Language Teacher Education

Language Teacher Education

       Language teacher education simply refers to training a teacher to teach a second/foreign language effectively end efficiently. That is, with the growing demands of the second/foreign language teaching profession, a teacher has to receive some special training in a number of aspects of his/her area. The arrangement of such training is done in language teacher education.

       Though a distinction may be made between teacher training or education and teacher development, it is convenient to use the terms interchangeably, especially in case of second/foreign language teaching. Teacher education stands for something that can be presented or managed by someone other than the teacher. On the other hand, teacher development means something that can be done only by and for the teacher him/herself.

       Thus, language teacher education covers what a language teacher needs to learn by him/herself and/or be taught by others so as to develop his/her professional skills and meet increasing professional demands.

       Language teacher education like structured professional education should include two kinds of knowledge development:

       a. Received knowledge- Here, the trainee becomes acquainted with the vocabulary of the subject and the widely accepted matching concepts, research findings, theories and skills.

       b. Experiential knowledge- Here, the trainee will receive developed knowledge-in-action by practice of the profession, and will get the opportunity to reflect on that knowledge-in-action.