Abstract
There are different views of what qualities and qualifications are required for language teachers to do their job properly, and these are reflected in the different terms that are used to refer to the kind of provision made to equip them for their task. The traditional term teacher training, for example seems to be solution orientated, and to carry the implication that teachers are to be given specific instruction in practical techniques to cope with predictable events, whereas teacher education seems to be problem orientated, and to imply a broader intellectual awareness of theoretical principles underlying particular practices (see Peters, 1977; Widdowson, 1990). The French term formation might be taken to cover both. All three terms can apply to the pre-service preparation of teachers and to their subsequent in-service development. The question arises as to whether the two orientations are equally appropriate in each case, and if so how they are to be reconciled. This applies to all teachers. The question also arises as to whether there is something specific to second language teachers that needs to be accounted for in their formation.
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© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Widdowson, H.G. (1997). Approaches to Second Language Teacher Education. In: Tucker, G.R., Corson, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Encyclopedia of Language and Education, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4419-3_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4419-3_12
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