POSTPONED Research Seminar: Britta Vierbrock

My presentation focuses on English language teacher professionalism with regard to transcultural awareness and the development of transcultural competences. While teacher professionalism is an expanding field of research, which on a macro-level has shown the relevance of biographical influences, professional competences and structural conditions, micro-level studies focusing on subject-specific competence domains are scarce. Against this background, I will discuss findings from Kreft's (forthcoming) classroom videography study on the use of fictions of migration in English language teaching and follow-up interviews with four teachers in the light of the discourse on professionalism. After defining 'transcultural awareness' and 'transcultural competences', I will review the existing research on English language teacher professionalism in general and concerning this specific domain. I will then present some particularly salient data examples to illustrate the challenges micro-level teacher professionalism is faced with. I will end with some implications how to support professional development by way of focusing on teachers’  'professional vision' and reflective competences.

THIS TALK HAS BEEN POSTPONED DUE TO THE ONGOING STRIKE ACTION, A REVISED DATE WILL BE ADVERTISED SOON.