Professional Development

Allan Goodwin

Reviewing ELT (in the Japanese Context)
In an environment like university teaching where ‘continuous learning’ is a requirement (asevidenced through publication and/or presentation) teachers can often get so involved with theirresearch (tunnel vision), however narrow or broad their scope, that they lose sight of overall areaof language teaching. As this is the beginning of the new term, and many of us have just finishedoff-campus research, it would be a good time to offer resources to review some fundamentals ofELT, especially from within the Japanese context.
There are many recourses on the internet. Resources for general content teaching (teaching inthe k-12 system) has a lot to offer language teachers who are prepared to make the connections
for themselves. Here is an example:

Teacher Autonomy in the Classroom by Robert Pondiscio
https://edexcellence.net/articles/teacher-autonomy-in-the-classroom
This article begins with some research into autonomy in public school classrooms.
To measure autonomy, researchers asked teachers how much “actual control” they have in theirclassrooms over six areas of planning and teaching: selecting textbooks and other classroom materials;
content, topics, and skills to be taught; teaching techniques; evaluating and grading students; discipliningstudents; and determining the amount of homework to be assigned.
Teacher autonomy is vital in the classroom. One reason people choose the ELT profession at
the tertiary level over teaching content in the k12 system is the perceived increase in autonomy.
Although it is common to have textbooks in language classes in Japan, generally, university
instructors in Japan work increasingly independently. Teams in the workplace are built andmaintained in part by a feeling of equality (as opposed to egoism, egotism, competition, or,conversely, dependence on other instructors). Collaboration, whether in lesson planning or in
preparing articles for publication, should not be one main teacher and others following(obviously, people in their first year here need guidance on the particular culture of thisworkplace), nor should it be headbutting.
Video: What does it mean to be a language teacher?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYuK18e8V08
This is a video of a lecture by Jack Richards in IATEFL 2016, which he titles “What does it taketo be a language teacher”, with a running time of 31 minutes.
He talks of disciplinary content knowledge (knowledge about language- sociolinguistics,psycholinguistics, sentential structure, discourse analysis etc.) and pedagogical content knowledge(knowledge of how to teach, which in the Japanese context, includes material development andcourse development)
He also says teachers need knowledge of language teaching in our geographical context as well asother disciplinary knowledge.

Bailey, K. (2006). Language Teacher Supervision A Case-Based Approach. New York:
Cambridge University Press.
This is a great book for reviewing the types of things studied in master’s degrees in language
teaching while at the same time learning something a little bit different (educational leadership).
Bailey writes that “job ready” means holding DELTA or MA in language teaching qualifications.
It refers to both disciplinary and pedagogical knowledge expected of professional language
teachers in the inner circle English speaking countries. In the Japanese context, this may changeslightly (in addition to three, sometimes up to five published research articles related to TESOL/ Applied Linguistics areas) to an M.Ed in another area of education (leadership or curriculum
development are common areas), or an MA (in liberal arts area) plus at least one-year of teacher
training from a university (PGCE or 1 year postgraduate or concurrent B.Ed. Basically at least ayear in education or applied linguistics (language teaching)). In Japan, with rapid “creepingcredentialism”, it is (and will continue to be) increasingly difficult to obtain teaching positions (atuniversities or hired directly at private senior high schools or some positions at language
institutes [i.e. DoS types of positions]) beyond entry level types of jobs without this minimum
level [research types of positions in Japan almost always require a PhD in progress or in handthese days], but that does not mean that it is impossible to find employment in other countries.
Pérez-Llantada, C. (2004). Entrevista Con… / An Interview With… John M. Swales.
Ibérica. 8 (Fall, 2004), 139-148
Some ELT professionals working in the genre field are interested in expanding the type of thingthat can be considered disciplinary content knowledge after having completed the kind oftraining required to be job ready, and as a result, the pedagogical content knowledge available.
For example, John Swales (of CARS [Create a Research Space] fame).
Books- Methodology
Some books on ELT methodology and material development are Jim Scrivener’s “Learning
Teaching The Essential Guide to English Language Teaching” published by MacMillan Books
for Teachers, Jeremy Harmer’s “The Practice of English Language Teaching” published byPearson and “Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language” edited by Celce-Murcia,
Brinton and Snow published by National Geographic Learning (the last of which is commonly
known in graduate programs in English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics as ‘TheApple Book’). The Harmer and Scrivener are very strong in classroom techniques andapplications, while the apple book is a set of essays and great for research theory, and also has asection in each chapter on applications within the ELT classroom.
Books- Theory
Teachers who identify mostly as formalists (language primarily as a mental phenomenon) canreview by reading a book on theoretical linguistics, or applied linguistics (they are similar) such as
An Introduction to Language by Victoria Fromkin, Robert Rodman, Neil Hultin and Harry Logan.
Teachers who identify mostly as functionalists (language primarily as a societal phenomenon) canreview by reading a book on sociolinguistics, such as An Introduction to Sociolinguistics by JanetHolmes and/or a book on intercultural communication, such Introducing Language and InterculturalCommunication by Jane Jackson.