English Language Teacher Training, Practice and Reflection

This book is the result of an action research project carried out with English teachers from public schools in Goiás. The main aim of the research was to contribute to the practices of the participating teachers through a continuing education course. During the course, theories about teaching methodologies were read and discussed and, after this initial moment, all the participants planned lessons collaboratively. The lessons were then taught by the teacher-collaborators and then discussed in a reflection session between the teacher who taught the lesson and the researcher and course coordinator. The moments of discussion, planning and also the sessions of reflection on practice were analyzed based on the theories that underpin this study. We were able to verify, as Guskey (1991) points out, that it is when teachers see the effectiveness of new practices that they decide whether or not to adopt them permanently in their classrooms. As the data showed us, the study of theories became relevant mainly because it was accompanied by classroom practice