Teacher Development in a Global Profession: An Autoethnography

Abstract

In this ethnographic self‐reconstruction, the author represents the ways in which he negotiated the differing teaching practices and professional cultures of the periphery and the center in an effort to develop a strategic professional identity. He brings out the importance of using multiple identities critically for voice in the wider professional discourses and practices. As global English acquires local identities, and diverse professional communities develop their own socially situated pedagogical practices, it is becoming important to chart a constructive relationship between these communities in TESOL. Through his journey of professionalization, the author explores the framework of relationships that would enable an effective negotiation of practices and discourses between the different professional communities and facilitate more constructive teacher identities.

English Grammar and Thai University Students: An Insurmountable Linguistic Battle?

“…The revamped curricula emphasize the communicative nature of language instruction, and depending on how the term "communicative" is defined, a given curriculum could end up ruling out grammar from the courses. According to Canagarajah (2012), "[t]his top-down imposition of TESOL methods without a consideration of local pedagogical traditions has led to dysfunctional classroom conditions in my parts of the world" (p. 265). Here, Canagarajah was lamenting the inclusion of communicative language teaching, a Western-conceived teaching approach, in haste.…”

Theories and Practices in Critical Language Teaching: A Dialogic Introduction

“…This notion of dialogue aligns with the narrative turn in the applied linguistic literature (BARCELOS, 2015;BARKHUIZEN, 2017;ZACCHI, 2016) a turn that illuminates research problems and possibilities in unique and personalized ways (see also CANAGARAJAH, 2012;WINDLE, 2017). For the task at hand (critical language teaching), narrative and other forms of personalized story telling should not be underestimated for its potential to mobilize the agency of the social actors involved.…”

Narrative Perspectives on Self-Directed Foreign Language Learning in a Computer- and Mobile-Assisted Language Learning Context

“…After this reflection, they entered a narrative analysis [6] phase where they composed their narratives as a means of analyzing their journals and log data. In addition to consolidating their experiences, constructing the narratives enabled them to unearth "hidden feelings, forgotten motivations, and suppressed emotions" [31] (p. 261). They all wrote in the first person, used an informal style, and ended up with narratives of similar length: Dan = 1803 words; Hima = 1779 words; Rachelle = 1583 words (full narratives available in Supplement S1).…”