Cultivating an inquiry stance in English education: Rethinking the student teaching seminar
Abstract
This study focuses on student teaching seminar as a site for cultivating an inquiry stance for future English teachers. The authors discussed the methodological and conceptual complications involved in defining English education and inquiry. The authors developed an assignment for the student teaching seminar to support inquiry. They call this assignment, “Teaching Inquiries” (TIs), and initiated this study to better understand them. The authors of the study pose two questions: (a) What problems or issues do English teacher candidates identify in TIs; and (b) How does the field of English Education manifest itself in the TI inquiry process? The study shows that by wedding English education to place, TIs can provide complexity and context for what some teachers and professors experience as de-contextualized college curricula. The TIs permit participants to situate English education in specific classrooms and schools with specific documents (the artifacts), students, and teachers. Moreover, participants have the opportunity to locate their own pedagogical and ideological commitments within multiple institutions and power structures. Because TI discussions complicate and situate English education, they can serve as a safety net to prevent a two-worlds pitfall and pave the way for mutual learning. TIs reflect the transaction between the worlds, providing an opportunity for student teachers to revisit “taught” strategies and for teacher educators to rethink “taught” curricula in more profound ways.
Reference
Meyer, T., & Sawyer, M. (2006). Cultivating an inquiry stance in English education: Rethinking the student teaching seminar. English education, 39(1), 46-71.
Journal
English Education
Analysis
Is this article part of a larger project or series of studies?
no
Does this study draw on a large, preexisting data set?
no
Research Approach
Geographic Setting
Institutional Context
Certification Level
Programatic Focus
Research Location Context
Preservice Participants
- Graduate and undergraduate
Preservice Sample Size
60
Other Participant Data
- University Facilitators
- University Supervisor(s)
Duration of Data Collection
Data Sources
- fieldnotes
- Video
- written reflections/class papers
Data Analysis Tools
- coding (emergent categories)
Researcher Positionality
- inside (staying their own students)
- Inside (studying their own programs)
Research Questions
How can the student teaching seminar become a space where preservice teachers offer teaching inquiries to each other in a collaborative learning community?
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Combination