Beyond Good Teaching Practices: Language Teacher Leadership From the Learners’ Perspective

Abstract

Teacher leadership has been given increased recognition in general education as a means to empower teachers as professionals and improve educational outcomes. However, it has not received as much attention in the field of English language teaching (ELT), and research that has been conducted in this area has tended to focus predominantly on program management. This study focused on examining learners’ perspectives of language teacher leadership with the aim of contributing to a more complete conceptualization of teacher leadership in ELT. Twenty South Korean university students were interviewed to explore their opinions of what language teacher leadership entails in terms of teacher practices and characteristics. The findings reveal an ensemble of qualities—under the categories of passion, rapport, purpose, and balance and flexibility—that learners believe to be essential to language teacher leadership. The findings also indicate that learners’ ideas about leadership in the language classroom go beyond classroom practices, are distinct from traditional views of leadership, and differ from the way in which many language teachers see leadership in their classrooms.