Oral Academic Discourse Socialization of In-Service Teachers in a TEFL Program

Oral academic discourse socialization refers to a process through which students learn about the conventions and practices of their disciplinary fields while doing academic spoken practices. In this study, it refers to the interactions of the participant teachers with their peers and instructors as well as their engagement with academic texts. This paper reports on academic discourse socialization of several EFL teachers in a TEFL graduate program in Iran through oral discourse practices including small-group discussions and debates after microteachings over the first year of the program. It explores how the student teachers are initiated further into the values and practices of their EFL discourse community through collegial interactions with their peers. The active participation of the participant teachers in discourse socialization practices facilitated learning in a collaborative learning community. The participants shared their personal practical experiences, scaffolded their peers and engaged with assigned academic texts. Designing professional training programs that are likely to contribute to collegial interaction can be of great importance in teacher education programs.