Vargas Gil, Gabriel Ernesto (2021) Aspects of the Cambridge ICELT ethos : an in-depth exploration of discourse in one iteration of a globalised in-service language teacher training course. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The spread of English as an international language has resulted in an exponential growth of the demand for English language teachers around the world. Among the teacher training programs with a well-established presence globally are the Cambridge English teaching qualifications and courses, such as the CELTA, the DELTA and ICELT courses, which are commonly used as a requirement for teaching entry or professional advancement in private and public institutions. In many countries in Latin America, like Mexico, these certifications have also fulfilled important functions within national-level policy, including serving as the professional standard for teachers' development within national English programs. However, despite their relevance, little research has been conducted on these certifications outside British academic circles, or even outside Cambridge English, which has resulted in a lack of contextualised understanding of these qualifications.

This study addresses this gap, analysing different aspects of the ethos of one iteration of the ICELT course, a course leading to an in-service teaching qualification explicitly designed to meet needs and conditions in local contexts (Wilson and Poulter 2015). The study looks at predominant discursive practices identified in textual data to identify aspects of representation, discursive implementation of the course, and experiential perception.

The research was conducted according to a qualitative inquiry design informed by ethnography. Most of the data were produced through fieldwork in one iteration of the course that took place in Mexico during a 9-month period corresponding with the duration of the course. The main methods of data production included documentary research, class observations, interviews, focus groups and research journaling. The data were analysed thematically according to three analytic dimensions: ‘on paper’ (fundamentally, the course documents), ‘in practice’ (fundamentally, aspects of the implementation of the course by the tutors through their discursive instructional practices), and ‘experiential’ (in general, the candidates’ perceptions of their own experience in the course). As a way to mitigate bias during the different phases of research, besides reflective journaling, I made a deliberate attempt to suspend judgment, intentionally distanced myself from the data and sought to falsify recurring themes as they were produced. Finally, the data were discussed convergently, and also in relation to three theoretical-problematic areas: ‘appropriate forms of ELT pedagogy’, ‘the marketisation of teacher education’ and ‘epistemological decolonisation’.

The findings of this study show that the representation of the course and the tutors in the iteration of the course researched was to some extent ideological and, as such, was used to legitimise the imposition of pedagogies and epistemologies which in many cases were in tension and conflict with the candidates’ teaching cultures, their knowledge base and their associated instructional practices. This research also shows that, even though complex, the discursive practices of the tutors represented, to a certain extent, a form of symbolic violence to which the candidates responded with pragmatism, conceptualised here as defensive pragmatism, i.e., pragmatism used as a form of both practical and theoretical defence. Finally, it is argued that further exploration of this type of teacher training provision is required, particularly from a global south perspective.

Empirically, this study contributes to the existing literature by providing contextualised insight into the complexity of the interrelationship of three analytic dimensions of the course’s life (production, implementation and consumption), showing their potential merits and tensions, making manifest their limitations (particularly in terms of the development of contextually appropriate methodologies) and making visible their ideological nature.

Methodologically, this study contributes to the existing literature by presenting an innovative qualitative design that deals not only with issues of transparency but also error and illusion (Morin 1999, 2007, 2008).

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	L Education > LC Special aspects of education P Language and Literature > PE English
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	English teachers -- Training of, English teachers -- Training of -- Evaluation, English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers
Official Date:	August 2021
Dates:	Date Event August 2021 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Centre for Applied Linguistics
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Smith, Richard ; Wharton, Sue
Sponsors:	Consejo nacional de ciencia y tecnología (México)
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	xvii, 375 leaves : illustrations
Language:	eng

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