Is 'good' really good? Exploring internationally educated teacher candidates' verbal descriptions of their in-school experiences

In this paper we offer an incident that exemplifies one of multiple strategies internationally educated teacher candidates (IETC) use to survive practicum experiences. More specifically, we present an incident that demonstrates teacher candidates' strategic way of using words, such as 'goo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Language awareness 2009-05, Vol.18 (2), p.129-146
Main Authors: Martinovic, Dragana, Dlamini, S. Nombuso
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Canada
Cultural Awareness
Ethnography
Foreign Countries
Foreign Nationals
Intercultural Communication
language awareness
Language Usage
Metalinguistics
Minority Groups
Peer Relationship
Placement
Power Structure
Practicums
Preservice Teacher Education
Preservice Teachers
sociolinguistics
Teacher Student Relationship
teacher training
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Summary:In this paper we offer an incident that exemplifies one of multiple strategies internationally educated teacher candidates (IETC) use to survive practicum experiences. More specifically, we present an incident that demonstrates teacher candidates' strategic way of using words, such as 'good' and 'fine', to disguise true feelings about experiences of their teaching placements in schools. We also offer related strategies used by these IETC to negotiate and nurture classroom relations with peers and instructors at the Faculty of Education. Here we argue that within teacher education programmes, especially in the practicum component and other situations that are shaped by it, language is an active force that is used, on the one hand, by associate teachers to control and prevent teacher candidates from changing established norms and values; on the other hand, however, language is used by teacher candidates to defend themselves against being controlled. We present conclusions about this incident drawing from our three years of working with teacher candidates from cultures and languages that are different from and often marginalised by those of the Canadian mainstream. In our discussion, we employ studies in communication and language use to illustrate the complex meaning entailed by this incident.
ISSN:0965-8416
1747-7565
DOI:10.1080/09658410902780755