Open AccessEnglish Language Teacher Education: Notes on The Past And Future
Author(s) -
Guy Cook
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
linguaculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2285-9403
pISSN - 2067-9696
DOI - 10.1515/lincu-2015-0011
Subject(s) - craft , pedagogy , context (archaeology) , sociology , teacher education , politics , english language , linguistics , political science , mathematics education , psychology , history , archaeology , law , philosophy
The first part of this paper considers approaches to teacher education for EFL developed during the 1960s-1990s, drawing upon two sources: the taxonomy of three approaches proposed by Wallace (1991) and personal reminiscence. It discusses each of Wallace's approaches in turn: craft, 'applied science', and reflective practice.The second part considers whether these approaches are adequate models for teacher education now. I suggest that while they are still relevant, they are also too inward looking for contemporary needs.They need to be supplemented with a more outward looking approach, in which teachers are prepared to engage with four aspects of the contemporary context: new communication technologies, the new global linguistic landscape, the relationship between English and learners' own languages, and the rival political views of English language learning as promoting either a global neoliberal agenda or a global civil society.