Interested Theory and Theorising as Goal: | A Reader Responds to “Symposium: | Theory in TESOL”

Interested Theory and Theorising as Goal: A Reader Responds to “Symposium: Theory in TESOL” JULIAN EDGE The University of Manchester Manchester, England Ⅲ The “Theory in TESOL” symposium in TESOL Quarterly (June 2008) was a stimulating affair, reflection on which motivated me to make a brief contribution of my own One thing that I learned from the symposium was the importance of adding an element of “for what purpose?” to the question of the role of theory in TESOL That is to say, I was struck by the fact that although each writer responded to the (essentially modernist) question regarding the role of theory with a thoroughly interested statement of his or her own purposes, there was no metacomment to make this point overt I was also struck by the absence of any explicit reference to action research in the responses This was perhaps partly because of Dr Diligence’s initial skewing of the issues by his declaring TESOL an “applied field,” thus invoking the theory/application discourse that remains dominant in TESOL despite its not having always served us well, and partly because any invitation can have place for only so many voices around the table Putting those two reflections together led me to want to make my own interested statement on the topic of theory in TESOL, one that foregrounds action research and does so for the purposes of teacher education I first need to say that what I mean by theory is an articulation of the best understanding thus far available to investigators as to why things are the way they are This kind of formulation can exist at the level of a Nobel Prize winner and at the level of a novice teacher One tries to make a statement that accounts for the data as one understands them For my purposes in teacher education, then, the role of theory in TESOL is to establish a notional, interim target that makes the process of theorisation credible and meaningful to those teachers who believe that their professional and personal development is well served by an ongoing, explicit commitment to increasing their awareness of why it is that they teach the way they do, along with a commitment to improving their ability to articulate that awareness, through which process of articulation the awareness itself is enhanced and augmented THE FORUM 653 Thus, in terms of relationships, it is not the case that theorisation stands in an instrumental relationship to theory It is rather the case that theory stands in an instrumental relationship to theorisation Theory as purpose leads us back to the sterility of theory/application: the general theory being imported to be populated with locals Theorising as purpose leads us on to the developmental possibilities of the situated group and individual: the authentic inside story, the local theory, reaching out for further enlightenment and legitimisation If we carry this view of the place of theory in TESOL (for teacher education purposes) into our work as teacher educators, we are best able to replace the perniciously limiting (and theory/application-grounded) question, “Does it work?,” with the empowering, albeit constantly demanding, question, “What did I learn from this?” Nor does the effect of this conceptualisation end there The theory/ application discourse necessarily privileges the teacher educator as owner of theory and puts the onus on the teacher to the application A complementary counterdiscourse of exploration/articulation, with theorisation as goal, offers teachers and teacher educators a shared purpose and a common field of activity in which to be engaged Both can pursue through action research the affordances that they discern in their contexts; they can strive to articulate their understandings, to theorise their experience, to develop their praxis To the extent that teacher educators live up to their side of this bargain, and not only exploit action research and the theorisation of practice as topics on which to lecture or as novel ways of laying new demands on teachers, then a contribution to Dewey’s vision of a democratic education, and democracy through education, might be possible ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My thanks to Mark Clarke and Juup Stelma for their responses to an earlier version of this text THE AUTHOR Julian Edge is Senior Lecturer in Education (TESOL) at the University of Manchester, Manchester, England His research interests include teacher development, action research, and discourse analysis 654 TESOL QUARTERLY