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Professional development in language teaching
We will talk about professional development in language teaching in this post. Professional development is all about change in learning. Language teaching of course provides a career for hundreds of thousands of teachers worldwide some may have just entered the language teaching profession while others may have careers that span years or more. The field of language teaching itself is also subject to constant change both as the profession responds to new movements and trends in language teaching and as the demand for quality language programs and quality language teachers expands. As a result, teachers need regular opportunities to update their professional knowledge and skills and that means opportunities to participate in professional development.
We believe teachers also need to expand their roles and responsibilities throughout their careers if they are to continue to find language teaching rewarding. These are all aspects then of professional development.
What is professional development?
Despite the fact didn’t many people whose only asset is their knowledge of English still enter language teaching there’s no training or experience. English language teaching is not something that anyone who can speak English can do it’s a profession which means that it’s a career in the field of educational specialisation that requires a specialized knowledge base obtained both through academic study and experience.
It’s like other professions it’s a field of work where membership is based on entry requirements and standards and we see this sense of professionalism reflected in continuous attempts throughout the world to develop standards for English language teaching and for teachers in the proliferation of Professional journals and teacher magazines, in the conference’s and Professional organizations that we all are familiar with.
The term teacher education is used as an umbrella term to refer to the field that deals with the preparation and professional development of teachers and teacher development and teacher training are two approaches within this field of teacher education.
Teacher education is the broad cover term and then teacher development and teacher training fall within that general area of teacher education.
Becoming an English language teacher means becoming part of a worldwide community of professionals with shared goals, values, discourse, and practices but also a profession that adopts a self-critical view of its own practices and a commitment to what you might call a transformative approach to its own role to a continued improvement.
There are several different types of teacher education
Our understanding of the nature of teacher education in language teaching has developed considerably since TESOL or teaching English to speakers of other languages emerged as a profession in the 1960s and the 1970s. Back then professional training and becoming a language teacher meant acquiring a discrete set of skills such as lesson planning techniques for presenting and practicing new teaching points and for teaching the four skills.
The approach that dominated graduate courses of this time consisted of a fairly limited diet of theory courses mainly confined to linguistics. Perhaps in some cases also literature plus the study of methodology that’s what teacher education meant thirty or forty years ago.
Since that time the field of language teacher education has come of age. The knowledge base of language teaching is also expanded substantially though of course there are still differences of opinion concerning what the essential knowledge base of language teaching consists of.
This reflects the fact that the Disciplinary base for language teaching is derived from many different sources including linguistics, psychology second language acquisition, applied linguistics, and education. Each of these disciplines offers a different perspective on the nature of language teaching and language learning.
What do we mean by teacher training?
Training normally involves providing novice teachers with the practical skills and knowledge needed to prepare them for their first initial teaching experiences and teacher training involves processes of the following kind, first of all, understanding basic concepts and principles as a prerequisite for applying them to teaching. It involves developing a repertoire of practical skills and routines teaching skills strategies. It involves opportunities to try out these different strategies in a classroom. Teacher training also involves learning how to use a textbook and classroom materials classroom technology. It also involves monitoring oneself and getting feedback from others on one’s own practice.
Training involves the development of basic concepts theories and principles as well as a repertoire of teaching skills acquired through observing experienced teachers and through engaging in practice teaching in control settings such as through micro-teaching or peer teaching. From a training perspective, good teaching is seen as the mastery of a body of basic knowledge and a set of skills or competencies.
How does this this differ from teacher development?
Well, teacher development serves a longer-term goal and seeks to facilitate the growth of the teacher’s general understanding of teaching or of the teaching context and of his or her performance as a teacher. It does build on the initial knowledge and skill base acquired through teacher training.
One aspect of teacher development involves developing a deeper understanding of the knowledge base of language teaching and this is typically meant mastering the discipline of what we call applied linguistics and developing a more advanced and theory-based body of knowledge not linked to a specific teaching context. Another dimension of teacher development involves the examination of different dimensions of one’s own practice as a basis for reflective review. Qualifications in teacher development such as the DELTA course or an MA degree are offered by training organizations
and universities and generally based on the assumption that the program is intended for teachers who have already developed their practical teaching skills and now wish to acquire the theory and knowledge base that supports these skills.
In recent years a focus on the nature of teacher development has been central to a rethinking of both the content and delivery of second language teacher education programs. Teacher developments are not viewed as simply translating knowledge and theories into practice but indeed as constructing new knowledge and theory through participating in specific social contexts and engaging in particular types of teaching activities and processes. The type of knowledge that results then is sometimes called practitioner knowledge and this is the source of teachers’ practices and understandings. In practical terms, an expanded view of the nature of teacher development and teacher learning has led to a reconsideration of traditional modes of teaching in second language teacher education programs as well as a focus on how practicing teachers can continue their learning throughout the process of teaching.
Teacher development from this perspective is less concerned with finding more effective ways of delivering course content and more concerned with engaging teachers in the process of understanding their role in the context in which they work in developing a deeper understanding of themselves and their learners and in their ability to theorize from a practice.
Professional development encompasses both teacher training and teacher development it covers both and it refers to both formal as well as informal activities that seek to promote different development, different dimensions of teacher learning. While a formal program leading to qualification may initiate the process of professional development for language teachers or at least the acquisition of formal qualifications needed for entry into the profession.
Professional development also continues once a teacher commences his or her career as a language teacher. The school the teacher’s classroom now become the main context for continued professional development. Approaches to ongoing professional development of this kind for language teachers are based on the following assumptions.
Firstly, in any school or institution, there are teachers with different levels of experience knowledge skills, and expertise and so mutual sharing of knowledge and experience is a valuable source of professional growth.
Another assumption is that teachers are generally motivated to continue their professional development once they begin their careers. Also, knowledge about language teaching and learning is tentative and incomplete and so teachers need regular opportunities to update their professional knowledge.
Another assumption underlying Professional development is that classrooms are not only places where students learn they’re also places where teachers can learn and teachers can therefore play an active role in their own professional development. It follows that it’s the responsibility of schools and administrators to provide opportunities for continued professional development and to encourage teachers to participate in them. In order for such opportunities to take place, they need to be planned to be supported and to be rewarded. Our assumption is the Professional development benefits both institutions as well as the teachers who work in them. Professional development is something that teachers can pursue on their own or through collaborating with other teachers but it’s also something that can be provided for by the institution.
To sum up, in this post we’ve reviewed the nature of professional development in language teaching. We’ve distinguished between teacher training, teacher development, and professional development
at the institutional and personal levels and the kinds of activities that can facilitate teacher learning and language teaching. Teacher training and teacher development have different goals and are appropriate at different stages in a teacher’s career. Effective teacher development often needs institutional support although personal professional development can also be undertaken as an
individual initiative or by collaboration among teachers. So professional development encompasses both teacher training and teacher development and engaging in professional development has benefits for those teachers and the institutions they work in.
For teachers, the opportunity to deepen and extend their professional knowledge and skills can help maintain their enthusiasm for teaching as well as better equip them for new roles and responsibilities in their schools. Their students too benefit from the new levels of awareness and expertise teachers bring to their teaching and of course the school benefits from the improved level of commitment and performance of its teachers.
Many different development activities are possible and some make greater demands than others. We think teachers should start with small-scale initiatives and move on to more extended activities such as action research depending on their own goals and needs. Institutions that recognize the benefits of professional development opportunities for their teachers should adopt a strategic approach to such activities and provide the necessary conditions and support for them to be realized.
“Thank you for taking the time to explore this topic with us! We hope you found the information helpful and insightful. Have any thoughts, questions, or additional examples to share? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
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