Abstract
A sociocultural perspective on teacher education highlights the process of resocialisation (Johnson, 2009) faced by experienced teachers returning to their institutional teaching context following in-service education and training (INSET). Similar to the socialisation of novice teachers, resocialisation identifies constraints at the level of the institution that teachers are likely to encounter when implementing (and later sustaining) changes in their classroom practice, and in their beliefs about teaching and learning. Such constraints may be classroom-based (resources and equipment, students’ levels and needs), as well as the practices and expectations of the institution, such as, exam orientation, behavioural norms, power relationships, and threats to status. Findings from a longitudinal case study into the process of change in beliefs and classroom practice for experienced EFL teachers on an INSET programme in Macau will be presented, and comparisons made with theories from the research literature. The presentation will then make general suggestions about how the process of resocialisation may be mitigated by teachers in a range of contexts. These will include examples from the research data of ways in which teachers successfully implemented change in their classroom teaching, and also methods through which teachers can work within the normative constraints of an institution, and will therefore address the conference sub-theme of ‘Educating through borders of power’. Reference: Johnson, K. E. (2009). Second language teacher education: A sociocultural perspective. Routledge.
Author Information
David Sansom, Macao Polytechnic Institute, Macau
Paper Information
Conference: ACE2015
Stream: Professional concerns
This paper is part of the ACE2015 Conference Proceedings (View)
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