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Faculty of Education seminars

10 August 2005

Seminar 1

'Novice and experienced mathematics teachers: work and stress', presented by Dr Helen Forgasz, Faculty of Education.

When: Wednesday 10 August, 1 - 2 pm
Where: Room G25, building 6, Clayton campus

In a recently completed Monash Small Grant study, the lives of a group of Victorian secondary mathematics teachers, including novice and experienced teachers, were tracked for a week using the Experience Sampling Method.

This approach enables data to be gathered in real time on the activities in which participants engage and their reactions to them. It was found that teachers' work extended well beyond school working hours. Differences were also found among experienced and novice teachers. Findings from this study will be presented and discussed in the seminar.

Further information is available at www.education.monash.edu.au/research/news/seminars/.

Seminar 2

'Language teaching in the communicative classroom as social activity,' presented by Mr Russell Cross, student, Faculty of Education.

When: Wednesday 17 August, 1 - 2 pm
Where: Room G25, building 6, Clayton campus

Valez-Rendon (2002) concludes in her condemning review of second language teacher education that 'we [still] need to know more about language teachers: what they do, how they think, what they know, and how they learn' (p.465), citing Freeman and Richards' (1996) criticism of the lack of research into second language teaching that was almost made 10 years earlier.

Mr Russell Cross will argue that while the communicative approach has become the de facto orientation for Australian teachers of languages 'in theory', a great deal still remains unresolved on how to best understand language teaching and learning in practice.

Further information is available at www.education.monash.edu.au/research/news/seminars/.