TESOL, A Profession That Eats its Young: The Importance of Reflective Practice in Language Teacher Education
The field of teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) is similar to other fields in that we must not take it for granted that novice teachers will survive their first year without some kind of support. This paper outlines how three novice ESL teachers in Canada su...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Urmia University
2016-10-01
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| Series: | Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research |
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| Online Access: | http://www.urmia.ac.ir/sites/www.urmia.ac.ir/files/6%20%28ARTICLE%29.pdf |
| Summary: | The field of teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) is similar to other fields in that we
must not take it for granted that novice teachers will survive their first year without some kind of
support. This paper outlines how three novice ESL teachers in Canada survived their first year without
any support from the school they were placed. Specifically, the paper outlines how they, with the aid of
a facilitator, engaged in reflective practice by using a framework for reflecting on practice to help them
navigate complex issues and challenges they faced during their first year of teaching. Had they not
engaged in such structured reflection during their first year, they would have probably become another
statistic of those who quit the profession and contribute to the growing perception that TESOL is a
profession that eats its young. The paper suggests that language teacher educators and novice teachers
should not just wait until their first year to learn the skills of reflective practice but should do so much
earlier in their teacher education programs so that they can be better prepared for the transition from
their teacher education programs to the first year of teaching. |
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| ISSN: | 2322-1291 2322-1291 |