THE ORGANIZATION OF THE VOLUME
3. Collaborations in second language teacher education.
"Contexts" also represents a broad theme, which touches on the con
texts in which second language teacher education takes place and sec
ond language contexts themselves (ESL, EFL, foreign language,
second language teacher education.
perspectives on, for example, knowledge and experiences, beliefs and
The third theme, "collaborations," speaks to the importance of coop
ers need to know and understand to be effective teachers and how that
schools and colleges of teacher education as well as the collaborative re
identity, reflective teaching, and values and ethical dispositions. Quite
immersion, bilingual education) as well as different geographic, social,
This volume is comprised of 18 chapters. It is divided into four sections
cultural, political, and institutional contexts. Context is, in a word, key in
The "knowledge base" refers to what it is that second language teach
recently, a number of professional organizations have attempted to de
attitudes, teacher socialization and learning, teacher cognition, teacher
2. The contexts of second language teacher education.
eration and collaborative relationships in the work of second language
1. The knowledge base of second language teacher education.
knowledge is incorporated into second language teacher education.
language teacher education.
that are thematically conceptualized as follows:
fine the knowledge base through the creation of standards for second
The knowledge base is a broad theme and encompasses research and
teacher education. It includes institutional collaboration between
4. Second language teacher education in practice.
lationships that are formed among second language teachers or teacher educators themselves, including examples of action research that re
Each of these themes is very broad. Several books could be written
sults from collaborative relationships.
same time, each theme can be considered in turn. The chapters in the
(PDS), which involves a collaborative relation between a teacher educa
Finally, "second language teacher education in practice" focuses on
This theme showcases program models and underlying philosophies
teacher education.
a thorough examination of each theme but rather to offer a sample of
about each theme itselfindeed, many such books have already con
in second language teacher education in various countries around the
perspectives on and examples of how each of the themes manifests itself
text of the work presented, the second language and institutional con
can be seen throughout the chapters that comprise the book. At the
first section, for example, all emphasize aspects related to the knowl
practices. Table P.I presents an overview of the chapters organized by
examples of that theme. For example, Nancy Dubetz's chapter (chap.
school that has been designated as a Professional Development School
how the work of second language teacher education is accomplished.
theme and identifies the contexts that are representedthat is, the con
and provides examples of how the other three themes—knowledge
each of the four themes. Dubetz's chapter focuses on the collaboration
edge base even though they also reflect issues related to contexts or
text, and whether the chapter focuses on preservice and/or inservice
placed in a particular section because they present especially strong
that occurs in a study group in the context of an urban elementary
base, contexts, and collaborations—are embedded in actual programs.
world. These four themes are also interrelated, and this interrelation
13, this volume) appears in the section on Collaborations, yet it reflects
Some of the chapters in the volume reflect all four themes yet are
tributed to the profession. The intention of this volume is not to provide
tion program in a nearby college and the school.