The present paper examines an EFL/ESL teacher＇s potential in generating and developing his/her own knowledge base and theories of teaching and learning independent of the knowledge base manufactured by the ＂experts...The present paper examines an EFL/ESL teacher＇s potential in generating and developing his/her own knowledge base and theories of teaching and learning independent of the knowledge base manufactured by the ＂experts＂ in those fields. It also makes an effort to pave the way for them to go beyond the edge and advance towards an innovation that deviates from simple, certain, controlled and established ways of teaching and conducting researches towards complex, uncertain and less-controlled ones. It scrutinizes how instead of simply testing, ＂idealizing and reifying＂ the traditional, already established literature, an EFL/ESL teacher takes it as a point of departure in order to develop their own framework based on their practical experiences. The readymade professional theories and pedagogies are mostly generalizations--sometimes overgeneralizations---of the patrons of certain ideology to privilege a certain political or cultural group to place it over others. This usually sets barrier to an individual teacher＇s professional development since they are often set back from ＂theorizing what they practice and practice what they theorize＂ denying his/her idiosyncratic knowledge base that is convincingly capable of helping him/her grow professionally. It also leads to denying the teachers＇ and learners＇ socio-politico-cultural faiths that mould up a person as a whole. However, this paper also recognizes the traditional knowledge base as the ground for individual teachers to leap offand advance towards innovation.展开更多
文摘The present paper examines an EFL/ESL teacher＇s potential in generating and developing his/her own knowledge base and theories of teaching and learning independent of the knowledge base manufactured by the ＂experts＂ in those fields. It also makes an effort to pave the way for them to go beyond the edge and advance towards an innovation that deviates from simple, certain, controlled and established ways of teaching and conducting researches towards complex, uncertain and less-controlled ones. It scrutinizes how instead of simply testing, ＂idealizing and reifying＂ the traditional, already established literature, an EFL/ESL teacher takes it as a point of departure in order to develop their own framework based on their practical experiences. The readymade professional theories and pedagogies are mostly generalizations--sometimes overgeneralizations---of the patrons of certain ideology to privilege a certain political or cultural group to place it over others. This usually sets barrier to an individual teacher＇s professional development since they are often set back from ＂theorizing what they practice and practice what they theorize＂ denying his/her idiosyncratic knowledge base that is convincingly capable of helping him/her grow professionally. It also leads to denying the teachers＇ and learners＇ socio-politico-cultural faiths that mould up a person as a whole. However, this paper also recognizes the traditional knowledge base as the ground for individual teachers to leap offand advance towards innovation.
