Trainee teachers' understanding of content/language connections

Abstract

The developing understandings of teacher-trainees of language and content connections in 'subject' teaching in Singapore's bilingual primary schools are explored in this article. I narrate the development of the project, the trainee responses, and my own reflections on the process. Throughout, I take an Exploratory Practice (Allwright, 2003) stance by attempting to understand teacher-trainee understanding, to adopt a more collegial attitude in the teacher-trainer/teacher-trainee relationship, and to integrate appropriate research methods with relevant teacher training activities.

From research-as-practice to exploratory practice-as-research in language teaching and beyond

“…In Singapore, Silver adopted an EP stance to explore trainee teachers’ emotional and academic struggles, as well as their ‘perspectives on language teaching, subject teaching [e.g. mathematics, science] and the role of language in subject teaching’ (Silver, 2008, p. 105) in primary classrooms. She highlighted the risks of positioning teachers and learners as objects of study and argued instead that EP affords opportunities for teachers and learner-teachers to actively co-construct their understandings.…”

“…Likewise, Miller worked with others to investigate not only her puzzles, but also to facilitate practitioner research conducted by her colleagues (co-workers, learners and others) as exemplified in Miller and Bannell (1998), Miller et al (2008), Miller and Barreto (2015), and Miller et al (2018). Meanwhile, Silver (2008) involved trainee teachers in developing their understandings of the connections between content and language.…”

Exploratory Practice in the FL Teaching Methods Course: A Case Study of Three Graduate Student Instructors’ Experiences

“…Teacher-researchers working with EP have noted numerous benefits to their professional lives as teachers, including newfound awareness of their learners' experiences (Gunn, 2010;Rose, 2007;Silver, 2008), renewed enthusiasm for the learning-teaching experience (Crane, Sadler, Ha, & Ojiambo, 2013;Johnson, 2002), the space to study personal, affective issues related to language teaching (Lyra, Fish, & Braga, 2003), opportunities to develop common understanding with colleagues about curricula (Slimani-Rolls, 2003), and greater understanding of the reflective process itself (Kuschnir & Machado, 2003). While this research has tended to focus on seasoned teachers' experiences with the framework for professional development purposes, EP is likely to serve as a productive model for beginning FL instructors who are learning to become reflective, thinking practitioners (Freeman, 2002;Wright, 2010) in an educational landscape that increasingly demands of its teachers a sophisticated understanding of learners and learning (Allwright & Hanks, 2009;Kramsch, 2009).…”