TEACHER LEARNING AND LANGUAGE: A PRAGMATIC SELF- STUDY by HAFTHOR GUDJONSSON B.Sc., The University of Oslo, Norway, 1972 M.Sc., The University of Tromsö, Norway, 1976 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES Department of Curriculum Studies We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA August 2002 Hafthor Gudjonsson, 2002 i
Abstract The study presented here addresses teacher learning. It is a self-study in the sense that it is directed to my own efforts as a teacher educator in Iceland to establish a new kind of learning environment for my student teachers, guided by the view that, in doing so, I might better understand more generally what learning to teach entails and how such learning might be facilitated. I ask, How teachers learn to think and act in particular ways? Approaching this question, I turn inward, asking myself what and how I was learning when trying to build the new learning environment. However, the study also includes an inquiry into my own practice as a secondary school chemistry teacher, in particular my efforts to readapt to the culture of my school after two years of graduate studies in another country but also my efforts to bring the complexities of my own chemistry teaching to my student teachers on campus. Records collected for this study include my own research journal, copies of my student teachers written coursework, and audio tapings from our conversations both on campus and in school practicum settings. In the last case, the student teachers school advisers were also involved. Beginning to analyze these records, I found myself grappling with fundamental questions related to the act of inquiry. Exploring this issue I became drawn to Rortyan pragmatism and this encouraged me to approach my records imaginatively, keeping in mind that my responsibility was to come up with descriptions that might point to new possibilities for teacher educators to improve their practices. Following this lead, I have tried, in this study, to examine my records in light of both pragmatic and sociocultural perspectives. Two major themes emerged in the course of these explorations, that is (a) learning to teach as personal and as social and (b) the role of ii
language in learning to teach. I conclude that it may be useful to see learning to teach both as personal and social. Besides, I suggest that seeing learning to teach as a scenario of language games might turn out as a useful description. iii
Table of Contents Abstract / ii Table of Contents / iv List of Tables / vii List of Figures / viii Acknowledgements / ix Dedication / x Chapter 1. Introduction / 1 Questions / 2 The Beginning of My Story / 3 Trends and Hopes / 4 Learning as Personal and as Social / 5 Pragmatism / 7 Language / 10 Learning and Language / 11 The Approach to Inquiry / 12 The Chapters and Some Further Questions / 13 A Final Note / 15 Chapter 2. Early Struggles With Constructivism / 16 The Spark of Constructivism / 18 Facing Better Times / 20 Experimenting With Air / 21 Slowing Down / 24 Telling About Constructivism / 25 Kristinsdottir s Reflections / 31 Epilogue / 33 Chapter 3. Towards Pragmatism / 36 Looking For a Niche / 39 How Should I Think? / 41 Bruner s Perspectival Tenet / 42 iv
Dewey s Anti-Dualism / 45 Rorty s Neopragmatism / 50 Wertsch and Bakhtin / 54 Lave / 58 Epilogue / 61 Chapter 4. Stories of Learning to Teach / 63 Orientations in Teacher Education / 66 The Role of Beliefs in Learning to Teach / 73 The Situative Perspective / 78 A theory With a Small t / 82 Epilogue / 84 Chapter 5. Back Home / 86 Worries / 88 What Did I Learn at UBC? / 90 The Phrase Learning to Teach From Within / 103 My Pedagogic Creed / 114 The Course Outline / 118 Educating Teachers For What? / 122 Epilogue / 124 Chapter 6. En Route to a New Pedagogy / 131 Meeting My Students / 132 This Was Not Real Teaching What? / 134 Memorable Teachers / 137 Evaluating My Students Performances / 142 Little Miracles / 146 The Miner / 147 And We Were All Happy Toward the End of the Term / 153 Evaluating the Course / 155 Clouds Over the Horizon / 157 The Spring Term / 164 Epilogue / 165 Chapter 7. Teaching Chemistry and Teaching Teachers / 170 My School / 172 A First Meeting in the Chemistry Department / 174 v
Teaching Chemistry Again / 178 Reflections / 184 Bringing the Complexity of Teaching to My Student Teachers / 188 Epilogue / 206 Chapter 8. Visiting Goldie / 211 Consulting My Guides / 212 Seeing Actions as Mediated / 213 Goldie / 220 When Lave Appeared / 225 We Shall Just Calculate a Problem / 230 Conversing With Goldie and Jane / 249 Epilogue / 264 Chapter 9. Bringing Things Together / 270 vi
List of Tables Table 4.1 / Conceptual orientations in teacher preparations / 70 Table 6.1 / An overview of the first half of my course / 135 Table 6.2 / Memorable teachers / 139 Table 6.3 / Goldie s table from Assignment 1 / 159 Table 7.1 / My timetable in my secondary school / 190 vii
List of Figures Figure 7.1 / 233 Learning to Teach: The Situative Perspctive / 276 The Role of Language in Learning to Teach / 279 Learning to Teach as Language Games / 286 A Final Note / 293 References / 295 viii
Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge and thank a number of people who have provided me with the support and assistance, which not only made this inquiry possible but also made it a meaningful experience to me. These people include the following: - The student teachers who participated in the course that was at the focus of this study and who were most supportive of my efforts from the very beginning of the course. - The school advisers who guided my student teachers and were also most supportive of my research endeavours. - Dr. Jon Torfi Jonasson at the University of Iceland, and Dr. Hafdis Gudjonsdottir at the Iceland University of Education, who devoted their time to read my drafts and provided me with thoughtful feedback and encouragement. - My faculty advisor, Dr. Gaalen Erickson, and my other committee members, Dr. Heidi Kass, Dr. Jim Gaskell, and Dr. Linda Peterat. My deepest thanks to all of you for your guidance and your trust in me. This work was funded by The Icelandic Research Fund for Graduate Students. ix
Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to my wife, Gerda, whose unwavering support, helpful feedback, and faith in my work has made this endeavour possible. x