Mentoring and Coaching for English Language Teachers

Abstract

Mentoring and coaching strategies are among those used to increase knowledge, skills and professionalism among English language teachers (ELTs). Both are concerned with the induction of teachers into the profession, providing broad career guidance and support (mentoring), and targeted support to help the development of new knowledge or skills (coaching). Mentoring usually involves a relationship built over time between an experienced and a novice teacher while coaching tends to be more specific and short term. Both strategies must be seen as relational in nature, reliant upon interpersonal skills, including the establishment of rapport, trust and reciprocity. This chapter identifies key dispositions and actions required for effective mentoring and coaching and discusses how they are impacted by complex and idiosyncratic interactions of intra- and interpersonal, professional, and systemic factors that operate within school cultures and the differing cultural and sociopolitical systems in the global education context.