The Role of Learner-Initiated Questions as a Pedagogical Resource for Co-Learning: Development of Teacher Identity for Leaderful Classrooms

Abstract

This study explores ways in which learner-initiated questions in the second language (L2) Japanese classroom can function as a pedagogical resource for co-learning involving learners and teachers, one which also forges teacher identity within a leaderful classroom. Adopting a critical autoethnographic narrative, this study analyses the pedagogical direction of a Japanese language teacher as it homes in on the target of a leaderful classroom driven by self-reflection on the use of learner-initiated-questions. Based on reflective observation of an eight-hour video-recorded L2 classroom interaction in a group of adult post-beginners of Japanese in the UK, the contributing teacher’s narrative suggests that learners play a key role as leaders of their L2 learning through self-initiated questions and the creation of opportunities for further discussing linguistic and cultural aspects of L2. This study demonstrates the significant role that the leaderful classroom can play at the micro level when learners initiate questions to enhance L2 interaction and emphasises the vital role that teachers’ self-reflection on pedagogical practices plays in fostering teacher identity in action. This study suggests that a teacher’s dialogical engagement with learner-initiated-questions as shared pedagogical practices and a teacher’s continuous reflective practice used to promote a leaderful classroom can facilitate co-learning and collaborative leadership identity.