Second Language Teacher Education in Response to Local Needs: Preservice Teachers of English Learning to Teach Diverse Learners in Communities

Abstract

Second language teacher education (SLTE) has changed its focus from cognitive to sociocultural perspectives. By considering located SLTE and community learning, this qualitative study was conducted to explore how preservice teachers of English as a foreign language learned to teach in response to learning needs in a Vietnamese city. Data sources for the study were written assignments produced by preservice teachers and in-depth interviews with them. Through their engagement in the local community, the preservice teachers identified nine groups of adult learners who were not able to gain access to English learning in the formal schooling system. Those learners sought to learn English not only to meet their personal and professional needs but also to contribute to socioeconomic development of the local community. Based on the findings regarding the local learners' needs and characteristics, the preservice teachers developed pedagogical practices appropriate to each specific group of learners and suggested that university-based SLTE programmes should embrace diverse learners and community-based teacher learning. The study substantiates the concept of located SLTE and offers some implications for SLTE in response to local needs.

Personalized Online Education Learning Strategies Based on Transfer Learning Emotion Classification Model

“…E-learning helps the traditional learning process take a step forward by providing students with materials that can help them learn anytime and anywhere [23,24]. However, many studies have shown that web-based online learning still lacks intelligence that may not be appropriate for each learner's characteristics [25]. Wong et al [7] proposed an autonomous approach to self-organization by creating learning objects (LO) that can provide learners with a good LO structure.…”

Research Into Second Language Learners’ and Teachers’ Self‐Efficacy Beliefs: Making the Connections

“…Nevertheless, LLSE beliefs studies, typically set in technologically rich, well resourced contexts, tend to be silent on any teacher education needed for such autonomy-oriented pedagogy to be employed by others. So, second language teacher education needs (Nguyen & Dang, 2020) in places where teaching takes place in "difficult circumstances" (Smith, Kuchah, & Lamb, 2018, p. 13) tend not to be considered. This is unfortunate, given that many teachers working in difficult circumstances face constant threats to their LTSE beliefs and would benefit from increased support.…”

“…A crucial pedagogical issue is that socioculturally oriented L2 teacher education not only provides “a locally responsive curriculum” (Nguyen & Dang, 2020, p. 405) but also engages fully with teacher motivation, which is often taken for granted or ignored (Lamb & Wyatt, 2019). If teachers are working, for example, in contexts where there is social stigma concerning limited L2 proficiency, this needs to be explicitly addressed and confronted (Kamhi‐Stein, 2009); the advantages of bilingualism need to be highlighted (Macaro, 2001), while learning aims need to be presented as “additive and aspirational” (Lamb & Wyatt, 2019, p. 530).…”

“…The use of innovative pedagogy has been found to boost LLSE beliefs in well resourced educational contexts, such as in the United Kingdom, the United States, Korea, and Japan. However, there is usually a lack of reference to contextual issues and “located second language teacher education” needs (Nguyen & Dang, 2020, p. 409) in different parts of the world that would impact the applicability of such methods more widely. Moreover, more of the research could investigate connections between LLSE beliefs and learner achievement (Thompson, Aizawa, Curle, & Rose, 2019).…”

Examining the Professional Quality of Experienced EFL Teachers for Their Sustainable Career Trajectories in Rural Areas in China

“…Language teacher education (LTE), which spans a wide variety of topics and perspectives, has been extensively researched since the 1990s [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. As an important agenda, language teacher professional quality has gained in popularity in LTE research [8][9][10], particularly along with some updated teaching methods including communicative language teaching (CLT), and more recently task-based language teaching (TBLT) and content and language integrated learning (CLIL).…”