Building Communities of Practice for Foreign Language Teachers

• Published in: The Modern language journal (Boulder, Colo.) Vol. 95; no. 2; pp. 296 - 300
• Main Author: FRAGA-CAÑADAS, CYNTHIA P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden, USA Blackwell Publishing Inc 01.06.2011; Wiley Subscription Services; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Communities; Community identity; Educational buildings; Foreign language instruction; Language; Language teachers; Learner engagement; Learning; Native languages; Nonnative languages; Professional standards; School effectiveness; Second language learning; THE COMMENTARIES
• ISSN: 0026-7902; 1540-4781
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-4781.2011.01183.x

Fraga-Canadas explores usable and useful responses to the ever-present need for assuring that contemporary classrooms have well-prepared teachers. She shows how "community" can be medium and message and experienced reality--all of which contribute to a sense of teacher identity that might well turn out to be a key factor in teacher effectiveness and, most importantly, learner success. Through well-conceived and well-realized communities of practice, teachers--particularly nonnative teachers--can experience the kind of support for their educational practices and their sense of self-worth and self-efficacy that is difficult to come by, not least because of the often undue weight given to their language abilities in relation to their abilities as competent teachers.