Theory and practice in language teacher education

Abstract

We often hear language teachers say ‘Don't confuse me with theories, just give me practical ideas I can take into the classroom’. Many teacher educators and researchers, on the other hand, believe that (research-based) theory is more important, and should be used and implemented by practitioners. This paper will propose an approach to the use of theory and practice in teacher education that may help to resolve this dissonance. After some preliminary definitions and clarification of some common confusions, it is suggested that theory and practice in the context of language teaching are not polar opposites, but points on a continuum: any statement or guideline about teaching can be, more or less, practical or theoretical. The rest of the paper will focus on the questions how the various types of published theories or teacher theorizing can contribute to professional expertise, what is the place of practical tips or recipes, and how all these can be used or combined in teacher education courses to bring about optimal learning by novice teachers, or increased expertise on the part of the more experienced ones.

Pre‐service English teachers’ understanding about preparing to teach reading skills in secondary schools

“…This finding resonated with Ur's (2019) point about learning and using language knowledge to teach. Ur (2019, p. 3) indicated that the language teaching and learning knowledge presented in academic publications could be helpful only when it enabled teachers to think, 'which [is] likely to result in useful learning and professional development', and not just for teachers to 'confine to' or fall back on. The pre-service teachers developed different learning activities and prepared different learning materials for teaching EFL reading.…”

Coping with large multi-level class in English language learning

“…The label multilevel has been regarded differently among researchers. Namely, while some call multilevel, others such as Gurgenidze ( 2012), Ur (2019) and others tend to call them ´´mixed ability classes´´ when citing to these types of classes.…”

“…Writers had different interpretation about the word multilevel. Some writers such as Gurgenidze (2012) and Ur (2019) explained this kind of class using the term ´´mixed ability classes´´. Mathews-Aydinli & Horne (2006) specified that ´´typically, the label multilevel has come to describe classes where students from various levels, from beginning to advanced, are sited together in a single class".…”

Problemi di apprendimento di tre perifrasi fra spagnolo e italiano. Osservazioni acquisizionali e proposte pedagogiche

“…La generalizzabilità pedagogica di quanto esporremo è certamente un limite non indifferente: come ben evidenziato da Spada (2019), è spesso difficile per gli insegnanti applicare adeguatamente alla loro prassi le indicazioni operative che vengono dalla ricerca. Ogni docente, infatti, esercita il suo "senso di plausibilità" (Ur 2019) in merito alle indicazioni pedagogiche che vengono dal mondo della ricerca, e così facendo discrimina fra attività possibili e utili e attività inadeguate a un determinato pubblico di studenti. Mantenendo saldo questo principio pragmatico e non necessariamente ottimale, anche facendo riferimento a lavori sperimentali passati raccogliamo in quanto segue alcune possibilità operative.…”