Competence and Performance in Language Teaching

Competence and Performance in Language Teaching
Jack C. Richards

Competence and Performance in Language Teaching
Jack C. Richards

cambridge university press

Cambridge, New York, São Paulo, Mexico City, Tokyo, Singapore, Madrid, Cape Town, Dubai, Melbourne, New Delhi Cambridge University Press 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013-2473, USA www.cambridge.org © Cambridge University Press 2011 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2011 Printed in the United States of America isbn 978-1-107-91203-8 Paperback

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Table of Contents

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Introduction 1

The language proficiency factor 3 The role of content knowledge 5 Teaching skills 9 Contextual knowledge 11 The language teacher’s identity 14 Learner-focused teaching 16 Pedagogical reasoning skills 19 Theorizing from practice 22 Membership of a community of practice 25 Professionalism 27

10

Conclusions 29

References 30

Introduction

What is it that language teachers need to know and do to be effective classroom practitioners and language teaching professionals? How is this knowledge and practice acquired? And how does it change over time? The issue of language teachers’ knowledge and skill base is fundamental to our understanding of effective teaching and to approaches to language teacher education. In this paper I want to explore the knowledge, beliefs, and skills that language teachers make use of in their practice. My focus is on the understandings and practices of those teachers who would generally be regarded by their peers as exemplary language teaching professionals. We all recognize those teachers when we work with them. But what

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The experience of language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Shulman, L. S. 1987. Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform. Havard Educational Review, 57 (2): 4–14. Snow, M. A., L. D. Kamhi-Stein, and D. Brinton. 2006. Teacher training for English as a lingua franca. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 26: 261–81. Tsui, Amy B. M. 2009. Teaching expertise: Approaches, perspectives and characteristics. In Anne Burns and Jack C. Richards (eds.), The Cambridge  guide to second language teacher education (pp. 190–97). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Tudor, I. 1996. Learner-centredness as language education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Zeichner, K., and C. Grant. 1981. Biography and social structure in the socialization of student teachers. Journal of Education for Teaching, 1: 198–314. 32  Competence and Performance in Language Teaching In Competence and Performing in Language Teaching, Jack C. Richards discusses what language teachers need to know and do to be effective classroom practitioners and language teaching professionals. By exploring the knowledge, beliefs, and skills that exemplary language teachers consistently make use of – focussing on ten core dimensions of language teaching expertise and practice – Jack C. Richards helps conceptualize the nature of competence, expertise, and professionalism in language teaching. Jack C. Richards is an internationally renowned specialist in English Language Teaching and an applied linguist and educator. He is the author of numerous professional books for English language teachers as well as many widely used textbooks for English language students. His titles include the best-selling Interchange series, Four Corners, Passages, Connect, and Strategic Reading.