Praxis: Do I Practice what I Believe? A Course in Research in the Language Classroom for the English Language Teacher Education Program at Universidad Centroamericana, Nicaragua
Abstract
I have asked myself to describe my teaching beliefs and analyze my teaching practice in order to see if the two are congruent and if in fact I do have a teaching praxis. This is a professional paper about course development based on a classroom research project. First, through a discussion of theories, experiences, and observations I describe my teaching beliefs. Second, I describe the Research in English Language Teaching course that I designed and taught to a group fourth year student teachers at the Universidad Centroamericana in Nicaragua. This description is based on a selection of student writings, lesson plans, and the syllabus. Third, I assess my teaching praxis based on self-evaluation and student feedback in the form of a questionnaire. The goal of this paper is to answer my professional question: putting my beliefs into practice, could I set up a classroom environment where materials are presented in a meaningful way, each student’s voice is heard and students apply their knowledge to their lives?