How do teachers learn

3. The Craft Model
The Applied Science Model
The Reflective Model

4. The Craft Model
Study with
“master”
practitioner:
Demonstration/
Instruction
Practice
Professional
competence

5. PROS CONS
- may help teachers to
understand new
techniques;
- a lot depends on the
master – it could be static
rather than dynamic;
- novice teachers
may find this model
clear
- you don’t really need
training: just follow a
model;
- imitating doesn’t allow
for prior attitudes,
experiences, skills of
trainees;
- imitation doesn’t allow
for teacher’s creativity
- may be intimidating if
gap between a master ‘s
and a trainee’s competence
is large;

6. In its most basic form, Craft Model consists of the trainee
or beginner working closely with the expert teacher.
The Craft Model is the oldest form of professional
education. Its conceptual basis, however, is widely utilized
in practicum, courses in which students work with
classroom teachers.
Knowledge is acquired as a result of observation,
instruction, and practice.
The practitioner is supposed to learn by imitating all the
teaching techniques used by the experienced teacher.

7. CRAFT SCIENCE

8. The Applied Science Model
Scientific
knowledge
Application of
scientific
knowledge
Results conveyed
to trainees
Practice Professional
competence

9. The Applied Science Model is the traditional and perhaps
still the most prevalent model underlying most ESL
teachers education programs.
Teaching is a science and as such can be examined
rationally and objectively.
Teachers are said to be educated when they become
proficient enough to apply these theories in practice.
Teachers learn to be teachers by being taught research-
based theories.
These theories are being conveyed to the students only
by those who are considered to be experts in particular
field.

10. PROS CONS
- much depends on
research base
- structured- easy to
follow
- has face validity;
- may encourage/provoke
teachers who are “stuck
in a rut”;
- may give credibility
status to the
profession;
- recognises changes(not
static)
- based on empirical
evidence; - a gap between
theory and
practice;
- may be atomistic;
- assumes complex
human issues can
be solved by
scientific solutions;
- top-down
(authoritarian);

11. What areas of “scientific
knowledge do you think
teachers of a foreign language
ought to be familiar with?
Is mastering of such scientific
knowledge enough to make
a competent teacher?
If not, what more is required?

12. The Reflective Model
Professional
competence
ReflectionPractice
Previous
experiential
knowledge
Received
Knowledge

13. The reflective practice has become a dominant
paradigm in language teacher education research
an programmes worldwide.
The Reflective Model is based on the assumption
that teachers develop professional competence
through reflecting on their own practice. In other
words, a teaching experience is recalled and
considered to reach an evaluation and to provide
input into future planning and action.

14. PROS CONS
- can generate and develop
the model;
- some
teachers(esp.PRESET)
may find it hard to
reflect;
- emphasizes that teachers
are not “tabula rasa”: it
takes into account their
experiences, attitudes,
knowledge;
- is not only top-down or
bottom-up: a more fluid,
continuous and flexible
model;
- combines technical and
experiential bases of
learning
- some teachers may find
it hard to apply their
reflection in the
classroom;
- may not suit all
cultures
- they may not have
much experience to
reflect on;

15. GOAL:
a teacher has met certain
minimum requirements for
the exercise of his or her
profession(certificate);
Initial competence
a moving target or a horizon,
towards which professionals
travel all their life but which is
never finally attained.(society’s
expectations, the teacher’s own
interests, the nature of the
subject, etc.)
Professional competence
(expertise)

16. Wallace, M.J. Training Foreign Language Teachers: A Reflective Approach.
Cambridge: CUP,
1991.