DSpace at VNU: Identity in activity: Examining teacher professional identity formation in the paired-placement of student teachers

DSpace at VNU: Identity in activity: Examining teacher professional identity formation in the paired-placement of studen...

Identity in activity: Examining teacher professional identity formation in the paired-placement of student teachers

Dang Thi Kim Anha,b,*

a Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of Melbourne, Level 7, 100 Leicester Street, Carlton VIC 3010, Australia

b Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, Vietnam National University, 144 Xuan Thuy Street, Cau Giay District, Hanoi, Viet Nam

h i g h l i g h t s

< The study examined teacher learning in a paired-placement context

< The teachers experienced qualitative shifts in their teaching identities

< Activity theory was effective in revealing the complexity of their learning

< Paired-placement is a promising model for reforming the practicum

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:

Received 31 March 2012

Received in revised form

16 October 2012

Accepted 22 October 2012

Keywords:

Teacher learning

Identity

Paired-placement

Teacher collaboration

Activity theory

Contradictions

Perezhivanie

ZPD

a b s t r a c t This paper examines the evolution of the professional identities of student teachers (STs) in a paired-placement teaching practicum in Vietnam The study draws on activity theory, its notion of contradic-tion, and Vygotsky’s concepts of ZPD and perezhivanie, to identify the factors driving the intricate learning process Opportunities for learning were initially manifested in conflicts within the teacher pair, for example negotiation of their multiple identities, as friends, students and teachers in training However, within the framework of planned and supervised collaboration, the STs resolved most of their conflicts constructively and experienced qualitative development in their teaching identities

Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved

1 Introduction

During their practicum, student teachers (hereafter ‘STs’ or

simply‘teachers’) commonly teach individually, under a supervising

teacher On thefirst day of school the ST is expected to assume

responsibilities similar to those of experienced teachers despite

limited experience and preparation (Westheimer, 2008) STs often

encounter problems in transferring teaching theory into practice

Many experience isolation and lack of support, and lack of

knowl-edge about their students, having to focus on survival rather than

learning (Bullough et al., 2003;Johnson, 1996;Westheimer, 2008)

One response to these challenges is paired ST placements during

the practicum Studies on paired placements (e.g.Bullough et al.,

2002; Gardiner & Robinson, 2009; Heidorn, Jenkins, Harvey, & Mosier, 2011;King, 2006;McKeon, 2006;Nokes, Bullough, Egan, Birrell, & Hansen, 2008; Smith, 2004; Sorensen, 2004; Vickery, Sharrock, Hurst, & Broadbridge, 2011) highlight multiple benefits, and invite further investigation into this mode (Gardiner & Robinson, 2009;Sorensen, 2004) Prior research suggests the STs gain from the tensions, dialogue, reflections, and increased support that result from being placed with a peer (Bullough et al., 2003;

Nokes et al., 2008) The question left open is how the factors specific

to pair-work mediate teacher learning and identity formation The purpose of this study is to better understand teacher professional development in a paired-placement context It focuses specifically on how two teacher students in Vietnam, Hien and Chinh, develop their professional identities in the collaborative setting, and how factors specific to pair-work mediate this process

It uses activity theory and its notion of contradiction (Section2.1), Vygotsky’s concepts of ZPD and perezhivanie (Section 2.2), plus

* 332 Barkly Street, Brunswick VIC 3056, Australia Tel.: þ61 430113068.

E-mail addresses: t.dang6@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au , dangthikimanh@gmail.com

Contents lists available atSciVerse ScienceDirect

Teaching and Teacher Education

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w e l s e v i e r c o m / l o c a t e / t a t e

0742-051X/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.

Teaching and Teacher Education 30 (2013) 47e59

studies of teacher identity (Section 2.3), to help elucidate the

learning process Given the focus and theoretical framework, the

following questions framed the investigation:

 What contradictions were identified in the teachers’ joint-activity

systems?

 To what extent were the contradictions resolved or not in the

course of the study?

 What are the implications of the trajectories of contradictions for

teacher development in the paired placement context?

2 Theoretical framework

2.1 Activity theory

2.1.1 Key tenets

Activity theory has origins in Kant, Hegel, Marx and Engels, and

the Soviet Russian socio-cultural psychology of Vygotsky, Leont’ev,

Luria and Ilyenkov It explores the ways sociocultural historical

contexts shape human activity It is an evolving theory that has

proven fertile in educational research There are various strands

within the tradition, derived in part from divergent readings of the

foundational Russian works (seeBakhurst, 2009;Engeström, 1999;

Smagorinsky, 2009) For Bakhurst activity theory is not an

“unproblematic, coherent, theoretical paradigm” He promotes

“self-critical dialogue” between its different “styles of thinking”

(2009, p 209)

The research design of the present study draws largely on

Engeström (1987, 2001, 2008a, 2008b) The study uses third

generation activity theory, elaborated below, to analyse teacher

learning in the paired-placement context It also draws on other

activity theorists including Roth and Tobin (2002), Grossman,

Smagorinsky, and Valencia (1999), and Smagorinsky, Cook,

Jackson, Moore, and Fry (2004) These different theorists share

several broad tenets relevant to the study

First, human consciousness develops within practical social

activity settings in which relations between human agent and

environmental objects are mediated by tools and signs (Engeström,

1987;Grossman et al., 1999;Roth & Tobin, 2002;Smagorinsky et al.,

2004) The teacher is not solitary but part of a larger social setting

(Smagorinsky et al., 2004) Their principal mediating artefacts are

pedagogical tools The process whereby “a person adopts the

pedagogical tools available for use in particular social

environ-ments”, and “through this process internalizes ways of thinking

endemic to specific cultural practices”, is known as “appropriation”

(Grossman et al., 1999, p 15) Degrees of appropriation range from

lack of appropriation, appropriating a label, appropriating surface

features, appropriating conceptual underpinnings, to achieving

mastery (pp 16e18) Appropriation of tools when happening

involves adaptations and modifications (Athanases et al., 2008;

Newell & Connors, 2011) rather than straight-up internalization In the present study, Hien and Chinh demonstrated different levels of appropriation of pedagogical tools, such as video clips for teaching English

Second, the unit of analysis is the collective activity system (Engeström, 1987,1999;Roth, 2012) In the present study the unit of data collection and analysis is the teachers’ (joint) activity system of teaching English, in which they are also learning“to be someone who teaches” (Akkerman & Meijer, 2011, p 317)

Third, the driving force of change and development in activity systems is internal contradiction, as powerfully conceptualized by

Ilyenkov (1977, see alsoEngeström, 1987,2001;Roth, 2012;Roth & Tobin, 2002) In a parallel approachSmagorinsky et al (2004)see tensions that“require a socially contextualized intellectual reso-lution” (p 22) as potentially productive for teacher identity formation

2.1.2 Third generation activity theory Third generation activity theory develops conceptual tools for understanding dialogue, multiple perspectives and voices, and networks of interacting activity systems (Engeström, 2001) The third generation model includes at least two activity systems with

a potentially shared object (Fig 1)

The subject of an activity system is a person or group with agency (Engeström, 2001) In the present study the subject is the ST whose activity is influenced by the sociocultural historical context within which he/she teaches and learns to teach Object describes the orientation of the activity, derived from motivation to achieve

an outcome There is no objectless activity (Engeström, 2008a) The

ST’s motive could be to perform a student teaching task successfully for assessment purposes, or to promote student learning The mediating tools/artefacts used by the STs include lesson plans, rehearsals, video clips, and other pedagogical tools

The study conceptualizes planning and teaching in pairs as

a joint-activity system, that is the interacting activity systems of two individual teachers, embedded in their broader sociocultural historical context Their common object could be (teaching) the students This framework enables the researcher to analyse how the individual teacher’s professional learning emerges from within each individual system, and interacts with the other system

InFig 1the mediated relationship between subject and object occurs within a sociocultural setting that includes community, rules and division of labour Within the paired-placement model, community refers to the teaching pair, other STs in the cohort, supervising teacher, and classroom students In impacting upon student teaching activity this community could support or hinder professional learning Rules refer to explicit and implicit regula-tions, norms, and conventions that constrain actions and interac-tions within the activity system (Engeström, 2008a) Here, they

Potentially shared object

Mediating tools/ artefacts

Rules Community Division

of labour

Object Mediating tools/ artefacts

Division

of labour

Community Rules

Subject

Center for Activity Theory and Developmental Work Research, 2003e2004

Dang T.K.A / Teaching and Teacher Education 30 (2013) 47e59 48

include the professional and cultural rules regulating co-working

activity and social relationships between the paired STs as both

friends and colleagues Division of labour refers to work

relation-ships and power relationrelation-ships between members of the

commu-nity, including between the ST pair

Activity systems emerge and can be transformed over time

Contradictions within activity systems generate disturbance but

drive change and development (Engeström, 2001) on a collective

basis, through innovations in activity designed to resolve those

contradictions Third generation activity theory has been applied

by Engeström himself and others to research in different settings,

including formal school settings (e.g Cross, 2009; Engeström,

2008b;Junor Clarke & Fournillier, 2012;Tsui & Law, 2007)

2.2 ZPD and perezhivanie

2.2.1 Zone of proximal development (ZPD) and contradictions

Vygotsky introduced the concept of ZPD to elucidate the role of

social conditions in the development of thinking (Moll, 1990, p 12)

He saw thinking as a characteristic not just of the child but of the

child-in-social-activities with others (Moll, 1990) What children

can perform collaboratively or with assistance today, they can

perform independently and competently tomorrow ZPD is:

the distance between the actual developmental level as

deter-mined by independent problem solving and the level of

potential development as determined through problem solving

under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable

peers (Vygotsky, 1978, p 86)

Moll (1990)states that children“internalize and transform the

help they receive from others”, using this guidance “to direct their

subsequent problem-solving behaviours.” Therefore “the nature of

social transactions is central to a zone of proximal development

analysis” (p 11) In the present study Vygotsky’s ZPD is used to

examine what the STs could accomplish by performing

collabora-tively or with assistance today as an indication of what they could

perform independently tomorrow Paired placement, as a teaching/

learning strategy, can be understood as an institutional

embodi-ment of ZPD Arguably, paired placeembodi-ment here either enlarged the

ZPD (as is apparent in Hien’s case) or provided scaffolding for

activities within the ZPD (as is apparent in Chinh’s case)

In Vygotsky’s work ZPD indicated a change of analytical focus,

from sign-mediated activity to socially mediated activity, and from

the individual-as-such to the individual-in-social-activity (Minick,

1985; Moll, 1990) However, he retained“the significance of sign

and tool mediation in understanding human learning and

devel-opment” (Moll, 1990, p 5) This change in theorization helped to

ground the later shift to activity under Leont’ev In further

devel-oping Vygotsky’s ZPD, Engeström defines it as “the distance

between the present everyday actions of the individuals and the

historically new form of societal activity that can be collectively

generated” (1987, p 174) New forms of societal activity are

generated by contradictions Contradictions are not the same as

problems or conflicts They are “historically accumulating

struc-tural tensions within and between activity systems.” (Engeström,

2001, p 137) Within an activity system, they include tensions

within each of its components and tensions between its two or

more constituent components (Engeström, 2008a,b)

Tensions are not necessarily obstructive They can be potentially

productive in creating an environment conducive to professional

learning In the present study the collective journey of the STs

through their ZPD is mapped in terms of contradictions in their joint

activity system, and how those contradictions were resolved or not

over a period of time This trajectory shaped the potential and

process of development Contradictions were manifest as tensions in

the negotiation of STs’ multiple identities (see Section2.3) within paired placement, for example, friends versus colleagues, or students versus teachers

2.2.2 Perezhivanie Together with ZPD, Vygotsky developed the interrelated concept of perezhivanie in the last years of his life (Mahn & John-Steiner, 2008) Perezhivanie describes “the affective processes through which interactions in the ZPD are individually perceived, appropriated, and represented by the participants” (p 49) Vygot-sky’s Russian notion of ‘perezhivanie’ has been roughly translated as

‘emotional experience’ (Vygotsky, 1994), or ‘intensely-emotional-lived-through-experience’ (Ferholt, 2010, p 164) Smagorinsky refers to ‘meta-experience’; that is, ‘how one experiences one’s experiences’, noting that “people frame and interpret their expe-riences through interdependent emotional and cognitive means, which in turn are related to the setting of new experiences” (2011,

p 337) Vygotsky used perezhivanie in studying the relationship between child development and its setting, writing offinding “the particular prism through which the influence of the environment

on the child is refracted”:

the child’s emotional experience [perezhivanie], in other words how a child becomes aware of, interprets, [and] emotionally relates

to a certain event This prism determines the role and

influence of the environment on the development of, say, the child’s character, his psychological development, etc (Vygotsky,

1994, p 341, emphasis in original) The“prism” encompassed both the child’s cognition (“aware of, interprets”) and emotion (“emotionally relates to a certain event”) Vygotsky noted that “if children possess varying levels of awareness the same event will have a completely different meaning for them” (1994, p 343) Their responses were affected by differing emotional experiences, which in turn related to the cognitive meaning they made of the situation When the situation changed, sometimes one component of personality played

a primary role, sometimes another In analysing how an environ-ment influenced child development, it was important to identify which characteristics were decisive in determining the child’s relationship to the situation (Vygotsky, 1994) In the present study, these characteristics include the various components of teacher identity, and the tensions between them

2.3 Teacher learning as identity formation Learning to teach is“learning to think like a teacher, learning to know like a teacher, learning to feel like a teacher and learning to act like a teacher” (Feiman-Nemser, 2008, p 698, emphasis in original) ForKelchtermans and Hamilton (2004inAkkerman & Meijer, 2011)

it moves beyond learning to‘know how to teach’ to learning ‘to be someone who teaches’ (p 317) Teacher identity development is an important component of learning to teach (Alsup, 2006)

In a critical review of the researchAkkerman and Meijer (2011)

describe teacher identity as unitary and multiple, continuous and discontinuous, individual and social The identity of someone who teaches is

an ongoing process of negotiating and interrelating multiple I-positions in such a way that a more or less coherent and consistent sense of self is maintained throughout various participations and self-investments in one’s (working) life (p 315)

The definition suggests the dynamic nature of teacher identity, its social origin, and the tensions in its construction.“The presence

of multiple, possibly conflicting I-positions” is especially helpful in

understanding identity“when teachers face dilemmas or tensions

throughout their work” (p 311) The natural desire for a consistent

and coherent sense of self motivates the self to create a dialogical

space between different I-positions Thus“the self is also a

negoti-ated space” (p 312)

From an activity theory perspective,Smagorinsky et al (2004)

likewise view teacher identity formation as a process of

negotia-tion between different concepnegotia-tions of teaching STs see themselves

as students in university settings but as teachers in school settings,

triggering tensions in their self-construction of teaching identity

Further:

Learning to teach is thus in part a process of constructing an

identity in the midst of systems of relations During student

teaching, there are multiple systems of relations involved in

overlapping, often conflicting activity settings that make this

identity formation quite challenging (Smagorinsky et al.,

2004, p 10)

In a similar vein, Grossman et al (1999) argue that activity

theory can help:

.understand how prospective teachers and those around them

define the problems they face and how they engage in solving

these problems, using the resources around them This process

contributes to the identities that they develop as teachers (p 12)

2.3.1 Teacher identity and perezhivanie

These accounts of teacher identity parallel Vygotsky’s account of

perezhivanie Both constructs refer to relations between subject and

environment, such as how one engages with the settings

(Grossman et al., 1999) or multiple systems of social relations

(Smagorinsky et al., 2004) Perezhivanie varies depending on which

characteristics of personality are at play in the given situation; the

teacher adopts identities, and shifts between them, in response to

relevant others such as colleagues, to time and to context

(Akkerman & Meijer, 2011)

Perezhivanie is especially relevant to the present study in three

ways First, it helps to explain how the individual STs constructed

different meanings of the same planning and teaching event,

depending on how they each emotionally related to that event,

reflectingMoll’s (1990)view that:“Change within a ZPD is usually

characterized as individual change” (p 12) Vygotsky considers

“emotion and human development to be reciprocally related to one

another” (Smagorinsky, 2011) Second, it identifies both emotional

and cognitive dimensions of teacher development: in research into

teacher development, the former is often overlooked How the STs

were aware of, interpreted and emotionally related to

paired-placement events all influenced their actions in their

environ-ment Third, the concepts of perezhivanie and identity together

shed light on professional development within paired placement

The teachers’ identities influenced how they cognitively and

affectively experienced their experiences Likewise, their cognitive

and affective response to experience could affect their identity

formation, strengthening, weakening, or transforming certain

identities Their identities thus help to explain the‘prism’ through

which the context affected learning

Akkerman and Meijer (2011)note studies of changing teaching

identities have yet to identify‘what’ is shifting and what

deter-mines the direction of shift.Beijaard, Meijer, and Verloop (2004)

call for research into the role of context in professional identity

formation, and research perspectives other than cognitive ones

The role of affect in teacher identity formation has been

acknowl-edged, either explicitly or implicitly (Alsup, 2006; Smagorinsky,

Lakly, & Johnson, 2002), but still seems under-researched

In adopting an activity theory perspective plus Vygotky’s ZPD and perezhivanie, to illuminate two teachers’ professional development over time, this study contributes tofilling in those gaps

3 Method

The present study is part of a larger research project concerning the learning-to-teach-English practices of a cohort of 10 pairs of Vietnamese student teachers (seeDang, 2012;Dang & Marginson,

2012) The present study focuses solely on one of the ten dyads, Hien and Chinh (these are pseudonyms to ensure participant anonymity) They were selected because their pair interactions were sufficiently complex and varied to allow a wide range of developmental aspects to be explored Hien and Chinh were representative of the cohort in terms of gender, background, including prior teaching experience, and length of participation 3.1 Context and participants

3.1.1 Context The larger research project was conducted in the settings of a ST practicum at a university in Vietnam The teachers, all females in their early twenties, had been selected as high achieving students

of English for a special four-year course in English Language Teaching (ELT) The practicum, in their final year, consisted of 15-weeks teaching English to second year university students The STs worked in pairs for planning and teaching lessons They were paired by ballot All lessons were observed by one of the university supervisors, and the other STs in the cohort Lessons were followed

by feedback sessions involving the supervisor and STs This model

of teacher education (TE) had been used at the university for eight years prior to the research

Most participants, including Hien and Chinh, chose to be teachers because in Vietnam teaching is seen as a noble profession and highly suitable for women In the Confucian tradition the teacher is a benchmark of morality, the most important source of knowledge, and the highest authority in the classroom English teaching has gained popularity since the country opened itself to the world in the 1986 Doi Moi reform, which replaced central planning with a regulated market economy Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization in 2007 The growth of international business, including transnational education, has multiplied English-related jobs and demand for English teaching skills English now enjoys special status as means of communication and 99.1 per cent of junior secondary schools teach English (Do, 1999;Nguyen & Nguyen, 2007)

3.1.2 The teaching dyad: Hien and Chinh Hien and Chinh had been friends for three years, though not very close Hien lived in the city with her family Chinh was from the countryside and lived away from home They had worked together in group and pair projects in the first three years at university Each emphasized they had worked well together, peacefully, with little argument Consensus was easy to reach However they had not found the outcome productive, and had different views of collaboration Hien emphasized the need for partners to be critical in order to improve the quality of ideas Chinh, however, preferred harmony and described herself as happy when there was little argument Their personal histories were also different

3.1.2.1 Hien Hien appeared cheerful, friendly, confident, and articulate She had long lived in an environment where people appreciated the English language Her elder sister wasfluent in English and worked for Sony Ericsson Hien attended a Hanoi

Dang T.K.A / Teaching and Teacher Education 30 (2013) 47e59 50

school for talented students specializing in foreign languages and

participated in the national contest for high-achieving students in

English She had prior experience teaching English as a one-on-one

tutor for school students and a classroom assistant at an

interna-tional foreign language centre She seemed confident when

recalling her teaching experience:

At the beginning, some of my students did not like to learn, did

not want to learn English, but I was able to create a relaxed

atmosphere Now almost all of my students like English better

(Hien, Pre-interview, p 15)

3.1.2.2 Chinh Chinh looked calm but became emotional in several

interviews Her family was not well offfinancially Chinh eased her

parents’ burden by working as a part-time teacher assistant for

a foreign language centre in Hanoi She supported herself by private

tutoring Like Hien she participated in the national contest for high

school students gifted in English and won a prize However, her

transition from high school to university was painful Unlike Hien,

who knew English pronunciation from a very young age, before

Chinh entered university she experienced listening, speaking and

writing as alien She described her experience of entering the TE

program as frightening:

It was really scary, because all I had was grammar In the

Fast-track program, you need to learn Listening, Speaking, Reading

and Writing (Chinh, Pre-interview, p 16)

Chinh believed teaching was often a matter of

accommo-dating students and their emotional needs Having fun was an

important motivator But Chinh found motivation a challenge:“It

is hard to make them like foreign languages” (Chinh,

Pre-interview, p 19)

3.2 Data collection

As noted, the unit of analysis is the joint-activity system in each

teaching round In the practicum Hien and Chinh taught four

lessons Each round comprised co-planning and co-teaching one

lesson To plan each lesson Hien and Chinh met face-to-face, and

communicated via Internet chat tools and emails Teaching tasks

were shared

The data consist of individual semi-structured interviews in

Vietnamese with each ST prior to the practicum (pre-interviews)

and after each lesson (post-teaching interviews); video-recordings

and observations of the lessons;field notes of observations during

the lessons; and artefacts like lesson plans, instructional materials

and other documents (see summary in Table 1) Post-teaching

interviews were conducted within 48 h of each lesson to

strengthen data reliability (Nunan, 1992) The semi-structured

interview format enabled open-ended questioning around the

themes of the research All interviews were recorded and

tran-scribed verbatim Field notes, instructional materials, and lesson

plans were used as stimuli in interviews and to enhance reliability,

triangulatingfindings from interviews

3.3 Data analysis

3.3.1 Analysis of each teaching round

The primary data source was the interview transcripts The

interviews provided much insight into ST learning, and into

rela-tions between the STs and their context At times in interview the

STs were asked to recall relevant biographical details (seeTable 1),

generating data that helped to explain their experiences in the

practicum

In data analysis the researcher first reviewed the video-recordings, observations, and artefacts for each teaching round to re-activatefield knowledge and begin to reconstruct the observable components of Hien and Chinh’s joint activity system, such as identification of the artefacts they used Then the interview tran-scripts were analysed line by line using a directed content analysis procedure (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005, pp 1281e1283) with the support of Transana, a software package for transcription and qualitative analysis of audio data Initial coding categories were based on the subject, object, tools/artefacts, rules, community and division of labour in each of the four joint-activity system (i.e each teaching round), as advised byBarab, Evans, and Baek (2004) The analytical method was also informed by prior research into teacher practice using activity theory (Cross, 2006; Engeström, 2008a,b;Roth & Tobin, 2002;Tsui & Law, 2007;Yamagata-Lynch

& Haudenschild, 2009) including research on pair-work (Cross,

2009; Storch, 2004) This prior research guided refinements in the coding of each sub-category (SeeTable 2for a summary of the coding scheme used to reconstruct the pair’s joint activity system.) The strategy of relying on prior research was important for two reasons First, there is much controversy over the use of cultural historical activity theory (Junor Clarke & Fournillier, 2012),

a discussion which is beyond the scope of this paper Second, there are different methodological approaches to using concepts and principles from activity theory (seeBarab et al., 2004; Yamagata-Lynch, 2010) Indeed, as noted, there are various strands within the tradition

Drawing on related studies, this study presents one such approach to research design

For each teaching round, Hien and Chinh’s individual interviews were analysed separately, using the code scheme presented in

Table 2 They were then compared and contrasted to identify the misalignments perceived by the teachers Contradictions within the joint-activity system were then distilled, helping to explain the tensions or challenges in pair work (seeTable 3for a summary of major contradictions and their occurrences) Because the analysis focused on identifying systemic contradictions and their trajecto-ries within a limited time period, nuances, suggesting qualitative

Table 1 Data sources and focus of data collection and analysis.

Pre-service teachers Data sources Focus of data collection and analysis Pre-interviews with individual

teacher (N ¼ 2)

Experience as language teacher/tutor Experience as language learner Personal background Previous group/pair work experience Post-teaching interviews with

individual teacher (N ¼ 8)

Perceptions of the paired placement experience: lesson by lesson, both planning and teaching stages

Joint activity system of co-teaching and its evolution

Systemic contradictions in the joint activity system

Trajectory of contradictions Relevant biographical details Classroom observations during

paired placement (N ¼ 4; 240 min)

Pair interaction during the lessons Uses of teaching tools

Social context of teaching Video-recordings of lessons

taught by the pair (N ¼ 4; 240 min)

Pair interaction during the lessons Uses of teaching tools

Social context of teaching Artefacts (lesson plans,

instructional materials, email correspondence between partners when planning lessons, etc.)

Evidence of planned division of teaching tasks between the partners

Evidence of use of teaching tools Evidence of pair interactions when planning lessons

Table 2

Codes and sub-categories to identify joint activity system.

Level 1

Sub-categories from the data set Level 2

Classroom teaching One-on-one tutoring Adult students School children Teacher’s experience as language learner Years of learning English

Exposure to CLT (Communicative Language Teaching) Exposure to grammar-translation method (Test and grammar oriented)

Rationales to become a teacher Transition to the TE program Experience within the TE program Teacher’s previous group/pair work experience Working with pair partner

Working in groups in general

Teaching as faithful to the lesson plan Teacher’s orientation towards the collaborative work Collaboration as equal work share

Collaboration as harmony Collaboration to improve quality of work Mediational tools & artefacts Resources to perform the perceived paired placed teaching tasks

Knowledge of English pronunciation Knowledge of language skills English competency

Knowledge about the students Language teaching skills Student engagement Teacher-led discussion Small-group work Student presentations Modelling

Using instructional materials

Video clips Games Handouts

Email correspondence Face-to-face meeting Rehearsals Division of labour Perceptions of self and partner’s roles and

responsibilities in the pair-work

Improving ideas Searching for teaching materials Finalizing lesson plan

Carrying out ICT related tasks Preparing logistics

Teacher control of lesson Teacher interruption (of each other) Teacher correction (of each other) Share of teaching tasks Power relationship between pair

partners and others in the community

In co-planning, preparation,

& co-teaching stages

Who took the lead in planning?

Who made major decisions?

Who controlled the lesson?

Who controlled the process?

Who gave feedback?

community regulating the performance of the activity Pair partner

Other peers University supervising teacher Students

Previous (school) teachers Dang T.K.A / Teaching and Teacher Education 30 (2013) 47e59

52

rather than quantifiable changes, were significant Hence

‘occur-rences’, rather than ‘frequencies’ of the incidence of contradictions

were deemed appropriate to this study Analysis of the different

components of data was interactive and cross-referenced For

example, findings from the interviews that revealed teachers’

interrupting each other during the lesson prompted further

anal-ysis of the video-recordings See Fig 2 for a diagrammatic

description of the pair’s joint activity system and identified

contradictions The left triangle represents Hien’s activity system

and the right triangle represents Chinh’s activity system of

co-teaching

3.3.2 Analysis across the teaching rounds

Data from the four joint-activity systems were content analysed

and cross-referenced to see if the identified contradictions were

resolved or not in subsequent systems (Table 3), mapping the

evolution of joint activity and professional development over time

4 Findings

The findings are reported in the sequence of the research

questions: contradictions; trajectories of development; and

impli-cations for teacher professional development Data analysis

iden-tified three main contradictions in the joint-activity systems, traced

over the four teaching rounds, between: 1) subjects and objects of

activity; 2) subjects and division of labour within the community;

3) the community and mediational tools (Fig 2 refers to the

contradictions, using the numbers 1e3)

Hien and Chinh drew on different and conflicting identities in

their co-teaching and co-planning activities The respective

dispo-sitions triggered contradictions that affected the way they

perceived their experiences, cognitively and affectively As the

contradictions became identified, with some partly resolved, there

was continual reflection and change in the pair’s joint-activity systems Both Hien and Chinh worked within their jointly-created ZPD on the identified contradictions, leading to qualitative change in their professional development Chinh appeared to be developing a teacher identity in addition to her continued student identity Hien, on the other hand, appeared to be developing

a mentor and colleague identity in addition to her continued teacher identity

4.1 Contradiction between subjects and objects of activity

Hien and Chinh entered the practicum with conflicting conceptions of student teaching In their joint activity system, they worked towards different objects Throughout the four teaching rounds, apparently Hien’s object was student learning, coming from her strong teacher identity Hien’s object contradicted Chinh’s object of faithfulness to lesson plans, resulting from her disposition

as a student Chinh’s object for her took priority over being flexible

to students’ needs In the later teaching rounds the contradiction was partly resolved when Chinh began to realise the need to develop her role as a teacher and partly transformed her object to student learning

From the first teaching round, Hien emphasized teacher authority, which she wanted She talked about beingflexible with lesson plans and addressing students’ learning needs In the second round, this positioning shaped her definition of collaboration: “The bottom line [of collaboration] is to achieve the objective of the lesson.” In round three, her disposition as a teacher was also demonstrated in the way she helped one student in response to that student’s need “I had not expected to spend that much time helping her with her pronunciation”, said Hien She appeared confident and articulate about her role as a teacher, which seemed

to derive from her successful prior teaching experience

Table 2 (continued )

Level 1

Sub-categories from the data set Level 2

rules that regulated the activity

Start/finish on time Following syllabus

Keeping face for students Students subject to teacher’s authority Indirectness with partner

Avoiding confronting problems

Giving feedback

Equal roles Reaching consensus Polite turn taking

Table 3

Contradictions and occurrences.

teaching: student learning versus being faithful to the lesson plan

Lesson 1; Lesson 2; Lesson 3; Lesson 4 (partially resolved)

2 Subject e division of labour Unequal division of roles and

responsibilities, and unequal power relationship

Lesson 1; Lesson 2 (partially resolved); Lesson 4 (partially resolved)

3 Community e mediational tools Tensions attributed to different

levels of appropriation of pedagogical tools

Lesson 1; Lesson 2; Lesson 3; Lesson 4

Unlike Hien, Chinh saw herself as a‘student’ almost throughout

the practicum This identity seemed to influence how she perceived

and processed the emotional aspects of the experience In thefirst

teaching round, she referred to the university supervising lecturer

as afigure of authority in defining who she was in the practicum:

Ms Vien (the University lecturer) said, why we are here, we are

here to tutor, not to teach them We are here to try to help, help

them (Chinh, Rnd1 Interview, p 20)

She emphasized that teachers must be faithful to lesson plans

Student teaching, as she saw it, was performing to the observers of

the lesson, her classmates and the supervising lecturer In round

three, Chinh still saw teaching from a student’s perspective She

expressed her concern about being“blamed”, “reprimanded” and

gaining a “bad reputation” if she taught something badly The

perezhivanie seemed connected to her painful transition into the TE

program, as described earlier Chinh’s focus appeared to be on

controlling the lesson She was most comfortable when things went

as planned

Co-planning the lesson with Hien challenged Chinh’s disposition

as a student Commenting on the lesson plan, she reluctantly said:“if

it is to help them [the students], the major part should come to the

front, and no need for a warmer”, indicating she was negotiating the

two roles The dyad’s interactions during planning and

co-teaching appeared to scaffold Chinh’s development of a teacher

identity In round two, in Chinh’s words, she “just sat and listened

attentively, without noting down details”, so she could provide only

“superficial” feedback to students Not until Hien started giving

detailed comments, did Chinh comprehend“focusing on key areas

for the students to improve later on” The incident suggests Chinh

was experiencing a transition from student to teacher, with much

awareness of it when her object inclined towards student learning

In the last lesson Chinh showed better awareness of the issue, while

still struggling between the two positions:

I realized that I did not put myself completely in the position of

a tutor It was because I forgot that I should be helping the

students, not testing them That was why I went through the lesson so fast and went straight to the exercises (Chinh, Rnd4 Interview, p 21)

The excerpt also suggests how her teaching identity influenced her teaching practice, and the meaning she made of the experi-ence It shows Chinh’s increased understanding of Hien’s view that they should divert from the lesson plan if necessary to facilitate student learning From an activity theory perspective, with active pair-work, the object of Chinh’s activity was under transformation, and a new historical form of activity was in formation

4.2 Contradiction between subjects and division of labour in the community

Hien and Chinh came to pair-work with different perceptions of

it, a difference compounded by the contradictions between objects

in their joint-activity system These differences created tensions in both co-planning and co-teaching, manifest in the unequal division

of power and labour between the STs These contradictions recurred Both Hien and Chinh tried to resolve them tactfully Both STs developed in this process Hien learned more about how to collaborate and developed her identity as colleague/mentor in relation to Chinh, in addition to her continued teacher identity Chinh’s orientation still came from her identity as a student but she seemed to learn about co-teaching

4.2.1 Co-planning The contradiction involving unequal division of power and labour between the teachers arose in planning for thefirst teaching round They negotiated between their identities as friends and as colleagues Hien admittedfinding herself dominant in the planning process She made final decisions regarding the lesson, while expecting Chinh to be critical and active in developing Hien’s ideas Chinh chose to be low-key Preferring harmony, a desirable trait of

a Confucian culture, she expressed herself content because they did

Desirable outcomes?

- Student learning

- Teacher learning about teaching

- Good assessment results for the PSTs

- Good collaboration

Subject 2:

ST: CHINH

Obj 1b:

TP: faithful

to LP

Mediating tools/ artefacts:

Lesson plans, instructional materials, other pedagogical tools…

Rules:

Class rules Collaboration rules Professional rules Cultural rules

Community:

Pair partner Other peers Students Supervising lecturer

Division of labour:

-Co-planning &

teaching

-Giving comments on

LP and lesson

Subject 1:

SL - TC

Mediating tools/ artefacts:

Lesson plans, instructional materials, other pedagogical tools…

Rules:

Professional rules

Cultural rules

Class rules

Collaboration rules

Community:

Pair partner Other peers Students Supervising lecturer

Division of labour:

-Co-planning &

teaching

-Giving comments on

LP and lesson

[2]

[3]

[3]

[2]

Obj 1a Obj 1b

Shared Object?

Fig 2 Joint activity system of Hien and Chinh (adapted from Engeström, 2001 , p 136; Tsui & Law, 2007 , p 1293).

Dang T.K.A / Teaching and Teacher Education 30 (2013) 47e59 54

not argue much She recognized, however, that their contributions

to planning were unequal

Hien was aware of the unequal division of labour and power, and

attempted to resolve it by setting for herself a hidden rule In

focusing on equal work sharing, she appeared to be developing

a colleague/mentor identity in relation to Chinh She insisted Chinh

take the lead:

Thefirst time, I presented my ideas first, I still remember that

Then in the following rounds, I let Chinh speakfirst In fact I had

ideas, but after several times working with Chinh, I realized that

she was quite easy For example, any ideas I proposed she would

ok immediately So I thought I would let her speakfirst, then we

both improve the ideas But not me presenting ideasfirst (Hien,

Rnd4 Interview, p 5)

The journey to resolution was not smooth In round two, the

contradiction seemed partially resolved when Hien let Chinh lead

the planning However, after their face-to-face meeting Hien

expressed her dissatisfaction with the agreed plan She actively

sought advice from other people in improving the lesson She

suggested major changes in the lesson plan and convinced Chinh to

agree To Hien, her object of achieving good student learning took

priority over the need to even up the pair work Her identity as

a teacher again seemed to overwhelm her position as a friend

Chinh“felt ashamed as Hien made most of the contributions” The

contradiction recurred

The contradiction seemed to be resolved in round three when

both Hien and Chinh were equally engaged in planning, despite

their lack of confidence in the subject matter, pronunciation

Collaboration during planning lessened the challenges in teaching

pronunciation Hien continued encouraging Chinh to lead

co-planning She described herself as pleased with Chinh’s efforts in

preparing the lesson and giving critical feedback on the pair’s ideas

Chinh’s engagement with planning had improved Chinh appeared

happy with the co-planning process, which she believed was equal

The contradiction recurred in round four, when Chinh’s

engagement subsided Chinh led the planning but failed to provide

critical comments to develop the lesson Hien found the materials

prepared by Chinh to be irrelevant They both looked for other

materials Hien tried to accommodate Chinh’s involvement in the

planning, but she still played the key role in decision making

The trajectory of this contradiction in co-planning suggests the

need for collective resolution, not a hidden, individually led

reso-lution To achieve satisfactory identity formation, what was needed

was mutual awareness and engagement in the collective resolution

of the contradiction Given the social origin of identity, individuals

with whom a person interacts are significant to the self They

motivate a person to act and develop in specific directions

(Akkerman & Meijer, 2011) The observation was true of both Hien

and Chinh

4.2.2 Co-teaching

Two major tensions emerged and recurred during co-teaching

which seemed largely resolved in the later rounds The way Hien

and Chinh handled these contradictions in the last round was

cognitively and intellectually more advanced than in previous

rounds when their responses were either emotional or spontaneous

Thefirst contradiction involved the unequal division of labour in

co-teaching, manifest in the STs’ unequal share of teacher talk time

In thefirst lesson, Chinh felt the teaching tasks were unequally

divided She noted the part assigned for Hien took much longer

than planned, which Chinh said made her uncomfortable She saw

the division of teacher talk time as the indicator of whether the

lesson contributions were equal She wanted to interrupt Hien but

decided not to She seemed to be negotiating the tension between

her identity as a student (teacher) and identity as a colleague This contradiction was manifested in her interpretation of the student teaching requirements (fair share of teaching time) and her perception of pair-work (maintain harmony which prohibits interruption)

In lesson four, Chinh appeared to be more conscious of the tension She handled it while increasing her presence in the lesson Shefinally interrupted Hien during a later section:

I was afraid that if Hien had completed that section [on her own],

it would be too long And so I asked:“Can I help you?”, knowing the answer would be“Yes”, because by asking that question, I expressed my need to interrupt, then Hien had to say“Yes” It was just because I wanted to avoid solo-teaching, meaning only one person teaching the lesson (Chinh, Rnd4, pp 29e30) Chinh had prepared her act by reading the part of the lesson that Hien was leading and carefully planning how best to interrupt Hien felt surprised by Chinh’s move but welcomed it By re-interpreting past experiences and taking action, Chinh seemed to have resolved the conflict between two identities and maintained some conti-nuity in her identity formation (Akkerman & Meijer, 2011, p 313) The continuity was accompanied by a higher level of cognition whereby she demonstrated increased awareness of the experience The second contradiction was manifested in Hien’s correction of Chinh’s mistakes In the first lesson, Hien observed as Chinh was teaching, and intervened immediately when she felt Chinh’s instruction was unclear In the second round, the tension recurred However, when reflecting on the incident, Hien found it wrong to intervene while Chinh was in charge Her understanding of the purpose of the lesson (student understanding) conflicted with her perception of pair-work (the necessity to refrain when there are problems, typical of Vietnamese culture) Her emotional responses appeared to be “culturally mediated and appropriated” (Smagorinsky, 2011, p 338) Hien recalled the incident:

The words Chinh gave have vowels before /s/ so the letter /s/ must be pronounced as /z/, but she taught it as /s/ I kept on wondering whether I should join in Finally, I decided to join in, but I think yesterday neither they [the students] not everyone else [my classmates] noticed that I intended to make a correc-tion In fact I was trying to avoid correcting each other in front

of the classe something absolutely to avoid Then I thought to myself, I looked at the students and they looked confused They really looked confused, so I thought I must speak up (Hien, Rnd2 Interview, p 7)

She later explained:

I think,first is to let the students trust the teachers I hate this thought but teachers mostly must not make mistakes In general, students will not fully trust teachers if they make mistakes However, if I point out my partner’s mistake in front

of everyone,first she will lose face Second, the students will question about the tutors:first, the competence of the tutors; second, they would wonder what kind of cooperation it is that allows tutors to contrast each other right in class like that If the studentsfind out that I pinpointed Chinh’s mistakes, I would not know what to do Luckily people did not notice it I do not want her to lose face in front of everyone I need to cooperate well (Hien, Rnd2 Interview, p 9)

The excerpts suggest that Hien was facing a conflict between different rules internal to the teaching profession One rule dictates that teachers must teach correct information Another rule dictates that teachers should not be criticized in front of the students Keeping each other’s face in public also indicates good

collaboration from a Vietnamese cultural perspective The incident

also reveals Hien’s negotiation between her identity as a teacher

and her identity as a cooperative friend/colleague/team member

In lesson one Hien corrected Chinh’s mistakes; and it was not

until the second round that she really grasped her dilemma, by

engaging in the experience and (re)-interpreting it Although the

tension between her two identities was not resolved, by

re-interpreting her experience, she was able to access the

concep-tual tool that helped her make sense of the experience and reduce

its ambiguity (Akkerman & Meijer, 2011)

In response to the incident, Chinh expressed concern about how

the students felt about the incident, and about her:

I was not fully shocked but I found that the students would be

suspicious and would think“as one tutor has corrected like this,

then another has to re-correct for her Then it means she

cor-rected us wrongly” I do not know if they thought like that

Maybe yes (Chinh, Rnd 2 Interview, p 11)

Chinh’s identity as a student teacher related to the emotional

response that accompanied her teaching She seemed more

con-cerned about her students’ judgement of the incident than about

their learning

In the last lesson, Hien’s internal conflict between the different

professional rules was repeated Despite her belief that she should

not correct her partner’s mistakes in front of the class to save

Chinh from losing face, she corrected Chinh’s mistake in this

lesson, though in a subtle way She was able to provide correct

instruction to the students but also keep her partner’s face The

contradiction seemed largely resolved, in a way that resulted in

less confusion about the act of correction and more awareness of

the collaboration Hien’s increased understanding informed her

affective reaction to the situation e from having no feeling in

round one,‘correcting immediately’, to feeling torn in round two, to

being in control and knowing how to intervene in round four Her

sense of identity as a teacher collaborator also increased during

the process Her growing understanding and affect to the

experi-ence interacted with the learning event and enlarged her ZPD in

the context Pair-work was both the context and driver of this

process

4.3 Contradiction between community and mediational tools

Observations and interviews suggested that Hien and Chinh

were at different levels of appropriation of pedagogical tools The

difference in levels of appropriation explained the contrasting

meanings the STs made of common events, and triggered tensions

in their joint activity The difference in appropriation seemed to

relate to different identities they brought to pair-work The

different perezhivanie they experienced was manifested in their

different cognitive and affective response to the same experience

The tensions however created opportunities for professional

development, especially in Chinh’s case

In lesson one both STs were aware their students were not

interested in the lesson Each however gave different explanations,

and approached the problem differently Chinh tried to make jokes

to get close to the students She explained that jokes were intended

to create rapport with the students to enable her to understand

their difficulties She responded to the situation from a learner’s

perspective, drawing on her own experience as a student to make

sense of it Her approach was an affective one, trying to make the

students feel good and engaged Hien dealt with the passive class in

a more rational manner, and from a teacher’s position She believed

the problem was caused by her wrong choice of learning materials

She modified the tasks, providing suggestions and lowering the

level of requirement

The use of video clips in lesson three presented different meanings to Hien and Chinh Similar to Newell and Connors’s (2011) study, Chinh’s interview analysis suggested her pseudo-conceptual (Vygotsky, 1987) understanding of how to use video clips in teaching English pronunciation Her basis for using the tool was grounded in making the lesson look professional:

“students could see that we have a firm foundation to teach them pronunciation” Her focus was more on the credibility of the lesson and gaining students’ trust rather than on their learning In Hien’s interview, however, she demonstrated a more sophisti-cated understanding of the tool Hien liked the videofiles because she wanted the students to listen to native speakers of English to help them to communicate in English Although tools need to be adapted and tailored to local needs (Athanases et al., 2008;Newell

& Connors, 2011), Hien and Chinh appeared to be at different levels of appropriation (Grossman et al., 1999) of this particular tool

The differences created discomfort and tensions for the teachers

at times but were conducive for teacher learning Chinh’s appro-priation of pedagogical tools suggests she was closely focused on her own performance It was still the case in the last lesson:

I was quite nervous at times In fact the situation was not that serious to be nervous about The lesson was to calm down Calmly dealing with the situation rather than making students wonder“Oh, dear! She is not okay today” I felt quite uneasy because I made so many mistakes, so that affected the smooth-ness of the lesson (Chinh, Rnd4 Interview, p 17)

The excerpt however also demonstrates her increased aware-ness of the experience (“the lesson was to calm down”, and “the situation was not that serious”) in regulating her responses Chinh’s perception of lesson planning transformed dramatically

in the last round as a result of working with Hien She moved from being faithful to the lesson plan to seeing the significance of being flexible to address students’ learning During planning, the mate-rials Chinh had chosen were agreed to be irrelevant and were replaced by new ones During teaching, the lesson diverted from the original plan They synchronously and spontaneously changed the last activity They both took risks In her reflection of the events, Chinh commented:

I think Hien just wanted to improve the work, the product That explained why we changed activity one, from the other reading text to this one Also that explained why our actual follow-up was different from our planned one (Chinh, Rnd 4, P 16) The decision to change the follow-up activity was like both of us taking a spontaneous leap at one snap, like taking full risk (Chinh, Rnd 4, P 31)

Chinh became more aware of the rationale behind Hien’s changes in planning and teaching She had learned that lesson plans should not be rigid She said she was pleased that:

Everything was changed a bit, a lot compared to the plan, but more effective, I think more effective than in the original plan (Chinh, Rnd 4, P 16)

She realized that the lesson was more effective with the changes than it would have been if the original plan was followed Chinh was starting to mention the“effectiveness of the lesson”, indicating

a shift towards Hien’s position Vygotsky “posited that children internalize and transform the help they receive from others and eventually use these same means of guidance to direct their subsequent problem-solving behaviours.” (Moll, 1990, p 11) Co-teaching with Hien has provided scaffolding for Chinh’s activities within the ZPD, as Chinh’s final interview showed

Dang T.K.A / Teaching and Teacher Education 30 (2013) 47e59 56