Tradition and Habitus in Tesol Teacher Education

This paper explores different perspectives in the education of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) in light of recent developments in Sociocultural Learning Theory. It advocates for a view of learning as participation in socially mediated activities, which has the potential of helping the field overcome the pervasiveness of the habitus that characterizes it. This habitus can be understood as those collective, yet individualized and internalized structures that help us define, interpret, and judge our lived experience. The paper argues that two main traditions ( one practical and one theoretical) have polarized the field and rendered it difficult to modify. However, the emergent adoption of a Sociocultural Perspective by many teacher educators can prove to be a plausible alternative to the status quo that may help resolve some of the conundrums the profession is experiencing.