Teacher Cognition in Language Teaching: Beliefs, Decision-Making and Classroom Practice (Cambridge Applied Linguistics)

'Woods' study makes an invaluable contribution to the theorising of second language teaching. It is a complex and thought-provoking read involving, at times, an abstract level of discussion. Throughout, however, it is amply illustrated with interview and classroom data which illuminate the abstract concepts clearly and entertainingly.' EA Journal

'This publication raises real challenges to received views and cosy assumptions about what constitutes 'effective' language teaching behaviour.' EA Journal

'Teacher Cognition in Language Teaching is an excellent book, which has opened my eyes to a largely unexplored area in language pedagogy. In general, eschewing the bandwagon effect of learner-centredness, it reinstates the teacher as the main desicion-maker and, by implication, repsponsibility-bearer.' ' ... it offers a rich research agenda, well worth putting on the reading list of any postgraduate course in language pedagogy, teacher education, or applied linguistics.' ELT Journal Volume 51/4, 1997

This book is an examination of how and what teachers think in their practice of language teaching. It looks at the planning practices of teachers, both in preparation for the classroom and during the moment-by-moment decision-making that occurs in the classroom. It also looks at teachers' interpretive processes, that is how they interpret and evaluate the events, activities and interactions that occur in the teaching process, and how these interpretations and evaluations feed back into subsequent planning. It examines the structure of teachers' beliefs, assumptions and background knowledge and elaborates the role that these play in the decision-making process. This is an important contribution to the developing perspective in education of teachers as being actively involved in constructing a personal and workable theory of teaching and the learning/teaching experience as an interactive, dynamic process.