Back to: Language Competence and Communication Skills
Importance of Teacher Education
According to the NCF, teacher preparation must be ongoing, on-site, and supported by official or informal support networks. Both competence and professional awareness should be encouraged, with the latter being taught, if needed, in the instructors’ native tongues. Every English instructor should be at least somewhat proficient in the language. Based on a basic understanding of how languages are learned, all teachers should be able to teach English in ways that are appropriate for their students’ situations and levels.
To offer a curriculum that is input-rich and meaning-focused, a range of materials ought to be accessible. Teachers should place more emphasis on the student’s active participation in class rather than the ‘correctness’ of their language. As a result, talking in class should be seen favourably as an essential teaching method. The vicious circle of resistance and control might perhaps be changed into a cycle of expression and reaction if teachers view the child’s conversation as a resource rather than a nuisance. Pre- and in-service teacher education programmes must educate teachers about the huge body of evidence on talk’s potential as a resource.
