Chapter 16 - Language Teacher Cognition

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the study of language teacher cognition and to highlight issues in this domain of research that are of particular relevance to teacher educators. I will also outline the research methods that have been used in studying language teacher cognition and identify directions for continuing work in this field.

SCOPE AND DEFINITIONS

The study of teacher cognition is concerned with understanding what teachers think, know, and believe. Its primary concern, therefore, lies with the unobservable dimension of teaching – teachers’ mental lives. As a tradition of research in education, the study of teacher cognition stretches back over 30 years (see S. Borg 2006, Chapter 1, for a historical overview); and although some early work in this field did focus on first language education (particularly reading instruction in the U.S.), second and foreign (L2) language teacher cognition research – which is my focus here – is a more recent phenomenon, which emerged in the mid-1990s and has grown rapidly ever since.

A key factor in the growth of teacher cognition research has been the realization that we cannot properly understand teachers and teaching without understanding the thoughts, knowledge, and beliefs that influence what teachers do. Similarly, in teacher education, we cannot make adequate sense of teachers’ experiences of learning to teach without examining the unobservable mental dimension of this learning process. Teacher cognition research, by providing insights into teachers’ mental lives and into the complex ways in which these relate to teachers’ classroom practices, has made a significant contribution to our understandings of the process of becoming, being, and developing professionally as a teacher.

OVERVIEW

As noted above, a substantial body of research of L2 teacher cognition is now available (A detailed analysis of this can be found in S. Borg 2006.), and here I will focus on a number of themes that are of particular interest to language teacher educators in both preservice and in-service contexts.

PRIOR LANGUAGE LEARNING AND PRESERVICE TEACHER EDUCATION

One key theme highlighted in language teacher cognition research is the impact that prior language learning experience has on preservice teachers. A key idea here is Lortie’s (1975) notion of the “apprenticeship of observation.”