Editorial
If you’re a teacher researcher and you are
sharing what you know, then you’ve found a voice for yourself.*
Welcome to this edition of the PROFILE Journal,
which contains twelve articles with a variety of issues and perspectives. As we
can see by its contents, all of the articles have had a steering force: The
authors’ commitment to share what they know. Their knowledge derives, in
turn, from what they have studied, and what they have learned as a result of
teaching, research and reflective processes.
The quote above, taken from Smiles and Short (2006), sparks us to think
about the role of teachers’ voices in different scenarios. First, we can
witness in the authors’ decision to engage in publishing endeavours that they do not only want to find meaning to
what they do and to keep knowledge for themselves. On the contrary, they are
aware of the importance of making their understandings public through
publishing so that they can add to the profession’s existing knowledge
and, hopefully, interact with other practitioners sharing similar interests.
Second, participating in publication projects contributes to strengthening
journals that have envisioned the possibility of giving a protagonist role to
teachers who belong to different backgrounds, not only to the ones who are part
of core or of the hegemonic countries that lead the production of reference
literature and periodicals. Third, sharing what we know through publishing
gives us the opportunity to explore and develop our writing skills, to discover
our own voice as writers. In regard to this, we have witnessed how some authors
have submitted their works to our journal in two or three different editions.
In other cases, we have also learned about the publication of their works in
other periodicals and seen how they persevere in their attempt to make their
voices heard.
Although none of the said roles is an easy task, PROFILE
maintains its resolution to serve as a forum for teachers and
teacher-researchers to share their work, their reflections and thoughts with a
wide audience like ours. Let us take a look at the contents of this edition.
In the Issues from Teacher Researchers section we can read ten
papers. First, the article by the Colombian schoolteachers Marlén
Rátiva Velandia,
Andrés Leonardo Pedreros Torres and Mónica Núñez
Alí provides an account of the action research
they conducted in order to examine the role that some activities based on web
materials had on the development of high school students’ reading skills.
We can also get acquainted with the pedagogical procedures employed by the
research team as well as the data gathered through the use of questionnaires,
surveys and artifacts along the study.
The following five articles address issues concerning English language
teachers and shed light on implications for initial teacher education and
professional development, among other areas. The article by Darío
Luis Banegas, from Argentina, is an action research
report about the insights of his personal research journal as part of a
collaborative action research project he fostered in the secondary school where
he taught English. The study, which involved other participating teachers,
revealed information regarding the opportunities and tensions that emerged as a
result of the participants’ roles and interests. In this paper, the
reader can also find rich and varied sources that were used by the researcher
and which can illuminate other studies following, in particular, the action
research method. Then we have the work authored by the Colombian
teacher-educators Argemiro Arboleda
Arboleda and Ángela Yicely Castro Garcés. They
present the results of an investigation that examined how significant having a
foreign accent is for non-native English as a foreign language teachers and
learners at university level. The participants belonged to different countries
and expressed their views by answering a questionnaire. They consider that it
is important to have a native or native-like accent, but that this is not the
most relevant qualification to teach a language, nor the sole criterion
positively affecting learning.
We continue with an article that focused on teachers’ perceptions
of oral corrective feedback and their practice in English as
a Foreign Language (EFL)
classrooms. Edith Hernández Méndez and María
del Rosario Reyes Cruz, from the Mexican Universi-
dad de Quintana Roo, carried out a descriptive study
whose results show that teachers in general have a positive perception of oral
corrective feedback. They also concluded that unfocused oral corrective
feedback and implicit strategies were predominant in practice; corrective
feedback provided by the instructor is preferred to that provided by peers; and
self-correction is the least popular form of correction.
Next comes the article by Rosalba
Cárdenas Ramos and Fanny Hernández Gaviria,
from Universidad del Valle in Colombia. They gather
the results of an exploratory investigation that inquired into Colombian
in-service teachers’ perspectives in relation to an opportunity to teach
and learn standards in English. There we can read about the three teachers’
perspectives that emerged from the study: General considerations that underlie
opportunities to learn; standards and conditions in educational institutions
and other institutional factors such as human and material resources.
Understanding beliefs, teachers’ beliefs and their impact on the
use of computer technology is the theme of the theoretical review authored by
Colombian teacher Héctor Alejandro Galvis. He highlights key definitions and examines works
regarding beliefs in education and English as a foreign language, their impact
when integrating technology, the effects of teachers’ beliefs on the use
of technology, and models attempting to explain human behavior and the use of
computers. As Galvis expresses, it is hoped that the
article can be of interest to EFL teachers
and language program administrators.
Afterward, we can read the manuscript by Érica
Gómez Flórez, Jorge Eduardo Pineda and
Natalia Marín García,
from Colombia. They report the findings of a case study about EFL
students’ perceptions about a web-based English reading
comprehension course developed in a public university. Findings show that
students have different opinions about the course, its content and objectives,
its level of difficulty, the amount of time students invested in the course,
adults’ learning, and the role of the teacher.
Subsequently we will find two articles concerned with assessment. In the
first one, Iranian teachers Sasan Baleghizadeh
and Zahra Zarghami tell us about an experimental
study that sought to examine the impact of conferencing assessment on
university students’ learning of English grammar. As the authors explain,
the results evidenced that the experimental group performed significantly
better than the control group on a given post-test. Likewise, the attitudes of
the participants toward grammar learning in the experimental group
significantly changed from the first administration of a questionnaire to its
second administration. In the second article, Colombian Édgar
Picón Jácome
shares the findings of an action research project he conducted in a school
located in the United States with the purpose of establishing the role of a
teacher- student partnership on writing assessment in promoting high school
students’ autonomy. To do so, he used symbols as the form of feedback and
a rubric containing criteria negotiated with the students as the scoring
method. Results showed that the students developed some autonomy and that in
doing so, the role of the teacher was paramount.
We close the first section of our issue with the article by Ana María Correa Díaz,
from Colombia. This author informs us about an investigation she led to explore
the use of the Moodle platform to teach foreign trade to university students
who studied subjects in the English language in Colombia. As can be read in it,
the pedagogical processes contributed to the development of students’
writing, speaking and research competences in the target language as well as to
their motivation, self-learning and the development of said competences.
In the second section, Issues from Novice Teacher Researchers, we
find the paper by Laura Verónica
Jiménez Guamán. It is based on a
descriptive and interpretative qualitative study she conducted in a public
school in Colombia as part of the last stage of her BA
studies. In her article we can learn how a virtual community on
Facebook let her examine EFL teenagers’
social identity. As pointed out by the author, the teenagers’ ways of
expressing themselves were mainly manifested through conversations and posts
and these, in turn, evidenced their social identity inside said community.
In the last section, Issues Based on Reflections and Innovations,
we have the article by Leonard R. Bruguier and Louisa
M. Greathouse Amador. The authors provide a
description of an innovative course offered by four universities in Canada, the
United States, and Mexico in order to broaden the understanding of indigenous
and non-indigenous peoples primarily in relation to identity. As can be read in
the portrayal of their innovation and in the testimonies from some
participants, the interactive and experiential nature of the course motivated
students to reflect on their own identity and enhanced their intercultural
competence. It also played a paramount role in the improvement of their English
skills. I am sure this paper will contribute to our under- standing of aspects
such as international partnerships and intercultural awareness, among others.
I do hope you find this second issue of PROFILE
2012 interesting and useful. As always, I should acknowledge the
hard work of the PROFILE Research
Group, who accompanies me in the various tasks we face day by day. Our
gratitude goes to the members of the Advisory Board and Editorial and
Scientific Committees too. Their collaboration—despite their busy agendas
in different parts of the world—is very much appreciated.
Finally, I wish to point out that we have continued updating our
guidelines for authors so that they feel clearer about aspects taken into
consideration concerning the submission and evaluation processes that make up
part of our publication policies. They can be consulted in the contents of this
issue as well as in our website. Should you have any doubts when preparing your
manuscripts, do not hesitate to contact us.
As always, your comments and contributions are welcome!
Melba Libia Cárdenas B.
Journal Editor
* Smiles, T. L., & Short, K. G. (2006). Transforming teacher voice through writing for publication. Teacher
Education Quarterly, 33(3), 133-147.