Professional education of teachers of English from a working experience at an Argentine university

Abstract

This paper is intended to share the findings of a research experience that links the concepts of work process and the production of teachers’ knowledge. Framed in the area called English for Specific Purposes (ESP) at Universidad Nacional de San Luis, some deficiencies in the academic training of teachers in charge of the foreign language courses have become evident. Specifically, reference is made to the courses for the Facultad de Ciencias Físico-Matemáticas y Naturales, the objective of which is reading academic texts in English and writing texts in Spanish with the purpose of studying specific disciplines.

The gathering of institutional documents as well as data from autobiographic writings and an interview to the members of the teachers’ team are used for the analysis. The formative process undergone by the teachers in their working places are brought to light, enabling the teachers in charge to scaffold the formation of the novice teachers for the courses of English as a Foreign Language in the Faculty curriculum. Based on these inquiries, some content areas to be enforced in the higher education curriculum are suggested.