The Language Teacher
04 - 2003
Knowledge/Personhood Dichotomy in TESOL
Reiko Mori
Kagoshima Prefectural College
At a recent forum on the introduction of EFL to primary education, one of the presenters pointed out that the development of personhood is the main staple in the lower grades, whereas the gathering of knowledge plays a more important role as the students climb the educational ladder. As the students mature and eventually enter the workforce, knowledge and personhood can come to be juxtaposed in a dichotomous relationship, with the acquisition of knowledge becoming increasingly crucial in educational and career achievements. In this essay, I would like to apply this observation to TESOL teacher education and suggest that research on teacher development needs to include greater investigation of teachers' personhood and how it is sustained and developed through teaching. Such an inquiry will provide a more comprehensive picture of how teachers develop as professionals.
Knowledge occupies a very important place in language teacher education, and rightly so. A cursory exploration of knowledge involved in language teaching brings the following to mind. First of all, teachers need to have thorough knowledge of the subject matter that they teach. They also need to know how to deliver that knowledge in a clear and engaging manner. In order to support and enhance their teaching, teachers need to have a basic knowledge of material development. Furthermore, they need to have a sufficient understanding of curriculum development so that they can teach according to a well-integrated and coherent long-term plan. Moreover, knowledge of basic educational psychology, philosophy, and sociology in addition to national as well as local educational policies can help teachers to serve students better.
Such knowledge is largely based on empirical research. The bulk of second language research, for example, which informs much of language teaching, focuses on how to enhance learning outcomes. As a result, we now understand the mechanisms of language learning much better than we did 30 years ago. However, the picture of a teacher arising from such research is that of a person who sets up classroom tasks and teaches according to the recommendations that researchers have made. Teachers as a variable are largely left out of the equation so that linguistic outcomes are enhanced regardless of who is teaching (Johnson & Golombek, 2002). Teachers' sense of agency, indispensable for teacher development, is largely absent from the research.
In the paradigm described above, the development of teachers' personhood is also neglected. Teachers, like any other professionals, nurture their personhood through the social contexts in which they are engaged in day-to-day practice (Hansen, 2001). That is, teachers grow as human beings as they perform many duties and activities which teaching entails--such as interacting with students, holding conferences with parents, talking shop with colleagues, and attending professional workshops and conferences, just to name a few examples. According to this view, teachers nurture their personhood throughout their career and beyond. As they continue to teach, they strive to be better persons.
Recent developments in research on teacher development in TESOL, which investigates teachers' ways of knowing rather than attempting to identify the knowledge that teachers should acquire, is encouraging in that it pays more attention to teachers' personhood, valuing teachers' agency in instructional planning and decision making. In research on teacher knowledge, teachers' ways of knowing are regarded as experiential and situational (e.g., Golombek, 1998; Johnson, 1999; Johnson & Golombek, 2002). That is, teachers' knowledge develops throughout their careers as they teach and reflect on their practice. Moreover, it develops as the teachers respond to concerns and problems unique to specific situations and contexts such as particular students, parents, administrators, schools, communities, and policies. Such experiential knowledge is regarded as legitimate since it is a uniquely amalgamated form of knowledge based on empirical research, classroom experience, and reflections that arise from both. In such a view of knowledge, the distinction between knowledge and personhood is blurred since the teacher is regarded as an agent to form knowledge. Instead of being regarded as a passive consumer of research-derived knowledge, the teacher is portrayed as an individual who--using his or her own experience as a guide--actively reflects on, integrates, and changes that knowledge to better serve the exigencies of the classroom life.
I would like to suggest that research on teacher knowledge expand its scope and include more philosophical investigation of teachers' personhood. Teaching, like any other profession, is a means to earn a living, but it is also a means by which to lead a moral life. Many teachers that I know are trying to be better persons as they strive to teach better, to answer student questions more professionally, to bring about more learning outcomes, to pay more respect to students, and so on, day by day. For these teachers, teaching is more than a profession. It is a way to grow intellectually, emotionally, morally, and spiritually. That is, it is a way to develop personhood. This aspect of teaching has not been squarely addressed, and therefore presents a gap in the research agenda for L2 teaching. Such an inquiry will provide a more complete picture of teacher development based on the interplay between professional and personal growth. It will also provide a way to explore teacher development from life-long perspectives.
References
Golombek, P. R. (1998). A study of language teachers' personal practical knowledge. TESOL Quarterly 32, 447-464.
Hansen, D. (2001). Exploring the moral heart of teaching: Toward a teacher's creed. New York: Teachers College Press.
Johnson, K. E. (1999). Understanding language teaching: Reasoning in action. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Johnson, K. E., & Golombek, P. R. (2002). Teachers' narrative inquiry as professional development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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