Learning to Teach English (2nd edition) by Peter Watkins, Delta Publishing, 2014. Author review

Peter Watkins, UK

Peter Watkins is a Principal Lecturer in ELT at the University of Portsmouth, where he leads the MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL programmes. His research interests include materials design and evaluation and language teaching methodology. His publications include Learning to Teach English, (2nd edition 2014, 1st edition 2005, Delta Publishing) The CELTA Course (with Scott Thornbury, 2007, Cambridge University Press) and has also contributed to Cambridge English Teacher (Cambridge University Press). E-mail: peter.watkins@port.ac.uk

The beginning

This is a second edition of a book, so although published in 2014, its genesis goes back to the early 2000s. At that time I was working on CELTA courses and I was struck by how small a part reading played in the learning of teaching. Perhaps that is not entirely surprising – teaching is a very practical skill and the experience of being in a classroom no doubt outweighs what is likely to be gleaned from books.

However, many trainees did appear to spend time preparing for the course, including reading books on teaching, and yet still seemed to find it very difficult to put into practice what they had read. I wondered if the books they were reading were really aimed at teachers at the beginning of their learning. Even undoubtedly excellent books may not help much if they address a different audience. Perhaps too much knowledge of teaching was assumed and consequently the level of detail and discussion made it hard for new teachers to pick up the key messages.

So I set out to write a book aimed at the sort of people I was regularly working with. I wanted it to help prospective teachers as they prepared for a course, and also in their first few weeks and months of teaching. I believed then, and still do, that if new teachers had a small repertoire of ways to introduce texts, ways to follow up on texts, ways to respond to what learners say, ways to introduce and practise language, and so on, then they were reasonably prepared for teaching. As they experimented with each activity, they would soon learn the strengths and weaknesses of each and start to make informed choices of what was most appropriate for their learners. They would naturally expand their repertoires of activities over time. So, I wanted the book to be practical and, above all, I wanted it to be easy to read rather than daunting – everything in it should be clear and accessible.

What emerged was a book that focused heavily on simple, flexible activities of the sort that I believed new teachers could easily use. There was still some discussion of the activities and principles behind them, of course, because this gave support in making informed classroom choices but there was an emphasis on the development of practical knowledge.

Next steps

Not long after the first edition was published (2005), I began to wonder if the book was achieving what I had set out to. At first informally, and then in more structured ways, I began talking to the users of the book, the prospective and new teachers themselves. The feedback I received was positive, but I was acutely aware of the possibility of a ‘social desirability response bias’ or in other words, were people telling me what they believed I wanted to hear? This led to other research strategies being used to help verify the data, such as reading and reaction protocols, where I asked volunteers to read short sections of the book and write summaries and questions about the content. The summaries allowed me to check whether the book was accessible and easily understood by those likely to use it and the questions about the content highlighted ambiguity, omission and so on. By answering the respondents’ questions I could offer something in return for their time.

The evidence suggested that the book had succeeded in being generally easily understood by its target audience and it seemed that many of the activities were being used. However, not all the news was good. While some chapters were read and frequently returned to, one or two appeared to be having little impact. One of these was particularly problematic as it focused on teacher development and I had hoped to help teachers prepare for a journey of learning that may last throughout their careers.

The changes

I wanted the second edition to retain the core principle of accessibility for new teachers. However, there was the opportunity to review and add material and so I looked for ways of supporting future development more. Part of learning to teach, and developing as a teacher, is being able to enter the discourse community of teachers and to support this goal I added a glossary of key terms related to teaching. I also wanted prospective teachers to be able to see into what a classroom might be like and how lessons might be structured. To this end, some of my current and former MA students kindly agreed to us filming them, so that we could put a DVD with the book, without incurring huge expense. I also added to the existing activities described because the research suggested that the users of the book liked these and found they could adopt (and adapt) them to suit their own teaching situations.

However, I still wanted to address the issue of professional development more fully and decided to do so once again through providing activities (as well as retaining the dedicated, revised, chapter). These activities are now integrated into each chapter (except the first). I realised that not all teachers get much support in their workplaces and so wanted to provide things that they could do themselves to help them reflect on their teaching. I believed that many new teachers wanted to improve their practice but often didn’t know where to start. Of course, these activities could also be done collaboratively and used as a basis for discussion if teachers found themselves with like minded colleagues. Here is an example from the chapter on giving feedback:

Of course, I don’t know the extent to which the changes to the revised edition have been successful. I guess that calls for another research project.

Please check the How to be a Teacher Trainer course at Pilgrims website.