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0RECONCEPTUALIZING TEACHING PRACTICE -DEVELOPING COMPETENCIES
Khudaikulov Sh.U.
Director of the Republican Education Center under the Ministry of Preschool and School
Education
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14017255
Abstract. Research on a variety of topics related to teacher education, from teacher preparation to ongoing professional development, has drawn more attention in the last ten years. The broad realization by scholars and policy makers alike that teachers are the key to any meaningful attempts at educational reform has led to a rise in interest in how teachers become competent in extremely complicated social environments. Numerous topics pertaining to the subject of investigation into teaching practice are covered in this article.
Keywords: teaching competencies, professional skills, self-assessment, learning management, personal and social abilities, KASA, TESOL, SLA.
We frequently hear about 21st century learners and the knowledge and skills that our pupils will require in the future. What about the teachers? What teaching skills will 21st-century teachers need to prepare their students? How do they differ from the abilities that teachers required in the past? The quality of education has shifted dramatically in recent years. If, traditionally, the university's main goal was to provide students with certain types of information that they were supposed to apply later, universities today focuse mostly on 'life skills'.
Our goal is to teach students how to gather knowledge on their own and work in methods that allow them to generate new ideas. Generating new ideas is a fundamental principle of modern society. We need experts, who are culturally competent, talented, imaginative, and creative problem solvers, as well as skillful and critical thinkers. New technologies offer the possibility to promote critical thinking. We must teach kids how to work cooperatively and sensitively in a team, make decisions, organize and manage their time efficiently, listen to one another, and choose the best communication technique for the situation. As a result, we have realized that in order to achieve these new teaching criteria, we must possess 21st-century talents.
Teaching competencies are a set of professional skills that help enable a teacher to be successful in the classroom [1]. With a vast array of responsibilities, expected expertise, needed perspicacity, and critical decisions that teachers must manage with careful dexterity on a daily basis, there is much to consider, utilize, implement, and reflect on [2]. Any literature review will reveal a myriad number of competencies that are both relevant and important for most (modern) ELT environments, to include (very briefly):
Communication (interactional knowledge, skills, processes and dispositions that help students acquire, develop and transform ideas, an inspiration, make connections, share ideas, express opinions, deepen learning, and accomplish things);
Learning management (identify, prioritize, and reformulate learning components each student must work on - that is, knowledge, skills, strategies, attitudes, etc., which includes addressing stated objectives and purposes of intended learning);
Personal and social abilities that help students identify in the world (both in society and their communities);
Professional development (self-assessment, reflective practice, action research, and cooperation and collaboration);
Thinking (knowledge, skills and processes associated with intellectual development which help students take concepts and content and transform them into new understandings) [3].
With so many overwhelming possibilities in this regard, teachers need some degree of simplification. Fortunately, Donald Freeman (University of Michigan School of Education) can help with this via KASA. To shed light on this, the KASA Framework is based on an article that Donald Freeman wrote for TESOL Quarterly back in March 1989 titled, "Teacher training, development, and decision making: A model of teaching and related strategies for language teacher education". His primary aim was to "untangle (teaching or educational) terms so that we (as teachers) could work from a shared operational vocabulary" [6].
By way of example, teacher education could be used as a superordinate or umbrella term, with things like teacher training, preparation, and teacher or professional development as categories under it [5]. In other words, he examined and analyzed the subject matter and processes of language teacher education (i.e. language teaching) and described a model of four component parts (knowledge, attitudes, skills, awareness or KASA) [4] that intertwine and interconnect through teachers' decision making, with two key, collaborative education strategies: training and development. Knowledge involves content, context, and location (i.e. methodology and approaches, SLA theory, language skills, resources, subject matter, students and their needs, and sociocultural, institutional, and situational circumstances). Attitudes are emotions, feelings, beliefs, behaviors, perceptions, energies, etc. that teachers have about all aspects of their job or career, which, hopefully, culminates in a genuine sense of caring and kindness, a willingness to share responsibility in the classroom, a sincere sensitivity to students' needs, a strong motivation to provide meaningful learning experiences, and an enthusiasm for stimulating creativity. Skills are the constant processing of options a teacher must deal or contend with on an everyday basis (e.g. lesson planning, materials design and development, classroom management, instructions, scaffolding, feedback, assessment, etc.).
Awareness is the capacity to recognize and monitor the attention the teacher is giving or has given, as well as direct action related to this, which is vitally important on a moment-to-moment basis in the classroom and an essential aspect of ongoing reflective practice (as we need to know how impactful and our experiences were). Of these, awareness helps integrate all four into a unified whole, and, if harnessed and utilized well, it can help teachers grow, change, blossom, and flourish.
According to Murray [3], learners acquire personal information, develop cultural behaviors, discover cultural explanations, and then articulate personal responses to what they are learning. The significance for me is that by taking the time to learn about other cultures and languages we become more conscious about our own. This leads to a greater overall knowing. As the encounter with difference lies at the heart of culture learning, I believe it is imperative that we, as teachers, need to increase opportunities for personal experience with diversity, foreignness, and other cultures, and then critically reflect on, interpret, analyze and evaluate our experience. The input received and resulting knowing can be enhanced if this is done collaboratively, especially in a community of learners. The path to intercultural competence thus begins with conscious perception of and reflection on different behaviors, the desire to learn
more about them, and the transformative action taken to do so. From then on out, it requires constant mutual and reciprocal understanding and respect.
Knowledge: Awareness: Skills: Attitude:
Language systems One's own areas of Building rapport with Initiative and
include grammar, strength and growth; and among students; proactivity;
lexis/vocabulary, personal convictions grouping students and • Self-
discourse, and regarding language and employing suitable motivation
phonology (e.g., instruction; and the interaction patterns; and self-
collocations, verb underlying rationales lesson preparation, direction;
tense, and sentence for your lesson staging, and resource • A desire to
emphasis). preparation and selection for the lesson learn
Language skills and instruction. objectives (e.g., • Being
sub-skills: what Students' prior creating pre-listening flexible and
factors contribute to knowledge and and while-listening adaptive;
effective speaking, abilities; their reactions activities). Effectively • Being
reading, listening, and to classroom activities; organizing tasks and receptive to
writing? their relationships with activities; giving clear new ideas and
Theories for Second one another; their instructions and changes;
Language Acquisition performance; the verifying them; • Listening
(SLA). Methods and culture of the company elucidating the well;
approaches. where you work; the meaning, • Being
Understanding ratio of Teacher pronunciation, and willing to
learners' needs, goals, Talking Time (TTT) to form of language items; share;
and sociocultural Student Talking Time assessing • Showing
contexts. (STT). comprehension of sincere
Resources for meaning (for example, interest in
learning, such as through the use of students
course books, digital CCQs); giving
tools, applications, feedback on tasks and
and Padlets. activities; offering
Institutional policies feedback on language
and the learning and error correction;
environment. encouraging critical
thinking and problem
solving!
"Affective education is effective education." [5] Teachers are clearly very self-aware. They are able to recognize their own feelings and opinions about interpersonal and group experiences and distinguish them from the events of these shared experiences. Moreover, they actively seek out other participants' understandings of these shared experiences, are able to articulate their understandings of these experiences, and are aware of how they relate to others and accept the importance of learning from human diversity.
Finally, teachers recognize value, work with diverse perspectives in order to promote the development of the group, individuals within the group and themselves, and are skilled at observing, reflecting, and modifying their own behavior in the best interest of the group. In terms
of KASA, teachers should have knowledge of theories and practices of group dynamics and identity development, to include the multiple dimensions of identity (i.e. their own and others), which encompasses language, class, race, gender, sexual orientation, physical abilities and disabilities, culture, and religion [4].
Secondly, teachers should have attitudes of openness to valuing of differences in people, as well as a commitment to helping their students become more open-minded, more tolerant and accepting of people who are different from them [2].
Thirdly, teachers should have skills of listening with empathy by attending to and reflecting on content and feelings, communicating in a proper and professional manner across differences, and creating an environment where divergent views can be expressed and heard [3].
Fourth, teachers must have awareness of their own feelings and opinions as a participant of in-group experiences.
Moreover, they need to be aware of their feelings, opinions, interaction styles, and the way they affect others, as well as the uniqueness of their experiences of a shared event. Furthermore, teachers need awareness of differing perspectives in the classroom and how to handle them adroitly [4].
Four Competencies Every Teacher Should Have. These competencies are vital and collectively contribute to effective teaching and learning.
Professional Competence
Professional competence is a teacher's ability to manage the teaching and learning process. Classroom management, mastery of the subject matter, teaching strategies, and teaching media support the ability to drive learning. These skills are technical and directly relate to a teacher's performance. Some indicators of Professional Competence for teachers include Mastery of the subject matter taught, structure, concepts, and knowledge framework. Mastery of the subject's Competency Standards (SK), Basic Competencies (KD), and learning objectives.
The ability to creatively develop teaching materials to provide students with broader and more profound knowledge. The ability to act reflectively to develop professionalism continuously. The ability to use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in teaching and self-development.
As a result, teachers can guide all their students to achieve the competency standards set in the National Education Standards.
Pedagogical Competence
Pedagogical competence is understanding students, designing and implementing teaching and learning, evaluating learning outcomes, and developing students to realize their potential.
Sub-competencies within Pedagogical Competence include:
In-depth understanding of students, including understanding students through cognitive development principles, personality principles, and identifying students' prior knowledge.
Designing learning, including understanding educational foundations, applying learning and teaching theories, determining teaching strategies based on student characteristics, competencies to be achieved, and teaching materials, and developing learning plans based on selected designs.
Implementation of learning, including arranging the learning environment and conducting conducive learning.
Social Competence
Social competence relates to communication skills, general behavior, and interaction with students, fellow teachers, education staff, parents, or the broader community.
Personality Competence
Personality competence is the ability to reflect a strong, stable, mature, wise, and dignified personality. Teachers should serve as role models for students and exhibit noble moral qualities.
Finally, articulation is essential for both professional growth and teacher training purposes. These can, and may, shift to varied degrees, particularly with continued reflective practice. The key is to simplify, clarify, and seek to crystallize. Understanding leads to knowledge, wisdom, and future progress. Furthermore, the cycle, hopefully, will continue and result in positive recalibration on a consistent basis. Professional competence refers to a teacher's technical expertise in directing the teaching-learning process. This includes skills such as classroom management, subject mastery, effective teaching strategies, and the adept use of teaching resources. It is through professional competence that teachers guide students to achieve national education standards.
REFERENCES
1. Harmer, J. (1998). How to teach English. Edinburgh Gate, Harlow Essex: Pearson Education Limited.
2. Jackson, P.W. (1990). Life in classrooms. New York: Teachers College Press.
3. Murray, D. E. & Christison, M. (2011). What English teachers need to know - Volume 1. New York: Routledge.
4. Freeman, D. (1989). Teacher training, development, and decision making: A model of teaching and related strategies for language teacher education. TESOL Quarterly, 23, No.1.
5. Sadeghi, K. & Freeman, D. (2019). An interview with Donald Freeman. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 7(3), 131-136.
6. Larsen-Freeman, D. (1983). Comments on review of Techniques and principles in language teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 21, 769-776.
7. Adilbekovna, R.D. "Challenges in Teaching English as a Specific Purpose. "Central Asian Journal of Theoretical and Applied Science 2.6 (2021): 93-97.
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