Reflective-narrative discourse of FL teachers exhibits professional knowledge

Abstract

This article describes a case study and a follow-up comparative study which focused on expert foreign language (FL) teachers’ professional knowledge as it was reflected in their spoken and written discourse. Both studies provide evidence indicating that professional knowledge can develop via its verbalization in reflective-narrative discourse from personal past-tense stories into generic statements, which guide classroom activities. The follow-up study further compared experts’, new teachers’ and student teachers’ written answers to a domain-specific questionnaire. Qualitative and quantitative data analyses identified two distinctive features in the experts’ language: a n abundance of t e n s e d verbs in past and present forms, focusing on ‘ r e a l world’ experience (realis), and i n t e g r a t i v e comments which combine subject-matter issues with general pedagogical issues, within the same linguistic unit. The former was interpreted as a discourse manifestation of experts’ knowledge which is fully anchored in their professional r e a l i t y, and the latter as a guiding principle which experts use to enhance FL learning.