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14
Introduction
mentalprocesses.Eachofthesetopicsmaybetreatedasapointofdepartureforamuch
moredetailedandextensivestudy.Atthesametimeitprovidesapointofdeparturefor
muchmorespecificissues,whichresultfromthesefundamentalconsiderationstobe
developedinthenextvolume.Themainemphasisisclearlyontheteachingaspectof
thewholeprocess,typesofactivities,criteriaoftheirgradingaswellastheirspecific
functions.Itisnotintendedasanoverviewofresearchexploringlanguagelearning,or
SecondLanguageAcquisitionResearch,orresearchmethodsinthefieldofsecondlan-
guageacquisition.Nevertheless,everyattemptismadetolinkteachingprinciplesto
ourcurrentunderstandingoflanguageuseandlearninginverbalcommunication.
ThebookisaddressedtoaqualifiedteacherofEnglishasaforeignlanguageor
ateachertrainee,suchasaBAoranMAstudentofEnglishataphilologydepartment,
anappliedlinguisticsinstitute,orateachertrainingcollege.Itistakenintoaccountthat
thestudentstakemanyspecializedcoursesinlinguisticsandliteraturewhichconstitute
theirdegreeprogramme.Asaresult,theydevelopextensivebackgroundknowledgein
theBritishandAmericanlanguageandcultureandarecapableofintegratingitwith
thefieldofteachingEnglishasaforeignlanguage.Forthisreason,thetextbookaims
toprovideteachingprincipleswithrationaljustificationsratherthanarbitrarytipsor
recipes.Myprincipalgoalhereistosystematizetechniquesandstrategiesofteaching
Englishandaddressthequestionofwhyandhowtheycanbeusedindevelopingvar-
iousareasofcommunicativeabilityinEnglish.Thisisthereasonwhytheword.pro-
fessional’isusedinthetitle.Thebookisaddressedtoa(prospective)professionalwith
considerablebackgroundknowledge,determinedtounderstandreasonsforhisorher
actionswhileteaching.Thisprofessionalmustbeabletoidentify,diagnoseandsolve
numerousproblemsandmakevariousdecisionsintheclassroom.Suchapersonwill
notbenefitfromtoolocalorarbitraryadvice.Teachereducationmustindeedfosterthe
understandingofforeignlanguagelearningandteachingaswellastheabilitiesto
diagnoseclassroomsituations,makereasonablechoices,aswellasadjustandevaluate.
Teachers’creativity,amostprecioushumanresourcewhichmustnotbeignored,can
trulyblossomonlyonsuchsolidprofessionalfoundationsratherthanasasubstitute
forthem,assomeacademicsandpractitionersmaintain.
Thekeyquestioniswhocanbeconsideredaprofessional.Ingeneralterms,this
issomeoneeducatedortrainedwithaconsiderableskillandexperienceinagiven
activity,especiallythemainactivityforwhichonereceivespay,asopposedtojust
ahobbyorpastime.Suchapersoncandemonstrateprofessionalisminthesenseof
highqualityandstandardsofperformance.Aprofessionisanoccupationorvocation
requiringextendedtrainingandadvancedstudyinaspecializedfieldwhereasapro-
fessionalisaspecialistwhosepredispositionshavebeendevelopedbyextendededu-
cationandtraining.
Foreignlanguageteachingwitnessesaparadox,however:languagelearning,
includingmothertongueandsubsequentlanguages,canhappennaturally,without
anydeliberateactivityonthepartofa.teacher’providedcertainconditionsaremet:
thelearnerisfairlyyoung,andthereisunrestrictedexposureandcontactwiththelan-
guage.However,theprocessishardtoreplicateorevokeintheeducationalcontext
whenthelearnerisslightlyolderandcontacthoursarelimited.Theintricatenatureof
foreignlanguagelearningjustifiestheinvolvementofprofessionals,whichistosay,
peoplewhounderstandtheworkingoftheprocesstothepointthattheycandeliber-