How do foreign language teachers maintain their proficiency? A grounded theory investigation

Valmori, Lorena; Costa, Peter I. De

doi:10.1016/j.system.2016.02.003

Cited by 24 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 24 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…A denial of teachers' linguistic capital-as measured by their proficiency-is a universal problem and not one that is limited to the United States. That FL proficiency matters is also underscored by Valmori and De Costa (2016), who describe the challenges faced by FL teachers in Italy. Both Burke (2013) and Valmori and De Costa (2016) emphasize how perceptions of a good language teacher are still influenced by a non-native speaker teacher bias.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction: Identity, Transdisciplinarity, and the Good Language Teacher

Costa

Norton

2017

The Modern Language Journal

243

106

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

What constitutes a “good teacher” and “good teaching” has come under much scrutiny in an age of globalization, transnationalism, and increased demands for accountability. It is against this evolving landscape and the pathbreaking work of the Douglas Fir Group (DFG, 2016) that this special issue engages the following two broad questions: (a) In what ways is language teaching “identity work”? and (b) To what extent does a transdisciplinary approach to language learning and teaching offer insight into language teacher identity? We begin this Introduction with a discussion on identity research in second language acquisition and applied linguistics, and then address innovations in language teacher identity research, exploring how this work has been advanced methodologically through narratives, discourse analysis, and an ethical consideration of research practices. We then consider how the transdisciplinary framework of the DFG, and its focus on macro, meso, and micro dimensions of language learning at the ideological, institutional, and classroom levels, respectively, might contribute to our understanding of language teacher identity. In the final section, we argue that the host of complementary theories adopted by the six contributors supports the view that a transdisciplinary approach to language teacher identity is both productive and desirable. Further, the contributors advance the language teacher identity research agenda by taking into consideration (a) how teacher identity intersects with the multilingual (Higgins and Ponte) and translingual (Zheng) realities of contemporary classrooms, (b) the investment of teachers in developing the semiotic repertoires of learners (Stranger–Johannessen and Norton) and a socially inclusive learning environment (Barkhuizen), and (c) the emotions (Wolff and De Costa) and ethical practices (Miller, Morgan, and Medina) of teachers. Central to all articles in this special issue is the need to recognize the rich linguistic and personal histories that language teachers bring into the classroom in order to promote effective language learning.

show abstract

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction: Identity, Transdisciplinarity, and the Good Language Teacher

Costa

Norton

2017

The Modern Language Journal

243

106

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Conversely, Huang and Eskey's (2000) study revealed that captions improved not only listening comprehension skills of college-level ESL students but also their general comprehension and vocabulary development (Huang & Eskey, 2000). Rather than focusing on how learners' maintain their proficiency, Valmori (2014) focused on teachers and found that they develop and keep their foreign language knowledge through "the Internet, TV and movies in the FL, newsletters by teachers' associations, books, summer trips and a nationwide foreign language teachers' organization (LEND) which organized activities for professional development for the different languages" (p. 18).…”

Section: Exploring Efl Learners' Experience Of Foreign Language Profimentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Some scholars explored the evidence of attrition phenomenon in different parts of language knowledge (Berman & Olshtain, 2015;Tomiyama, 2000). On the other hand, others focused on factors and techniques that contribute to language proficiency development (Arevalo, 2010;Bahrick, 1984;Garza, 1991;Huang & Eskey, 2000;Markham, 1999;Rott, 1999;Schneider, Healy, & Bourne, 2002;Snow, Padilia, & Campbell, 1988;Valmori, 2014;Weltens, Van Els, & Schils, 1989;Yashiro, 1992). None of these studies, however, explored and theorized EFL learners' experience of proficiency maintenance.…”

Section: Exploring Efl Learners' Experience Of Foreign Language Profimentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring EFL Learners’ Experience of Foreign Language Proficiency Maintenance: A Phenomenological Study

Ostovar-Namaghi

Rahmanian

2017

Int. J. Appl. Linguist. Engl. Lit.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Having developed foreign language proficiency, a large number of EFL learners experience some degrees of foreign language loss later in life since English has no social function in many EFL contexts including Iran. However, there are some language learners who actively maintain and develop their proficiency long after they leave language education programs. This study aims at uncovering techniques applied by this minority group in maintaining their foreign language proficiency. Participants who were willing to share their experience of proficiency maintenance were selected through purposive and snowball sampling and verbalizations of their experience were then analyzed in line with phenomenology research design. Abstraction and thematic analysis of the participants' experiences revealed that they actively create conditions that are conducive to proficiency maintenance such as reviewing previously learned materials, watching target language movies and actively manipulating subtitles, reading for pleasure, attending discussion groups, and using internet to communicate in the target language. While proficiency loss and attrition is the norm in EFL contexts, maintenance is an exception; hence, the findings of this study have clear and immediate implications for both foreign language teachers and learners since they provide them with down-to-earth, data-driven techniques of proficiency maintenance.

show abstract

“…Recently, some researchers stressed again that English language teachers require an advanced level of language proficiency to succeed in teaching (e.g., Canh and Renandya 2017;Faez and Karas 2017). In fact, teachers' proficiency, motivation, and identity may affect what students learn in L2 classroom (Valmori and De Costa 2016).…”

Section: Wcf: Teachers' Proficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The samples adopted had been assessed by the IELTS examiners and the scores of 4.5 and 6.5 were given to the letter and essay writing tasks, respectively. Lee (2003), Lee (2008Lee ( , 2009), Montgomery and Baker (2007), Junqueira and Payant (2015), Valmori and De Costa (2016), Nassaji (2012), Tavakoli and Howard (2012), Tavakoli (2015), and Crusan et al (2016). Also, we used the WCF typologies suggested by Ellis (2009).…”

Section: Teachers' Writing Assessment and Wcf Strategy Taskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teachers’ writing proficiency and assessment ability: the missing link in teachers’ written corrective feedback practice in an Iranian EFL context

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Teachers' writing proficiency and writing assessment ability and their role in improving writing instruction in second language learning classrooms are issues that have not been investigated empirically and rigorously. To bridge the gap, we investigated the writing proficiency, writing assessment ability, and written corrective feedback beliefs and practices of Iranian English teachers who gave feedback on learners' writings.

show abstract

How do foreign language teachers maintain their proficiency? A grounded theory investigation

Cited by 24 publications

References 24 publications

Introduction: Identity, Transdisciplinarity, and the Good Language Teacher

Introduction: Identity, Transdisciplinarity, and the Good Language Teacher

Exploring EFL Learners’ Experience of Foreign Language Proficiency Maintenance: A Phenomenological Study

Teachers’ writing proficiency and assessment ability: the missing link in teachers’ written corrective feedback practice in an Iranian EFL context

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About