Understanding foreign language teachers’ practical knowledge: What’s the role of prior language learning experience?

Teachers’ practical knowledge is considered as teachers’ general knowledge, beliefsand thinking (Borg, 2003) which can be traced in teachers’ practices (Connelly & Clandinin,1988) and shaped by various background sources (Borg, 2003; Grossman, 1990; Meijer,Verloop, and Beijard, 1999). This paper initially discusses how language teachers areinfluenced by three background sources: teachers’ prior language learning experiences, priorteaching experience, and professional coursework in pre- and in-service education. Bydrawing its data from the author’s longitidunal study, it also presents the findings of a crosscasetheme emerged from the investigation of three English as a foreign language (EFL)teachers’ prior language learning experiences. The paper also discusses how the participationin studies on teachers’ knowledge raises teachers’ own awareness while it informs theresearch.