Echoes from teacher discourse: an inside-out perspective Echoes from teacher discourse: an inside-out perspective

Abstract

Researchers in teacher education have paid increasing attention to teacher reflectivity and its relevance for teaching/learning practices. However, to our knowledge, there has been no investigation of teacher reflectivity from the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). In this paper we draw mainly on SFL to examine aspects of the relationship between teachers and learners as construed in self-evaluative reports written by 4 Brazilian teacher-trainees. These reports – self-reflections on the trainees’ own teaching practices – were collected as part of work developed in a Teaching Practicum Course taken by these trainees. In addition to SFL, in our discussion of results we also draw on research related to teacher education/reflectivity (e.g., Freeman & Johnson, 1998; Richards & Lockart, 1996). The linguistic structures described and interpreted in order to unravel the roles these trainees ascribe to themselves and their students reveal a selfcentered positioning of the trainees as social participants whose practices are shaped by conceptions traditionally established by a culture of schooling which maintains the emphasis of teaching on the transmission of knowledge. Results also reveal asymmetry between teachers and students inasmuch as the latter are construed as playing a secondary role, with little responsibility in the process of teaching/learning a foreign language. The study may contribute to enhance the search for awareness of contrasts between new views of language teaching/learning and traditional perceptions such as the ones conveyed in the reports analyzed. Researchers in teacher education have paid increasing attention to teacher reflectivity and its relevance for teaching/learning practices. However, to our knowledge, there has been no investigation of teacher reflectivity from the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). In this paper we draw mainly on SFL to examine aspects of the relationship between teachers and learners as construed in self-evaluative reports written by 4 Brazilian teacher-trainees. These reports – self-reflections on the trainees’ own teaching practices – were collected as part of work developed in a Teaching Practicum Course taken by these trainees. In addition to SFL, in our discussion of results we also draw on research related to teacher education/reflectivity (e.g., Freeman & Johnson, 1998; Richards & Lockart, 1996). The linguistic structures described and interpreted in order to unravel the roles these trainees ascribe to themselves and their students reveal a selfcentered positioning of the trainees as social participants whose practices are shaped by conceptions traditionally established by a culture of schooling which maintains the emphasis of teaching on the transmission of knowledge. Results also reveal asymmetry between teachers and students inasmuch as the latter are construed as playing a secondary role, with little responsibility in the process of teaching/learning a foreign language. The study may contribute to enhance the search for awareness of contrasts between new views of language teaching/learning and traditional perceptions such as the ones conveyed in the reports analyzed.