The role played by language teachers’ personal theories and understandings of teaching as well as how teachers learn from the experience of teaching, has received growing attention within Second Language Teacher Education (SLTE) in recent years and is the focus of the chapters in this section.

In Chapter 15, Golombek points out that the complexity of teachers’ understandings of teaching has been captured in several constructs, including personal practical knowledge, images, principles, and maxims, terms that seek to show how teachers’ beliefs, thoughts and words about teaching are reflected in and shape their actions in the classroom. These understandings reflect teacher’s personal histories and sense of identity as well as the contexts in which they work. This interaction between practice and belief – one which is strongly influenced by the contexts in which teachers work – is the source of the teacher’s developing knowledge about teaching. Such knowledge may be revealed through reflective practices including writing, narratives, observation, and case studies.

Borg, in Chapter 16, surveys research in the field of language teacher cognition, which focuses on what has been called the “mental lives” of teachers. Since much of what happens in SLTE programs at both the preservice and in-service level has to do with exploring teachers’ beliefs, often with a view to “replacing” them with disciplinary-based beliefs, the study of teachers’ beliefs is central to our understanding of SLTE. An important theme emerging from this research is the role played by prior teaching and learning experiences in shaping teachers’ views of teaching, particularly preservice teachers, and identifying and reflecting on these beliefs can be a powerful source of learning in SLTE programs. The difficulty of putting beliefs into practice, particularly new understandings acquired in preservice programs, can be a source of frustration and anxiety for novice teachers. Borg also reviews the research methods that have been used in studies of teacher cognition and emphasizes the limitations of some forms of qualitative analysis in researching teacher cognition.

Miller, in the next discussion in this section (Chapter 17), surveys the role of language teacher identity in SLTE, and points out how a focus in teacher identity marks a shift from a cognitivist view of teacher learning – one which presumes that learning is a private thing taking place in the head of an individual teacher – to a sociocultural view – one which views learning as contingent upon social processes and in which identity plays a key role.