Document Type : Research article

Authors

1 Associate Professor, Department of Applied Linguistics, Shahrood University of Technology

2 Language Instructor, Shahrood language Institutes and Schools

3 Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Linguistics, Shahrood University of Technology

Abstract

The theory and practice of language teacher autonomy seems to be contradictory in terms. While, in theory, language teaching is conceptualized as a reflective process wherein teachers exercise their professional expertise, in many contexts including some private language schools of Shahrood and Semnan, teaching performance is tightly monitored through closed-circuit cameras. This study attempts to explore language teachers’ perceptions of teaching under video surveillance through elicitation data gathered and analyzed based on grounded theory. Iterative data collection and analysis and the constant comparative techniques revealed that video surveillance negatively affects language teaching since the participants believed it violates their rights to privacy, induces artificial practice, suppresses teacher initiatives, and deskills teachers by inducing disused atrophy. Through the counter-evidence presented by the language teachers, it was also found that the rationales for using video surveillance are unjustified. The findings of this study have clear implications for managers, supervisors and language teachers teaching in private language schools in the context of this study and other similar contexts.

Keywords

Ahmed, E., & Aton, P. (2019). Student perspectives on school surveillance: An explorative study using a mobile application prototype (Unpublished master’s thesis). Umea University, Sweden.
Anderson, L. W. (1987). The decline of teacher autonomy: Tears or cheers? International Review of Education, 33, 357-373. 
Anthony, E. M. (1963). Approach, method, and technique. English Language Teaching, 17, 63-67.
Au, W. (2011). Teaching under the new taylorism: High stakes testing and the standardization of the 21st century curriculum. Curriculum Studies, 43(1), 25-45.
Braverman, H. (1974). Labor and monopoly capital: The degradation of work in the twentieth century. Monthly Review Press.
Cornbleth, C. (1990). Reforming curriculum reform. Education Action, 1(2), 33-43.
Farrell, T.S.C. (2018). Research on reflective practice in TESOL. Routledge.
Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. Allen Lane.
Freeman, D. (2016). Educating second language teachers. Oxford University Press.
Gleeson, D., & Gunter, H. (2001). The performing school and the modernization of teachers. InD. Gleeson & C. Husbands (Eds.), The performing school: Managing, teaching and learning in a performance culture (pp. 104-125).Routledge-Falmer.
Jeffrey, B. (2002). Performativity and primary teacher relations. Journal of Education Policy, 17(5), 531-546.
Lee, I. (2007). Preparing pre-service English teachers for reflective practice. ELT Journal, 61(4), 321-329.
Little, D. (1995). Learning as dialogue: The dependence of learner autonomy on teacher autonomy. System, 23(2), 175-182.
Littler, C. R., & Salaman, G. (1982). Bravermania and beyond: Recent theories of the labour process. Sociology,16, 251-269.
Lundström, U. (2015). Teacher autonomy in the era of new public management. Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, 1(2), 23-45.
McClure, L. (1979). Expanding the high school through experience-based career education. New Directions for Experiential Learning, 5, 43-51.
Nemorin, S. (2017). Post-panoptic pedagogies: The changing nature of school surveillance in the digital age. Surveillance and Society 15(2), 239-253.
Nguyen, C. D. (2017). Connections between learning and teaching: EFL teachers’ reflective
            practice. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 12(3), 237-255.
Ostovar-Namaghi, S. A. (2011). Teaching as a disciplined act: A grounded theory. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 2(4), 837-843.
Oxford, R. L. (1998). Anxiety and the language learner: New insights. In J. Arnold (Ed.), Affective language learning (pp.58-67). Cambridge University Press.
Richards, J. C. (1991). Reflective teaching in TESOL teacher education. Issues in Language Teacher Education, 30, 1-19.
Richards, J. C., & Lockhart, C. (1994). Reflective teaching in second language classroom. Cambridge University Press.
Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2001). Approaches and methods in language teaching (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Steeves, V., Regan, P., & Shade, L. R. (2018). Digital surveillance in the networked classroom. In J. Deakin, E. Taylor & A. Kupchik (Eds.) The Palgrave international handbook of school discipline, surveillance, and social control (pp. 445-466).Palgrave Macmillan.
Strauss, A. L., & Corbin, J. M. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Sage Publications.
Timmins, F. (2015). A-Z of reflective practice. Mcmillan.
Tort-Moloney, D. (1997). Teacher autonomy: A Vygotskian theoretical framework. CLCS Occasional Paper 48. Trinity College, CLCS.
Wallace, M. J. (1996). Structured reflection: The role of the professional project in training ESL teachers. In D. Freeman & J. C. Richards (Eds.), Teacher learning in language teaching (pp. 281-294). Cambridge University Press.
Widodo, H. P. (2018). Needs assessment in professional development (PD). In J. I. Liontas, M. DelliCarpini & J. C. Riopel (Eds.), The TESOL encyclopedia of English language teaching (pp. 1-7). Wiley & Sons.
Zeichner, K., & Liston, D. (1996). Reflective teaching: An introduction. Erlbaum.