Article published in:

Motivation and Foreign Language Learning: From theory to practice
Edited by David Lasagabaster, Aintzane Doiz and Juan Manuel Sierra
[Language Learning & Language Teaching 40] 2014
► pp. 71–89

Motivating language teachers

Inspiring vision

Maggie Kubanyiova | University of Birmingham

Recent theorising in research on language teachers’ conceptual change has suggested that transforming language classrooms into engaging learning environments begins with teachers’ vision (Kubanyiova 2012). This chapter considers the significance of this finding through the lens of practical proposals for motivating language teachers’ deep reflection on their praxis. Situating the discussion in the wider domain of language teacher cognition research, this chapter adopts a theoretical framework of language teachers’ possible selves and outlines three key processes involved in inspiring language teachers’ vision: the teachers’ reflection on the who (i.e. the person doing the teaching), engagement with the why (i.e. the bigger purposes guiding language teachers’ work), and the construction of the image (i.e. a visual representation of desired teaching selves).

Keywords: teacher vision, possible selves, language teacher cognition

Published online: 31 July 2014
https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.40.04kub

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