NOVICE LANGUAGE TEACHER CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH CONCEPT-BASED LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION: Empowering Novices for Novel Contexts

Abstract

This chapter examines Concept-Based Language Instruction (C-BLI) as a means of provoking teacher professional development. It leverages the effectiveness of C-BLI in language teaching and learning and argues that C-BLI represents an empowering and effective pedagogical frame for language teacher development interventions for novice instructors. As an overview, a novice teacher case study is presented to track the impacts of C-BLI on the novice teacher’s evolving orientation to classroom practices and pedagogical target concepts, as well as his dynamic teacher identity. This case study traces a 10-week pedagogical intervention (4 workshops) in a course on teaching English as a Second Language, where C-BLI is used as a pedagogical frame through which the novice instructor collaboratively develops target concept knowledge, creates lesson plans, and teaches a lesson to English learners. The workshops target the major phases of C-BLI and are designed to support the novice instructor as he develops target concept knowledge, reflects on how to teach target concepts, designs classroom materials and activities, and teaches a class on the target concept. The analysis assesses the focal novice instructor’s developing understanding of the concepts assigned, the role of C-BLI in mediating this development, and the impacts of his developing content knowledge on classroom behaviors.

Publication Title

Transformative L2 Teacher Education Innovations: Insights from Vygotskian Sociocultural Theory

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