Chapter 3: Teachers of English as a Foreign Language PDF

3 3 Teachers of English as a Foreign Language—Experience and Professional Development 3.1 Between experiential knowledge and formal academic education: English language teachers’ mind-sets 3.2 Characteristics of the good English language teacher: reflective practice and professionalism...

3 3 Teachers of English as a Foreign Language—Experience and Professional Development 3.1 Between experiential knowledge and formal academic education: English language teachers’ mind-sets 3.2 Characteristics of the good English language teacher: reflective practice and professionalism 3.3 Professional development and models of language teacher education 3.4 Future challenges of the English language teaching profession 3.5 Conclusion This little conversation between Charlie Brown and Linus van Pelt from Illustration 3.1: the famous cartoon series Peanuts deals with what (English language) PEANUTS © 1965 teachers do in the classroom and how they have been prepared for this. It Peanuts World- is funny because it describes situations many of you have experienced as wide LLC. Dist. By learners in school and, possibly, did not particularly like. At the same ANDREWS MCMEEL time, it alludes to typical tasks and assignments (future) teachers of Eng- SYNDICATION. lish as a foreign language will routinely require from their learners in or- Reprint with per- der to make them speak or write in the foreign language, namely report mission. All rights about holiday trips, family events and other personal experiences. Apart reserved. from being humorous, the cartoon instigates a number of more serious questions with regard to the English language teaching profession, which need to be addressed in teacher education: What are appropriate tasks and who determines what a good assign- ment is? Or more generally, what is good English language teaching and who defines what this is? What kind of education does a foreign language teacher need to be- come a professional? What are the essential characteristics of a good language teacher? These and other questions will be addressed in this chapter. The focus will be on the prerequisites of being a teacher of English as a foreign lan- guage. The chapter will look at the initial conditions of teacher trainees and how their experiential knowledge influences their professional devel- 39  3 Teachers of English as a Foreign Language—Experience and Professional Development opment. It will then define what the necessary characteristics of a good or professional English language teacher are and how these can be ac- quired. To do so, it will discuss different models of teacher education and teacher professionalism. Finally, it will take into consideration current and future challenges for English language teachers, who, in a globalised world, meet increasingly heterogeneous environments in their class- rooms. 3.1 | Between experiential knowledge and formal academic education: English language teachers’ mind-sets Experiential knowledge: Unlike members of other professions, teachers have accumulated a fair amount of experience in their field of work be- fore they even start teaching. They have experienced institutional learn- ing as a pupil for many years; they have usually done several teaching practicums during their academic training; and possibly, they have also got to know school as a parent themselves or observed the experiences of younger siblings. Consequently, they possess a lot of autobiographically acquired experiential knowledge (cf. Appel 2000), which influences their teaching, their thinking and their way of doing things. Experiential knowledge differs from formal and theory-driven academic knowledge in such a way that it is not necessarily objective or explicit. It may contain personal beliefs, individual assumptions or unjustified conclusions, which interfere with or even overlie objective formal knowledge. Despite its subjectivity, experiential knowledge is believed to provide teachers with a strong sense of direction and inform any of their classroom-related decisions and activities. Woods (1996, 282 f.) assumes that a steady net- work of beliefs, assumptions and knowledge, which he calls BAK, under- lies »everything that the teachers did and said: as if it was through the BAK systems that the teachers structured their perceptions of the curricu- lum and their decision as how to implement that curriculum, from overall organisation of the units down to specific classroom activities and verbal- izations.« Structure and functions of experiential and academic knowledge: Con- cerning its structure and functions, experiential knowledge is very similar to formal academic knowledge. For this reason, teachers’ experiential knowledge has also been called subjective theories, lay theories or dormant theories (cf. Viebrock 2010). Both experiential and academic knowledge rely on a systematic and hierarchical organisation of their inventory, for example, a categorisation of elements into main categories and sub-categories. A case in point would be the distinction between re- ceptive and productive language skills as higher order categories with reading/listening and writing/speaking as their sub-categories (cf. also chapters 6 and 7 in this volume). Both subjective and academic theories structure their components by way of formal relations, for example, link- 40  3.1 Between experiential knowledge and formal academic education ing one element to another through if-then relations. A case in point would be the assumption that language use in the classroom is more au- thentic if it does not focus on formal structures. In terms of function, teachers’ experiential knowledge is comparable to academic theories in the sense that both are utilised in the process of planning teaching activ- ities and justifying decisions to this effect, either prospectively or retro- spectively. They are also utilised for predicting or interpreting any class- room events. Teachers’ mind-sets: This concomitance of autobiographical, experien- tial knowledge and formal academic education is a distinctive feature of the teaching profession which makes for a specific mind-set of its mem- bers, as described by Lewis (1993, 32): One of the most important factors which influence what happens in the class- room is the totality of ideas, knowledge and attitudes which represent the teach- er’s mind-set. This complex of ideas is partly explicit, based on information given to the teacher, formal learning and the like, but much of it is implicit, based on the teacher’s self-image, value system and even prejudice. It follows from Lewis (1993) that, by virtue of its autobiographical influ- ences, the teacher’s mind-set is extremely stable and difficult to change. It will usually be upheld regardless of contradictory elements or even counter evidence. In particular, its implicit elements, which the individ- ual is not aware of and which have not been consciously reflected upon, are prone to fossilisation. This is to say, they will remain on a premature stage of development which precludes the advancement or innovation of teacher behaviour. However, this also means that teacher behaviour can be influenced positively, if an awareness of its constituting elements is raised and (future) teachers (re-)negotiate their strategies and procedures. In order to be able to continuously reflect on their mind-sets, become aware of their motives and driving forces, change well-established rou- tines and improve their teaching behaviour, teachers need to possess cer- tain qualities, such as openness, flexibility, self-criticism and a sense of adventurousness (cf. Bach 2013, 305 f.). The teacher’s mind-set denotes a system of personal beliefs, assump- Definition tions, knowledge and attitudes any teacher holds on account of his pre- vious experiences with school, teaching and learning. Its inventory is organised systematically and hierarchically, but its contents may not al- ways be explicit or conscious. The teacher’s mind-set is accessible for re- flection and awareness raising. Teachers’ actions and interpretations of classroom events are based on their individual mind-sets. Individual language learning biographies: While this is true for all teach- ers, who need to master the transition from being a learner to becoming a professional teacher, regardless of the subject, for foreign language teachers their individual language learning biographies also plays a deci- sive role (cf. Dirks 2007). Whether they are bi- or multilingual speakers 41  3 Teachers of English as a Foreign Language—Experience and Professional Development themselves, whether they have spent a longer period of time in an Eng- lish-speaking country and have acquired the better part of their foreign language competences there or whether they have immersed themselves in a foreign educational system also influences their mind-sets and their understanding of the profession. Which specific competencies are re- quired to become a good teacher of English as a foreign language will be discussed in the next part. 3.2 | Characteristics of the good English language teacher: reflective practice and professionalism Good English language teachers: When thinking about good English lan- guage teachers you have encountered, how would you describe their qualities? As being passionate about their subject and their profession, as being learner-oriented, motivating and fair, as being flexible, hard-work- ing and well-structured? Would you consider them inspiring personalities or professional teachers or both? The question which characteristics a good teacher (regardless of the subject) should possess and how these become visible in good teaching practice has occupied the academic dis- course for decades (cf. e. g. Moskowitz 1976; Shulman 1986; Meyer 2004; Hallet 2010; Hattie 2011). Most of the studies come up with a list of qual- ities that include elements similar to the ones mentioned. Good teachers are described as »professionals who create an atmosphere of mutual re- spect in the classroom, the school and beyond« (Grimm et al. 2015, 21). While these personal characteristics are considered to be prerequisites of good teaching, the more important question is how they are put into effect in the classroom situation. What does a foreign language teacher need to know and do to teach effectively? In order to answer this ques- tion, Richards (2012) resorts to a distinction between ›competence‹ and ›performance‹, which on the one hand describes each individual’s cogni- tive, mental and emotional conditions and actually being able to put one’s knowledge and qualifications into practice in specific situations on the other. The notion of competence in this understanding delineates the teacher’s ›knowledge base‹ (cf. Shulman 1987, 5 ff.), i. e. their knowledge of the content, pedagogy, the curriculum, educational purposes, their learners etc. The notion of performance is concerned with the actual ac- tivity of teaching. Good teaching practice: In a similar vein, a close connection between teacher professionalism and the quality of teaching has been established Illustration 3.2: Types of English language teachers 42  3.2 Characteristics of the good English language teacher: reflective practice and professionalism by Helmke (2015, translation/adaptation BV), who has laid down ten characteristics of good teaching practice based on extensive empirical research: Characteristics of good teaching practice Key points 1. efficient time management and classroom leadership 2. a productive atmosphere 3. the implementation of versatile motivation strategies 4. structure and clarity 5. efficacy and competence orientation 6. learner orientation and support 7. the promotion of active and independent learning 8. variation in methods and social constellations 9. consolidation and intelligent practicing 10. sensitivity and adaptivity A number of activities exemplify each of the characteristics. A promotion of active and independent learning, for example, can be achieved through the use of adequate language (vocabulary, terminology), structuring de- tails and references (preview, summary, advance organisers), correct ex- emplification of the subject matter, concise language (clear diction, ad- equate rhetoric, correct grammar, clear sentences), adequate articulation and modulation (of voice) and loudness. Sensitivity and adaptivity in- clude an adaptation of the level of difficulty and pace for each learning situation as well as a particular sensitivity towards heterogeneous learn- ers concerning their social, language and cultural backgrounds and their performance levels (cf. chapter 4 in this volume). Core dimensions of good language teaching practice: Helmke’s over- view of characteristics of good teaching practice is not necessarily sub- ject-specific. Some aspects are comprehensive in nature and relate to the teacher’s general pedagogical skills, for example, efficient time manage- ment or the establishment and maintenance of a productive atmosphere. Some have to be adapted and exercised in a slightly different way in each individual subject, depending on the content to be taught. The choice of adequate methods, tasks for knowledge transfer or exercises for intelli- gent practicing, for example, will certainly be of a different kind in math- ematics, history or foreign language teaching for that matter. Concerning the field of English language teaching, Richards (2012) has suggested ten core dimensions of good language teaching practice, which partly overlap with the general characteristics described by Helmke, but overall more explicitly focus on the peculiarities of the language teaching profession. A brief overview of Richards’ core dimensions is provided in table 3.1, a more comprehensive discussion will follow below. Language proficiency: To demand a well-developed language profi- ciency of a teacher of English as a foreign language seems like stating the obvious. However, to define exactly how proficient a teacher needs to be in order to teach a language effectively is not a simple task. Other aspects 43  3 Teachers of English as a Foreign Language—Experience and Professional Development Dimensions Abilities of the teacher, routines and procedures language providing good language models proficiency maintaining use of the target language in the classroom giving explanations and instructions in the target language providing examples of words and grammatical structures giving correct feedback on learner language providing input at an appropriate level of difficulty providing language-enrichment experiences for learners content knowledge understanding learners’ needs diagnosing learners’ learning problems planning suitable instructional goals for lessons selecting and designing learning tasks evaluating students’ learning designing and adapting tests evaluating and choosing materials making appropriate use of technology reflecting on one’s lessons teaching skills introducing and explaining tasks setting up learning arrangements checking students’ understanding guiding student practice monitoring students’ language use contextual understanding the values, norms of practice and patterns of social participation of knowledge a particular school understanding the dynamics and relationships within the classroom language teacher’s being aware of one’s role as a teacher of English identity enacting different social and cultural roles as a teacher of English learner-focused being familiar with typical student behaviour teaching adapting one’s lessons to the learners’ needs and preferences maintaining active student involvement (also in processes of planning and/or decision-making) connecting with the learners’ life experiences pedagogical analysing potential lesson content (e. g. a piece of realia, a text, an advertisement, reasoning skills a poem, a photo, etc.) identifying ways in which it could be used as a teaching resource identifying linguistic goals (e. g. in the area of speaking, vocabulary, reading, writing, etc.) that could be developed from the chosen content anticipating problems that might occur and ways of resolving them making appropriate decisions about time, sequencing and grouping theorising from experiential knowledge practice reflecting teaching experiences in order to explain, hypothesise about or generalise aspects of foreign language teaching evaluating one’s teaching developing principles and a personal teaching philosophy membership of a collaborating with fellow teachers, university colleagues or other school staff community of exploring and resolving issues related to workplace practices practice achieving shared goals professionalism becoming familiar with the standards of the profession developing professional competence attaining high standards continuously and systematically reflecting one’s teaching practices Table 3.1: Core dimensions of good language teaching practice 44  3.2 Characteristics of the good English language teacher: reflective practice and professionalism of teaching may interact with one’s foreign language proficiency or even compensate for possible shortcomings. In addition, more often than not English is used as an international language, which makes it difficult to determine which English to teach (cf. McKay 2012). Bach (2015, n. p.) argues that in the age of globalisation, a territorially bound, nation- oriented definition of language does no longer suffice, which in turn in- terferes with language teaching practices: For language teachers of English, this post-national perspective may have destabi- lizing effects. Not much longer will they be teaching what has been commonly accepted as »British English« or »American English«, since the nation-based pa- rameters describing such variants are disappearing or, even more likely, are being rejected by those who speak it as no longer discernible or applicable to their per- sonal situation. This observation also touches on the question whether non-native teach- The teacher’s ers (or learners) of English have to acquire native-like competences and language even more so whether the concept of a native speaker is still feasible (cf. proficiency Mukherjee 2005). If it proves difficult to define languages as national languages, then it is equally difficult to define who qualifies as a native speaker. In order to be able to describe or assess a foreign language speaker’s competence level, the Common European Framework of Refer- ence for Languages CEFR (cf. Council of Europe 2001; cf. chapter 2 in this volume) provides six competence levels, each of which describes the activities a speaker on that particular level needs to be able to carry out. Returning to the initial question, how proficient an English language teacher should be, Richards (2012) assumes a particular threshold profi- ciency that is needed to carry out the tasks required of a language teacher, but he does not specify what this threshold level is. In practice, most ac- ademic teacher education programmes require a C2-level of their gradu- ates, which denotes the highest level of proficiency according to the CEFR. Content knowledge: The second element of Richards’ core dimen- sions—content knowledge—is also difficult to define as it could either denote disciplinary knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge or even technological pedagogical content knowledge. Disciplinary knowledge refers to a body of knowledge that is considered to be the professional foundation in the field of TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) as an academic discipline. It does not necessarily immediately translate into classroom practice, but rather describes specialised theoretical knowledge. In this understanding, disciplinary knowledge particularly in- cludes insights from the field of applied linguistics (for example, language acquisition theories, the history of language teaching methods or socio- linguistics), but also from literary studies (for example, literary theories such as new criticism or reader-response-theory) or cultural studies (for example, culture theories, different international approaches to studying culture, etc.). The term ›pedagogical content knowledge‹ or PCK is known as fach- didaktisches Wissen (cf. Baumert/Kunter 2006) in German. It was origi- nally introduced by Shulman (1986, 1987) and is defined as »the blending 45  3 Teachers of English as a Foreign Language—Experience and Professional Development of content and pedagogy into an understanding of how particular topics, problems, or issues are organised, represented, and adapted to the di- verse interests and abilities of learners, and presented for instruction« (Shulman 1987, 8). As such, PCK is unique to members of the teaching profession and distinguishes them from content specialists alone. In Rich- ards’ (2012) overview, PCK is more closely connected to performance and the practical issues of language teaching as specified in the table above. It is still based on profound theoretical knowledge, but explicitly looks at the practical implications of this knowledge and its application in class- room situations. Technological pedagogical content knowledge has been developed as a comprehensive concept by Koehler/Mishra (2009). Essentially, it em- phasises the need for technical expertise and keeping up with technolog- ical developments on the part of the teacher. Not only do they have to be able to master a wide range of technology, but they also need to be able to incorporate and employ it in their teaching. Teacher’s skills Teaching skills are even more practical in nature. They are understood and knowledge as a »repertoire of techniques and routines« (Richards 2012, 48), which enable a teacher to navigate through a language lesson as smoothly as possible. Teaching skills are usually acquired over time. They are not ex- clusively theory-driven, but the outcome of a repetitive process of action and reflection. While teaching skills include a certain degree of automa- tion, teaching is not simply understood as the application of a fixed set of knowledge or learned skills. Apart from certain routines, it requires a great cognitive flexibility which is needed in the complex processes of decision-making in the classroom. Contextual knowledge: The idea of contextual knowledge is closely related to Lave and Wenger’s (1991) theory of ›situated learning‹. It starts from the assumption that institutional learning takes place within a particular social context which needs to be taken into consideration in any reflection or analysis as the specific situation undoubtedly has an impact on the potential for learning. This becomes particularly obvious when comparing international schools and the diverse approaches to lan- guage teaching in different countries. It also becomes obvious when com- paring different types of school within one country (for example, a highly heterogeneous primary school, an adult education centre or a prestigious grammar school) and the variety of educational, social, economic and cultural backgrounds of their learners. Each school has their own ›cul- ture‹, i. e. their own way of dealing with their individual situation. A teacher has to understand a school’s norms, rules, habits and forces that have emerged over time and in particular how these influence (lan- guage) teaching practices and classroom dynamics. This may include questions such as whether teachers have to adhere to a close curriculum or whether they have a relative amount of freedom in their choice of top- ics or whether they work solitarily, in varying co-operations or in fixed teams. Learner-focused teaching: As the name implies, learner-focused teach- ing is concerned with classroom interaction from the learner’s perspec- tive. While novice teachers, quite understandably, are often concerned 46  3.2 Characteristics of the good English language teacher: reflective practice and professionalism with their own performance, with the establishment of confidence and competence, more experienced teachers manage to achieve a learner- focused approach by truly involving the learners in the lessons, increas- ing their amount of talking time and participation or dealing with the content matter from the learners’ perspectives and thus assuring more successful learning processes. An increase of learner talking time is im- portant when taking into consideration the results of DESI (Deutsch-Eng- lisch-Schülerleistungen-International), a large-scale educational achieve- ment study, which has shown that on average teacher talking time covers the better part of a lesson, while the amount of talking time of all learners accounts for less than a third of the overall talking time (cf. DESI-Konsor- tium 2006, 47). Relating to the learners’ life experiences is another way of increasing learner involvement. This may be done through some rather straightforward questions—as exemplified in the initial cartoon from Pea- nuts—but a comprehensive approach requires more sophisticated strate- gies for learner activation, such as systematically assigning responsibil- ities to the learners. Pedagogical reasoning skills: It could be argued that pedagogical rea- Pedagogical soning skills lie at the core of all characteristics mentioned here since they decision-making integrate and draw on many of the other dimensions. Richards’ (2012) understanding of pedagogical reasoning skills is closely related to Shul- man’s (1987) concept of pedagogical content knowledge as explained above. Again, the term ›skills‹ hints at the fact that the performance do- main is given greater priority. While Shulman is more concerned with the teachers’ knowledge base, Richards focuses on the practices of deci- sion-making in domains such as lesson planning, material selection or the conduct of teaching. What both have in common is that they look at the processes of transformation between subject-specific knowledge and its appropriations in different pedagogical contexts. Theorising from practice: The importance of experiential knowledge has already been highlighted in the first part of this chapter, which ex- plained the main characteristics of the language teaching profession and the mind-sets of its members (cf. Lewis 1993; Woods 1996; also Borg 2006). Theorising from practice more specifically focuses on (novice) teachers’ teaching experiences and how these can be utilised for further professional development. One of the most influential notions in this field is that of ›reflective practice‹ (cf. Schön 1983), which denotes a careful consideration and critical assessment of one’s professional ac- tions. The idea of reflective practice values the importance of experiential knowledge as opposed to a rigid application of theories and technical knowledge, but accepts that experience alone (without deliberate reflec- tion) does not necessarily trigger learning. Therefore, the reflective prac- titioner allows himself to experience surprise, puzzlement, or confusion in a situation which he finds uncertain or unique. He reflects on the phenomenon before him, and on the prior understandings which have been implicit in his behaviour. He carries out an experiment which serves to generate both a new understanding of the phenomenon and a change in the situation. (Schön 1983, 68) 47  3 Teachers of English as a Foreign Language—Experience and Professional Development Schön’s conceptualisation of ›practice as inquiry‹ involves two dimen- sions: on the one hand, the reflective practitioner engages in ›reflec- tion-in-action‹, which influences the ongoing immediate and situational processes of decision-making; on the other hand, the reflective practi- tioner engages in ›reflection-on-action‹ as a retrospective activity, which describes a more profound reflective analysis of a situation already com- pleted in order to enlarge his professional repertoire. The ideal of reflec- tive practice is closely connected to a research-oriented attitude as, for example, represented in action research in the field of education, which is also concerned with a systematic reflection of teaching practices from the practitioner’s perspective for the purpose of improving professional competences (cf. Altrichter/Posch 2007). Definition In the field of teacher education, the concept of the reflective practi- tioner denotes a teacher with specific characteristics: On the basis of their everyday practices and their experiential knowledge as well as their academic knowledge, teachers ideally engage in meaningful re- flection and awareness-raising and thus act as reflective practitioners. The pursuit of such a reflective self-development involves a research- oriented attitude, which aims at defining problems in professional practice as well as generating and assessing possible solutions. Community of practice: While the notion of a reflective practitioner ini- tially focuses on the individual teacher, some have argued that a solitary notion of teaching as well as teacher education is not only insufficient, but also unproductive for reflective practices (cf. Zeichner/Liston 1996). Many of the necessary processes of reflection can be exploited more effec- tively for the professional development of teachers if done in cooperative settings. Therefore, the concept of situated learning, which was explained for the English language classroom above, is also applicable to the field of teacher education and professionalism. This collective dimension of the language teaching profession is captured by the notion of a community of practice, which again relates to the theory of Lave and Wenger (1991). Being an expression of, and at the same time an extension of collegiality, a community of practice is constituted by a group of people with com- mon interests, values and responsibilities, who cooperate to pursue joint goals, share knowledge, resolve workplace issues or engage in other problem-solving activities. In the context discussed here, any group of learners in the classroom, the teachers’ body of a particular school, all teachers of English as a foreign language or the participants of an aca- demic language teacher education programme could be considered com- munities of practice, which are also learning communities. Furthermore, communities of practice are characterised by a functional distribution of roles and the use of a domain-specific language, which is part of its members’ professionalism and has to be acquired by novices in the field: 48  3.3 Professional development and models of language teacher education Becoming a language teacher also involves learning to »talk the talk,« that is, ac- quiring the specialized discourse that we use among ourselves and that helps de- fine the subject matter of our profession. This means becoming familiar with sev- eral hundred specialized terms such as learner centeredness, learner autonomy, self-access, alternative assessment, blended learning, task-based instruction, pho- neme, and common European Framework [sic] that we use on a daily basis in talking about our teaching. Being able to use the appropriate discourse (and, of course, understand what they mean) is one criteria for membership in the lan- guage teaching profession. (Richards 2010, 106f, italics in the original) 3.3 | Professional development and models of language teacher education Teacher professionalism: The dimensions of good language teaching prac- tice presented here culminate in the concept of teacher professionalism, which has been the subject of many considerations (cf. Hurst/Reding 2000; Richards/Thomas 2005; Bailey 2006; Bonnet/Hericks 2014). On the most basic level, the notion of professionalism involves an understanding of English language teaching as a profession. As such it is characterised by codified rules, for example the need to formally report on learners’ achievements. A membership to the profession is based on official stand- ards such as acknowledged academic qualifications or the acquisition of practical expertise as part of the training. Moreover, professionalism is also concerned with the question of efficacy. A professional teacher is understood to also be an efficient teacher who is able to create successful learning experiences for all learners. While much of this efficacy is based on the characteristics of good teaching practice described above, it cannot be achieved by skilfully executing a set of routines and procedures alone, but also requires a true sense of involvement (cf. Bach 2013, 306 f.). To capture the different dimensions of professionalism, a helpful dis- tinction has been proposed by Leung (2009): prescribed professionalism and independent professionalism. Prescribed professionalism as an ex- pression of a top-down-process denotes the managerial competences needed by teachers to deal with the formal requirements and standards of regulatory bodies. As members of their profession, teachers will be held accountable for respecting the curriculum, executing final examinations or implementing new educational paradigms (such as competence-based teaching). By way of example, professional foreign language teachers would also be expected to prepare their learners for internationally ac- knowledged language tests, bilingual degree programmes or international certificates. In contrast, independent professionalism is an expression of a bottom-up-process triggered by the teacher’s individual desire for change and improvement (cf. Viebrock 2014). It is closely related to the idea of reflective practice elaborated above and requires teachers to con- tinuously and systematically reflect on their teaching practices and expe- riences as well as their values and beliefs. Richards (2010, 119) suggests a number of questions for individual reflection you may want to consider for yourself: 49  3 Teachers of English as a Foreign Language—Experience and Professional Development Key points Questions for individual reflection (according to Richards 2010, 119) What kind of teacher am I? What am I trying to achieve for myself and for my learners? What are my strengths and limitations as a language teacher? How and why do I teach the way I do? How have I developed as a teacher since I started teaching? What are the gaps in my knowledge? What is my philosophy of teaching and how does it influence my teaching? What role do I play in my school and is my role fulfilling? What is my relationship with my colleagues and how productive is it? Models of teacher education: An emphasis on experiential knowledge, re- flective practice and independent professionalism as core dimensions of good language teaching is also central to teacher education (cf. Müller-Hart- mann/Schocker-v. Ditfurth 2014, 12 ff.; Grimm et al. 2015, 19 ff.). Wallace (1991) distinguishes three models of teacher education having developed over time: the craft model, the applied science model and the reflective model, all of which conceptualise the relationship between theoretical ac- ademic knowledge and professional action differently. The craft model can be considered as some kind of ›training on the job‹. Professional competence is understood to evolve from observing, studying with and imitating an experienced master practitioner who serves as a role model and passes his/her expertise to the next genera- tion. While the imitation of good practice certainly contributes to the professional development of a novice teacher, the craft model also has a number of shortcomings: it is prone to (mis-)understanding teaching as a mechanical activity employing routine motions and fails to explain how teachers can respond to unexpected situations and developments. The applied science model takes theoretical academic knowledge as a starting point, which is presented by experts through lectures and readings. Professional competence is achieved as a result of applying academic knowledge in teaching practice. Again, while nobody would seriously doubt the importance of a theoretical knowledge base for the language teaching profession, the applied science model is too unilat- eral. On the one hand, it disregards the impact of experiential knowl- edge. On the other hand, the model cannot solve any inconsistencies that might arise from conflicting knowledge in the different academic disciplines contributing to the teaching profession (cf. chapter 1 in this volume). The reflective model (cf. illustration 3.3) takes up these problems. Not only does it respect the demands of the different phases of teacher education (pre-service and in-service), but it also values teachers’ prior knowledge and experiences, which are modified and refined in a circular process of practice and reflection leading to professional com- petence. 50  3.3 Professional development and models of language teacher education received trainee’s existing knowledge PROFESSIONAL conceptual practice reflection COMPETENCE schemata or mental experiential Illustration 3.3: constructs knowledge Reflective practice model of profes- Stage 1 Stage 2 GOAL sional develop- (Pre-training) (Professional education/development) ment (Wallace 1991, 49) Wallace’s model is widely accepted in teacher education. It also explains why—as Charlie Brown questioned in the initial cartoon—teachers are educated at university for several years during which the acquisition of theoretical knowledge and phases of practical experimentation alternate. The formal traineeship (Referendariat) that teachers (in Germany) have to do as part of their professional development ties in with the model of reflective practice, too. Standards for teacher education: On a regulatory level, standards for teacher education have been laid down in Germany by The Standing Con- ference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (Kultusminis- terkonferenz) in the fields of traineeship (cf. KMK 2012a), educational sciences (cf. KMK 2014), content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge (cf. KMK 2015). For modern languages, the aspired compe- tence profile comprises a well-developed language proficiency, linguistic knowledge, an expertise of literary and cultural studies as well as peda- gogical content knowledge. Particular emphasis is put on the fact that (future) teachers have to be able to systematically retrieve their theoreti- cal academic knowledge and adapt it to their teaching practice in specific classroom situations. Among many other things, they are expected to be able to analyse the potential of literary and non-literary texts and transform them into learn- ing opportunities (cf. chapter 10 in this volume) or to be able to delineate the socio-political relevance of language teacher education and the signif- icance of foreign language education at school (cf. KMK 2015, 39 ff.). Extending from a national perspective, a European Profile for Language Teacher Education has been proposed by Kelly and Grenfell (2004). Based on the examination of teacher education in 32 countries, the Profile con- tains a checklist of 40 items distributed over four sections (›structure‹, ›knowledge and understanding‹, ›strategies and skills‹, ›values‹), which can be used to reflect on the quality of local teacher training programmes. 51  3 Teachers of English as a Foreign Language—Experience and Professional Development 3.4 | Future challenges of the English language teaching profession An international take on teacher education, the teaching profession and foreign language teaching practice certainly belongs to the most impor- tant challenges in the future as Kumaravadivelu (2012, x) observes: »the fast evolving global society with its incessant and increased flows of peo- ples, goods and ideas across the world is placing huge responsibilities on the shoulders of student teachers, practising teachers and teacher educa- tors.« Nowadays, any group of learners is characterised by a great diver- sity of socioeconomic and educational backgrounds, of languages and cultures. Schools are increasingly heterogeneous and multilingual. How- ever, while diversity is one aspect to deal with, the dynamics resulting from processes of globalisation and global connectedness are probably even more difficult to handle. At a moment’s notice, the social and lin- guistic constellation of a classroom may change and confront the teachers with unexpected challenges in view of communicative demands and pro- cesses of social interaction. Teachers as agents of global change: Within this context, Bach (2015, n. p.) conceptualises foreign language teachers as ›agents of global change‹. He argues that the ongoing dissolution of borders and the com- plex processes of cultural hybridisation create highly dynamic social con- texts which do »not align with any prescriptive approaches to language teaching by which insight generated by research or administrative wis- dom is simply being handed down to the operational level to be imple- mented there by teaching professionals« (Bach 2015, n. p.). This is to say that teachers can no longer rely on clear-cut and established models of language teaching, but have to demonstrate perceptual competences, context sensitivity and a sense of situational relevance. As agents of global change, they will have to turn away from a top-down monolithic (›one size fits all‹) transmission approach where pre-selected and pre- sequenced sets of knowledge are passed on to the next generation of learners. Instead, teachers will have to engage in flexible transforma- tion-oriented pedagogical practices, which are fuelled through individ- ual meaning-making processes from bottom-up (cf. table 3.2). The limitations of method(s): Hence, the transformation model caters for the fact that language learning and teaching situations are »unpredict- ably numerous« (Kumaravadivelu 2012, 10), which cannot possibly be met even by the most detailed pre-teaching plan or most intricate method: »no idealised method can visualise all the variables in advance in order to provide situation-specific suggestions that practicing teachers need to tackle the challenges they confront in the practice of their everyday teach- ing« (ibid.). A critical stance on methods and methodology certainly touches on one of the holy grails of language teaching, but there are more voices pointing at the limitations of any method within the increasingly diverse and dynamic global and local contexts of foreign language teach- ing (cf. Pennycook 1989; Prabhu 1990; Canagarajah 2013). Postmethod pedagogy: This has taken Kumaravadivelu (2001, 2003) towards a postmethod perspective, where he questions the concept of 52  3.4 Future challenges of the English language teaching profession Transmission model Transformation model linguistic English as ›target language‹ Englishes as local repertoire(s) norms nationally-defined native global English as a plural Englishes system (lingua franca) language as homogeneous language as hybrid native and non-native speakers speakers of varying degrees of proficiency nativeness as target local norms of relevance language and discourse as language and discourse as static dynamic language as context-bound language as context-transform- ing correctness negotiation of meaning mastery of grammar rules metalinguistic awareness focus on rules and conventions focus on strategies L1 as problem (interference) L1 as resource cultural norms ›target‹ cultures and communi- cultural diversity, hybridity and ties heterogeneity expertise established universal knowledge context-specific local knowledge uni-directional knowledge flow multi-directional knowledge- flows academic scholarship reflective practice information/knowledge trans- inquiry orientation / collabora- mission tive knowledge transformation curriculum prescription of innovation and bottom-up processes equally change, top down-transmission supporting continuity and development Table 3.2: pedagogy methods-dominated postmethod practices Shifts in profes- skills-based, skills-focused project-based, skills-in-context sional discourse on language teacher materials authenticity relevance education and centrally generated and locally generated pedagogical distributed practice method altogether and proposes a postmethod pedagogy as a necessary redefinition of foreign language teaching and teacher education. By searching »an alternative to method rather than an alternative method« (Kumaravadivelu 2012, 16), a postmethod pedagogy tries to respect indi- vidual, situational and local circumstances of foreign language learn- ing and the demands this puts on teachers and their education. In agree- ment with the notions of reflective practice and independent profession- alism, a postmethod pedagogy requires a large amount of teacher auton- omy and teacher agency as explained by Bach (2015, n. p.). The ensuing freedom of choice corresponds with a greater responsibility concerning 53  3 Teachers of English as a Foreign Language—Experience and Professional Development the necessary processes of decision-making and, thus poses additional challenges to English language teachers. Language teaching Technological pedagogical content knowledge: While the social dy- and technological namics of globalisation probably have the most profound impact on the development language teaching profession and individual teaching practices, they in- terfere with at least two more aspects that need to be mentioned here: technological advancement (cf. chapter 12 in this volume) and inclusive education (cf. chapter 2 in this volume). Both aspects put tremendous challenges on teachers of English as a foreign language and their educa- tors, but also contribute to the vitality of the profession. As mentioned above, teachers have to be open-minded towards technological develop- ments and understand the affordances and limitations of both existing and newly developing technologies, i.e, how these influence the teach- ing and learning of English as a foreign language. Koehler and Mishra (2009, 66) assume that a well-developed technological pedagogical con- tent knowledge is [...] the basis of effective teaching with technology, requiring an understanding of the representation of concepts using technologies; pedagogical techniques that use technologies in constructive ways to teach content; knowledge of what makes concepts difficult or easy to learn and how technology can help redress some of the problems that students face; knowledge of students’ prior knowledge and the- ories of epistemology; and knowledge of how technologies can be used to build on existing knowledge to develop new epistemologies or strengthen old ones. An important aspect of the language teaching profession is that many technologies cannot only be used for the acquisition or retrieval of sub- ject-specific content knowledge or as a tool for learning, but also for facil- itating communication with real speakers. Learners of English have the opportunity to feed their contributions into existing discourses, which might contribute to their motivation for learning the foreign language. At the same time, Internet-based structures of communication and language use follow different rules compared to the traditional speaking or writing (cf. Elsner/Viebrock 2013). To deal with this and turn it into a valuable learning experience is another challenge for the teacher. Inclusive education: Another recent socio-political development which has an enormous impact on classroom interaction and on the teaching profession is the turn to inclusive education. While inclusion ultimately describes a comprehensive, all-embracing way of teaching, in which di- versity and heterogeneity are the norm, in the meantime a more realistic goal consists in developing immediate accommodations for learners with learning differences (cf. Kormos/Smith 2012, 105). It becomes apparent that again the teachers’ mind-sets are crucial to the success of inclusive education. In particular, when it comes to putting inclusive education into practice and communicating its merits, »there is some responsibility on teachers to choose to use more empowering discourses that reflect inclusive approaches to education« (ibid., 15). As a conclusion, an aware- ness and appreciation of learning differences needs to be developed in language teacher education in order to be able to cope with inclusive settings in the foreign language classroom and beyond. 54  3.5 Conclusion 3.5 | Conclusion The purpose of this chapter was to discuss the characteristics of a profes- sional English language teacher and good teaching practice in the English language classroom. By taking the teachers’ experiential knowledge ac- quired prior to and during their formal education as a starting point, the peculiarities of the teachers’ mind-sets and how these influence their pro- fessional development have been described. A review of the existing re- search has shown that among the necessary characteristics of good teach- ing, ›reflective practice‹ and ›independent professionalism‹ are the most important ones since they take the dispositions of the individual teacher as a starting point and explain how experiential knowledge and theoreti- cal academic knowledge are integrated and utilised in a repetitive circular course of action and reflection. Professional competence is the result of a successful completion of these processes. The reflective practice model also lies at the core of foreign language teacher education, which com- bines phases of academic training and practical experience and reflection. As a final point, this chapter looked at the most salient challenges of the teaching profession: the effects of globalisation, the growth of technology and the implementation of inclusive education. Through their profession, foreign language teachers have to assume the role of agents of change in many respects and meet the challenges with a great amount of flexibility and expertise, which in turn contributes to the vitality of the profession. Wright’s (2013, n. p.) statement sums up nicely what this chapter set out to explain: Being a teacher is more than simply having an occupation, a job. Teaching is a way of life defined by learning and by relationship; it is always a »work in pro- gress«, a potentially lifelong endeavour in which we continually reinvent our- selves as we learn more about what it is we are doing and who we—teachers and learners—are. Not only are we helping others learn, but we are also learning about how to do that, which means learning about learning itself. We develop knowledge, expertise and awareness about learning; we become teachers. Further Reading Bach, Gerhard (52013): »Alltagswissen und Unterrichtspraxis: der Weg zum reflec- tive practitioner«. In: Bach, Gerhard/Timm, Johannes-Peter (eds.): Englisch- unterricht. Grundlagen und Methoden einer handlungsorientierten Unterricht- spraxis. Tübingen/Basel, 304–320. Helmke, Andreas (62015): Unterrichtsqualität und Lehrerprofessionalität. Diag- nose, Evaluation und Verbesserung des Unterrichts. Seelze. Kumaravadivelu, Balasubramanian (2012): Language Teacher Education for a Global Society. A Modular Model for Knowing, Analyzing, Recognizing, Doing, and Seeing. New York/London. Richards, Jack C. (2010): »Competence and Performance in Language Teaching«. In: RELC Journal 41/2, 101–122. Britta Viebrock 55