Promoting teacher–learner autonomy through and beyond initial language teacher education

Teacher education for teacher-learner autonomy

Teacher-learner autonomy, by analogy with previous definitions of language learner autonomy, might be defined as the ability to develop appropriate skills, knowledge and attitudes for oneself as a teacher, in cooperation with others. By focusing on the teacher as learner in this manner I do not mean to diminish the importance of ‘being free from constraints on one’s teaching’, i.e. teacher auto...

Language Teacher Education

Titles, we assume, are significant, and while Jon Roberts's Language Teacher Education promises a broad sweep, Michael Wallace's Action Research for Language Teachers indicates a much narrower focus. We might nevertheless expect the two to offer complementary routes (formal provision vs self-directed classroom-based enquiry) to the same end (professional development), that there would be recogn...

Second Language Teacher Education

One of the simple facts of life in the present time is that the English language skills of a good proportion of its citizenry are seen as vital if a country is to participate actively in the global economy and to have access to the information and knowledge that provide the basis for both social and economic development. Central to this enterprise are English teaching and English language teach...

Theorising Practice in Initial Teacher Education

Second language Writing Through Blogs: An Investigation of Learner Autonomy

Employing an explanatory sequential design, the present study investigated the effect of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) blog-mediated writing instruction on the students’ learner autonomy. A number of 46 learners who were the students of two intact classes were randomly assigned to control and experimental groups.  Over a 16-week semester, the control group students (n = 21) were taught ba...