Self-critical friendship: A self study of a pre-service English language teacher trainer in Turkey

Abstract

This study introduces the idea of self-critical friendship by modelling the personal experience of a teacher trainer. This two-year self-study analyses the dairies and video recordings of a teacher trainer observed by another researcher. The answers of two questions: “Who are you?” and “Do you teach as you preach?” were extracted from the data. The analysis was undertaken twelve months after the teaching was conducted. It was hoped that such a time frame would provide a more detached interpretation of the data. The most important finding of the study is that self critical friendship enhances teacher trainers’ self awareness and, in turn, their professional development. Going through such a process has the added advantage of providing a model for the professional development of trainees in pre-service teacher programs.