Teacher Cognition in Language Teaching : Beliefs, Decision-Making, and Classroom Practice /
Devon Woods.
- 1st ed.
- New York : Cambridge University Press ; 1996.
- xii, 316 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
- Cambridge Applied Linguistics .
- Cambridge applied linguistics series. .
Includes bibliographical references (p. 300-310) and indexes.
"This book is an examination of how and what teachers think in their practice of language teaching. Based on a case study of university level ESL teachers in Canada, it looks at the planning practices of teachers, both in preparation for the classroom and during the moment-to-moment decision-making that occurs in the classroom. It also looks at how teachers interpret and evaluate the events, activities and interactions that occur in the teaching process, and how these interpretations and evaluations feed back into subsequent planning. It examines the structure of teachers' beliefs, assumptions and background knowledge and elaborates on the role that these play in the decision-making process. This book is an important contribution to the emerging perspective in education which views the development of teacher expertise not as the mastery of behaviours, but as the active involvement of teachers in constructing a personal and workable theory of teaching, and the learning/teaching experience as an interactive, dynamic process." (Book Cover) CONTENTS Series Editors' Preface Thanks 1. Why study the teacher? Research and language teaching The method debates Focus on the learner Classroom-centered research Gaps in our understanding of language teaching: three research questions The structure of language teaching Teachers' planning processes Teachers' interpretative processes Participant-centred research: focus on participants' understanding of events in context Conclusion 2 The study Subjects and classes observed Research methodology Data collection Data analysis Validity and the research methodology The data collection methodology Validity and the analysis of the data _generalizability of results 3. An ethno-cognitive model of language teachers' decision-making The ethnographic study of teachers A cognitive model for the study of language teachers Plans and action Interpretation of events: background knowledge and belief systems Linguistics, discourse analysis and the study of language in context The concept of coherence and the overall model Conclusion 4. The structures of teaching: units and relationships in a course A participant-centered view of course structure The interpretation of the learner The interpretation of the teacher The interpretation of the researcher Types of course structure Chronological (calendar/clock) structure Conceptual structure Characteristics of the structures Relationships among units: sequential and hierarchical Course structure as an evolving dynamic entity: tangled hierarchies and heterarchies Conclusion 5. Decision-making in the structuring of a course: a model of the planning processes of teachers Planning and decision-making in the teaching process Planning and decision-making: the range of consciousness of decisions Planning and decision-making: the relationships among decisions Teachers' planning: factors in the process External factors Internal factors An elaborated model of planning and decision-making in the teaching process Conclusion: the model 6. Procedures and strategies in the planning process The task of the teacher Interpretation of course goals Interpretation of learners' abilities Teachers' procedures and strategies for planning Overview Description of procedures and strategies Features of the decision-making process Tentativeness of planning Resources and constraints Top-down and bottom-up planning Implicit planning: activating experienced structures Conclusion 7. An integrated view of teachers' beliefs, assumptions and knowledge Approaching language teaching Assumptions about language Assumptions about language learning Assumptions about language teaching Teachers' background knowledge and beliefs: the education literature Teachers' background knowledge structures Teachers' beliefs and implicit theories Theoretical issues in the literature: relevance for second language teaching BAK: beliefs, assumptions and knowledge Features of BAK The evolution of BAK Conclusion 8. The role of BAK in teachers' interpretative processes Interpretation of classroom events Interpretation of the curriculum Interpretation of a textbook-based curriculum Interpretation of theoretical and pedagogical concepts BAK and planning BAK, teaching and life Conclusion 9. Coherence in the teaching process The coherent nature of the cycle within a course The mechanism for change Teacher change Curricular evolution Conclusion 10. The structure and process of teaching in context The structures of teaching Theoretical relevance Relevance for practice Teachers' planning procedures Theoretical relevance Relevance for practice Teachers' interpretative processes Theoretical relevance Relevance for practice Coherence in the teaching process Curricular evolution and evaluation Teacher change and evaluation Conclusion: exploration and discovery as a catalyst for change References Author Index Subject Index
0521497000 (hbk) 0521497884 (pbk)
95037618
Language and languages--Study and teaching. Language teachers--Psychology. Curriculum planning.