A qualitative inquiry into the dilemmas and challenges perceived by teachers in ESP instruction

Abstract

In this article, the author explores six teachers’ experiences of ESP instruction in order to better understand the nature of the professional knowledge needed to make use of conflict and to manage a particular teaching dilemma. The approach adopted for this study is interpretative, using the case study method. Six participating teachers were interviewed over a three month period at four universities in Taiwan. The frameworks of socio-cultural theory and grounded theory guided the data analysis. The author's intention is to show that such an inquiry can reveal ways in which those teachers’ stories are telling cases that may enable others to respond and make meaning of their own experiences. Unraveling what constitutes professional knowledge in the practice of teaching is messy work, but the author hopes that when seen through the lens of six teachers’ balancing act of managing dilemmas, blending practice and theory, improvising, and reflecting on these processes, some clarity will be revealed.