Neuroscience as a Black Swan of Teacher Training: Adding a Topic in Educational Neuroscience to a CELTA Course

Abstract

Since little is known about the incorporation of educational neuroscience into foreign language teaching, so many English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers heavily rely on the most used teaching methods they learn through Initial Teacher Training programmes (ITT), such as TEFL, CertTESOL, and CELTA. CELTA, which stands for Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults, is a benchmark of excellence in the field due to its high demand from employers (3/4 English language teaching jobs require a CELTA), its standardised format and practical teaching experience. Even though the CELTA course is widely considered the gold standard for EFL, it fails to equip novice teachers with the neuroscientific evidence to help them improve students’ outcomes by explicitly teaching meta-skills: metacognition — “learning how to learn” and meta-motivation — “learning how to motivate oneself”. Metacognition and meta-motivation allow learners to evaluate and support their learning, and in turn, encourage autonomy and change the idea of learning as an event purely happening within the four walls of the classroom. This research focused on the overview of the CELTA syllabus through the lens of neuroscience, examination of evidence as to why adding a topic in neuroscience to a CELTA certification course can bring about positive change, a design of the new topic to be potentially added to a CELTA syllabus, as well as an empirical study design to measure its effectiveness. It is hypothesised that adding a topic in meta-skills to the most in-demand course for EFL teachers, will not only improve teaching practice on the course and promote lifelong learning, but also become an accessible, evidence-based, teacher-friendly neuroscience resource.  It is assumed that a topic in educational neuroscience will become a black swan of teacher training, — an unprecedented event that can change the whole course of teacher training by shifting the focus from the “know-what” to the “know-how” and the “know-why” of learning, and therefore, have a significant impact on how teachers see learning. A possible positive influence on other certification courses and “dehyping” of neuroscience is also expected, which should lead to more awareness among EFL teachers and minimise the risks of falling into a trap of snake oil salesmen promoting “brain friendly” language learning teacher training courses for EFL teachers.