Table Of ContentDeveloping our Professional Competence:
Some Reflections
Joanne Pettis
Formany, the melting snows ofspring andburgeoning greenery signalthe
adventofanewyear. Forothers, thenewyearbeganseveralmonths agoin
January.However,forme,thenewyearbeginsinSeptemberwiththestartof
a new school year. It is then that my pulse quickens in anticipation of the
excitement of meeting new groups of students and seeing my colleagues
again after the long, lazy summer. It is also at that time that I make my
professionalresolutions.IpromisemyselfthatI'mgoingtospendmoretime
with teachers, discussing educational issues and finding out about the
realities oftheirteaching situations, their particular concerns, solutions, in
novations and strengths. I'mgoing to read more and reflectonthe implica
tions of my reading. I'm going to find time to work with more students,
trying out ideas I've been exploring, honing new techniques, and learning
more, always more about adult language learners and second language
acquisition.
ItisthetimethatIbecomeparticularlyawarethatIambothateacherand
a learner. For just as adult ESL students realize that learning English is a
possibly lifelong process, so too have I realized that the development of
professionalcompetenceisequallylong-termandongoing.Atthebeginning
ofa newyear, Ifind myselfreflectingonthe implications ofthis realization
formeasanadultESLeducator.
LikemanyadultESLeducators, Irecognize thatmyrole is multifaceted.
Someofusseeourselvesaschangeagents,bridgesto Canadiansociety, and
studentadvocates. Wealsonodoubtrecognizeourfundamental andpivotal
role in facilitating the development of our students' communicative com
petence. AlthoughIamnotworkingdirectlywithadultESL studentsinthe
classroom, Ibelieve that my work and that of my colleagues who provide
supportto teachersand programsisultimatelydirected to thatgoal. Giving
adefinitiontothetermcommunicativecompetence,however,hasprovidedme
withimportantcontext.
I have been influenced by a definition provided by Tedick and Walker
(1994). They suggest that communicative competence is the ability to com
municate and understand messages across linguistic and cultural boun
daries. I like this definition because of the reciprocal nature of
communication and the fundamental context of culture it portrays. The
Canale and Swain paradigm of communicative competence that subsumes
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linguistic, discourse, strategic, and sociolinguistic competence (Richards &
Rodgers, 1986) has also influenced my conception of communicative com
petence, particularly as it is this paradigm that has informed the develop
ment of the Canadian Language Benchmarks, which many of us are
beginning to work with. The Celce-Murcia, Dirnyei, and Thurrell (1995)
proposalofanalternative constructwithanadditional actionalcompetence
and other modifications introduces anexcitingnew representation of com
municativecompetence.However,whethertheCanaleandSwainparadigm
providesmyconceptualframework orthe model articulatedbyCelce-Mur
ciaetal., ifmygoalis communicativecompetenceitbehoovesme to ensure
thatIhavetherequisiteprinciples,knowledge, andskillstoaccomplishit.
Whatthoseprinciples,knowledge,andskillsarewillnodoubtalsoreflect
theparticularconceptionofteachingIholdandtheimplicationsofmyother
roles. However, threethingsareclear:
1. IfIamtobeaprofessionallycompetenteducator,Imustbeprincipled
andknowledgeableinadditiontoskillful;
2. Myprofessionalneedsandinterestshavechangedovertimeand
continuetoevolve;
3. Mycommitmenttoprofessionaldevelopmentmustbeongoingand
personal.
Letmeaddresseachoftheseobservations.
Principles, Knowledge, and Skills
Principles,knowledge,andskillsarefundamentallyintegratedintheprofes
sionally competent teacher. IfI am to be professionally effective, Ibelieve I
mustensureabalanceinmyexpertise.Tobeknowledgeableandprincipled
withouttheappropriateskillsnecessaryto applythisknowledgeislimiting.
The knowledgeable teacher who is also skillful is a powerfuleducator, and
theadultESLprofessionhasasubstantialnumberofknowledgeable,skillful
teachers. Skill, too, in the absence ofknowledge is oflimited value. Skillful
teachers, who have amassed an effective array of activities and techniques
thatthey cananddoemploybutwhohavenotdevelopedaparallellevelof
knowledge, limittheir effectiveness. Unfortunately, the applicationoftheir
skillisconstrainedbythelimitationsoftheircognitiveframework.
The growing body of knowledge on topics such as learning styles and
language learning strategies, the role of discourse in communicative lan
guageteaching,adultESL/literacy,andtheculturaldimensionsoflanguage
learning and teaching beg for exploration. Even "old" stand-bys such as
linguistics cannotbeneglected, for surelyknowledge about English, its vo
cabulary, anditsgrammarisafundamentalrequirementofadultESLteach
ers. Teachers regularly claimthat the ability to speakEnglishisinsufficient
preparationtoteachEnglish,yetsomecontradictthisbysayingthat,because
they do not overtly teach grammar, there is no need for them to acquire
68 JOANNEPETIIS
grammatical knowledge. I would counter that assumption: if we are not
relyingonagrammarsyllabus,wemustbeparticularlyknowledgeableand
skillfulsothatthe necessary range oftopics is addressed appropriatelyand
sufficiently.
Some have also suggested that teachers do not need to know much
linguisticinformationifthey "just" teachbeginners. Iwonderhoweffective
teachers would be in teaching reading to grade 1 students if they had no
background in teaching reading, orhow competentthey would feel ifthey
onlyread ata grade 1levelthemselves. Inaddition, experience tells us that
ourstudents'languageencountersintherealworldareunlikelytofollowthe
hierarchical organization presented in many classrooms. When a beginner
student asks a teacher to explainthe grammar of Smoking is not allowed, the
teacherwill no doubtwantto provide a more appropriateexplanationthan
"That'sjusthowwesayit," andneedstodrawonlinguisticknowledgetodo
so.
Even the principles that guide our andragogical decision-making can
changeovertimeanddeservetobereconsideredperiodically.Forinstance,a
particular principle I have held for a number of years is the centrality of
learner-centerednessinadultESLinstruction.However,Ifind Imustrecon
sider this principle in light of an article by Auerbach (1993) that I read
recently, in which she argues that learner-centeredness should not be
equatedwithparticipatoryeducation. Instead, itcanbe shownthatlearner
centerednessrequiresanaccompanyingcriticalanalysisofthesocialcontext
to be truly participatory. Without social analysis and with its focus on in
dividualism, learner-centeredness may further marginalize learners and
reinforcethestatusquo. Certainlyfoodforthoughtanddiscussion.
Changing Needs
Every workshop presenter Iknowhas atone time or another received con
tradictoryfeedback. I'vereceivedcomments,suchas"Reallypractical!"ver
sus"Notenoughmeat!"forthesameworkshopor,conversely, "Provocative
ideas"versus"Tootheoretical"for another.Whatdoesthistellme?General
lyIconcludethatIcouldhavedone abetterjobofdescribingmy workshop,
andtherewasamixofexperiencedandnoviceteachersinthe crowd.
Itis no surprise that novice teachers and experienced teachers have dif
ferent needs. Research into this shows that novice teachers tend to be con
cerned with What-ta-teach questions, whereas experienced teachers want to
exploreHow-to andWhyquestionstoagreaterdegree(Freeman,1982).Ifthis
isso, thenlogicallyteacherswillnaturallyseekoutdifferenttypesofprofes
sional development activities and a different content focus as their careers
progress.Ifwefindourselvesalwaysseekingthesame"practical"contentor
classroomactivitiestypeofworkshopafter10or15yearsofteachingexperi
ence, shouldn'tweexplorethe reason and seekmorebalanceinour profes-
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sional development (PD) pursuits? Don't get me wrong. I love to get new
activitiesortechniques touse ina class. However, Ialso love a professional
development activity that challenges and changes my conceptual frame
work, anditislearningfromtheseendeavorsthatenablesmetomakebetter
andragogicaldecisionsaboutthosenewactivitiesandtechniques.
Personal Commitment to PD
Developmentofteachingcompetenceisourprofessionalresponsibility, and
wecanundertake a wide range ofactivitiesinfulfillment ofthis obligation.
As Crandall (1996) pointed outinher keynote address at the TE5L Canada
Conference,therearecoursestotake,journalstoread,colleaguestotalkwith
andobserve, classroomresearchto conduct,textbooks toreview, andwork
shops to attend. This range of professional development opportunities al
lows us to develop a comprehensive, yet personal PD plan, and I am
convinceditmustbeapersonalplan. Employersandprofessionalorganiza
tions may support our pursuit of PD by funding us to the occasional con
ferenceororganizingaworkshop,butaseducatorswemustmakeapersonal
commitmenttoourownongoingprofessionalgrowth.
As Itell my son, sometimeshe carries outa chore athomebecauseheis
paidfor it.ThenIamsatisfiedbecausethe chorehasbeendone;heishappy
becausehe has done a goodjob and putsomemoneyinto his wallet. How
ever, I cannotpossibly payhim for everyjob that needs to be done around
the house, nor should I have to. He lives there; he has a stake in its main
tenance and improvement. When he sees something that needs to be done
andhetakesitonunaskedandwithoutpay,heisdemonstratinghissenseof
responsibility to ourfamily's well-beingin additionto his own. Ithink itis
the same for those of us engaged in the adult E5L profession. Going to the
occasionalworkshopbecauseitisorganizedforus,orbecausewearefunded
byemployers,althoughmutuallybeneficialtoadegreeisnotenoughforour
ownandourprofession'swell-being.Eachofus,Ibelieve,mustbepersonal
lycommittedtoseekingoutadditionalopportunitiestolearnanddevelop.If
we continue to argue that adult E5L is an area ofeducational expertise, we
mustensure that we indeedhave thatexpertise. Knowledge and principles
without skill or, conversely, skill without knowledge or principles are
professionally unacceptable states. There is no place for professional com
placencyin the field ofadult E5L instruction. The students and our profes
siondeservemore.
50 when we begin another school year and our students return to our
clean classrooms in hopeful anticipation of a dynamic and effective year, I
will make my New Year's resolutions. I will promise to spend more time
withteachers and students. Iwill promiseto tryouta new technique. Iwill
promise to be more organized. And I will promise to examinemy assump-
70 JOANNEPEniS
tionsaboutadultESLeducationregularlyandmakeapersonalcommitment
tothecontinuingdevelopmentofmyprofessionalcompetence.
The Author
Joanne Pettis coordinates adultESL institutional programs and curriculumresources for the
SettlementandAdultLanguageTrainingBranchofManitobaCultureHeritageandCitizenship.
SheisinterestedinadultESLteacherpreserviceandinserviceprofessionaldevelopmentandis
currentlycompletinghermaster'sthesisinTESLeducation.
References
Auerbach,E.(1993).PuttingthePbackinparticipatory.TESOLQuarterly,27,543-545.
Celce-Murcia,M.,Dirnyei,Z.,&Thurrell,S.(1995).Communicativecompetence:A
pedagogicallymotivatedmodelwithcontentspecifications.IssuesinAppliedLinguistics,6,
5-35.
Crandall,J.(1996,May).ThechallengeofprofessionalismandprofessionalizationinESL.Keynote
addresspresentedatthenationalTESLCanadaConferenceinWinnipeg.
Freeman,D.(1982).ObserVingteachers:Threeapproachestoin-servicetrainingand
development.TESOLQuarterly,16,21-28.
Richards,J.C,&Rodgers,T.(1986).Approachesandmethodsinlanguageteaching.NewYork:
CambridgeUniversityPress.
Tedick,D.J.,&Walker,CL.(1994).Secondlanguageteachereducation:Theproblemsthat
plagueus.ModernLanguagesJournal,78,300-312.
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