The field of English language teaching continues to become more and more complex. To stay up-to-date with the developments as the discipline grows, English language teachers must work to expand their knowledge base by participating in continual professional development and practicing reflective teaching. Farrell provides useful insights about the many kinds of training and discusses the practices you can engage in to ensure your own growth, including team teaching, action research, and teaching portfolios. Learn about the different stages of professional development, what approaches are right for you, and how you can sustain your growth throughout your career.

Embracing a sociocultural perspective on human cognition and employing an array of methodological tools for data collection and analysis, this volume documents the complexities of second language teachers’ professional development in diverse L2 teacher education programs around the world, including Asia, South America, Europe, and North America, and traces that development both over time and within the broader cultural, historical and institutional settings and circumstances of teachers’ work. This systematic examination of teacher professional development illuminates in multiple ways the discursive practices that shape teachers’ knowing, thinking, and doing and provides a window into how alternative mediational means can create opportunities for teachers to move toward more theoretically and pedagogically sound instructional practices within the settings and circumstances of their work. The chapters represent both native and nonnative English speaking pre-service and in-service L2 teachers at all levels from K-12 through higher education, and examine significant challenges that are present in L2 teacher education programs.

This much-needed text provides a coherent and strategic approach to teacher development Teacher Development for Language Teachers examines ten different approaches for facilitating professional development in language teaching: self-monitoring, support groups, journal writing, classroom observation, teaching portfolios, analysis of critical incidents, case analysis, peer coaching, team teaching, and action research. The introductory chapter provides a conceptual framework. All chapters contain practical examples and reflection questions to help readers apply the approach in their own teaching context.

This book contains many suggestions for practical work and discussion, and includes an extended case-study.

'... A beautifully written, articulate and compelling argument for a sociocultural perspective on second language teacher education . . . Essential reading for all who wish to understand this perspective.' – David Nunan, University of Hong Kong '...Significant and timely. Johnson is masterful at writing in an engaging, transparent prose about complex concepts. It’s a rare scholar who can write prose like this. Throughout my reading I wanted to engage in dialogue with her – this is a sure sign of a great book." – Diane Tedick, University of Minnesota, USA This book presents a comprehensive overview of the epistemological underpinnings of a sociocultural perspective on human learning and addresses in detail what this perspective has to offer the field of second language teacher education. Captured through five changing points of view, it argues that a sociocultural perspective on human learning changes the way we think about how teachers learn to teach, how teachers think about language, how teachers teach second languages, the broader social, cultural, and historical macro-structures that are ever present and ever changing in the second language teaching profession, and what constitutes second language teacher professional development. Overall, it clearly and accessibly makes the case that a sociocultural perspective on human learning reorients how the field understands and supports the professional development of second language teachers.

This text provides a detailed account of current approaches to the education of teachers of second languages. The paperback edition provides a detailed account of current approaches to the education of teachers of second languages. It offers valuable ideas on the observation and supervision of classrooms, on self-evaluation by teachers, and on teaching itself. Its emphasis reflects the shift in orientation from teacher training to teacher education, in which teachers are involved in developing their own theories of teaching, understanding the nature of teacher decision making, and developing strategies for critical self-evaluation. The book is aimed at teachers, teacher educators, and workshop facilitators involved both in pre-service and in-service education of teachers of second and foreign languages.

This book contains many suggestions for practical work and discussion, and includes an extended case-study.