Pre-service teacher education: observing senior teachers through the theoretical lens of Ellis's principles of instructed language learning

The study is based on a training project completed as part of a qualifying course for teachers of English as a second language in high school. The project was based on the framework professor Rod Ellis proposed in 2010 to guide and strengthen the relationship between Second Language Acquisition and Language Pedagogy. The study argues that students need to be given a solid theoretical lens to do critical observations, like the ten principles for instructed language learning (Ellis, 2005a, b), and to assume the role of co-researchers during their learning process. The principles were discussed in seminars and operationalized through a questionnaire, which was then used by student teachers (STs) to observe senior teachers’ practices. The analysis of three case studies explores how STs observed classroom activities armed with the knowledge of the principles. Data is based on feedback they gave during seminar discussions and remarks made in written reports. Moreover, a follow-up survey of informants after five years’ in-service teaching questions whether and how this experience influenced the quality and degree of their understanding of teaching and learning. Considering these results, reflections are drawn on further implementations of this kind of project.