Teachers as Language Learners: Renewed Perspectives on Language and Language Proficiency after Studying Abroad

The globalised use of English continues to fuel the demand for proficient English language teachers. In addition to subject and pedagogical knowledge, teachers are required to show a good level of proficiency in the target language, especially given the current focus of teaching and learning on communicative competence. However, little attention has so far been paid to what teachers expect of themselves in terms of language proficiency, or, indeed, how they conceptualise the necessary proficiency for teaching.

Hiver's (2013) study identified the primary motivation of Korean English teachers attending professional development courses (a six-month government-sponsored course followed by a postgraduate course) as the improvement of their language proficiency. The findings also uncovered some participants’ strong beliefs that they needed to achieve native-like proficiency, although with the current status of English as a lingua franca, research nowadays emphasises the importance of intelligibility rather than native-likeness.

This paper, which is part of a longitudinal qualitative case study, addresses the change in teachers’ perspectives on English, its native speakers and the teachers’ own language proficiency after studying abroad. The data were collected through a series of in-depth interviews from four Japanese teachers of English who completed an MA in the UK. The findings reveal that their learning and life experience in a multilingual/multicultural society profoundly impacted them, and their new perspectives have been reflected into their practice.

Reference

Hiver, P. (2013). The interplay of possible language teacher selves in professional development choices. Language Teaching Research, 17(2), 210-227.