Teachers’ knowledge base (KB):
Views and implications
Universidad de Antioquia
Master’s in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning
Course: EFL Professional Development and Teacher Education
Prof. Melba Libia Cárdenas B
November 26, 2010
Complementary readings
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Freeman, D. & Johnson, K. E. (1998). Reconceptualizing the
knowledge-base of language teacher education. TESOL
Quarterly, 32(3), 397-417.
Johnson, K. y Golombek, P. (Eds.) (2002). Teachers’ Narrative
Inquiry as Professional Development. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. (pp. 1-14).
Golombek, P. (2009). Personal practical knowledge in L2
teacher education. In A. Burns & J. C. Richards (Eds.), Second
Language Teacher Education (pp. 155-162). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Cortés, L., Hernández, J. y Arteaga, R. (2008). ¿Qué espera La
sociedad colombiana del docente de lenguas extranjeras?
Matices en Lenguas Extranjeras, 2, 1-13. Available:
http://www.revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/male/issue/view/1239/showToc
Freeman & Johnson (1998). Reconceptualizing
the knowledge-base of LTE (1)
o
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Must focus on:
The activity of teaching
The T who does it
The contexts
The pedagogy by which it is
done.
Include:
“forms of K representation that
document T learning within the
social, cultural, and
institutional contexts in which it
occurs” (p. 397).
o
o
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Account for:
The T as a learner of
teaching
The social context of
schools and schooling
within which T-learning
and teaching occur
The activities of both L
teaching and L learning.
Freeman & Johnson (1998). Reconceptualizing
the knowledge-base of LTE (2)
o
A broader epistemological
framework that is more
connected to the activity of
teaching itself and within
which both conceptual
knowledge (theory) and
perceptual knowledge
(practice) are hihlighted,
valued, and experienced 
inform and reform teachers’
practices (p. 405).
Domains: The nature of

The teacher-learner

The schools and schooling
(social context)

Language teaching
(pedagogical processes:
thinking and activity; subject
matter, content, L learning).
Domains and processes:
p. 406
Johnson & Golombek (2002).
Teachers’ Narrative Inquiry as PD (1)
Origins:
 Reflective teaching
movement
 The predominance of action
research
 The teacher research
movement
 Dewey’s educational
philosophy: continuity of
experience (2938), connect.
 In TEd: A method in and an
object of inquiry.
Potentials of NI
 Re-storing experiences:
essential to T’s personal and
social growth  To create a
“new sense of meaning and
significance” (Clandinin &
Connelly, 2000).
 Systematic inquiry of Ts by
Ts  individual and public K
about teaching (Lytle &
Cochran-Smith, 1992).
 Validation of local forms of K
Johnson & Golombek (2002).
Ts’ Narrative Inquiry as PD (2)
Ts’ stories of inquiry
embody:
 Emotion emotions
 A mind-set (a set of
attitudes: Dewey):
open-mindedness
responsibility
wholeheartedness (p.5)
 Personal and professional
worlds (seen: “subjective”)
Are not:
 Separated from sociocultural
and sociohistorical contexts
from which they emerge
 A set of prescriptive skills or
tasks
 Abstract theory, but “knowing in
action”.
 Not only about PD; they are PD
Ts’ stories of inquiry are: Driven by Ts’ inner desire (p. 6)
Golombek, P. (2009). Personal practical
knowledge (PPK) in L2 teacher education
Components of PPK
 Experiential
 Situational
 Dynamic
 “Storied” dimension
 The construct of “image”
Current approaches & practices
 How L learning experiences
influence theory and practice
 How beliefs and K inform Ts
 How previous experience and K
affects understandings of subject
matter K
PPK serves as a kind of
 The role of K in introspection and
framework through which
reflection
teachers make sense of their  The role of K in studies of
classrooms.
expertise
 The use of story, practitioner
Issues & directions! (p.158)
research, narrative inquiry.
Cortés, Hernández y Arteaga (2008). ¿Qué
espera la sociedad colombiana del docente de
lenguas extranjeras? (1)
Cortés:
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Implicit issues:
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Are requirements legitimate?
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Where do they come from? Open mind?
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Competencies: “saber, saber hacer, saber ser”
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We are “unique”, “different”, the specificity of our profession 
User, analyst, researcher, & deep knowledge of L1
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Should the university respond to the demands of the society
or should it go beyond the market? (p. 5)
Cortés, Hernández y Arteaga (2008). ¿Qué
espera la sociedad colombiana…? (2)
Hernández:
Arteaga:

General Ts’ profile
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What is good teaching?
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Based on field work /
studies?
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Whose needs?
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Which ones?
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The core:
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Methods in L2 teaching
 Ts’ KB
Ts and learners as social
actors
- The teaching activity 
communicate
- Not just theory  Plural &
multicultural views
- Citizenship.
Cortés, Hernández y Arteaga (2008). ¿Qué
espera la sociedad colombiana del docente de
lenguas extranjeras? (3)
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Points of coincidence:
French, German  English
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Implications for:
The teaching of English in our country
TEd and PD.