CUE 2008 Conference Featured Presenters - Kazuyoshi Sato

Kazuyoshi Sato, PhD

Professor
Department of English Language Teaching
Nagoya University of Foreign Studies

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Although the current literature in general teacher education emphasizes the importance of creating a collaborative learning community, there has been little documentation as to how such a community is actually created, particularly in the area of foreign language teacher education, except for Communities of Supportive Professionals (Murphey & Sato, Eds., 2005). This study aims at revealing how English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers struggled and collaborated to develop a learning community in a Japanese public high school.

Using multiple data sources including interviews, classroom observations, surveys, and documents, this longitudinal study delineates how EFL teachers interacted with their colleagues to improve their English program with the support of a university researcher and educator over the past five years. Although teachers resisted and often had an argument with one another, they gradually transformed their community into a site for inquiry.

This study sheds light on the complexity of teacher learning in the workplace. It also offers implications as to why creating collaborative communities can be one of the greatest motivating factors for their professional development.

Reference

Murphey, T., & Sato, K. (Eds.). (2005). Communities of Supportive Professionals. Alexandria, VA: TESOL.

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Bio-data

Kazuyoshi Sato holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics from the University of Queensland, Australia. He has written several papers on communicative language teaching and teacher education. His research interests include teacher development, language learning strategies, and curriculum development.

??????????????????????MA,?Ph.D???????????2000????????????????2008?????????????????????????????????????????????????2007??????TESOL???????????????????????????“Communities of Supportive Professionals”????TESOL, 2005????????“Communicative language teaching (CLT): practical understandings" (???Modern Language Journal, 1999)?????