Pre-service language teacher cognition (LTC) about their future role in Norwegian classrooms

Abstract

The study on language teachers’ cognition (LTC) has shown that exploring student teachers’ beliefs in initial stages of language teacher education (LTE) can be essential for determining the willingness and ability of pre-service language teachers to get involved in their professional development, not only during their professional coursework, but throughout their professional career. This article is based on a qualitative, naturalistic, and ethnographic study which contributes to understand pre-service teachers’ cognitions about their future role as teachers of Spanish as a foreign language (SFL) in Norwegian classrooms. The study has been carried out with the participation of three students at the initial stage of pre-service LTE at the University of Bergen. Data was collected and then analyzed from a narrative inquiry-based perspective on the use of metaphors and student mind maps. Results portray a legitimization of foreign language teaching and learning that implies a tacit conceptualization of the role of the SFL teacher with three outstanding cognitions: 1) The teacher as an intercultural mediator; 2) The teacher as an effective but also affective evaluator; and 3) The teacher as an organizer of learning opportunities. The study reveals that the emotional dimension, which has traditionally been underestimated by LTC research, represents a central part of the pre-service teachers’ cognitive system. Further, pre-service language teacher cognition has not only been shaped by previous schooling experiences as research has consistently shown, but especially by personal encounters and experiences as speakers of a foreign language outside the SFL classroom.