Description
This presentation explores the potential of autoethnography for continuing professional learning for language teachers through a detailed case study. Autoethnography, a qualitative research method combining autobiographical and ethnographic elements, offers a lens for deeply understanding culturally situated professional experiences. This approach may be particularly relevant for in-service second language teacher education, where personal narratives and intersecting translingual, transnational, and transcultural identities shape teaching philosophy and approach. The case study centres on the presenter’s own 15 year language teaching journey in Japan, offering vignettes, cultural explorations, and critical analysis to navigate the complex interplay between personal experiences, professional identity and learning, and impacts on classroom practice. By adopting a reflective stance towards personal data, including an interview by a critical friend, the presentation also highlights the power of autoethnography to uncover how positionality, belief, and assumptions impact relations with diverse learning communities and continuing professional development. This also enables an exploration of the role of the 'threshold concept' in continuing language teacher learning—key ideas that, once understood, transform professional perspectives and approaches. In particular, the case study illuminates how Trafford and Lesham’s (2009) threshold concept of ’doctorateness’ offers insights into the mechanisms of the presenter’s professional identity formation that intersect with ongoing professional learning and teaching practice. Extending beyond the individual case, the presenter will argue for a broader application of autoethnographic methods to in-service language teacher education. The presentation will be relevant to second language teachers, teacher educators, and researchers interested in embracing creativity and reflection by pushing the boundaries of traditional methodologies, cultivating excellence in the field, and ultimately enhancing the quality and impact of continuing language teacher learning.| Period | 5 Sept 2024 |
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| Event title | Second Language Teacher Education 2024: Inspring Creativity, Cultivating Excellence |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Brno, Czech RepublicShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |