Volume 29 | JALT Teacher Development SIG

Explorations in Teacher Development: Volume 29 Issue 2 (Fall/Winter 2023)

Click here to access the issue.

In this issue, first, James Porcaro shares his valuable perspective on teaching when retirement is looming. His diverse experiences have led him to vital realizations, but they also raise concerns about further potential going unrealized. As some doors have closed and new opportunities have opened, new teaching contexts have kept his teaching practice fresh and exciting, though even in the same context, each year and each group is interestingly different. However, when teaching opportunities are finally closed to a teacher, questions of freshness and purpose arise.

Second, Denver Beirne offers his exploration into making reflection a communal practice, an act of commoning and communication. We know that teacher reflection is valuable for us, but it is less clear how to foster reflection among our students. Beirne narrates his exploration with the scholarly literature and with the students in his university speaking and listening classes.

Third, Takaaki Hiratsuka and Atsushi Mizumoto report their research into facilitating exploratory talk among Japanese university EFL students, making reflection common in another way. Distinguished from disputational talk and cumulative talk, exploratory talk also balances the doubting and believing games for deeper collaboration and co-construction of knowledge. Their findings suggest that even a brief intervention before discussions can significantly increase exploratory talk.

Finally, Nate Olson shares his research into team teaching with soft CLIL, showing how teacher collaboration is often agonistic and is all the more transformative because of this dissensus. Even in the same context and within the same discipline, English language teachers can challenge their own and others’ sedimented thoughts and practices, with benefits for both teachers and students. Thinking with the other articles in this issue, we might say that team teaching can become a practice of exploratory talk or shared reflection in action, a praxis that invites students into this and similar dialogue.

Articles

EDITORIALS

Expanding Experience, Expanding Meaning – Nick Kasparek

PERSPECTIVES

Teaching at 78: Facing a Fear – James W. Porcaro

EXPLORATIONS

A Practical Exploration of Learner Reflections in Communicative English Classes – Denver Beirne

RESEARCH ARTICLES

Exploratory-Talk Instruction on EFL Group Design – Takaaki Hiratsuka & Atsushi Mizumoto
Team Teaching at the University Level: Differing Views on a Soft CLIL Approach – Nate Olson

Explorations in Teacher Development: Volume 29 Issue 1 (Spring 2023)

Click here to access the issue.

This issue has three research articles representing a range of approaches. Steven Lim investigates the relationship and gaps between policies promoting communicative language teaching and teacher beliefs about the appropriateness of this approach in junior high school classrooms. Andrew A. Kirkpatrick and Tom J. A. Batten report on research into perceptions of team-teaching roles in eikaiwa for young learners. Marc Jones and Matthew Noble’s duoethnography probes the interrelations of teachers’ ADHD and their teaching.

Additionally, Akiko Takagi, Yuya Yamamoto, and Tomohide Warabi reflect together on differently positioned feedback on a practitioner’s teaching journal for professional development. Robert J. Lowe, Luke Lawrence, Daniel Hooper, Matthew W. Turner, and Nick Kasparek add another reflective layer to their aligned duoethnographic projects while demonstrating the potential of this accessible method. Denver Beirne explores the potential of movie-making for English language teaching.