Innovation in Language Learning

By taking an interpretivist viewpoint, the authors will demonstrate the current practices inside the language teaching environment of in-service teachers in Colombia and compare these practices against the suggested qualities within the modular model of language teacher education for a global society encompassing the macrostrategic framework to modern language based on particularity, practicality, and possibility (the 3Ps). The modules are Knowing, Analyzing, Recognizing, Doing, and Seeing (KARDS).  Knowing refers to the teachers’ ability of paying attention to and reflecting upon professional and procedural knowledge as well as personal knowledge. Analyzing is the teacher’s ability and skill to recognize and determine learner needs, motivation, and autonomy.  Recognizing denotes the teacher’s ability to recognize and renew identity, beliefs, and values. Doing are the classroom actions: The choices the teacher makes to approach a classroom situation. It is a critical process responding to the constant changes, multiplicities and affordances to create meaning.  Seeing is “perceptual knowledge,” the application of knowledge to connect the agents to the action and vice versa; the lived experiences of change and connections. The modular approach to language teacher education proposes a reflective and critical way of teacher training and teacher becoming.
The guiding question to this comparative case study is what global language teacher qualities are identified in the practices of language teachers in Colombia and how do they meet or not the proposed model? Teacher reported data, classroom observations, student reviews of their teachers, and teacher interviews analyzed demonstrate teachers have strong practical and personal knowledge, and teachers understand and attempt to meet learner particularities. Further findings indicate, however, a disparate approach among teachers toward fostering student critical thinking and critical practices. Conclusions will present recommendations for change and improvement toward more critical language teacher educational practices and teacher training. 

Keywords: Language teacher education, English language teaching, English as a foreign or second language, Modular model of language teacher education;