Developing the Concept of Ecologically Appropriate Communicative Language Teaching for Novice English Teachers

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25870036
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Foreign language education; Education on school subjects and activities
• Research Institution: Iwate University
• Principal Investigator: Hall James 岩手大学, 教育学部, 准教授 (80361038)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: CLT / teacher cognition / activity theory / linguisitc enthnography / critical incident / reflective practice

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This project investigated three novice English teachers over the span of 18 months. It focused on how these teachers' "communicative language teaching" changed over this period. This research had the following three characteristics. First, a novel methodology using classroom video data and interview transcripts was developed to record the teachers' development. Second, this study used Cultural Historical Activity theory to explain the nature of the teachers' development. Third, this was the first "Linguistic Ethnography," hereafter LE, of English teachers in Japan. Through the usage of discourse analysis tools employed in LE, student and teacher discourse which either contributed to a classroom environment conducive to conducting CLT or made the environment inconducive to CLT were identified. The overarching achievement of this research was that a valid research methodology was developed to identify factors which impact a foreign language teacher's instruction.

Free Research Field

foreign language teacher development