Linguistic Proficiency within Language Teacher Education

The dilemma of language teacher education at university level lies in how best to balance the educational philosophies and theories with the practicalities of the methods and techniques. The question of the students’/trainees’ linguistic ability to undertake language teacher education should not arise. After all, they have taken and passed the entry requirements which include recognition of their linguistic ability either in the form of externally set and marked exams or of audited and certified internal exams. The participants on a language teacher education course are expected to know how to speak the language and to be able to follow educators with MA and PhD initials after their names, while needing only to fine tune their reading and writing skills to incorporate the academic. Yet, sometimes the level of the pre-service teachers’ English is such that the “How to teach” lectures and course books are, at least initially, beyond the students understanding, and there needs to be an emphasis on students developing their language proficiency. This workshop addresses how teacher training is possible in the absence of a course book with students who have learnt English as a Foreign Language, and whose levels favour a lecture based format with heavy emphasis on memorization and translation. Attendees to the workshop will participate in two shortened demonstration lessons (Intro to TEFL and Theories and Methods) given respectively to third year and fourth year students at the Arab American University Jenin, Palestine. The activities will allow the participants to better judge the experience of being a pre-service language teacher and so be more informed when deciding on the feasibility of student-centred learning in the university setting