Achieving Certification through a Modified Competency-Based TESL Teacher Education Program

Abstract

The widely heralded competency-based approach to teacher education (CBTE) contains pitfalls as well as potential advantages for English as a second language programs. There is a danger that values and humanistic concerns may be neglected in favor of easy-to-measure though perhaps much less significant concrete objectives. But the shared goals of teacher and learner, relevance, practicality, and accountability constitute compelling reasons for granting CBTE a hearing. In Utah, as elsewhere in the nation, ESL programs and competencybased teacher training tended to develop independently. A pioneer CBTE program initiated nearly eight years ago for secondary teachers covered nine areas ranging from instruction to personal development and incorporating over a hundred objectives. When TESL certification was sought from the State Board of Education, instructional competencies were requested as well as a full analysis of ESL needs in the state. In addition to the successful certification process, local modifications in competency-based models lent considerable credibility to the CBTE format. For example, there was a coalescing of the highly fragmented catalog of discrete objectives, and an infusion of values and humanistic elements. Recommendations for TESL programs desiring state certification include identifying ESL needs, collaborating with Colleges of Education, and employing a modified form of competency-based teacher education.