Investigating the teaching and learning experiences of efl teachers in the education programme PECPISC: an analysis on teachers' principles of practice

Abstract

The present study aimed at investigating how the participant teachers of the PECPISC, Programa de Educação Continuada dos Professores de Inglês de Santa Catarina, gave meaning and interpreted their learning and teaching experiences throughout this programme. The teachers' learning experiences were examined through the analysis of the PECPISC final evaluation questionnaires, and their teaching experiences were examined through the analysis of the written reports on the classroom projects the teachers were asked to carry along the programme. The data were analyzed according to the six categories of principles of practice developed by Telles and Osorio (1999). The findings of the PECPISC final evaluation questionnaires revealed that the PECPISC teachers tried to connect and reshape their existing knowledge, experience and ongoing practice to what they learned along the programme and that they engaged in a process of constructing new understandings of their teaching. The findings of the written reports on the classroom projects allowed us to see the relation of the teachers' knowledge to a specific task being carried out and evidenced that the PECPISC teachers could perceive the educational value of the project work experience for their practice. This study leads us to reflect upon the importance of looking at the teacher education practices and how those practices influence and shape teachers' understandings.