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andpedagogicalexpertisewillalsobepresentinhisorherroleasalearning
counselor.
Educationskillsarerequiredintermsoflearnertrainingandinthegradual
involvementoflearnersintheshapingoftheirstudyprogramme.Theyare
relatedtoteacher’sevaluationoflearners’cognitiveandpsychologicaldispo-
sitiontowardslanguagelearningandoftheirculturally-basedexpectations.
Theteacher’seducationalskillsinvolvehisorherreachingouttolearners’
existingknowledgeandexperienceoflifeandhelpingthemrelatethem
meaningfullytotheprocessoflanguagelearning.Thiscallsforavarietyof
interpersonalcharacteristics,amongwhichempathy,intuitionandpersonal
maturityareofparticularimportance.Theeducationalskillsarecentraltothe
teacher’sroleasalearningcounselorandarearguablythemostimportantof
all.Goodteachershavealwayspossessedandmadeactiveuseofsuchskills,
whichis,presumably,whatmadethemgoodteachers.Thedifferenceisthat
inalearner-centeredapproachtheseskillsarecrucialtotheapproachas
awhole.Underhill’s(1989:260)commentthat“doingthesamethingswith
adifferentawarenessseemstomakeabiggerdifferencethandoingdifferent
thingswiththesameawareness”,isachallengetoallteachers,butinparticu-
lartothosecommittedtoalearner-centeredmodeofteaching.
Asfarasflexibilityandadaptabilityareconcerned,flexibilityseemstobe
aparticularlyimportantqualityforteacherswhoareworkingwithmulticul-
turalgroups.Adaptabilitymayalsoberequiredforanothertypeofreason.
Ateacherusedtoplayingatraditionalordirectiveroleintheclassroommay,
initiallyatleast,experienceuneasewithamorecollaborativemodeofinter-
actionwiththestudents.Theoppositemayalsoarise,thoughateacherwhose
professionaltrainingorpersonalvaluesystempredisposeshis/hertowards
a‘liberal’andparticipativemodeofteachingmayfindthat,incertaincon-
texts,languageeducationismostappropriatelypursuedinamannerwhichis
more‘authoritarian’thanteacherwouldspontaneouslyfeelathomewith
(Tudor1996:250).
1.4.Culturaldimensionsofteachersroles
Literatureontheteacherrolesintheclassroomprovidesmanyinstancescon-
firmingculturaldependencyoflearnersandteachersroles.Sheorey(2006:
53-54)pointsoutthatthestudiesofteacherandlearnerroleexpectations
revealedthat“learnersandteachersfromdifferentcultureshavedifferent
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