A STUDY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF 4 TESL STUDENT TEACHERS' IMAGES OF PRACTICE, THROUGH A PRE-SERVICE TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM

Abstract

This study reports the findings of a two and a half year longitudinal ethnographic study of the development of the images of practice of four pre-service TESL teachers attending the pre-service teacher education program at the Mohd. Khalid Teachers' Training College, Johar Baru, West Malaysia. The term 'image' is an organizing and explanatory construct that has been used in this study to represent how the student teachers view themselves in their teaching contexts and how this influences the way they teach. The study is in the form of a case study of the four teachers: Mary, Meena, Mages and Lina, who attended the pre-service teacher education program between June 1993 and December 1995. Using the principles of qualitative research to analyze the data the study describes the way in which the four student teachers create for themselves a 'practical philosophy of teaching. ( an explanatory framework for professional practice.) It portrays the guiding images that make up these perspectives and examines the psycho-social dynamics that underlie the development of a given professional perspective. The term 'perspectives ' has been used in this study to represent how situations within classrooms are experienced, how these situations are interpreted given the student teacher's previous experience , beliefs and assumptions, and how these interpretations arc manifested in behavior. The study was conducted in five phases and followed the contour of the teacher education program. The data for the study comes mainly from the teachers' own talk, reflection and writing about their work. Observations, autobiographies, document analysis and interviews were the main methods of data collection. The findings of the study suggest that early childhood and school experiences had a significant impact on the student teachers' professional images and perspectives. All the four had memories of their language learning experiences on which they built an initial conceptualization of their profession. Factors such as maintaining motivation, encouraging spontaneous interaction and creating reciprocal respect were regarded as important and influenced the way they approached their own students. They also learnt the importance of modeling the behavior they would like to encourage and or creating a positive environment in which their students can develop a sense of ownership. The findings revealed that their 'apprenticeship of observation' equipped these teachers with norms of experience, conservative ways or acting as teachers, which emphasize language as content to be presented and practiced in controlled interactions by groups of students. The methodology classes provided opportunities for comparison. They provided one group of settings in which the students used the discourse from various perspectives. The participants compared their own experiences with the methods taught in the methodology classes. As the student teachers wrote and talked about the topic of discussion, the methodology lecturer shaped their use of professional discourse. This process of comparison created the need for sharing their views and images with colleagues and it created a new language of practice -- a new discourse. They found new ways of explaining what they did.The new language had a social function. It provided them with the language to express their own feelings and images about teaching in new ways. In their third and fifth semesters, when the four teachers were posted to schools, for teaching practice, they applied their new language and their new images of teaching to the schools and classrooms where various conflicting and competing agendas are present. All the four student teachers, Mary, Meena Mages and Lina faced the major issue of class control and discipline. They also saw the importance of moving away from the textbook. As the four student teachers work through teaching practice, their images of practice and the language of practice also changed. The study revealed that the language of the teacher education program actually gave them the vocabulary to express their emerging thoughts and feelings. Lina talked of creating a non-threatening atmosphere. Mary talked of making the class a haven for her students and Mages talked of teaching students in small portions · one step at a time -- progressively. The expression of their thoughts and beliefs aided the development of their images of practice. This enabled them to control and manage their coaching practice. the setting, the curricular structure, the interactional patterns and the context of practice If the TESL Teacher Education Program all played a part in the student teachers' socialization into it's shared professional discourse and the development of their images of practice. The findings of the study reveal that participating in the program and sharing the language or the program not only given the four teachers a sense of belonging , within the community with shared understandings, but it also gave them social power. These images became an important key in assisting the four student teachers, Mary, Meena, Mages and Lina to understand themselves as teachers and for relating their understanding to their own practice. To complement earlier research involving pre-service teachers the study has provided evidence that images are a means of understanding the practical knowledge of student teachers. As teacher educators one of our foremost tasks should be that of exploring the evolving practical knowledge of our student teachers so that we can design programs which assist them to develop, understand, articulate and utilize that practical knowledge. The starting point for this task should be the student teachers themselves and it must involve an undertaking to hear their voices, and to understand the process of teaching and learning from their perspective.