Issues in Applied Linguistics

Ranging from preschool to university-level settings, teachers’ approaches to the ‘first day of class’, acknowledged as a crucial event (Patrick, Turner, Meyer & Midgley 2003), have received limited attention in research on second language (SL) teaching and learning. Most published materials, usually based on an author’s personal preferences or current methodological recommendations, emphasize the importance of presenting one’s self well and successfully establishing certain expectations for student behavior from the beginning of an academic term. However, little is known regarding what SL teachers actually say and do on the first day of class or how students perceive this crucial first meeting. Grounded in empirical data including classroom visits, teacher interviews, and student observations, the present qualitative study explores five university-level SL teachers’ approaches to the first day of class. Specifically, this study analyzes these teachers’ explicit and implicit communication of expectations regarding classroom rules and regulations (Johnston, Juhász, Marken & Ruiz, 1998) on the first day. Recent research on the morality of teaching (Jackson, Boostrom & Hansen, 1993; Johnston 2003) provides the framework for the data analysis. In the present study, teachers’ words and actions revealed characteristics of their moral agency, exposed actual teaching practices, and have important implications for SL pedagogy that are also relevant to teaching beliefs and practices in other disciplines.