Pedagogical competencies for mother-tongue teacher education

Abstract

This study aims to elaborate a framework for both the foundation and application of professional standards for mother-tongue teachers. The main issue with which this study is concerned constitutes the lack of a set of clear standards for the initial training of mother-tongue teachers. In terms of theory, that which has currently been analyzed in this study relates particularly to the most relevant approaches and the current research in the field of professional standards for language teachers at a general level, and to the reference documents for mother- tongue teacher education at a specific level. In agreement with current approaches, an innovative approach for the training of pre-service mother-tongue teachers with the goal of developing pedagogical standards has been elaborated in this study. The objective of the current research endeavors to identify specific pedagogical competencies at the level of initial programs for mother-tongue teacher education. The operational categories of pedagogical competencies were subjected to the expertise of a group of 38 specialists in the field of language education in higher education. The results of the questionnaire research highlight the openness of subjects toward a new perspective of forming professional standards for pre-service mother-tongue teacher education