1.2.2.1 Belief statement questionnaire
1.2.2.2 Activity: the 'good teacher'
1.2.2.3 Views of teaching I
1.2.2.4 Views of teaching II
1.2.2.5 Product or process?

1.2.2.1 Belief statement questionnaire
This questionnaire asks you how you believe people become good language teachers. It would be useful to do it now, and then again at the end of this module to see if you have changed your views, and if so, in what way, and why (not)? You could also give a copy to a colleague so you can compare notes and discuss any differences you may have. Doing the 'before and after' comparison and explanation, and / or the comparison and discussion with a colleague is important, as it is this stage which helps you really become aware of your beliefs.

Note: I recommend that you print this page to make it easier to complete the questionnaire.

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1.2.2.2 Activity: the 'good teacher'
The questionnaire in 1.2.2.1 asked you to consider a number of statements relating to how you believe you can become a good language teacher. This seems to assume that we all know, and agree on, what a 'good language teacher' is like, and what he or she does.

You'll already have realized that this is not likely to be the case. Our description of 'a good language teacher' will be unique, even if only in subtle ways.

• Spend a few minutes drawing up a list of what you believe are the characteristics of a good language teacher (eg 'is highly proficient in the target language'). Try to think of at least ten items for your list.
  
  
• Compare your list with that of a colleague, and / or with these three lists:

1. Richards, (1990:38) reports that Blum, (1984) conducted 'a comprehensive survey of the research on effective schooling' and from his survey was able to produce a summary of twelve effective classroom practices. Although not restricted to language teaching, I don't think you'll find it difficult to relate the practices to language classrooms. See 'Key / Commentaries' for Blum's list.
   
   
2. Brown (2001: 430) presents a comprehensive list of 30 items, a 'composite of several unpublished sources', divided into four sections: technical knowledge, pedagogical skills, interpersonal skills and personal qualities. Brown suggests that you can use this list as a 'self-check to determine some areas for continued professional growth' (ibid: 429) by rating yourself on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent) for each item. See 'Key / Commentaries' for Brown's list.
   
   
3. Finally, Sanderson (1983, cited in Peck, 1988:10-14) reports on the findings of an intensive observation of nine language teachers in British schools who were considered by members of the National Association of Language Advisors to be teachers who 'provided examples of good language teaching practice' From these observations, Sanderson and his team were able to identify 13 qualities which most 'good' language teachers share, and which were prominent in their methodology, 'enduring' features in Sanderson's terms. See 'Key / Commentaries' for Sanderson's list.

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1.2.2.3 Views of teaching I
In the past, teaching, including language teaching, has been viewed in largely behavioural terms. It was thought that if research could identify all the things that a good language teacher does, we could train others to do the same things, and if they learned well, they too would become good language teachers. The lists presented in the 'Key / Commentaries' to section 1.2.2.2 are examples of the sorts of 'good teacher' inventories that trainee teachers might aspire to. In its most traditional form, this view of teaching resulted in a 'master-apprentice' approach to teacher training (see Wallace, 1991: 6).

One immediately obvious problem with this approach is that there is no single agreed set of characteristics to aim for. A second issue is that little attention was given to how (or even whether) characteristics could be learned.

• Do you believe that characteristics such as 'Enjoys people, shows enthusiasm, warmth, rapport, and appropriate humour (item 20 from Brown's list) can be learned?
  
• If you answered yes, how can they be learned? Can they be taught?
• If you answered no, why can't they be learned?
• To what extent do you think that the items on your own list of characteristics can be taught or learned?

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1.2.2.4 Views of teaching II
Over time the behavioural view of teaching has developed in a number of directions, including what are known as science-research, theory-philosophy and art-craft approaches (see, eg, Klapper 2001 for an explanation of these terms). Recently, an increasingly common approach to understanding teacher behaviour and development is to view this from the 'inside', in terms of teachers' experience and decision-making. As Freeman (1996: 238) observes, 'if a teacher's practice is seen solely as behaviour and activity, it is possible to miss the complex basis of understanding on which that activity is based.'

This approach endeavours to elucidate the internal processes by which teachers learn and develop knowledge and expertise, and use these to direct what they do in the classroom. It is based on a cognitive view of psychological processes: teachers develop their individual conceptions about language, language learning and language teaching through their personal interpretations of experience.

A cognitive approach to teacher development seeks to understand and describe the processes involved in becoming and behaving as a teacher, allowing for any combination of the various approaches to teaching and teacher development to play a role in shaping a teacher's knowledge and beliefs about teaching and learning. In addition, many writers (eg Woods (1996), Williams and Burden (1997), Richards, (1998)) now advocate the use of activities designed to help teachers become consciously aware of the beliefs which inform their practice, as a starting point for the development of that practice.

You will have realized that this is what this module is setting out to do!

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1.2.2.5 Product or process?
Some of the statements in the questionnaire you completed earlier, eg item 1 ('Develop a high level of proficiency in the language you teach'), suggest particular goals that a developing teacher may aspire to, ie 'good language teacher' characteristics. These could be described as 'product-oriented items', as they represent the end products that you hope to achieve. Other items seem more concerned with the types of activities and processes that a developing teacher should engage in to reach their (often unspecified) goal.

• Go back to the questionnaire and identify which items seem to be mainly product oriented and which are more process oriented.
• What balance between product and process approaches do you believe should be achieved to become a good language teacher?
• To what extent do you think this balance might vary, depending on what stage the teacher is at in his or her career?

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