Teacher Training In English Language Learning

Allwright defines ‘teacher training’ as the process through which teachers acquire and master ‘the necessary practical skills involved in being a classroom language teacher, starting with such basic things as knowing how to speak to the class so that everybody can hear what you are saying.’ Training, then, refers to habit formation by teaching or practice so as to become skilled, disciplined fit to perform properly. That is, the internalization of teaching rituals that will facilitate the process of language learning and/or acquisition. In this view, most of the subjects taught at the training colleges (language skills, phonology and grammar; practicum and methodology; didactics) and the current workshops on didactics (‘How to…’; ‘Succeed in…’;

Though I was on the first pilot course (Candidate 002) in 1998 - and I suppose the programme must have been improved since then - this course does provide an in-depth work for experienced teachers’ on the ‘understanding of the principles and practice of English language teaching and thereby help improve overall performance in the classroom, as well as preparing candidates for more senior teaching or educational management roles’. The course content is organized in three modules focused on: the background to teaching and learning English in a range of contexts and is assessed through a written examination; planning and teaching lessons and selecting and using resources and materials and is assessed through a portfolio of coursework and an externally assessed classroom observation; and designing courses to meet learners’ needs in specific contexts and is assessed through an extended written assignment. Eventually, when candidates like me fail to pass all the course components, a referral assignment has to be done. In my case, this three-part assignment focused on reading skills at an advanced. Part I consisted of a 2000/2500-word paper discussing general problems inherent in a given skill for adult learners of English and one particular aspect to be dealt with in the externally assessed lesson, which should provide theoretical and practical evidence regarding the level chosen and any

Education, hence, refers to the knowledge we possess about a certain field of study. It combines, according to Allwright, the relevant language and educational knowledge a teacher needs. In my case my initial teacher training progamme core content comprised pedagogical subjects like: history of the Argentinian Education, Psychology and Pedagogy; subjects that helped you delineate the sociocultural background to the English language and culture: American and British history, American and British geography, British and American literature, and history of the English language; and subjects that provided you with a core ethical framework: theology, philosophy, ethics, and