TheTrainingDevelopmentContinuuminTeacherEducation: SomePracticalApplications KathleenGraves SchoolforInternationalTraining Whenplanningpresentations,workshops,andseminarsforteachers,the training/developmentframeworkisusefulforexamining,understanding,and exploringoptionsforwhatteachereducatorsdo.InthisarticleIwouldliketo lookatthereasonsateachereducatorwouldchooseatrainingoradevelopment focus,orboth,withpracticalexamples.Idonotfinditusefultoviewtraining anddevelopmentasdichotomous.Theyaredifferent,buttheydonotneedtobe inopposition.Theybothservenecessary,complementary,andeven interdependentfunctionsinteachereducation.Whileitispossibletoadopta stricttrainingapproach,suchanapproachis,ultimately,incompletebecauseit ignorestheexpertiseoftheteacher.Adevelopmentapproachontheotherhand, canandshouldincludebothtraininganddevelopmentstrategies.

Muchhasbeenwrittenabouttraininganddevelopment(seeinparticular Freeman1982,1989,LarsenFreeman1983,1991,Richards1990,Woodward 1991).ForthepurposesofthisarticleIshalldefinetrainingasbeingfocusedon discreteskillsandknowledge,whicharetransmittedbytheteachereducatoras expert,withconcrete,measurableoutcomes.Theeducator's"primaryfunctions aretoprovideideasandsuggestions,tosolveproblems,andtointerveneand pointoutbetterwaysofdoingthings."(Richards1990)Development,ontheother hand,isfocusedontheteacher'sawarenessandattitude,herunderstandingof herpractice,andtheneedsandchangessheidentifies.Theteachereducator "endeavorstostarttheteacheronaprocessofreflection,critiqueandrefinement oftheteacher'spractice."(Freeman1989)Thustheteacherisviewedasanexpert onherownpractice,andtheoutcomesarenotnecessarilyobservable, measurableorpredictable. Inordertounderstandwhattraininganddevelopmentmightlooklikein practice,Iwilldescribefourscenariosforapresentationontechniquesfor workingwithtextbookdialogues.Thesescenariosmoveacrossacontinuum fromtrainingtodevelopment,withScenario1closesttothetrainingend,and Scenario4closesttothedevelopmentend.Scenario1isadescriptionofan actualpresentationgivenbyateacherIshallcallRegina.Regina,anEFLteacher fromaCentralAmericancountry,haddevelopedanumberofinterestingways toworkwithtextbookdialogues.Shewasexcitedaboutthemandwantedto sharethemwithotherteachers.Shepreparedandpresentedthefollowing presentationforhercolleaguesinateachertrainingcourse.

**FromtheAugust1991issueofTheLanguageTeacher,publicationoftheJapanAssociationof LanguageTeachers. Scenario1:Shedividedtheparticipantsintosmallgroupsandindicatedtheyweretotakethe roleoflearners.Tomaximizetime,shehadeachgroupdoadifferenttechnique,whichinvolved somesortoftasksuchasunscramblingadialogueorinventingahumorousdialoguebetween famouspeople.Whenfinished,eachgroupexplainedtheirtasktotheothersandreadthe completeddialogue.Theydidtworoundsoftechniques.Attheend,Reginahandedout descriptionsofeachtechnique.

Fromatrainingperspective,herpresentationwasveryeffective.Reginahas carefullydelineatedthetechniquestobetaught;byexperiencingthetechniques theparticipantshaveaclearsenseofhowtousethem,moreovertheparticipants enjoythemselves.Shehasimpartedknowledgeandskillstohercolleaguesand theyhavesomethingconcretetotakeaway.Herguidingquestioninpreparing thepresentationis"HowcanIeffectivelyshowtheparticipantswhatIknowhowto do?"AclearadvantageofScenario1fromamanagementpointofviewisthe controltheeducatorexercisesovertime,contentandoutcome. Thepotentialdisadvantageofherpresentationisthatwhiletheparticipants havesomethingconcretetotakeaway,itisnotclearwhethertheyhave somethingconcretetoapply.Reginahasnoclearwayofknowingwhetherthese techniquesarenewtotheparticipants,whethertheyareusefulorappropriate fortheirteachingcontext,orwhethertheymeetsomeneed.Inordertoknow whetherthetechniquesareinfactusefulfortheparticipants,shewouldneedto moveinthedirectionofthedevelopmentendofthecontinuum.Shewouldneed towidenherfocustoincludetheparticipants.Thefollowingquestionsmight guideherinplanningadifferentscenario:HowcanIfindoutwhattheparticipants alreadyknowaboutthesubjectmatter?HowcanIensurethatthisisusefultothem?
Scenario2:First,sheaskstheparticipants"Whataresomeproblemsyouencounterinworking withtextbookdialogues?"Thenshehasthemexperiencesomeofthetechniques.Followingthat, sheasksthemtodeterminesomewaysinwhichthetechniqueshelpedthemwiththeproblems theyhadindicatedand/ortogeneratealternativeswhichmightfittheirownteachingsituation. Finally,shegivesthemherguidelinesindevelopingtechniques,orsheasksthemtosharesome oftheirowntechniques.

Intheabovescenario,sheismakinguseoftrainingstrategies,thepresentation oftechniques,aswellasdevelopmentstrategies,askingtheteacherstoseethem inthelightoftheirownpracticeandneeds.Sheisstillworkingfromthe questionHowcanIeffectivelyshowwhatIknowhowtodo?whilealsoworkingwith thequestionsHowcanIfindoutwhattheyalreadyknowaboutthesubjectmatter? HowcanIensurethatthisisusefultothem? Inordertoworkonthedevelopmentendofthecontinuum,inwhichthe teacherinvestigatesandreflectsonherpracticeandgeneratesherownsolutions,

Reginawouldneedtoshiftawayfromthequestionregardingtransmissionof skillsandknowledge,andworkwithotherquestions.HowcanIworkwithwhat theparticipantsknow?HowcanItapintotheircapacitytounderstandtheirneedsand generatetheirownsolutions?Inansweringthosequestions,herpresentation wouldundergofurthermodifications.

Scenario3:First,sheaskstheparticipants"Whataresomeproblemsyouencounterinworking withtextbookdialogues?"Then,shegivesthemalistoftheguidelinessheusesindesigning techniquesforworkingwithdialogues.Sheelicitsrefinementsoftheguidelinesfromthem.She givesthemasampledialogue,andaproblemtosolve:Usingtheguidelines,canyougenerate sometechniquesforworkingwiththedialogue?Aftertheyhavedonethetask,theysharetheir techniques.Reginamayatthispointprovideexamplesofherown.Finally,sheasksthemto drawconclusionsabouthowtodesigntechniquesforworkingwithdialoguesandhowthese mighthelpindealingwiththeproblemslistedinthebeginning.

Inthislastscenario,asinScenario2,Reginastartswiththeteacher's identifyingproblemsandneeds.However,whereasinScenario2sheprovides answerstotheproblems,inScenario3sheprovidestheteacherswithguidelines fordesigningtheirowntechniques.Sheasksthemtogeneratetheirown answers.Ifshegivesanswers,theyareseenasfurtherexamples,notas definitivemodels.Onecouldsaythatbyprovidingherguidelinesasamodel, sheistransmittingknowledgeandisnotfullyatthedevelopmentendofthe continuum.Tobefullyatthedevelopmentend,wheretheparticipantsare identifyingbothproblemsandsolutions,shemightchooseScenario4.

Scenario4:Firstsheaskstheparticipantstothinkofasuccessfultechniquetheyhaveusedin workingwithatextbookdialogue.Shethenasksthemtodeterminewhatmadeitsuccessful. Sheliststheiranswersandfromthesederivesasetofguidelinesfordesigningtechniques.Then sheasksthemtothinkofproblemstheyhavehadinworkingwithtextbookdialogues.Shelists theproblems.Shegivesthemasampledialogueandasksthemtochooseoneoftheproblems andtodesignatechniquewhichmightdealwiththeproblem,basedonthelistofguidelines. Finally,shehasthemdrawconclusionsasinScenario3.

IfwecompareScenario1andScenario4,wenotethatinthelatter,theteacher educatorhasputalloftheinitiativeinthehandsoftheparticipants.While Scenario1couldbemoreorlessreplicatedwithvariousgroupsofparticipants, Scenario4mightlookdifferentdependingonwhotheparticipantsareandthe guidelines,questionsandtechniquestheygenerate.InScenario1,thefocusison subjectmatter:textbookdialogues.InScenario4,thefocusisontheparticipants' work:theirpractice,reflectionsontheirpractice,andtheircapacitytodevelop andchange.Fromamanagementpointofview,Scenario4wouldlikelyrequire moretimethantheotherscenarios.Theteachereducatorwouldneedtofocus thecontributionsoftheparticipants,andtheoutcomesofthetaskswouldbeless predictable.

 Thefollowingframeworksummarizesthequestionsexaminedabove. Someofthequestionscanleadtoeithertrainingordevelopmentstrategies, dependingonwhichfocustheteachereducatorchooses.

Questions which determine a training focus or a development focus in teacher education:

Training Strategies 1) How can I effectively show the participants what I know or know how to do? 2) How can I find out what they know about the subject matter?**

Development Strategies

3) How can I work with what they know?

4) How can I ensure that . . .

this subject matter is useful to the participants?

the work they do is useful to the participants?

5) How can I tap into their capacity to understand their needs and generate their own solutions? ** If I have chosen a training focus, the answer to question 2 will lead to #1. If I have chosen a development focus, the answer to question 2 will lead to #3. (Graves, 1991.)

Ateachergettingstartedinteachereducationmightopt,asReginadid,fora trainingfocusbecauseofthecontrolshecanexerciseoverthesubjectmatter. Trainingstrategiesareusefulbecausetheycanprovideconcreteskillsand knowledge.Suchstrategiesareeffectivewhenbotheducatorandteacher recognizethattheteacherdoesnotsimplyaddorreplaceskillsandknowledge, butintegratesthemintoherunderstandingandpractice.Thisrecognition impliesadevelopmentapproach:thatteachersneedtomakesenseoftheinput intermsoftheirpracticewhichmayincluderejectingitandtodevelopin waysmeaningfultothem.Toworkwithadevelopmentapproach,ateacher

educatormustbewillingtoacknowledgeandworkwiththeteacher'sexpertise. Developmentstrategiesallowhertodoso.Ultimately,inordertobeeffectiveas teachereducators,weneedtoemploybothtraininganddevelopmentstrategies. Doingsoenablesustoworkwiththeexpertiseoftheteachersweteach,whileat thesametimemakingavailableourownexpertise.Knowingwhentofocuson trainingandwhenondevelopmentisthecruxandchallengeofteacher education. References Freeman,D.(1982)Observingteachers:threeapproachestoinservicetraining anddevelopment.TESOLQuarterly16:218. Freeman,D.(1989)Teachertraining,development,anddecisionmaking:A modelofteachingandrelatedstrategiesforlanguageteachereducation.TESOL Quarterly,23(1),2746. LarsenFreeman,D.(1983)Trainingteachersoreducatingateacher?InJ.Alatis, H.H.Stern,&P.Strevens(Eds.),GeorgetownUniversityroundtableonlanguagesand linguistics(pp.264274).Washington,D.C.:GeorgetownUniversityPress. LarsenFreeman,D.(1991)PunctuationinTeacherEducation.Plenarydelivered attheInternationalConferenceonTeacherEducationinSecondLanguage Teaching,CityPolytechnic,HongKong Richards,J.C.(1990)BeyondTraining:ApproachestoTeacherEducationin LanguageTeaching.TheLanguageTeacher,XIV(12),38. Woodward,T.(1991)ModelsandMetaphorsinLanguageTeacherTraining:Loop InputandOtherStrategies.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress