Received: from icpc11.icpc.fukui-u.ac.jp (icpc11.icpc.fukui-u.ac.jp [133.7.1.10]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with ESMTP id h0A37PP02033 for <nifl-esl@nifl.gov>; Thu, 9 Jan 2003 22:07:25 -0500 (EST) Received: from icpc00.icpc.fukui-u.ac.jp (icpc00.icpc.fukui-u.ac.jp [133.7.6.10]) by icpc11.icpc.fukui-u.ac.jp (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id h0A33K6f015319 for <nifl-esl@nifl.gov>; Fri, 10 Jan 2003 12:03:20 +0900 (JST) Received: from edu00.f-edu.fukui-u.ac.jp (edu00.f-edu.fukui-u.ac.jp [133.7.28.100]) by icpc00.icpc.fukui-u.ac.jp (8.12.2/8.12.2) with ESMTP id h0A37ONq004192 for <nifl-esl@nifl.gov>; Fri, 10 Jan 2003 12:07:24 +0900 (JST) Received: from CJSLITT (cjsllit.f-edu.fukui-u.ac.jp [133.7.21.9]) by edu00.f-edu.fukui-u.ac.jp (8.12.2/8.12.2) with SMTP id h0A37NkX027987 for <nifl-esl@nifl.gov>; Fri, 10 Jan 2003 12:07:24 +0900 (JST) Message-ID: <00d001c2b855$dce94040$09150785@fedu.fukuiu.ac.jp> Reply-To: "Charles Jannuzi" <jannuzi@edu00.f-edu.fukui-u.ac.jp> From: "Charles Jannuzi" <jannuzi@edu00.f-edu.fukui-u.ac.jp> To: <nifl-esl@nifl.gov> References: <000e01c2b7f9$102cdaf0$0000a398@girlscomputer02> Subject: [NIFL-ESL:8450] Re: Leave no child behind Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2003 12:10:43 +0900 Organization: Fukui University Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-2022-jp" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Status: O Content-Length: 3049 Lines: 57 I enjoyed Sissy's post, but am zeroing in on an issue she raises which also interests me: She wrote, in part: > The exchange, nevertheless, points to something else: > My background and training are as a long-time (20+ years) ESOL for > adults teacher. In the trenches, year in and year out. I love it. > Having drifted to advocacy work along the way, I've developed a working > theory that I'm still working to articulate, but it goes something like > this: > There are the practitioners, those of us teaching. There are the > theorists, those whose work informs and provides tremendous insight > (frequently, not always) about effective practice. There are the 'policy > wonks' who oversee and monitor (and try to influence) how much power and > resources we will have to do what all of us are trying to do. > > Most folks work in one or two of those 3 groups (not me, I'm still > trying to decide where my niche is; although I love keeping up with the > theory-stuff I do not think I have what it takes to be an academic..) I > digress. My constant amazement is the tremendous disconnect between the > three groups. Some of the disconnect is well-discussed...Teachers may > bristle at what the academics come up with, etc. I think there is a lack of understanding about the complex roles teachers fill. Teachers are practitioners in the classroom, but they are also the true theorists of teaching, learning in classrooms and schools. This is not grand, tie-it-all together-with-a- million-references-and-explain-it theory--the sort that appeals to academics on a career track that rewards scholarly output (though this isn't exactly fair because a lot of people who could be called 'academics' are teachers, too). Rather, the theory that teachers operate with is myriad, inter-related and frequently arises ad hoc and goes back into long term memory once this or that complex problem is solved (though in a revised state that is then kept ready for future different but . This is why, try as they might, academics can't essentialize what will or what will not make success at teaching. It simply is too complex, dynamic and too inaccessible to those who are not actually teaching. That being said, far be it from me to say that academics do not have a role. They can be that 'outside' intelligence that can see teachers in organizations in the way that those caught up in organizations can not. However, they can not use that perspective to monopolize theory or make unwarranted knowledge claims about what is 'right' or 'wrong' in the classroom. I hope this makes sense. This, I believe, is one source of the 'disconnections' you are talking about. Another disconnect that interests me is the one with material writers, who have a strong connection with publishers but whose connection to either academics or classroom practitioners is often actually rather weak (though I am thinking specifically of ELT worldwide and may not understand ESL sufficiently in the US relative to my frame of reference). Yours, Charles Jannuzi Fukui, Japan
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