'We not I' not 'I Me Mine': Learning from Professional Memory about Collectivist English Teaching. Issue 1 (2nd January 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tarpey, Paul
• Is Part Of: Changing English. Volume 24:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 103
• Page End: 117
• Publication Date: 2017-01-02
• Subjects: Professional memory -- history of English teaching -- collectivism -- collective memory -- dialogism -- heteroglossia; English literature -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; English language -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; 410
• DOI: 10.1080/1358684X.2016.1274173
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1358-684X

Abstract

Abstract: This article investigates the professional memories of English teachers who began their careers between 1965 and 1975. The teachers began their careers in circumstances that offered opportunities to work in collectivist ways. Their memories reveal a strong collective identity, a powerful sense of agency and a critical engagement with the aims of English teaching. It is argued that by exploring these memories, and by re-imagining English as a 'relational' or 'heteroglossial' activity, current practitioners might find inspiration to work collectively and collaboratively to challenge dominant conceptions of the subject.