Novice-Service Language Teacher Development: Bridging the Gap Between Preservice and In-Service Education and Development THOMAS S. C. FARRELL Brock University St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada One reason for teacher attrition is that a gap exists between pre-service teacher preparation and in-service teacher development, in that most novice teachers suddenly have no further contact with their teacher educators, and from the very first day on the job, must face the same challenges as their more experienced colleagues, often with- out much guidance from the new school/institution. These challenges include lesson planning, lesson delivery, classroom management, and identity development. In this introductory paper to introduce the spe- cial issue on Novice Professionals in TESOL, I also outline practical suggestions that can help bridge the gap between pre-service and in- service education, with the idea that novice teachers can experience the transition from teacher preparation to the first years of teaching, less like “hazing” and more like professional development. I call this bridging period novice-service language teacher development. doi: 10.1002/tesq.36 T his article introduces the special issue on Novice Professionals in TESOL. I begin, however, with a reflective analysis of my own novice teaching experience. I clearly remember my first month as a newly qualified English language teacher in a university-affiliated lan- guage institute. In the third week of the semester, the director of stud- ies told me that she would be coming to observe my class. I prepared as usual and commenced my lesson following my plan. The lesson seemed to be going well, but after about 20 minutes, the director sud- denly stood up and, in a “You call yourself a teacher?” moment (Fanse- low, 1987, p. 1), suggested that I was not doing the lesson correctly. (I was doing a communicative activity in groups.) She proceeded to take over the class for the remaining 25 minutes, drilling the students via teacher-led grammar activities. After class, she said to me, “That is how to do it!” and then she said not to worry, because I would learn in TESOL QUARTERLY Vol. 46, No. 3, September 2012 © 2012 TESOL International Association 435