Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Series editor's preface
- Preface
- Introduction: Teacher development through exploring classroom processes
- 1 Approaches to classroom investigation in teaching
- 2 Exploring teachers' beliefs
- 3 Focus on the learner
- 4 Teacher decision making
- 5 The role of the teacher
- 6 The structure of a language lesson
- 7 Interaction in the second language classroom
- 8 The nature of language learning activities
- 9 Language use in the classroom
- Epilogue
- References
- Index
2 - Exploring teachers' beliefs
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Series editor's preface
- Preface
- Introduction: Teacher development through exploring classroom processes
- 1 Approaches to classroom investigation in teaching
- 2 Exploring teachers' beliefs
- 3 Focus on the learner
- 4 Teacher decision making
- 5 The role of the teacher
- 6 The structure of a language lesson
- 7 Interaction in the second language classroom
- 8 The nature of language learning activities
- 9 Language use in the classroom
- Epilogue
- References
- Index
Summary
Teaching is a complex process which can be conceptualized in a number of different ways. Traditionally, language teaching has been described interms of what teachers do: that is, in terms of the actions and behaviors which teachers carry out in the classroom and the effects of these on learners. No matter what kind of class a teacher teaches, he or she is typically confronted with the following kinds of tasks:
selecting learning activities
preparing students for new learning
presenting learning activities
asking questions
conducting drills
checking students' understanding
providing opportunities for practice of new items
monitoring students' learning
giving feedback on student learning
reviewing and reteaching when necessary
In trying to understand how teachers deal with these dimensions of teaching, it is necessary to examine the beliefs and thinking processes which underlie teachers' classroom actions. This view of teaching involves a cognitive, an affective, and a behavioral dimension (Clark and Peterson 1986; Lynch 1989). It is based on the assumption that what teachers do is a reflection of what they know and believe, and that teacher knowledge and “teacher thinking” provide the underlying framework or schema which guides the teacher's classroom actions (see Chapter 4).
Looking from a teacher-thinking perspective at teaching and learning, one is not so much striving for the disclosure of the effective teacher, but for the explanation and understanding of teaching processes as they are. After all, it is the teacher's subjective school-related knowledge which determines for the most part what happens in the classroom; whether the teacher can articulate his/her knowledge or not. […]
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- Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classrooms , pp. 29 - 51Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1994
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