This book examines the spoken language needs of non-native speaker language teachers (NNSLTs).1 It focuses on the importance of teacher talk in the classroom in general as a means of managing and supporting classroom discourse, and in the foreign language classroom in particular as a source of input for language learners. It proposes that NNSLTs have specific language needs which must be considered in order to encourage and facilitate effective use of the target language in the classroom. It aims to analyse these needs in order to inform language teacher training programmes, to contribute to an improved understanding of the nature of talk in foreign language classrooms and to enhance existing research regarding NNSLTs. Native English-speaking teachers of German at post-primary schools in Ireland were selected as the research population for this study. In this introduction, I outline the rationale and background for my research, the aims of the study and the research context.
Research Rationale
The rationale for this project grew from my experience as a university Lektor for English Language and Cultural Studies at a university in Germany. The focus of my language classes, in accordance with the ethos of the English Department I was working in, was on communicative competence and cultural awareness. My courses focused on oral communication or the reading and discussion of short stories, with some emphasis on academic and creative writing skills. The student cohort comprised both students who were studying for a degree in Anglophone cultural studies and those who were in training to become post-primary English teachers. These student groups had some common courses in their study programmes, including their language practice, for which I had responsibility.
In one particular course called Advanced Oral Communication, I was confronted with a group of active and engaged students, many of whom had lived in England, Wales or even Australia and America for extended periods of time and, therefore, were very capable of arguing, discussing and debating using the spoken target language. Often, at the end of a class, I would point out some grammatical errors that had occurred during that dayâs discussion, usually minor details of tense that would not necessarily cause misunderstanding but which did not adhere to native speaker norms. This was often a great shock to my advanced studentsâto those who had made an error, it was often astounding that they had been misusing a grammatical phenomenon for so long. For their classmates, particularly the trainee teachers, they were often troubled by their own inability to explain why the unacceptable form was indeed an error. They worried that they would shortly be in a classroom possibly confronted by these types of questions and without a good explanation of the machinations behind them. The prospect of facing teenaged language learners and having to admit that they did not know was a daunting one and they were anxious to address the lacunae in their language proficiency.
For that reason, a group of student teachers requested a separate language class, as they perceived that their language needs as trainee teachers were different from those of the cultural studies students, and that those needs were not being met in general language courses. This group was particularly concerned about their knowledge of target language grammar. I designed, implemented and evaluated a grammar course for teachers (Riordan, 2016). In the grammar course, the students were given the opportunity to explore language issues and to develop the knowledge and skills needed to explain grammatical concepts precisely in the target language to their pupils. It was clear that the trainee language teachers had different language needs to those of their non-teaching fellow students, and that those needs could be best met in a course designed specifically for them. In considering the design of a course for trainee teachers in the German context, it occurred to me that the language needs of language teachers could extend beyond knowledge of, and ability to explain, target language grammar.
I began, therefore, to read about NNSLTs. My initial survey of the research on this topic found a relatively small but growing collection of scholarly material. I discovered many studies regarding the advantages and disadvantages of NNSLTs as seen by themselves and others (Benke & Medgyes, 2005; Goto Butler, 2007; Medgyes, 1994; Watson Todd & Pojanapunya, 2009). I also found that lively debate regarding the definition of the native speaker influenced much of the research on the NNSLT (Canagarajah, 1999; Medgyes, 1994). There appeared, however, to be little research available regarding non-native speaker language teachers as language learners, even though some studies showed that non-native speaker language teachers view their own language skills as inadequate or problematic (Reves & Medgyes, 1994; Samimy & Brutt-Griffler, 1999). Further reading on the nature of classroom talk illustrated how teachersâ language use is a specific genre which is realised within a particular discourse community (Olshtain & Celce-Murcia, 2001). Classroom talk often has a distinctive structure (Sinclair & Coulthard, 1975) and the participants have certain expectations regarding the roles of contributors to the classroom discourse (Musumeci, 1996). Teacher talk has many specific features and functions which are not normally performed in everyday settings (Edmondson & House, 2000; Markee & Kasper, 2004), and teachersâ language use in the foreign language classroom presents its own challenges, as the target language is often both the object of study and the means of communication (Walsh, 2006). It became apparent to me that NNSLTs perform functions in their second language (L2) which general language users do not, and that these language functions did not appear to be supported in language teacher training.
Research Aims
This book proposes that NNSLTs operate within a specific situation of language use and would, therefore, benefit from language training which is designed specifically for them. Language for Academic Purposes, Language for Business and Language for Scientific Purposes are well-established fields within the teaching and learning of foreign languages. These fields developed because their respective learners had different learning needs to those of general language learners. Non-native speakers of a language who use the language for teaching purposes have, similarly, different needs which could be considered language learning for specific purposes. A key feature of the teaching of Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) is that such programmes are based on an analysis of the language needs of the particular learner group. Therefore, I designed a study to consider how language teachersâ language use may differ from that of general language users and to analyse the language needs of NNSLTs.
Research Context
The needs of English-speaking post-primary teachers of German in Ireland were selected as the focus of this study. Upon initial investigation of the teacher training landscape in Ireland, it appeared to me that the language needs of the NNSLT were perhaps overlooked, just as they had been at the university where I had taught in Germany. Few teacher training programmes in Ireland seemed to include a language component, and the available language courses for language teachers seemed to deal with general language, rather than with classroom-specific language.
Ireland has a particular relationship with the teaching and learning of modern languages which makes effective language teaching especially pertinent. It has been documented (National Committee for Modern Languages Literary and Cultural Studies, 2011, p. 6) that Irish people are less inclined to make an effort to learn a foreign language, since it is perceived that most people speak English anyway and, therefore, English is enough. Ireland is one of the only two countries in the European Union that does not have compulsory modern foreign language education at any level of schooling (Little, 2003, p. 7). The number of students electing to study German at post-primary schools has declined (Department of Education and Science and Council of Europe, 2007) since a short period of rapid increase in Irish student numbers after German reunification (Grix & Jaworska, 2002, p. 4). As is the case in Britain (Payne, 2012), French continues to dominate the Irish school system as the first foreign language. Furthermore, German is often seen by English speakers as The Awful German Language, as portrayed by Mark Twain (Twain, 1880), and Spanish, for example, is sometimes promoted as the âeasierâ foreign language (Payne, 2012, p. 61). Many schools take advantage of language assistant programmes, such as the European Unionâs Comenius project, which provides native German-speaking student teachers as teaching assistants at Irish post-primary schools. However, the efficient training of local German language teachers can only serve to improve Irish learnersâ relationship with the language. Language teacher education was deemed of âextreme relevanceâ in a recent report published jointly by the European Commission and the Department of Education and Science (Department of Education and Science, 2009, p. 27), while a report to the European Commission found that â[t]here is a need to increase the availability of courses that focus on perfecting traineesâ language skillsâ (Kelly & Grenfell, 2005, p. 55). Every language learning context presents its own challenges and the one chosen for this study is no exception. Language learning in Ireland is influenced by its anglophone environment and the presence of the countryâs heritage language. Despite the specificity of the research context, the insights gained are transferable to other languages, countries and educational settings.
Overview of Chapters
In Chap. 2, I begin by providing some background on the area of Language for Specific Purposes (LSP). LSP has a long history in language teaching and learning. It has developed as an area of research interest over the past 40 years, reflecting trends and developments not just in foreign language education but also in social, political and economic concerns. In this way, we can trace its origins to the emergence of learner-centred teaching, and also to times of acute need where trade and commerce in foreign languages replaced academic endeavour as the most pressing reason for learning a language. Nowadays, we see diverse specific purposes, ranging from academic to medical, focusing on a wide range of learner groups, from air-traffic controllers to cleaning staff. Currently, issues of education, and particularly language education in globalised and international contexts, are of great importance. Yet the non-native speaker language teacher and the specific language that is used in the language classroom have not been considered as objects of interest for LSP . A central argument of this book is that the language that teachers use in the classroom is equ...