Teachers' Maxims in Language Teaching

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in general research on teaching as well as research on L2 teachers, in the mental images, thoughts, and processes teachers employ while they teach. These mental processes are believed to provide interpretative frames which teachers use to understand and approach their own teaching. This article focuses on the nature and role of teaching principles. Observations of teachers and conversations with them about how they conduct their lessons suggest that teachers develop personal principles which inform their approach to teaching. These principles function like rules for best behaviour, or maxims, and guide many of the teachers' instructional decisions. The nature of teachers' maxims is discussed through analysis of teachers' accounts of their teaching and lesson protocols. Teachers' maxims appear to reflect cultural factors, belief systems, experience, and training, and the understanding of which maxims teachers give priority to and how they influence teachers' practices is an important goal in teacher development. Implications for teacher education are discussed. The final source of the knowledge base [of teaching] is the least codified of all. It is the wisdom of practice itself, the maxims that guide (or provide reflective rationalization for) the practice of able teachers. (Shulman, 1987, p. 11)