Reconceptualizing language teaching: an in-service teacher education course in uzbekistan

Enable Inquiry, Critical Thinking, and Problem Solving 
The second value I hold to is enabling inquiry, critical thinking, and prob-
lem solving. I understand this as a process about conceptualizing, applying, 
analyzing, and evaluating information gathered through the lens of past ex-
periences. Vygotsky (1994) explained that “learners perceive experiences in a 
new environment through … a cognitive and emotional reciprocal process-
ing of previous and new experience” (as cited in, Golombek and Duran, 2014, 
p. 104). This discussion views the learning process not as a static moment, but 
one of continual evolution and progression. Enabling inquiry, connects one’s 
past to the present, while also looking toward the future. 
While teaching Introduction to Linguistics, I focused on providing 
my students both structural (e.g., phonetics, morphology, syntax, etc.) 
and functional conceptualizations of language (e.g., Gee’s seven building 
blocks of language). To enable inquiry and critical thinking, I used dialogue 
journals
– written interactions between a learner and teacher over a con-
sistent course of time. In the dialogue journals, students discussed their 
past experiences of language learning, the current classes they are taking, 
and how they would teach language based on their own beliefs about the 
conceptualizations of language, because the view one takes on language 
has profound implications for language teaching. One’s view on the nature 
of language will affect what will be taught, how it will be taught, how one 

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RECONCEPTUALIZING LANGUAGE TEACHING
assesses learning, the types of materials used, and the types of exercises 
and activities used in the classroom. Although dialogue journals are time 
consuming for teachers, they provide a unique pedagogical space for in-
quiry, critical thinking and problem solving with the assistance of a teacher.