Centering English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ research skills to enhance their teaching practice: An examination of a teacher education program in Mexico

Abstract

The primary objective of this study was to investigate the mutually beneficial association between research and practice in a teacher education program. The study emphasized the significance of incorporating instructional evidence into the training and professional growth of 10 in-service teachers who conducted action research as part of a class called “Reflection and contextualization in the teaching of English” in a BA in English language teaching in Mexico. There were two primary components to the study. First, a teaching component entailed integrating theoretical and practical material concerning what to observe and how to prioritize the information derived from observation to promote instructor development. Second, a research component employed teacher noticing practices to investigate how and in what ways teachers recognize patterns in their EFL classrooms, whether explicitly or implicitly in order to assemble a more robust self-observational model. Through stimulated recall analyses of video-recordings of participants’ lesson delivery, and post-delivery interviews, this study explored the journey that participants took in sharpening their habits of noticing to complete their action research projects. The results show that the nexus between research and practice in teacher education programs is of utmost importance to promote reflective practices and changes in the teaching practice. While conducting their action research projects and participating in the stimulated recall sessions pre/in-service teachers gained insight because these sessions enabled them to describe their teaching practices more effectively and make necessary changes with a more informed perspective on their own classes.