Cognitive apprenticeship as a tool for materials development in an EFL teacher education project

Abstract

A major problem in teacher education is the gap between theory and practice. Engaging student teachers in materials development is one way to integrate theory and practice in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher education. It is during the complex process of materials development that student teachers start to envision learning processes and outcomes of specific language learning tasks. However, materials development does not take care of itself. It is argued that methods of cognitive apprenticeship can be a tool to support student teachers in the complex process of materials development. Cognitive apprenticeship is about modelling and verbalizing the internal cognitive processes underlying complex problem-solving tasks such as adapting authentic materials and writing rubrics. This paper reports how these methods are applied in an EFL teacher education project on materials development. Engaging student teachers in materials development can be a worthwhile opportunity-to-learn in university-based teacher education for any subject whatsoever.