Workshop: USING CASE STUDIES IN ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION

Given by Victor Hugo Rojas B. at the 5th International Workshop on Foreign Languages, Communication and Culture (WEFLA 2006) in Holguín, Cuba.

ABSTRACT

According to Todd (n.d.), many EFL educators “believe that teaching is an intuitive art that can only be learned through practice and, thus, that theories are of no concern to the practising teacher”. Stubbs (1986; as cited in Todd, n.d.) argues that “all teaching is based on theories, whether these theories are personally created or derived from general principles”. The presentation has arisen from applying case studies to present ELT rationales in teacher education and encountering appropriate ways to demonstrate their applicability to practice. Therefore, this presentation will demonstrate how to enable pre/in-service EFL trainees to implement general theoretical principles in a wide range of practical situations, encouraging critical reflection and developing decision-making and problem-solving skills.

SUMMARY

Recently, ELT teacher education programs in Peru have focused on providing pre- and in-service EFL teachers with opportunities to develop critical reflection, decision-making, problem-solving, and analysis of teaching practice. The presentation has arisen from applying case studies to present ELT rationales in teacher education and encountering appropriate ways to demonstrate their relevance to practice. Dudley-Evans & St. John (1998) affirm that the case study approach suggests apprentices “some aspect of a real-life scenario, through which they can apply and integrate knowledge, skills, theory, and any experience" (p.192). Teacher educators may lack the resources and time to have their trainees observe practising teachers implementing the theories the trainees are currently studying. The case study approach is a way to simulate this process and to allow the teacher educator to assess how trainees are applying theoretical knowledge.

We aim to find effective teaching theoretical content in our ELT teacher education courses as language educators. This presentation demonstrates and describes case studies in the Didactics of EFL course in the ELT teacher education program. The presenter has included descriptions of the context, participants, classroom procedures, lesson plan, and students' responses to their experiences to understand how to integrate this approach into language teacher education programs. Likewise, teacher educators will experiment with this approach to obtain trainees' successful responses.

 

At the workshop, attendees will get appropriate guidance as they reflect upon the situation, attempt to analyze them, and are encouraged to collaborate with their peers and the presenter as they discuss the alternatives and develop their approaches to the situation. Furthermore, trainees will develop solutions to the problems and challenges presented in the cases based on the information provided, group discussion, and prior knowledge and experience. Thus, the workshop develops participants' problem-solving abilities while preparing them to think about their teaching and classroom realities.

References and further reading:

Dudley-Evans, T., & St. John, M. J. (1998). Developments in English for specific purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar

Kleinfeld, J. (1990). The Case Method in Teacher Education: Alaskan Models. ERIC Digest. Google Scholar

Stubbs, M. (1986). Educational Linguistics. Blackwell Publishers.

Todd, R. W. (n.d.). Applying theory to practice. Google Scholar

P.D. Recently, APA 7th ed. compliant.