Teacher Cognition and Language Education Research and Practice TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC MỞ BÀI GIẢNG GIÁO TRÌNH

The final chapter, by the editors, summarizes the findings across the chapters, reiterating that current U.S policy is shaped more by attitudes and ideology than by research and data The volume’s authors not speak with one voice ideologically: Some seem to see biliteracy as a necessary tool to integrate immigrants into the U.S economy, whereas others see biliteracy as a tool for enabling learners to challenge a system which marginalizes them The book uses discourses that are palatable to policy makers (with terms like evidence based) as well as grounding arguments in the discourses of equity, democracy, and social justice Some authors talk explicitly about “transformation,” whereas others are much more low-key (although in some cases the actual examples provided by the more lowkey authors seem more powerful in promoting student agency than those who talk about transformation) I see this ideological range as an advantage: It enables the book to speak to several audiences, serving at once as a tool that can be used in working to change policies and as a resource for practitioners This volume makes a significant contribution to a rich international literature about bilingual and multilingual literacies It lays the groundwork for future comparisons between biliteracy studies and policies in the United States and elsewhere Drawing on research from other countries would only strengthen the arguments that these authors make, and show U.S policy to be the anomaly that it is ELSA AUERBACH University of Massachusetts Boston, Massachusetts, United States Teacher Cognition and Language Education: Research and Practice Simon Borg London: Continuum, 2006 Pp 314 Ⅲ This book provides a timely collation and thematic interpretation of 180 published studies into teacher cognition—thoughts, knowledge and beliefs—and the impact of this cognition on language teachers’ classroom practices The work will be of interest to language teacher educators and researchers in language teacher education and development Despite language teacher cognition being a relatively young area of enquiry, the work encompasses a study of the cognitions of both pre- and in-service teachers of English and modern foreign languages, as well as an investigation into language teacher beliefs about grammar and literacy instruction After detailing what may be studied in terms of language teacher cognition, the book moves to evaluate how this cognition can be REVIEWS 385 studied It describes a range of research methods and the studies in which these have been implemented, outlining both the strengths and possible pitfalls of the various methodological instruments Borg first provides the historical context for the origins and development of this research field within mainstream education The changing perspective on teacher cognition from the 1970s, with its emphasis on the observable behaviour of teachers, is shown to have given way to a wider conceptualisation that teacher thinking plays an active role in classroom decision making and is crucial to the process of understanding teaching Understanding teacher cognition as a means of being better able to understand what it is to be a language teacher is a fundamental premise of the book In chapter 2, Borg discusses the cognitions of preservice language teachers, who make up much of the research cited in the book The studies examined reveal that previous language learning, occurrences in teachers’ lives, tacit conceptions of teaching and learning, as well as early classroom experiences play major roles in teachers’ cognitive development The studies also seem to show that teacher training courses affect new teachers in unique and individual ways Chapter describes research into the cognitions of in-service language teachers, both novice and experienced, and reveals the difficulty of reaching neat conclusions However, overall, the cited studies appear to indicate again the powerful influence of the reality of context on teacher cognition The greater or lesser degree to which professional development may contribute to the changing cognitions of experienced teachers is also documented In chapters and 5, Borg discusses the collected data from studies into the cognitions of teachers with regard to grammar teaching and literacy instruction, respectively, and he comes to two main conclusions about these domains Studies into teachers’ cognitions in grammar teaching seem to show that their grammar teaching practices are determined by a complex interaction between teachers’ understanding of pedagogy, their learners, their educational backgrounds, and their teaching contexts In terms of literacy instruction, however, although second language reading has attracted much methodological interest, the limited studies into foreign language teacher cognition about literacy not appear to offer any substantive focus, only a range of perspectives from which teacher cognition may be further studied The second half of the book moves from this interpretation of different aspects of teacher cognition to an evaluation of the methodological tools by which data might be collected The tools are divided into selfreport instruments (chapter 6), verbal commentaries (chapter 7), observational methods (chapter 8), and reflective writing (chapter 9) Borg discusses the advantages of easily collectable and processed data when using instruments such as questionnaires and scenario rating techniques, 386 TESOL QUARTERLY although at the same time he recognises the limitations of such theoretical data being used as a measure of actual practice He particularly focuses on the semistructured interview, the most widely adopted tool in attempts to elicit teacher beliefs, but warns of the difficulties of questioning when trying to elicit these beliefs, which the teachers may hold subconsciously He also describes less commonly used tools, such as repertory grid interviews, along with their possible disadvantages, as well as the more widely used stimulated recall interviews, in which teachers watch a video or listen to an audio tape of their teaching and comment In terms of observational techniques, Borg highlights the complexity of considerations such as the authenticity of the teaching practicum, the ethics of revealing the purpose of any research and the variety of ways in which data might be recorded However, although he acknowledges the superiority of observation as a tool for obtaining evidence of teacher beliefs in practice, Borg notes that this tool has the most potential for creating concern among teachers In the section on different forms of reflective writing instruments, the author argues that teachers should be taught to develop reflective skills and appropriate protocols Moreover, in his concluding comments about the methodological choices available, Borg suggests that, because of the very different nature of data collected by the different approaches, each tool would have greater value if combined with the use of data collection from other sources In the final chapter (10), Borg returns to an ongoing theme of the book, the plethora of concepts and overlapping terminology in the research on language teacher cognition His solution is to develop a thematic classification in order to provide a systematic conceptual, terminological, and methodological framework for any future studies on the topic The last chapter also offers a number of pathways for more research, for example, longitudinal studies into how cognition develops with experience and a greater uptake of underused methodological tools to extract different data Not least of these suggestions is Borg’s plea for some collaborative study into the relationship between language teacher cognition and student learning The work is meticulous, almost to a fault, and although a summary of each chapter is provided, some brief, more quickly accessible diagrammatic overview of, for example, the protocols, strengths, and challenges of different data collection strategies would have been useful for busy readers In conclusion, this book is a well-written and valuable resource The empirical studies, which are referred to throughout, provide ideas for further reading about the cognition of pre- and in-service language teachers, specific domains of cognition, and the variety of methodological options for researchers’ consideration Borg also provides an important, ordered review of the existing body of work into language teacher cognition (e.g., Bartels, 2005; Breen, Hird, Milton, Oliver, & Thwaite, 2001; REVIEWS 387 Farrell & Lim, 2005; Freeman & Richards, 1996; Woods, 1996) What is more, he sets a rigorous agenda for future work in this important field REFERENCES Bartels, N (2005) (Ed.) Applied linguistics and language teacher education New York: Springer Breen, M P., Hird, B., Milton, M., Oliver, R., & Thwaite, A (2001) Making sense of language teaching: Teachers’ principles and classroom practices Applied Linguistics, 22, 470–501 Farrell, T S C., & Lim, P C P (2005) Conceptions of grammar teaching: A case study of teacher’s beliefs and classroom practices TESL-EJ, 9, 1–13 Freeman, D., & Richards, J C (Eds.) (1996) Teacher learning in language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Woods, D (1996) Teacher cognition in language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press PAMELA ABOSHIHA Canterbury Christ Church University Canterbury, England 388 TESOL QUARTERLY