TY - JOUR
T1 - The Role of Self-Talk in Downgrading a Teacher’s Certainty About Grammar Matters
AU - Hall, Joan Kelly
AU - Looney, Stephen Daniel
N1 - Funding Information:
Earlier versions of this article were presented by the first author at Sogang University, in Seoul, Korea, in October 2018 and by both authors at AAAL 2019, in Atlanta, Georgia. We thank the participating teacher for allowing us to video record her class as part of a research project on L2 teaching conducted by Penn State’s Center for Research on English Language Learning and Teaching and for her comments on an earlier version of the article. We also thank the many graduate assistants over the past 6 years who have helped in the development of CEAPP, the online database containing the data we used for the study. Finally, we thank the anonymous reviewers for their careful reading of the article and their insightful comments.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 TESOL International Association
PY - 2021/3
Y1 - 2021/3
N2 - Second language (L2) teaching is complex interactional work. Although how teachers teach is known to be significant to student engagement and learning, the specialized nature of teaching is typically represented as knowledge and beliefs about teaching. This is changing, however, as the number of studies drawing on ethnomethodology and conversation analysis to illuminate the intricacies of L2 teaching is rapidly growing. This study adds to this research. Its specific focus is on an English as a second language teacher’s use of self-talk to downgrade her certainty about the appropriate use of particular linguistic constructions that are the focus of instruction. The authors argue that, rather than displaying ineptitude at these moments, the use of self-talk displays the teacher’s skilled willingness to make public her thinking processes as she works through her uncertainty and models for students ways they might deal with similar challenges. Shifting the focus to what teachers do, the study offers insight into the complex, embodied work of teaching, which, in turn, contributes to a practice-based understanding of teaching. For both novice and experienced teachers, the instructive descriptions of teacher self-talk can help them develop a reflective capacity for understanding and dealing with the contingencies of L2 teaching.
AB - Second language (L2) teaching is complex interactional work. Although how teachers teach is known to be significant to student engagement and learning, the specialized nature of teaching is typically represented as knowledge and beliefs about teaching. This is changing, however, as the number of studies drawing on ethnomethodology and conversation analysis to illuminate the intricacies of L2 teaching is rapidly growing. This study adds to this research. Its specific focus is on an English as a second language teacher’s use of self-talk to downgrade her certainty about the appropriate use of particular linguistic constructions that are the focus of instruction. The authors argue that, rather than displaying ineptitude at these moments, the use of self-talk displays the teacher’s skilled willingness to make public her thinking processes as she works through her uncertainty and models for students ways they might deal with similar challenges. Shifting the focus to what teachers do, the study offers insight into the complex, embodied work of teaching, which, in turn, contributes to a practice-based understanding of teaching. For both novice and experienced teachers, the instructive descriptions of teacher self-talk can help them develop a reflective capacity for understanding and dealing with the contingencies of L2 teaching.
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U2 - 10.1002/tesq.583
DO - 10.1002/tesq.583
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85085026323
VL - 55
SP - 185
EP - 218
JO - TESOL Quarterly
JF - TESOL Quarterly
SN - 0039-8322
IS - 1
ER -