A cross-cultural investigation of effective language pedagogy in teachers’ personal practical knowledge narratives: A cultural-ecological perspective

Abstract

The current case study probes two international language teachers’ perspectives on the role culture plays in their perception of an effective language pedagogy through their personal practical knowledge narratives from a cultural ecological standpoint. To do this, two language teachers from two different cultural backgrounds (Iran and Japan) were asked to write a narrative about an effective class they had taught and how culture had influenced it. These narratives were read carefully and became the basis of three 60-minute semi-structured narrative interviews. Both narratives and interview data were analysed using a thematic analysis based in a cultural ecological perspective. The study contributes to the literature on culturally informed education by recognising culture as a distinctive factor affecting learning in different layers of the cultural ecology and can inform a culture-specific, nativized teacher education programme.