Open AccessSelf-Authoring the Meaning of Student Teaching in China: Impacts on First-Year Teaching Practices
Author(s) -
Hillary Parkhouse,
Alison Turner,
Stephanie C. Konle,
Xue Lan Rong
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
frontiers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2380-8144
pISSN - 1085-4568
DOI - 10.36366/frontiers.v28i1.381
Subject(s) - meaning (existential) , china , identity (music) , pedagogy , psychology , teaching method , mathematics education , political science , art , psychotherapist , law , aesthetics
This study investigates the impact of student teaching abroad on first-year teaching practices. In addition to the data sources included in previous research, this study includes observations and interviews during participants’ first year of teaching to uncover the meanings each assigned to her student teaching in China. Drawing on intercultural development theories and Holland’s social practice theory of identity, we found that all participants benefited from the experience; however, their backgrounds and teaching contexts differentiated how they translated the experience to shape their beliefs and teaching practices. Thus, teachers may gain more from international experience, as they self-author meaning, if they are guided through reflections tailored to their individual needs and teaching assignments.