Collaboration and trust in foreign language teacher education

Abstract

This paper reports on a case study aimed at fostering the professional development of the participant teacher through self-observation and reflection in collaboration with the researcher. The non-directive and collaborative nature of the data collection methodology used yielded highly interpretive results. These results lead to the conclusion that the participant has shown signs of awareness in relation to various aspects of her own pedagogical performance and the methodology used has proved to be appropriate as a tool to foster teacher reflection. Through a non-directive approach (Freeman, 1990), the researcher assumed the role of collaborative participant. This approach, based on a relationship of trust, was - as it is suggested - exactly what gave the participant teacher the necessary confidence to reflect on her own classroom performance and notice her own problems and difficulties. As she performed the role of a more capable peer (Vygotsky, apud Lantolf & Appel, 1994), therefore acting on the Zone of Proximal Development (ibid), the researcher provided the necessary tools for the development of the participant teacher.