Call for proposals: Local contextual influences on teaching: Narrative insights from ESL/EFL professionals

[Judy Hu]

*Local contextual influences on teaching: Narrative insights from ESL/EFL
professionals*

*An edited book by Dr Patrick NG, Dr Esther Boucher *

Contextual factors can impinge on language teaching in different ways. The
teaching context such as schools and classrooms are the sociocultural
terrains in which the work of teaching is conceptualized, implemented and
evaluated (Freeman & Johnson, 1998). Barkuizen (2008) provides the
rationale for a context-sensitive approach to language teaching by
suggesting that “teachers teach best and students learn best in situations
that are compatible with their backgrounds, beliefs and expectations”
(Barkhizen, 2008, p.233). Kumaravadivelu (2006) calls for a
‘particularlity’ of teaching which emphasizes a teaching pedagogy based on
a context-sensitive, location-specific pedagogy in response to local
linguistic, social, cultural and political particularities. However, the
extent local pedagogical traditions impinge on ESL/EFL teaching is largely
unexplored.

The book fills the gap on how ESL/EFL teachers exercise their agency in
teaching in response to local contextual factors such as: the learning
culture, national and school policies, personal beliefs and attitudes
towards pedagogy, the sociolinguistic context of teaching, the school
culture, the school syllabuses, and the wider sociopolitical context in
which learning and teaching takes place.

Through multiple narrative inquiries involving different stakeholders
(students, mentors, administrators, departmental head etc), this edited
book attempts to fill the gap in the effects of local contextual factors on
the teaching practice of ESL/EFL practitioners. Narrative has been placed
center stage in teacher education as both a method in and an objective of
inquiry. The in-classroom has been identified the classroom where teachers
exercise their agency in their teaching practice. According to Connelly  and
Clandinin (1995),

*Classrooms are, for the most part, safe places, generally free from
scrutiny, where teachers are free to live stories of practice. These lived
stories are essentially secret ones.*

To unravel the mystery of how local contextual factors shape the teaching
practice of teachers, we invite ESL/EFL practitioners to share with us
their stories on their instructional practice.

This book is intended for ESL/EFL practitioners, researchers, policy
makers, administrators, pre-service teachers and others who wish to deepen
their knowledge on teaching practice in different educational contexts.

 Reference:

Barkhuizen, G. (2008). A narrative approach to exploring context in
language teaching. *ELT Journal* 62(3), 231-239.

Connelly, F.M. & Clandinin, D.J. (1995). *Teachers’ professional knowledge
landscapes.* New York: Teachers College Press

Freeman, D & Johnson, K. (1998). TESOL Quarterly. Reconceptualing the
Knowledge-base of language teacher education. *TESOL Quarterly
32(3).*Research and Practice in English language teaching, p397-417.

Kumaravadivelu, B. (2006). TESOL methods: Changing tracks, challenging
trends. *TESOL Quarterly* 40 (19), 59-81.

*CALL for CONTRIBUTIONS*

*Local contextual influences on teaching: Narrative insights from ESL/EFL
professionals*

Submission schedule

April 30 2013: Teachers and researchers are invited to submit a one-page
outline clearly explaining their proposed theme and approach to the ESL/EFL
curriculum. Email:chin at unii.ac.jp*;* efboucher at wpi.edu

July 2013: Authors of accepted proposals will be notified about the status
of their proposal.

December 15th 2013: Submission of Full article (5000-6000 words excluding
bibliography)

February 31st  2014: Review of submitted articles

May 15th 2014:Compilation of final drafts and editing them.

*The book is scheduled to be published in *August 2014*.



Additional information: Writing Guidelines

   1. Submit electronically as a Microsoft Word document
   2. Use Times New Roman font size 12 and 1.5 spacing.
   3. Use 2cm margins on all sides.
   4. Use the APA style (6th edition) throughout the paper.
   5. Do NOT use footnotes or end-notes.
   6. Include a separate title page showing your name, affiliation and
   contact address.
   7. Give 3 to 5 key words to be used under the abstract.
   8. Give a maximum of 5-line bio-data (include your qualifications,
   specialization, research etc).
   9. Provide a 200-word abstract summarizing your paper (this should be
   included after the title).
   10. Keep tables and figures to the absolute minimum.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/edling/attachments/20130412/1a12c271/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
Edling mailing list
Edling at bunner.geol.lu.se
http://bunner.geol.lu.se/mailman/listinfo/edling