Surviving The Induction Years of Language Teaching: The Importance of Reflective Practice (Reflective Practice in Language Education)

Surviving The Induction Years of Language Teaching is unique to the language teaching profession because it outlines the detailed experiences of one ESL teacher during his first year and then during his third year to see what challenges he encountered during these important novice years. It is important for teacher educators, teachers and administrators to understand what novice teachers experience so that they can better be supported to become teachers for many more years to come. The results of this analysis will lead to the development of a comprehensive framework for the professional development of novice teachers through reflective practice that is grounded in the classroom realities of real teaching contexts so that they can develop beyond their novice years and become expert ESL teachers. In addition, the suggestions presented in this book can be operationalized as standards for future ESL/EFL teacher education and development programs worldwide.

Thomas S.C. Farrell is Professor of Applied Linguistics at Brock University, Canada.