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Developing 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 TESLCANADAJOURNAULAREVUETESLDUCANADA 67 VOL.14,NO.2,SPRING1997 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- TESLCANADAJOURNAULAREVUETESLDUCANADA 69 VOL.14,NO.2,SPRING1997 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. TESLCANADAJOURNAULAREVUETESLDUCANADA 71 VOL.14,NO.2,SPRING1997