ABSTRACT
Quality, like other educational constructs such as motivation and aptitude, is difficult to define. In this chapter, we present a case study of an innovation in a graduate TESOL teacher education course. The overall purpose of the paper is to identify the factors that led to the success of the innovation and to propose these as quality indicators that other teacher educators might consider when evaluating the quality of instruction in their own context. At the beginning of the chapter, we look at ways in which quality is dealt with in the educational literature, discussing inter alia product (or outcomes) versus process approaches as well as touching on questions such as who gets to decide what counts as quality. We then present a case study of an innovative approach to student assessment in a graduate course on English as a global language called Group Dynamic Assessment. Finally, we draw on evaluation data to propose quality indicators. The ideological underpinning for this study and its evaluation is that of student-centered learning.
