"journal":{"name":"Language, Culture and Curriculum","volume":"35 1","pages":"36 - 50"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2021-04-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/07908318.2021.1910703","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42764828","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-03DOI: 10.1080/07908318.2020.1797080
Germán Canale
ABSTRACT This guest-edited Special Issue of Language, Culture and Curriculum presents a collection of studies that look into language textbooks through three key themes: representation, interaction and learning. The full issue considers textbooks produced in different parts of the world, for different audiences (in terms of geographical location, age and level of proficiency), for the teaching of several languages (Chinese, English, French, German, Spanish) with different statuses (first, second and foreign language education). This diversity of contexts, texts and users allows us to find recurrent issues and patterns around the world and, at the same time, situate other issues locally for a richer qualitative understanding of the phenomena under investigation. Contributions provide new insight into the interconnectedness of these three key themes (representation, interaction and learning) and what the research field might gain from exploring all three in an articulated manner. They also expand our understanding of the textbook as an educational, cultural, pedagogical and ideological site for research. Discussions, findings and implications appeal not only to researchers but also to language teachers, language textbook publishers and other stakeholders.
{"title":"The language textbook: representation, interaction and learning","authors":"Germán Canale","doi":"10.1080/07908318.2020.1797080","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2020.1797080","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This guest-edited Special Issue of Language, Culture and Curriculum presents a collection of studies that look into language textbooks through three key themes: representation, interaction and learning. The full issue considers textbooks produced in different parts of the world, for different audiences (in terms of geographical location, age and level of proficiency), for the teaching of several languages (Chinese, English, French, German, Spanish) with different statuses (first, second and foreign language education). This diversity of contexts, texts and users allows us to find recurrent issues and patterns around the world and, at the same time, situate other issues locally for a richer qualitative understanding of the phenomena under investigation. Contributions provide new insight into the interconnectedness of these three key themes (representation, interaction and learning) and what the research field might gain from exploring all three in an articulated manner. They also expand our understanding of the textbook as an educational, cultural, pedagogical and ideological site for research. Discussions, findings and implications appeal not only to researchers but also to language teachers, language textbook publishers and other stakeholders.","PeriodicalId":17945,"journal":{"name":"Language, Culture and Curriculum","volume":"34 1","pages":"113 - 118"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2021-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/07908318.2020.1797080","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43816657","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-03-29DOI: 10.1080/07908318.2021.1906268
Jinfen Xu, Yumei Fan
ABSTRACT This study contributes to the limited research on teacher agency in task-based language teaching. Conceptualising agency through the lens of activity theory, the study investigated how two EFL teachers enacted their agency in TBLT implementation at a Chinese university and what factors mediated the enactment of their agency. Data collected by means of classroom observation, interviews and course documents were triangulated to provide a descriptive synthesis of teacher participants’ experiences with task-based language teaching. The analysis of the data revealed that these two teachers demonstrated agency through teaching as adaptation and teaching as learning to overcome the contradictions in the instructional activity system. They engaged with both proactive and reactive agency. A number of mediational factors were found to account for their agency. The study highlights the crucial role of teachers’ shared beliefs on the value of TBLT and curriculum reform and institutional support in influencing teachers’ adoption of task-supported language teaching.
{"title":"Finding success with the implementation of task-based language teaching: the role of teacher agency","authors":"Jinfen Xu, Yumei Fan","doi":"10.1080/07908318.2021.1906268","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2021.1906268","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study contributes to the limited research on teacher agency in task-based language teaching. Conceptualising agency through the lens of activity theory, the study investigated how two EFL teachers enacted their agency in TBLT implementation at a Chinese university and what factors mediated the enactment of their agency. Data collected by means of classroom observation, interviews and course documents were triangulated to provide a descriptive synthesis of teacher participants’ experiences with task-based language teaching. The analysis of the data revealed that these two teachers demonstrated agency through teaching as adaptation and teaching as learning to overcome the contradictions in the instructional activity system. They engaged with both proactive and reactive agency. A number of mediational factors were found to account for their agency. The study highlights the crucial role of teachers’ shared beliefs on the value of TBLT and curriculum reform and institutional support in influencing teachers’ adoption of task-supported language teaching.","PeriodicalId":17945,"journal":{"name":"Language, Culture and Curriculum","volume":"35 1","pages":"18 - 35"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2021-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/07908318.2021.1906268","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47173421","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-03-16DOI: 10.1080/07908318.2021.1898630
Julie Waddington
ABSTRACT Current foreign language education policies advocate plurilingual approaches to learning and teaching languages and call into question the ‘ideal native speaker’ as the ultimate model. Observations within a teacher training context indicate that this ideal still holds considerable weight among pre-service teachers. A study was carried out with students enrolled on the degree programme in Early Childhood Education at a university in Catalonia to explore the extent to which the ‘ideal native speaker’ model prevails within this community. The study analysed data from different instruments applied within the context of a core module which includes an innovative approach to embedding English as a foreign language in the early years. Findings confirm the prevalence of the model and reveal beliefs and assumptions which not only perpetuate the ideal itself, but also reinforce disempowering and discriminatory attitudes which are incongruent with current policies regarding language education. Changes reported in post-intervention findings highlight the need to develop reflective skills alongside linguistic and didactic competences in Early Childhood EFL Education. One of the main contributions of the study is its identification of deficit views of non-specialist teachers and its call for collaborative practice in which all linguistic abilities have a place. Video abstract Read the transcript Watch the video on Vimeo
{"title":"Rethinking the ‘ideal native speaker’ teacher in early childhood education","authors":"Julie Waddington","doi":"10.1080/07908318.2021.1898630","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2021.1898630","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Current foreign language education policies advocate plurilingual approaches to learning and teaching languages and call into question the ‘ideal native speaker’ as the ultimate model. Observations within a teacher training context indicate that this ideal still holds considerable weight among pre-service teachers. A study was carried out with students enrolled on the degree programme in Early Childhood Education at a university in Catalonia to explore the extent to which the ‘ideal native speaker’ model prevails within this community. The study analysed data from different instruments applied within the context of a core module which includes an innovative approach to embedding English as a foreign language in the early years. Findings confirm the prevalence of the model and reveal beliefs and assumptions which not only perpetuate the ideal itself, but also reinforce disempowering and discriminatory attitudes which are incongruent with current policies regarding language education. Changes reported in post-intervention findings highlight the need to develop reflective skills alongside linguistic and didactic competences in Early Childhood EFL Education. One of the main contributions of the study is its identification of deficit views of non-specialist teachers and its call for collaborative practice in which all linguistic abilities have a place. Video abstract Read the transcript Watch the video on Vimeo","PeriodicalId":17945,"journal":{"name":"Language, Culture and Curriculum","volume":"35 1","pages":"1 - 17"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2021-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/07908318.2021.1898630","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49333379","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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