Language Instructors and their Functional and Professional Considerations
Training is not a one-directional transfer of knowledge. According to adult learning principles the trainer is required to interact with the learners, to understand the learners’ needs and interests, to build on trainee’s experiences, to plan and manage the training sessions, to help trainees develop cognitive skills, to foster reflection upon different problem areas or tasks, to motivate and understand the learner. The trainer needs to show cognitive and technical competences but at the same time pedagogical and social skills and capacities. According to literature, the trainers of today need to adopt a “new role” and to update their skills so that to be able to:
- Customise the learning opportunities to the needs of the trainees while concurrently facilitate learning
- Adapt the learning approaches to the trainees’ cultural background
- Reflect upon her role, her training practices, and her methodological decisions
- Manage her own continuing professional development
- Use ICT to support the training process and to elaborate abstract ideas
- Participate in curriculum design and share experiences
- Act as facilitator, motivator, educator, and part of team
The trainer has to be knowledgeable about the subject that she teaches. However, being knowledgeable is not adequate; what is also needed is to be able to present the educational content, to communicate the objectives, to lay emphasis on real-life tasks, to familiarise learners with the educational material, and to demonstrate through practical examples why the content is useful and relevant to adult learners’ needs. The role that the trainer holds is by no means without challenges. The composition of a learner group and the stressful situations that each learner is faced with make the trainer’s role even more challenging. On the other hand, trainers’ needs should be seen in conjunction with adult learners’ needs. Apparently, when new needs emerge from the “adult trainers’ field” new needs may also arise in the “adult trainers” field’. The siLang learning requirements study revealed the fact that adult learners need support on developing learning content and activities that are relevant to their interests and professional needs. Adult learners also need access to appropriate supporting offline and digital material. Although the access itself cannot foster learning outcomes, the meaningful exploitation in the class and the engagement in activities that deploy well-designed educational content can enhance existing training practices. Therefore, it is important to provide trainers with good practice guidelines on how to integrate this material in the class. Instructional planning may diverge; it is important to guide the trainer and not to force a limited view of methodological decisions and pedagogical tools. Learning subjects can introduce further challenges. It is important to align the educational content and to structure the training session to international and national research views on the subject that is being taught. For example, current literature demonstrates a need for a shift on the cognitive focus in the area of language learning. Current studies do not only address issues regarding the four basic language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing but issues related to learner autonomy, cross-border collaboration, culture, identity, interaction and discourse, communication skills, peer feedback, and knowledge construction are brought into the stage of language training. Furthermore, emerging technologies have the potential to offer opportunities for real, relevant, and meaningful language learning experiences that outreach the focus on the basic language practices in listening comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing introducing an authentic and multidisciplinary dimension.
In relation to on the use of the new technologies, such asvirtual worlds, serious games, simulations, tangible interfaces, and more), it is essential to distinguish between professional skill development focused on educational uses of technology and training focused specifically on building digital competencies, such as building practical skills on using a particular software package or e-learning platform. Both are required for enabling trainers to cope with the challenges of their role. It is also a necessity to provide trainers with opportunities to access digital services for know-how exchange, exchange of experiences on cognitive issues, integration of technology, promotion of learner interaction, and more.
It becomes apparent that adult trainers need to take their students’ needs into account but also to align their training practices with research and international views on educational trends. Apart from adopting innovative views with a cognitive focus in the area of language learning and exploiting new technologies, many studies advocate that a foreign language instructor should be able to value cultural diversity. Trainers are expected to accept, explore, and understand different perspectives as well as to act as citizens of a multicultural and global society. Opportunities for instructors and adult language learners to interact with diverse cultures can be created in multiple ways through inclusive teaching practices, reading and multimedia materials, and participation in communities of practice which may be virtual or conventional.
