Philosophy

All seven ESL teachers perceived teaching as their prime career choice with a similar overall mission of being able to help people. Indeed, two of the early career teachers were also motivated to become ESL teachers because of their own or their families’ early years’ struggles immigrating into a new country and/or learning English as second language. Number one priority for each teacher was that of encouraging and supporting their students’ needs in an empathetic and caring way. Table 10.1 outlines some of the main characteristics that emerged related to each teacher’s reflections on their philosophy.

As Table 10.1 illustrates, prioritizing the needs and goals of their students seems to be a highly valued and integral aspect of their philosophy, with the main characteristic present for each teacher being “encouraging.” When they mentioned that they are or want to be “encouraging,” they included details such as they want to help others and they take interest in their students’ personal goals and success, not only learning English as a second language but also their success in the wider community. All seven ESL teachers said that they encourage their students by acting as a resource for them whenever possible, providing a safe learning environment, and also trying to build their students’ confidence whenever they can. Many of the teachers also mentioned that they take a flexible approach to their practice, so they can adapt their interactions, lesson planning, and teaching styles according to their students’ learning needs. In addition to being encouraging and flexible, some other philosophy characteristics mentioned by the teachers included being caring and empathetic to their students’ struggles while attempting to assimilate into a new country with a different culture than their own, while at the same time learning a new language that made the assimilation even more difficult for many. These altruistic and mostly selfless characteristics were all intended to enhance their students’ welfare and learning environment as each teacher wanted to make a difference in their students’ lives.

Principles

Table 10.2 summarizes the top seventeen main principles expressed (not in order) by the ESL teachers in each year of their teaching.

As can be seen in Table 10.2, principles 1 to 8 are related to the teachers’ beliefs (either stated or implied) about second language learning, while principles 9 to 18 are related to the teachers’ beliefs (either stated or implied) about language teaching. Because of restrictions of space, some common principles and some contrasting beliefs about language learning and teaching among all seven ESL teachers are highlighted.

Regarding language learning, principles 1 and 2 can be contrasted, and four of the five early career ESL teachers stated that the teacher must guide their students’ language learning; however, it is interesting that the two ESL teachers in their seventh and tenth years stated that students should also take responsibility for their own learning. The early career ESL teacher in his third year also stated this principle, but his statement is more likely linked to the fact that he was just coming off teaching a short summer course of what he called a “difficult group” who “did not want to learn.”

In addition, the early career ESL teachers in their first three years stated that it is not enough to be able to speak English in order to be able to “guide learners through the necessary activities” that they needed to be able to learn the language, but that they also must have the knowledge gained through their qualifications from taking a specialized TESOL certificate, diploma, and/or graduate TESOL degree. For example, Teresa in her first year, Amanda in her second year, and Peter in his third year of teaching constantly referred to their qualifications to teach ESL and pointed out that many of their stated principles still originated from what they had learned in their TESOL training programs. However, all three also mentioned that they had to modify their principles at times when they conflicted with the mandated curriculum they were required to follow. As Peter noted, his training in his undergraduate linguistics degree and his MA degree in TESOL gave him “the foundation to work from, or a starting point,” but then he continued that, “from there, you can’t always rely on that because things change: your class changes, your style changes over time.”

All seven ESL teachers agreed on the principles of developing student autonomy and using learner-centered activities, as well as correcting student errors. Most also stated that they believed in using their learners’ prior experiences for language learning, as well as their belief in accounting for their learners’ different learning styles wherever possible. However, when it comes to allowing students to use their home language (L1) in their lessons, only the two ESL teachers in their seventh and tenth years of teaching directly stated that they believed in this principle; however, the five early career ESL teachers did not mention this in their interviews.

In terms of their principles associated with teaching ESL, most of the seven ESL teachers stated their beliefs about teaching all the language skills such as grammar, listening, speaking, writing, vocabulary, and reading, at some point, and mostly because these may have been mandated by the set curriculum many had to follow rather than because of any strong personal beliefs. In addition, only the ESL teachers in their fifth, seventh, and tenth years of teaching directly stated their belief in teaching culture overtly in their lessons. Finally, all seven ESL teachers directly stated their belief in teaching ESL through humor in order to make language learning fun for their students.

Theory

Table 10.3 summarizes the teachers’ lesson planning and their lesson objectives.

In terms of level of detail when preparing their lesson plans, Table 10.3 illustrates a contrast between the detailed plans prepared by the ESL teachers in the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth years, and the less detailed plans prepared by the three early career ESL teachers in their first three years. Indeed, Teresa, an ESL teacher in her first year, stated that she became so overwhelmed during that year because of the sudden pivot to online teaching platforms for which she was not trained that she had no time to write any detailed lesson plans. Time was also mentioned as a factor by Amanda and Peter, in addition to their idea that the more detailed plans they had, the more difficult it would be to make changes if necessary during a particular lesson. As Peter stated, “I want to be able to make a change to the plan along the way if I need to, but this is more difficult if I have too many details already.”

Thus, both Amanda and Peter said they did not want to write details that would “waste their time” as well as waste their students’ learning time. In contrast, the teachers in their fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth years, although they had the same idea of always being open to changing plans based on how their lessons were progressing, nevertheless saw the need to write detailed plans for their lessons. Rachel (in her fourth year) noted that her “detailed lesson plans are useful to guide the instructional flow of the lesson that I want to achieve while teaching.”

In terms of learning objectives, most of the ESL teachers said they focused their plans on achieving specified learning outcomes for their students, and so they said that they always prepared lesson plans keeping in mind what they wanted their students to know at the end of the lesson. One notable difference was for Peter (in his third year) who said that he decided at the beginning of his third year to include a major objective for each of his lessons “to connect emotionally with my students” regardless of what language skill he was teaching. Again, such an objective was likely the result of the tough previous short summer term he had experienced.

Practice

Table 10.4 summarizes twelve of the main practices for all the teachers in each of their three lessons.

As illustrated in Table 10.4, observed practices 1 to 9 show that all of the teachers were engaged in informal interactions with their students, they reviewed previously learned materials at the beginning of each observed lesson, they asked questions to individual students, they used pair work and/or group work in their lessons, they provided positive feedback throughout, they used humor to make learning fun for their students, they were observed helping individual students when it was called for, they corrected most of the errors that occurred during their lessons, with some teachers encouraging their students to come up with the correct response and others providing the corrections directly, and they covered all the language skills in each of the observed lessons even if their lesson objective called for a focus on one or two specific skills. When any variation was observed in these lessons, it was to do with the use of PowerPoint slides, only used by one of the early career teachers, and it was only the teachers in their first and third years of teaching who did not diverge from their original lesson plans.

Beyond Practice

Table 10.5 summarizes the teachers’ critical reflections beyond practice. It looks at these in terms of their critical reflections on their place of work, their sense of ethics/morals related to their practice, and their future career prospects.

As Table 10.5 illustrates, when the teachers engaged in critical reflection regarding their workplace, all five early career ESL teachers were clearly frustrated with their administration, including their supervisors, this including a heavy workload for the teachers in their first two years of teaching. Some of the teachers also indicated that they were frustrated with their students, as well as by their low salaries. What is striking is that only the teacher in her seventh year (Alice) reported that she had had a cohesive relationship with her administration, including her supervisors and colleagues. However, the other six teachers reported that they had had no support whatsoever from their administration.

In terms of what guides most of these teachers’ thinking and actions as they engage with their students is their deep sense of morals that for many originated from their religious backgrounds. What emerged from most of their holistic reflections was that they all seemed to share a sense of personal responsibility for their students’ progress and their adaptation to Canada. Such moral integrity among the teachers in this study (although I would like to point out that other early career teachers may be “called” to teaching without such a background) can be traced to their deep religious upbringing and its impact on their current practice, as well as the strong family morals imbued in them when growing up. All seven seem to have developed an ethic of purpose and an ethic of principles, and these have led to informed ethical actions both inside and outside the classroom (Nash, Reference Nash1996).

Another interesting finding that emerged from their reflections beyond practice was that all seven ESL teachers continued to worry about their future career prospects, even the two teachers in their seventh (Alice) and tenth (Sarah) year of teaching. Thus, it does not seem that making it past five years will confer any special ease of mind in terms of job stability for ESL teachers. That said, what is striking about all seven ESL teachers’ critical reflections is their high levels of intrinsically motivated and altruistic behaviors, which seem to have overridden any high levels of extrinsic motivational problems within the job itself (e.g., heavy workload, lack of support, poor salary) that each of them was experiencing at that time.

The seven ESL teachers’ lived experiences analyzed here provided an in-depth exploration of the early career teachers’ professional worlds through their voices. This in-depth analysis portrays a picture of seven caring, principled, prepared, dynamic ESL teachers who are striving to make a difference in their learners’ lives, both inside and outside the classroom. The results indicate that, for the most part, stages 1 (philosophy), 2 (principles), 3 (theory), and 4 (practice) were generally consistent with what other researchers discovered when using the same framework (e.g., Farrell & Kennedy, Reference Farrell and Kennedy2019; Farrell & Avejic, Reference Farrell and Avejic2020; Farrell & Macaplinac, Reference Farrell and Macapinlac2021; Sarab & Mardian, Reference Sarab and Mardian2022; Walida & Murtafi’ah, Reference Walida and Murtafi’ah2022; Drajati et al., Reference Drajati, Rakerda, Kusuma, Sulistyaningrum and Ilmi2023; Farrell & Moses, Reference Farrell and Moses2023; Farrell & Stanclick, Reference Farrell and Stanclick2023; Nishizaka & Graham, Reference Nishizaka and Graham2023). Regarding the seven ESL teachers featured in this book, with some individual differences, most entered the teaching profession with the idea of helping people.

In addition, they all seemed to possess well-founded teaching and learning principles related to TESOL, and for the most part there was convergence between their philosophy, principles, theory, and observed practices. Obviously, the reality of their classroom lessons in some cases impacted their plans for particular lessons, and this indicated that they were not afraid to diverge from their original plans if they thought it was warranted. In addition, even though all had stated firm principles, they realized that these too may have needed to be adjusted to accommodate their students’ needs at specific times. They employed a wide range of teaching methods and activities, while most of the time teaching with lots of humor to make their students feel at ease during their lessons. All of these can be considered their teaching strengths, as reported in the professional literature (e.g., Bobek, Reference Bobek2002; Flores, Reference Flores2006; Patterson et al., Reference Patterson, Collins and Abbott2004).

Teresa’s Reflections

Teresa, in her first year of teaching, remarked that she found the whole experience of reflecting “very helpful, as it was great talking about my teaching.” Although she said that she found some of the questions that were asked at each stage (see Appendix A) somewhat challenging because she noted that she was “only a first-year teacher,” she nevertheless said she realized how detailed the results that she read were for her as a teacher moving forward. She felt that the questions about her philosophy made her “really think about who I am as a teacher.” Teresa continued, “I’d never really thought about who I am as a teacher before, so it revealed to me why I do some of the things I do.” In addition, she remarked that she found the classroom observations and recordings most useful because “there were a lot of things I missed because I was trying to think about what I was teaching.”

In terms of her overall self-reflections, Teresa said that she found the reflective process to be more important for her than having someone else evaluate her teaching. Teresa commented:

As noted in the findings noted earlier, Teresa mentioned that she had had no support during her first year and that she only had a school-appointed mentor for the first week of the year. After that she relayed that she was “left alone for the remainder of the year.” This was an important aspect of the main issues she had with the school in which she was teaching as she was not provided with “any opportunities for reflection like the project I just experienced” with this author as facilitator. In addition, Teresa said that because she was a first-year teacher and had no experience in reflection before this project, she was now at a loss at times to be able to interpret what she had just gone through. She noted that she wished that she had had more experience with reflective practice in her teacher training so she could have used it to help her face the many challenges she encountered in her first year of teaching. Even though Teresa said that she encountered numerous challenges that made her first year as a teacher difficult at times, she nevertheless stated that she will continue to teach because she noticed the change in her students’ personal lives for the better as a result of her teaching. This motivated her to become an ESL teacher in the first place, and she pointed out that it now propels her to continue as an ESL teacher for her second year as well.

Amanda’s Reflections

Amanda, in her second year of teaching, said she was really surprised with the results that she read from her journey through the framework because she had thought that she knew what she was doing. Amanda remarked, “I maybe thought I knew, but so many things came up when I reflected that it was such a revelation.” In fact, she noted that “at times it felt like a therapy session” for her because the questions that she was asked in each stage (see Appendix A) made her really think about how she felt about certain aspects of her practice for the first time. Amanda continued, “I think I am often lazy and procrastinate frequently when it comes to working on myself as a teacher. Sometimes it just feels easier to say, ‘oh well, I know enough.’ So, I think the reflective exercise I did helped me a lot.”

On reading her reflections on her philosophy, Amanda said that she “was happy to see this because I hope I am an empathetic teacher and I know I carry a lot from my past education and personal life that inspires me to be empathetic.” She also commented that she realized that her “aspirations are always changing,” and that she knows she still has a lot to learn as a teacher.

Amanda noted that she likes helping others, and because of her early difficulties teaching in her first year, she always tries to help other novice teachers. She pointed out the lack of support in the profession is a real issue that is difficult for her to deal with, continuing:

Indeed, Amanda recounted a recent experience in her institution where she noticed that a few of the novice teachers were struggling when they said they were staying up at night planning. This reminded her of her own struggles during her first year of teaching: “I remembered the stress of that first year of teaching. So I gave them some resources and shared some of my materials.” Amanda said that it is important for her to help others because she had wished “someone would’ve helped me that way when I started teaching.”

Amanda said that when she read her reflections, she realized how negative she seemed about ESL teaching and pointed out that she is still negative. She said, “The best word I could use to describe it is discouraged. I did realize that I love (extra exclamation!) working with the students.” Amanda said that at the end of her second year of teaching, she is disappointed with ESL teaching as a career because of the various frustrations she said she must endure with the job. She continued:

Amanda then noted that she must continually remind herself these days why she wants to teach so that she can continue until she “no longer finds joy in it.”

Peter’s Reflections

Peter, in his third year of teaching, was in a different situation than most of the other participants because he was “coming off a bad teaching experience” the previous year. As a result, he said that he was “really worried about my future in the profession.” However, he said that by engaging in the reflective practice project, he was able to get through his third year “in a much better frame of mind.” Peter remarked, “If I hadn’t sat down and reflected on the past and things now, I don’t think it would have been the same. I would have kept on going down that same path of ‘let’s just get this done and over with.’” He noted that engaging in reflective practice gave him “a chance to sit back and reflect on my practice. Who I am as a teacher, how I teach,” which he said was very important for him at that time. Peter also noted that reflection led him to a change of attitude about how he viewed his students and his practice, so that now he is more at ease with who he is as a teacher and who he wants to be. As he noted, “I would say that it changed me. It changed how I approach things. It kind of forced me to hold up a mirror and see who I am as a teacher, my attitudes toward teaching, my motivation for it.”

Regarding his teaching, Peter said the reflective process made him realize that although it is important to have teaching routines, teachers should be careful not to fall into a routine “where you’re always doing the same thing and fall into a rut,” as he discovered with his own teaching during his third year. He said it is important for teachers to mix in new things as he has not tried to in his recent teaching practices. As Peter said, he realized that he “was definitely reaching a point of burnout and just kind of falling into a rut.” Thus, he noted how important it was for him to reflect on his teaching. Peter continued, “I can’t help but realize how much it [reflection] has impacted me as a teacher. I needed it. It gave me renewed motivation and encouragement. I think all teachers need this every so many years. I’m so thankful I’m doing it now.” Peter also noted that he was surprised that he liked writing a journal because he had never liked it before. He said that “sitting down to write a journal is not always something you want to do, but it was powerful. For me it worked well. Really well.” Peter said that as he reflected throughout his third year, he realized that he needed a change of attitude and the way he thought about his practice. As he noted, “I was definitely primed for reflection given my previous bad experience last year.”

Rachel’s Reflections

Rachel, in her fourth year of teaching, said that engaging in reflective conversations while answering the various questions in each of the stages of the framework was “great to get the negative things off my chest,” because otherwise she would normally just hold her feelings in. As a result, she said that she was able to generate her own solutions to the problems she was articulating during the reflective process. This in turn led her to enter more positive discussions with the facilitator (this author) towards the end of the reflective process, and she noted that she was more empowered as a result.

Rachel then noted that engaging in reflective practice has opened her to “new positive ideas about how to move past the institutional issues to become more empowered to demand some changes.” She said that although she realized that the “barriers will not be taken down soon,” she nevertheless wants to move past them and “be empowered in class.” As a result, Rachel said she will not let the institution deter her from “keeping my focus on being the best teacher that I can be.” She said that all her reflections made her realize how important it is for teachers to consider what they are doing all the time: “As a result of this intensive period of reflection, I have realized how important it is for all teachers to engage in a constant process of reflection and analysis.”

Candice’s Reflections

Candice, in her fifth year of teaching, began by noting that all of her reflections were honest. She remarked, “Teaching is a difficult career. I know now that this is not a job in which you can cruise through it and not be impacted on a personal level. It demands your time, attention, patience, and dedication.” In addition, she said that she noted her reflections helped her see how much of herself she puts into her practice. As a result, she said that she also realized that her work expectations can be too demanding and cause problems for her work–life balance. As Candice pointed out, “This balance is something I am still working on.”

Candice said that she was exhausted after reflecting on her theory and practice because it “required the most thinking before and after the lesson.” She noted that the quick change to teaching online because of the COVID-19 pandemic was very demanding for her and, as a result, she felt burned out. Candice continued, “Teaching online felt like grasping at anything that might sort of work. I didn’t enjoy this phase of teaching one bit as I look back on it.” She said that she found it nearly impossible to evaluate how her students were receiving her teaching and, as she noted, “more importantly, retaining it.” She also noted that she experienced more comments from students who challenged the material she taught, and this was annoying because she did not know if it was because of their frustrations with online learning or if they were “feeling more emboldened by the screen between us.” Regardless, Candice said that she is happy to defend her teaching plans at this point in her career, but that she found it “irritating and discouraging to have multiple learners commenting on what they dislike about activities every day.”

Towards the end of her period of reflection during this project, Candice said that she was interviewed again for more part-time positions, and was even offered a job, but that the “pay was so bad” that she said she would find it “nearly impossible to live off of the pay for a fifteen-hour work week.” She remarked, “It’s hard to find words to describe how discouraging this was.” In fact, Candice decided to quit as an ESL teacher at the end of the reflective practice project because teaching was an “unstable career” and maintained that “the English teaching industry will continue to lose talent if highly educated and experienced individuals can’t find meaningful work.” She remarked that this is “a sad occasion for me to leave the ESL teaching profession” because, as she pointed out, so much of her life was “positively shaped by teachers.”

Alice’s Reflections

Alice, in her seventh year of teaching, began by stating that her reflections allowed her to get a better understanding of her “unique self” and her identity as an ESL teacher. She noted that her reflections reveal her ambition and optimism about her own abilities as a teacher and that this surprised her. Alice continued: “I tend to be ambitious and optimistic with my hopes from the classroom and my own abilities. I still have so much to learn about maintaining a balance and optimizing my time as a teacher to improve the quality of learning for my students.”

Alice also said that when she read her reflections, she realized that when she encounters a difficult professional relationship, she tries to cut all negativity out of her life by distancing herself from it, “so that I can gain more control of my energy and time.” However, she said that she occasionally still feels some emotional exhaustion if her personal commitments and responsibilities are increased and she has little control over them. However, of all seven ESL teachers, only Alice reported that she had a good working relationship with her administration and her colleagues, and that she was encouraged to reach out to other staff to get resources for the same level she was teaching. As she noted, many teachers shared a willingness to assist her and willingly shared their resources with her whenever she asked them. The only negative issue she stated was a high turnover of teachers and administrators in her school which “negatively impacts the team, in my opinion.” She also noted that moving to online teaching during the pandemic may have led to less collaboration among colleagues and administrators, but for the most part she is satisfied with her work situation.

Overall, Alice said that she was very happy with her reflective journey through the framework. She remarked, “It’s been an inspiring journey with thought-provoking dialogue and is absolutely one of those iceberg situations where the more I think I’ve learned the more I realize there is yet to discover!”

Sarah’s Reflections

Sarah in her tenth year of teaching, said that on reading her reflections she realized she may have been reflecting too negatively on her workplace and not enough on her teaching, and this may have been because at the time of the reflection project, her school was experiencing a lot of “politics” and other distractions that were difficult to deal with. That said, Sarah was happy to read that for her as an ESL teacher, building student confidence stood out as an essential growth for her students’ success when learning a second language. She said that she realized that one of her most important roles as an ESL teacher is to “not hinder their confidence.” To accomplish this, Sarah said that she noted she must be more careful with her feedback as she read in her reflections on her teaching practices. Although she noted that for the most part she thinks she is still doing a good job, as “the transcripts of my teaching point out,” she remarked that she nevertheless feels the need to be more careful with how and when she provides feedback to her students so that she does “not make them feel belittled or misunderstood.” Sarah said that as a result of her reflections, from now on she “wouldn’t focus on the negative and would focus on positive reinforcement.” She also noted that she was pleased to read that she tried to adjust her teaching ideas based on her students’ needs, and said that “this all has emanated from my family’s early experiences when they first came to Canada.” Sarah continued, “My parents were English learners so to this day they lack confidence in their English. Since I became an English teacher, I have shown lots of encouragement and support to my parents with their learning of English, and I have seen my mother significantly improve.” She said that she realizes that she has evolved as an ESL teacher, and she noted that she is who she wants to be now. Sarah continued, “I’m comfortable being me more than ever. In the past year while reflecting, I have accomplished a level of confidence, not present in my first years of teaching.” With reflection, she said that she “feels refreshed, enthused and hopeful” about her future.