THE MAGIC TEACHER. TEACHER EFFICACY AND EMPATHY IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING

This book is based on my phd thesis which I wrote as a researcher on the academic doctoral degree programme “Corso di Dottorato di Ricerca in Psicologia dell’Orientamento e dei Processi di Apprendimento, Università la Sapienza, Medicina e Psicologia, XXIV Ciclo”, under the supervision of my tutor Prof. Traute Taeschner and co-tutor Dr. Sabine Pirchio. 

It presents a research project carried out at the “St. Kliment Ohridski” University of So????ia, Bulgaria, relating to the introduction of the Narrative Format Model of second language acquisition to Initial Teacher Training students at the University. This innovative model, developed by Professor Traute Taeschner at Sapienza University of Rome, is based on a psycholinguistic approach towards language acquisition and language teaching in which issues of motivation, empathy and good communication play a vital role. The project offered an invaluable opportunity to implement the model within the context of the Bulgarian educational system and was seen as an occasion to provide future language teachers of children with new skills and competences which would help them in their professional development and job satisfaction.

Ekaterina Sofronieva

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEGEMENTS / 7

INTRODUCTION / 9

CHAPTER 1. LITERATURE REVIEW / 11

1.1. Objectivism and Constructivism: two educational ideologies which

underlie different language teaching methods / 11

1.2. Teacher Ef????icacy and Personality / 24

1.3. Empathy and the Narrative Format Model / 36

CHAPTER 2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN / 63

2.1. Background and pilot studies / 63

2.2. Description of research and methodology / 64

CHAPTER 3. STUDY 1: LANGUAGE TEACHER EFFICACY / 73

3.1. Method / 73

3.1.1. Participants and procedures / 74

3.1.2. Instructional context / 76

3.1.3. Instruments / 77

3.2. Results / 78

CHAPTER 4. STUDY 2: THE MAGIC TEACHER: RESEARCH ON

EMPATHY IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING / 100

4.1. Method / 100

4.1.1. Participants and procedures / 101

4.1.2. Instructional context / 103

4.1.3. Instruments / 106

4.1.4. Data collection and preparing data for analysis / 121

4.2. Results / 122

CHAPTER 5. STUDY 3: IMPLEMENTATION OF MODEL:

REASONS FOR FAILURE AND SUCCESS / 141

5.1. Method / 141

5.1.1. Participants and procedures / 142

5.1.2. Materials / 143

5.1.3. Data collection and preparing data for analysis / 143

5.2. Results / 146

CHAPTER 6. GENERAL DISCUSSION / 156

CONCLUSION / 163

AUTHOR’S NOTE / 165

REFERENCES / 167