Understanding foreign language teachers' practical knowledge: What's the role of prior language learning experience?

Year 2007, Volume: 3 Issue: 1, 168 - 181, 01.04.2007

Sibel Arıoğul

Abstract

Teachers’ practical knowledge is considered as teachers’ general knowledge, beliefs and thinking (Borg, 2003) which can be traced in teachers’ practices (Connelly & Clandinin, 1988) and shaped by various background sources (Borg, 2003; Grossman, 1990; Meijer, Verloop, and Beijard, 1999). This paper initially discusses how language teachers are influenced by three background sources: teachers’ prior language learning experiences, prior teaching experience, and professional coursework in pre- and in-service education. By drawing its data from the author’s longitidunal study, it also presents the findings of a cross-case theme emerged from the investigation of three English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ prior language learning experiences. The paper also discusses how the participation in studies on teachers’ knowledge raises teachers’ own awareness while it informs the research.

Keywords

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• Sibel ARIOĞUL, PhD. Foreign Languages Teaching Department, Faculty of Education,
• Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey. Her research interests include teacher cognition,
• foreign language teachers’ professional development, qualitative research methods, and critical literacy.