Developing and enacting professional pedagogical responsibility: A chat perspective

Recent studies in language teacher education have suggested that teachers need to develop heightened levels of professional pedagogical responsibility (PPR) in order to become more effective educators. This paper reports on a qualitative study that examined how three pre-service teachers of English developed and enacted their PPR during their practicum in Chile. Data included a complex set of sources based on semi-structured interviews, an analysis of pedagogical artefacts (including lesson plans and reflections), classroom observations and focus group sessions. Drawing on a sociocultural perspective of learning, the data were understood using conceptual tools drawn from a discursive approach grounded in a cultural historical activity theory tradition, including the use of the activity system as the primary unit of analysis as a means of highlighting tensions, contradictions and agency in the nature of the activity under investigation. Key findings of the study revealed a range of critical forces that frame the actions of pre-service teachers and encourage them to act more professionally as aspiring educators. The outcomes of this study have potential implications for the design of teacher education programmes, particularly around the need to construct further development opportunities for pre-service teachers to experience agentic actions.