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Dareys, Anne (2021) An exploration of the perceived value of the Interact approach to teaching modern foreign languages in the formation and practice of a sample of secondary-school teachers at different career phases in England. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.

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Abstract

The point of departure for this study is an approach to the teaching of Modern Languages in English secondary schools called Interact, which has long been advocated at a university-based teacher-education course where I am currently a tutor and was formerly a student. Interact’s distinctive attributes include a strong endorsement of the target language, the creation of an immersive language-learning experience, and the promotion of spontaneous classroom talk as key drivers for learners’ sustained engagement in the subject. This advocacy may place Interact at odds with prevailing performative views of the secondary-school curriculum as a product to be delivered rather than as a project to be jointly constructed by classroom participants.

In light of the above, the aim of the study was to explore the perceived value of Interact in the eyes of pre- and in-service teachers who were familiar with the approach through their engagement with the teacher-education course where Interact is being promoted. The focus of this investigation was twofold. Firstly, what sense did the research participants make of Interact as a language-teaching proposition in the current educational climate? Secondly, what value did they attach to it as a teacher-education proposition? Interact was therefore used in this study as a vehicle for the exploration of participants’ views on language learning and teaching as well as on learning to teach. In essence, this is a study on the part that Interact has played in the formation of participants’ professional identity.

This interest in participants’ perceptions was explored through an interpretivist lens and guided the choice of qualitative data-analysis approach. Data were generated firstly through three sets of questionnaires completed by a cohort of twenty-three postgraduate student teachers over the course of one academic year. Interviews were also carried out with ten student teachers and fourteen early-career and experienced teachers. In line with the pragmatic cast to the research design, I adapted an analytical framework drawn from the teacher-education literature that enabled me to tease out four broad categories of participants’ responses to Interact, namely eventual rejection, renouncement, appropriation or personalisation. Interact was found to be a conceptually convincing approach based on sound communicative principles, and valued if aligning with teachers’ conceptions of their roles and perceived room for manoeuvre. Its appeal was also a factor of the Gestalt quality of student-teachers’ experience on their postgraduate course, leading to the recommendation that teacher preparation attend to the design of student experience in ways that engage them on a cognitive, perceptual and affective level. This study further shows the merit in teacher education adopting a strong subject identity that may serve as a reference point amidst pervasive technical-rationalist orientations to teacher preparation.

Item Type:	Thesis (University of Nottingham only) (PhD)
Supervisors:	Hood, Philip
Keywords:	Language Teaching; Teacher Education; Target Language approach; Interact; professional identity;
Subjects:	L Education > LB Theory and practice of education
Faculties/Schools:	UK Campuses > Faculty of Social Sciences, Law and Education > School of Education
Item ID:	66071
Depositing User:	Dareys, Anne
Date Deposited:	12 Dec 2023 10:20
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2023 10:24
URI:	https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/66071

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