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Epilogue

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2010

Jack C. Richards
Affiliation:
Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) Regional Language Centre (RELC), Singapore
Charles Lockhart
Affiliation:
Hong Kong City Polytechnic
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Summary

This book reflects a different perspective on teacher development from that implicit in many TESL education programs. Traditional views of language teaching have often seen it as an applied science, that is, as “Applied linguistics.” The significant theory and knowledge base underlying teaching is presented during the campus course. The teacher's job is to apply this knowledge in the classroom. Once teachers enter teaching they are expected to master the more “trivial” aspects of teaching, such as how to handle routine classroom techniques and procedures. Improvement in teaching comes about as teachers match their teaching more closely to the theories and principles introduced during their MATESL (or similar) course.

The concept of reflective teaching, however, as with other inquiryoriented approaches to teaching, makes different assumptions about the nature of teacher development. The process of reflecting upon one's own teaching is viewed as an essential component in developing knowledge and theories of teaching, and is hence a key element in one's professional development. This process is one which continues throughout a teacher's career. Formal programs of teacher education represent only an initial, though essential, first phase in teacher development. As Zeichner (1992: 297) observes:

… learning to teach is a process that continues throughout a teacher's career and no matter what we do in our teacher education programs and no matter how well we do it, at best we can only prepare teachers to begin teaching. Consequently, teacher educators must be committed to helping prospective teachers internalize the dispositions and skills to study their teaching and to become better at teaching over time, that is, to help teachers take responsibility for their own professional development.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1994

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  • Epilogue
  • Jack C. Richards, Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) Regional Language Centre (RELC), Singapore, Charles Lockhart, Hong Kong City Polytechnic
  • Book: Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classrooms
  • Online publication: 29 January 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511667169.013
Available formats
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Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Epilogue
  • Jack C. Richards, Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) Regional Language Centre (RELC), Singapore, Charles Lockhart, Hong Kong City Polytechnic
  • Book: Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classrooms
  • Online publication: 29 January 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511667169.013
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Epilogue
  • Jack C. Richards, Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) Regional Language Centre (RELC), Singapore, Charles Lockhart, Hong Kong City Polytechnic
  • Book: Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classrooms
  • Online publication: 29 January 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511667169.013
Available formats
×