“The professional of Teaching English as a Foreign Language”

Author: Anderson Francisco Guimarães Maia

According to the National Foreign Language Center (2012), over one eighth of

the world’s population is currently studying English as a foreign language (EFL) in over

seventy countries. Statistics also show these figures have increased 52% in the past two

decades and estimate that 1,5 billion people will be using the English language as the

main means of communication in the next twenty years.

This growing need for global communication brings the field of teaching English

as foreign language (TEFL) .to a .much higher. level of professionalism. The concept of

professional, however, might vary in different contexts. A professional is a worker whose

expertise involves not only skill and knowledge but also exercise of highly sophisticated

judgment, and whose accreditation necessitates extensive study, often university-based,

as well as practical experience. According to this definition, one must perform a threefold

task in order to be considered a professional EFL teacher: (1) fulfill entry requirements

and standards, (2) obtain specialized knowledge through both academic and practical

experience, and (3) build a career in the field of education.

Global and local standards for both English language teaching and teachers have

been continuously developed through the proliferation of academic programs, legislation,

professional journals, magazines, conferences, and professional organizations. However,

several other individuals are actively involved in the EFL teaching field, but they cannot

be considered actual professionals. These individuals are considered lays, amateurs,

technicians, or academics. The diferences between actual professionals and other

individuals are outlined below.

Professional vs lay.

The lay population of EFL workers includes individuals who do not have the

specific skills, knowledge, and conventions that professionals do. They usually do not

belong to any professional group, but know enough English to be considered “capable”

of teaching others. Their teaching activities often include tutoring, conversation classes,

or other undemanding settings to which very little pedagogical knowledge is needed.

Professional vs amateur.

The amateur EFL teacher is the individual who ventures into the field with very

minimum skills and pedagogical knowledge. The amateur is not committed to ongoing

development and lacks particular training. This type of teacher usually experiments with

his classes and tries out new trends for fun or even the love of it. Professional standards

are not a concern to amateur teachers. They do not comply with compulsory examinations

and nationally or internationally recognized qualifications. It is true though that several

EFL teachers begin as amateurs in language institutions after minimum pre-service

training. It is also true that gifted amateurs might outperform uncommitted professionals.

Real and committed EFL professional teachers, however, develop better and better

practices over the course of time as opposed to amateurs who are usually not committed

to continuous development.

Professional vs. technician.

A technician who teaches EFL is “trained” to perform a specific educational

activity and certain acts with skill. A technician can be considered partly professional and

partly amateur. On one hand, a technician is a professional as he or she performs regular

teaching routines and has enough pedagogical and linguistic knowledge to meet specific

needs in a non-academic setting. On the other hand, the technician is an amateur as he

or she lacks the ability to understand principles that underlie actions. This inability leads

to automatized actions as the technician does not understand language acquisition

processes or pedagogical theory. For instance, a technician might be “trained” to teach

new grammar rules by introducing them within the context of a conversation. He or she

can use that technique for several years and have it automatized without any

understanding of inductive and deductive approaches to grammar teaching.

Professional vs academic.

The academic holds deep knowledge about language and teaching and can be

defined as a researcher, lecturer, and writer whose primary setting is a university.

Although many academics would define themselves as professionals, true professionals

are immediate agents of real- world change and academics are primarily occupied in

thinking and researching. The academic’s job is to refine thinking through research and

the professional’s job is to improve actual teaching and find out what works.