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Hi! I’m Thomas Stringer, and this portal has empowering resources for learners, educational practitioners, and researchers on language learner autonomy.

AUGUST 2024 FEATURE POST: BEYOND THE ABSTRACTS

This series goes Beyond The Abstracts, featuring behind the scenes conversations with researchers and educational practitioners in language learner autonomy or related fields.

Beyond The Abstracts: Professional Curiosity – Sarah Mercer (August 2024)

In this Beyond The Abstracts conversation I speak with Sarah Mercer. Sarah is a Professor for Foreign Language Teaching and the Head of the ELT Research and Methodology Department at the University of Graz. Her research interests lie in all aspects of language learning psychology (teacher and learner perspectives), in particular in self-related constructs, engagement, agency, affect, belief systems, and wellbeing. In her research, she prefers to employ qualitatively oriented approaches, and she has a special interest in dynamic systems and ecological theory. Her current research explores teacher psychology, pre-service teacher identity development, socio-emotional intelligence, wellbeing, positive language education as well as interdisciplinary approaches to self. 

And now, here is my conversation with Sarah Mercer

We discuss Sarah’s new article about professional development in language teaching. She first shares her journey from language learner, to teacher, to professor. Sarah emphasises her strong passion for teaching, highlighting key mentors from her career. The core of our discussion then revolves around professional curiosity among language teachers. Sarah explains that curiosity drives professional development and varies among individuals. We cover details of teacher psychology and autonomy underlying this curiosity. Teachers’ choosing their professional learning paths enhances motivation and effectiveness. We conclude by reflecting on the need to study teacher educators themselves.

Learn more:

• Mercer, S., & Pawlak, M. (2024). Language teacher professional curiosity: Understanding the drive for professional development. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 1–28. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.39293
• Mercer, S. (2021). An agenda for well-being in ELT: an ecological perspective. ELT Journal, 75(1), 14–21. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccaa062
• Sulis, G., Mercer, S., Mairitsch, A., Babic, S., & Shin, S. (2021). Pre-service language teacher wellbeing as a complex dynamic system. System, 103, 102642. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2021.102642

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