RELC Journal

Most of the world’s English language teachers speak English as a second or third language rather than as their first language. For many, their level of proficiency in English may not reach benchmarks established by their employers, raising the issue that is the focus of this article, namely, what kind of proficiency in English is necessary to be an effective teacher of English? The article seeks to provide an overview of how the role of language proficiency issue has been addressed in the ELT literature. It describes the kind of specialized language skills needed to teach English through English, explores the relationship between language proficiency and teaching ability, considers the impact of language ability on different dimensions of teaching, and raises the implications for language assessment and for the design of language enhancement programmes for language teachers.

New conceptualizations of English are challenging traditional norms of what the language is, as well as how it is taught and by whom. These changes, coupled with the expansion of teaching English across the educational spectrum from younger grades to tertiary levels, present challenges to many national education systems. The role of teachers’ English competence, particularly in public-sector teaching, is central to how these educational changes play out in countries around the world. How classroom English language ability is described connects to many dimensions of teaching. This article argues that conventional definitions that connect general English proficiency, often based on generic statements about language use, do not address the type of classroom language teachers need in order to teach. Further, language training focused on general language fluency often does not directly address teachers’ particular professional needs. Policies and practices based on these definitions disadvantage most English language teachers by defining problems of teaching quality in terms of deficits in general English proficiency. English-for-Teaching, a conceptualization of the English teachers’ use in classroom language teaching, is based on a languages for specific purposes (LSP) methodology. The construct defines three functional areas of classroom language use – managing the classroom, understanding and communicating lesson content, and assessing and giving students feedback. The article outlines the construct and a professional development programme based on it. Analyses from implementing these programmes provided by ministries of education to pre- and in-service teachers in Japan and in Vietnam are discussed.

In multilingual Malaysia, the place of English has been debated at various times since independence in 1957. An initiative to address concerns about levels of English language proficiency in the country through teaching Science and Mathematics in English was launched in the early 21st century. For some teachers, a trans-national component was introduced in the language teacher education programme and this in part was an investment in raising the language proficiency of teachers. This article draws on interview data with two pre-service teachers who spent two years in New Zealand and identifies common themes regarding their views on English and on the contribution of the trans-national education experience to their English language learning while abroad. Although English was viewed positively, and proficiency and motivation did not present obvious barriers to developing social networks with target language speakers, the data indicates that personal language learning goals may not have been met; it is important to note that other goals were, however, achieved. As a result, this article suggests that more explicit attention to language learning in the language teacher education programme may have facilitated English language proficiency development.

How does teachers’ target language proficiency correlate with their ability to use the target language effectively in order to provide optimal learning opportunities in the language classroom? Adopting a conversation analysis approach, this study examines the extent to which teachers’ use of the target language in the classroom creates learning opportunities for L2 learners. The article also explores the relationship between teachers’ target language proficiency and the ways in which they use the target language in the classroom to engage learners in the learning process. Analyses of the lesson extracts show a complex relationship between teachers’ general language proficiency and their ability to make use of their proficiency to support student learning in the L2 classroom. The article concludes that while teachers’ general proficiency significantly affects the way they use language in the classroom to promote learning, their classroom proficiency is at least as important as their general proficiency. This has implications both for teachers and teacher educators.

This research investigates non-native English teachers’ engagement with the native speaker model, i.e. whether they agree/disagree with measuring English teaching and learning performance against native speaker standards. More importantly, it aims to unearth the impact of teacher education on teachers’ attitudes and beliefs about “native-speakerness”. Data were gathered from an online survey delivered to 85 Vietnamese TESOL teachers who had completed one of 19 Master’s level TESOL programmes offered overseas and in Vietnam, followed by in-depth interviews with 20 participants. The results revealed that teacher education strengthened the teachers’ beliefs about the linguistic diversity of English and led them to question the native and non-native divide by providing relevant input and opportunities to engage in critical discussion on nativeness, as well as fruitful learning experience. However, language proficiency is an area where “native-speakerness” still dominates, and where teacher education did not exert much influence. These findings shed light on the role of TESOL teacher training in influencing teacher beliefs about the native speaker model, and suggest that teacher education programmes dedicate more space for teachers to critically explore the construct of language teacher proficiency.

In view of the considerable and growing number of non-native EFL/ESL teachers across the globe, which has been reported to surpass that of native English teachers (NETs), much controversy has been aroused globally, especially in the Asian context, over issues concerning the language proficiency of these Non-Native English Teachers (NNETs). Further commotion was fueled after the revelation of some of NNETs’ unsatisfactory linguistic competence and/or knowledge in research and official language proficiency tests for teachers. This has led many to challenge whether NNETs are qualified as EFL/ESL teachers. Equally contentious in the literature are the formats, content, rationale, and difficulty of teacher language proficiency assessment. The focus of the present study, however, steers to a slightly new direction supported by the philosophy of greater practicality and usefulness for practitioners in ELT. This article reports on a qualitative study that delves into the relationship between teachers’ general language proficiency (hereinafter referred to as TGLP) and their teaching effectiveness operationalized by learners’ engagement. Classroom observations (of both NETs and NNETs), post-observation interviews with teachers and students, as well as interviews with highly proficient tertiary-level EFL students were conducted. The preliminary findings reveal that teachers’ general linguistic competence plays an important role in ELT classrooms but once a proficiency threshold is met, higher language standards play a lesser role compared with other factors in contributing to teaching effectiveness. This article ends with implications for stakeholders in ELT as well as practical suggestions for further (quantitative) studies based on the present findings.

This study investigates the perceptions of stakeholders on the impact of a high-stakes assessment of English language teachers’ proficiency – the minimum language standards Language Proficiency Assessment for Teachers (English) [LPATE], which was introduced in 2000. Given that the test has now been in place for 17 years, the study investigates the extent to which the LPATE assessment has contributed to English language teacher standards in Hong Kong. Interview data from 24 participants in primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong, reveal a number of positive links between the LPATE test and English language teaching as a profession. The introduction of the LPATE was deemed to be necessary in terms of setting, raising and maintaining language proficiency standards; stakeholders’ awareness that English teachers need to have high language standards, subject-matter knowledge and pedagogical skills related to English language teaching; and that now an increasing number of English teachers are exempt from the LPATE through having opted for relevant degrees and teacher training, questions should be asked about how and whether the LPATE should be used in more relevant and meaningful ways.

This article provides a review and analysis of current research examining the connection between teacher language proficiency and their self-reported beliefs about their pedagogical abilities. Generally speaking, (English) language teachers require an advanced level of proficiency in order to be successful language teachers, but pedagogical skills are also necessary for effective instruction. However, examining the relationship between language proficiency and pedagogical skills is not straightforward given the nature of language teaching in which language is both the content and medium of instruction, issues with defining language proficiency (for teaching), and disagreement regarding effective teaching skills in different social contexts. One approach has been to focus on teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs about their abilities to enact specific classroom tasks in certain contexts and potential relationships with teachers’ reported language proficiency. The analysis provided in this article highlights how these constructs have been measured in the literature and if/how they are connected to one another across different studies. Overall, teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs regarding their pedagogical abilities do correlate with language proficiency, but results are at times weak and/or inconclusive with inconsistent results across studies and contexts.